What You Should Have Read #67

Comic Books Released on May 1, 2013

It’s Thursday, so what does that mean? That’s right, yesterday was new comic day, which means that I stopped by my local comic book store (Rick’s Comic City…go there, it’s pretty awesome) and came home with a stack of four-color goodness. Let’s get down to it. As always, be prepared for spoilers, and all images are taken from the comics’ publisher’s websites unless otherwise note.

Aquaman #19 – (Variant cover scan grabbed from Things from Another World) I have no idea what’s going on in this book. I picked it up because my shop had a variant cover, and I seem to be a sucker for them. The cover image seemed to have very little to do with the book. The Ice King guy from “Adventure Time” is taking over? Is that it? While Mera met the icy guy, Arthur did not, in fact, have the chance to kneel before him. Oooh, is that it? Is this Aquaman’s Zod? I’m very uninterested in DC right now. I’m enjoying Batman, and I’m going to pick up Zack Snyder’s Superman book when it begins, but otherwise, blah. Also, this MAD variant is pretty ugly. I really need to reevaluate my purchasing criteria.

Earth 2 #12 – (Variant cover scan grabbed from Things from Another World) The only other DC series I’m enjoying is James Robinson’s Earth 2. It’s not Starman, which is kind of what I was hoping for, but it’s also not Justice League of America, which is good, because I thought is run on that title was pretty much crap. I’m enjoying his take on these “Golden Age” characters, though. We’ve got familiar names with familiar powers, but the similarities end there. And I like that Robinson is taking his time turning these characters into a team. They don’t just become a team, they’re pretty much forced to come together, and they’re slowly being formed into one. I like that. It’s natural.

Age of Ultron #7 – I was really hoping this series wouldn’t turn into a “What If” scenario. Do we need yet ANOTHER alternate universe to keep track of? Will we eventually get spin-off mini series set in this world? Age of Ultron: Secret Invasion? Age of Ultron: Kree/Skrull War? Age of Ultron: House of M? For the most part, I’m being entertained by this story. I’m a Bendis whore. We all know that. I just have a hard time caring about throw-away alternate universes.

Spawn #231 – (Cover scan grabbed from Things from Another World) I’ll be ho

nest, I only got this for the McFarlane cover. He was the first creator that I ever collected, that I followed from one book to another and for whom I frantically sought out back issues. I haven’t been getting all of the Spawn issues lately. Instead I’ve been picking up the ones that are homages to his earlier work. This one is, of course, an homage to his Spider-Man #1 cover. The thing is, he’s done this before. To his credit though, Toddy Mac didn’t just reuse the cover to Spawn #8 (which came out almost exactly 20 years ago, so that’s kind of neat).

All-New X-Men #11 – The big reveal of this issue was kind of ruined in last week’s Uncanny X-Men, but that’s okay. The treat here was the education of Jean Grey. Bendis is doing a good job of corrupting her pretty quickly. The Phoenix Force is gone, so I doubt we’re going to have another Dark Phoenix Saga, especially so soon after A vs. X, but might we not get Bendis’ take on the Hellfire Club’s brainwashing/corruption of Jean that originally turned her into the Dark Phoenix? I don’t trust her. I’m still on Wolverine’s side of this ever-widening schism, but I’m also on Emma and the Cuckoos’ side of the whole “We ain’t trust no Jean Grey!” thingamajig. The heart-to-heart with Kitty did nothing to reassure me.

Hawkeye #10 – Once again, this is a book I picked up because of the variant cover. I’ve got no idea what’s going on. This issue is NOT a good jumping on point for this series. I also feel I need to say something about my purchasing of variant cover. I know a lot of people hate these with a passion. They use the covers as proof that the industry is heading for 90s-eara crash. Hey, if you don’t like the multiple covers, don’t buy ‘em. I buy them because I’m a collector, not a speculator. I don’t toss these on eBay on Wednesday afternoons. I bag ‘em, board ‘em, and box ‘em with all my other comics. I like having a complete collection when possible. Now, I don’t get variants if they’re more than cover price. I’m lucky in that my shop occasionally sprinkles the regular issues with a couple variants. Sure, the prices on the really limited ones are jacked up, but I’m perfectly okay with paying cover price for a variant cover. Also, this “Many Armors of Iron Man” variant by Paolo Rivera is one of the better ones in the series.

Iron Man #9 – I thought I was going to drop this book after the first storyline, but I wanted to see how/why Tony got into space. Then I figured I’d drop it after that storyline, but you know what? It’s a damn fine book. If I weren’t so confident in Gillen’s ability to tell an absolutely gripping story (he’s the only writer to ever make me give a crap about Thor’s cast of characters), I’d be a little hesitant with him retconning space into Tony’s origin. I’m also enjoying Greg Land’s art a lot more than I have in the past, so I was disappointed to see that Dale Eaglesham was taking care of the art in this issue. He’s not a bad artist, it’s just that I think he tends to make all characters a little bulkier than they should be.

Superior Spider-Man #9 – I’m not buying it. I refuse to believe that Marvel allowed Slott to fully kill off Peter Parker. I do not believe they would allow a non-Peter Parker Spider-Man to be swinging his way through the Spidey books while there’s a major motion picture being filmed. I’ve loved Slott’s take on Spidey since he started writing the Wall Crawler, and I’ve really enjoyed Superior, but I have issues with this issue. First, I get that Peter’s friends and family are his strength, but when Ock starts getting rid of them and he realizes he’s “more than just Peter Parker,” why didn’t he also pull the Avengers and the Fantastic Four out of his memory to fight Ock and his mind villains? Also, did Ock think this all the way through? If he gets rid of Parker and all of his memories, what will he access to convince the world he’s the same Spider-Man everybody knows and loves? So is he now just Ock in Peter’s body? I’m going to trust Slott and assume he’s got all his bases covered. I think he’s earned it. One thing I did like was how Ock viewed himself in his mind. He wasn’t the dumpy villain that we know he is. He wasn’t as slim and trim as Spidey, but his weight looked like muscle instead of chub.

X-Factor #255 – Peter David recently announced that this title would be ending this fall, and I’m okay with that. I’ve recently realized I have no attachment to this team. Instead, I have an attachment to David writing the adventures of this team, and if he’s done, then I’m done. Is it possible to really enjoy a piece of fiction without having any emotional attachment to the characters? Maybe? I find this realization somewhat disturbing. It’s obviously something wrong with me, because David has done a stellar job making each character unlike the other, giving them their own voices and personalities. I read each character differently, I just really don’t care what will happen to them when the series ends. I felt a twinge of sadness at the death in this issue, but it didn’t have the resonance for me that Ted Knight’s (Golden Age Starman, not the actor), Ultimate Peter Parker’s, or even Miles Morales’ mom’s death had. So I will not weep for X-Factor Investigations after I read issue 262. I will bag the book, board the book, put the book with my other books, and I celebrate this complete story that was told.

Next Week’s Anticipated Purchases

Batman #20

Avengers #11

Avengers Assemble #15AU

Avenging Spider-Man #20

That’ll be the tiniest week I’ll have had in quite some time.

What You Should Have Read #65

Comic Book Reviews

for the Week of June 20, 2012

This week’s issue of Avengers vs. X-Men is the best I’ve read so far. There’s enough dialogue to make this last more than a couple of minutes, and there’s a lot going on. I thought the hunt for Hope was pretty stupid. Leave Hope to Scott, and if you’re worried about the Phoenix, send your people to try and take care of it (which, yeah, that happened, but the whole Utopia strike team thing was ridiculous). It’s good to see the Iron Fist plot from New Avengers finally being brought into the main book. It didn’t clear anything up, but it’s good that those ideas are here. I’m enjoying the new art from Olivier Coipel. I have no problems with John Romita, Jr., but I find that his work doesn’t flow all that well. His panels look more like tiny pin-ups. Coipel is much easier to flip through. I knew the ending of this issue was going to happen, but I wasn’t planning on Cyclops being the one to utter the words. I was expecting it’d be Scarlet Witch. After spending the previous five issues wondering how disappointed I was going to be at the end of the crossover, I find myself a little excited to see where this is going to go.

This was my first issue of Avenging Spider-Man, and I picked it up because it was the “Ends of the Earth” epilogue. It was bad, but I don’t think it was really necessary as an end cap. Except for the beginning and ending bookends, the story is a flashback where Spidey recounts a previously untold adventure with Silver Sable who, despite the lack of a body (also no Rhino body), is in fact dead. Never mind the fact that Sabra and Kangaroo also apparently bought it while helping out Spidey. Sable was a friend; the other two were just random international characters that were easy cannon fodder. There was one thing about this issue that made me sad. An editorial box said that this took place after Web of Spider-Man #72. I had that issue! Anyways, Spidey tells Sable and Strange that he can’t get married because he has a girlfriend. Web took place well after Pete and MJ got married, so why didn’t he say he was already married? Because that was scrubbed. It made me sad when I realized Pete and MJ never got married. It was a great nod to current continuity, though. There was also a member of the Wild Pack. Yay ‘90s!

Not a single member of the Dark Avengers appeared in the Dark Avengers this issue. Not a problem, though, because the issue was awesome. We finally find out why the Thunderbolts have been bouncing through time. There’s a wonderful guest star that is firmly rooted in current continuity. The story looks like it wraps up rather quickly, but I think the issue flows wonderfully. The whole thing centers around the Man-Thing, and this new version of him/it is terrific. I’d really rather read more stories about this team than the new team, the Dark Avengers. Of course, I have faith in writer Jeff Parker to flesh out this new team and get me to care about what happens to them.

Truth be told, I was a smidge disappointed in this week’s Invincible Iron Man. Stane was taken out like the chump he is. The hostage situation made absolutely no sense. Why didn’t Justine have her soldiers take out Doug from a distance? A good sniper with a head shot would be able to take him out with no harm to Sasha, correct? And Spymaster took the easy way out? Really? Still, the art by Salvador Larroca was as great as always, and the dialogue flowed wonderfully, but I can’t get behind the actual plot…except for the Tony/Bethany/Rhody stuff. I was totally okay with everything that happened there. Despite my disappointment, I do like that I have no idea where writer Matt Fraction is going with the story. I like to be surprised.

The best part of this week’s Journey into Mystery was the recap by King Arthur. I thought the bit in the club with Hellstrom was rather pointless, since we don’t see him actually doing the job that Loki tasked him with. Loki could have just mentioned his plan to Leah, and we would have gotten a bit more of their excellent back-and-forth. Of course, then we wouldn’t have learned about the Trashcan of Doom. I hope that comes into play by the end of the storyline.

Ah, finally an issue of New Avengers that isn’t utter crap! Sure, it’s still all about the Phoenix’s connection with K’un Lun, which isn’t explained, but we do get to see a red-headed Iron Fist who becomes the Phoenix. Also, this issue also actually has two members of the New Avengers in it, and it’s Spidey who brings the issue home. I love Hope’s skepticism at her reason for being at K’un Lun and her complete and utter turnaround once Spidey gives his speech. Granted, it’s a speech he’s given to himself plenty of times, but it’s a wonder when we get to see someone else’s reaction. So, yeah, great bit of story. And the art? Wonderful. When he first started out, I was not a fan of Mike Deodato. Not at all. But now, his work is art, not just lines on paper.

I’m giving X-Factor a second read because it was late when I started reading it and I really had to work at staying awake. That’s not a comment on Peter David’s writing. I was just really, really tired. Hell, I didn’t even notice that Jamie and Guido were talking over Longshot, who was laid out on a slab. While the last issue set up Rahne’s big journey, this issue set everybody’s new arc in motion. Rahne takes off with Rictor and Shatterstar to look for her abandoned son. Banshee and Havok head to Ulster, NY to see why it looks like Theresa is killing people. Maddrox continues investigating Far Sight’s death…right after he has a roll with Layla. And Lorna and Monet wait for Longshot to wake up. They have the easiest job. There was no action at all in this issue, but that’s par for the course with set-up issues. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a meaty issue. Dan Slott should be very happy with it. I know I was…on the second reading…when I was awake and alert.

My back issue purchases were Amazing Spider-Man #s 655 and 656.

Here are my planned purchases for next week:

Amazing Spider-Man #688

Spider-Men #2

Wolverine and the X-Men #12

What a gloriously tiny week. That makes up for the Ultimate Spider-Man Omnibus that I pre-ordered a month or so ago and received earlier this week.

And if I can make a little gripe, DC also has the Infinite Crisis Omnibus HC solicited for next week. I’m not going to get it, but I wanted to check out what was included in it to make it an omnibus edition. The main mini itself wasn’t going to be big enough. Sure enough, it includes ALL of the Infinite Crisis minis…except the main one. If your book is called the Infinite Crisis Omnibus HC, shouldn’t you have the main series included in it? Or title it something slightly different?

If my LCS gets a Locke & Key Card Game in, I’ll buy it. That’s somewhat of an empty promise, though, because I’m 95% sure they didn’t order one “just in case.”

What You Should Have Read #61

Comic Book Reviews for the Week of May 23, 2012

I thought this storyline was going to have some consequences, but I was shocked that Dan Slott was able to flash fry half the world without some repercussions. That was a very ballsy cliff hanger at the end of the previous issue, but I enjoyed the way it was taken care of with this issue. The Chameleon is great, and his banter with Mysterio is refreshing. It’s nice to see the villains working together rather than bitching about everything and disrespecting the idea of teamwork. Of course, that doesn’t mean Spidey isn’t somewhat successful at picking off the lackeys before Doc Ock sends in his new big guns. I’m glad this is wrapping up with the next issue. The story is working well, but it’s starting to drag just ever so slightly. I’ve never been a huge fan of the longer storylines. Three to four issues does the job for me, especially if the powers that be are going to sub in another artist. I haven’t minded Humberto Ramos for the past couple of issues, but I’ll always prefer Stefano Caselli. There’s more of an intensity to it and a bit more realism, if something like that can be said about such a fantastical comic book.

Is it wrong that I liked it when Thori sort of saved the day by attacking Luke/Loki? He’s one of things I’ve been enjoying about Kieron Gillen’s run with the Asgardians. This has been a good crossover. You wouldn’t think that I title like The New Mutants and a title like Journey into Mystery would work well together, but they do. I didn’t like the ending of this issue, though. Gillen changed the nature of the Disir. They went from being evil creatures to nothing but a group of tragic, horny women. I don’t want to feel sorry for them. I liked them when they were evil Asgardian cannibal women (dibs on the movie title!). I hope this story ends satisfactorily next week.

And that’s it for my new comics. I picked up Ultimate Spider-Man #s 155 and 157 for myself and a random pack of comics for the kiddos that included an issue of Futurama, Tiny Titans, Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four, X-Men: First Class and X-Men/Power Pack. I also finally broke down and got a hold box at my LCS (Rick’s Comic City in Nashville). I’m surprised it took me this long.

My anticipated titles for next week are:

Batman Annual #1

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #39

New Mutants #43

Wolverine & the X-Men #11

That’s a totally respectable week of purchases.

What You Should Have Read #60

Comic Book Reviews for the Week of May 16, 2012

Big week this week. Almost too big. So big that I decided not to get the Fantastic Four Point One issue that I had planned on getting.

Also, spoilers, because it’s hard to have a spoiler-free discussion.

I thought the Ends of the Earth one-shot was pointless. I kind of wish I would have flipped through it before just buying it sight unseen. Spidey recruits some international heroes to thwart Doc Ock’s plans in their respective countries, but personally, I would have been fine with this all happening between the panels of the regular ASM comic. If you read the most recent issue of Amazing Spider-Man, you know that ONE of these international heroes died. This comic was a smidge vague. I assume both Kangroo and Sabra were killed by Lady Deathstrike and Crossbones, but there’s no confirmation. Sure, Lady D slashes Kangaroo in the midsection and we see some decent blood spatter, but that’s it. And it sure looks like Crossbones hit Sabra with a headshot, but all we see is her face-down in a bit of blood. Out of the two ambiguous deaths, I’d say hers is the least ambiguous.

I hated Walt Simonson’s artwork in the previous issue, and his work in Avengers #26 is only marginally better. The stuff with Noh-Varr was pointless. He was character that Bendis did nothing with other than give him a new identity and a girlfriend. He wasn’t fleshed out at all, and he’s on my deadpool as the guy to get whacked in this crossover. He was great in Grant Morrison’s Marvel Boy mini-series, and he was decent in the Secret Invasion crossover. Since then, though, he’s been pretty useless. I also don’t understand why he’s so loyal to the Kree. These aren’t his Kree. He’s from an alternate dimension/universe. I really think Bendis is dropping the ball with the crossover issues in both this title and New Avengers.

So far this was my favorite issue of the mini-series. From the opening with Wolverine wearing a polar bear (not a polar bear pelt, but the whole damn animal), to the end with Thor crashing to the moon and the Phoenix showing up, it was all pretty solid. I like that they didn’t draw out the Phoenix’s arrival. With such a big thing happening so early in the series, I’m really interested in seeing how this is going to play out. The Thor stuff doesn’t quite line up with what happened in Avengers #26 this week, so it looks like we’ve got to wait another week to see how that ended. He WAS the only one to return to Earth (the Moon) though. I was okay with Wolverine duping Hope, but I’m wondering why he didn’t just try and end her right there. Scared? I don’t need to read Versus to know how the fights turn out. I don’t really care. I thought the first issue was poorly thought out, and I’m okay with just seeing a couple panels for the fights. I’m enjoying John Romita, Jr.’s artwork, but I think Colossunaut looks stupid. I don’t have a problem with the Peter possessing the power or anything like that, I just think is a cumbersome look, and that isn’t JRJr.’s fault.

Did anyone really believe Tony was going to quit being Iron Man? Nope, didn’t think so. Although solicits for this issue touted a new man in the armor, I don’t think the identity was much of a surprise, especially if you’ve seen the cover for the next issue. Flip to the back of this issue and you get the cover for the next issue. The suit is black and silver/gray. The suit has a ghost mode. The suit…well, other than it looking very Tron-ish, there’s nothing else that might betray the wearer’s identity, but c’mon, it HAD to be Rhodey. Fraction is doing his part to rehash (in a good way, I’m truly loving the series) old storylines. Tony loses his company. Tony gets drunk. Tony isn’t Iron Man anymore. It’s his greatest hits. So who subbed for Tony before, had a suit of his own that was black and silver/gray, and who’s latest suit had a ghost mode that was heavily used? James Rhodes, War Machine, of course. The same James Rhodes who was fake killed…last issue? So the last page shouldn’t have been a surprise to anybody. Rehashing or not, like I said, I’m still loving the book. I loved Tony’s scenes with the extraction of his current armor and the revelation of his latest armor. I loved Stane’s determination and the flashbacks of both men. I loved the Spymaster stuff and how Cabe was such a badass. The only thing that threw me for a loop were the Detroit Steel pages. It looked like some sexual roleplay gone wrong. I guess we’ll learn more about that later.

The end for the series of Locke and Key series is quickly coming to an end. I have yet to read a bad issue. Hell, one of them made me cry. In the last issue of the Clockworks mini, we get the resolution to Rendell and Dodge’s (and their best buds’) adventures with the keys. It satisfying, and it does a good job of setting up the final mini-series. Man, I HATE that the pilot didn’t get picked up by FX. If anybody reading this has run across a copy of it (or, if maybe Joe Hill is reading this and wants to drop a brother a tweet?), I’d love to see it.

I won’t lie, this is not a normal book for me. I got it only because of the crossover with Journey into Mystery. I probably won’t continue to get the book after the crossover ends, but I was not unhappy with having to purchase this issue. As crossovers go, it’s working well for me. It’s pulling on threads exposed earlier in Journey into Mystery, and the tie-in with New Mutants is logical what with them having a Valkyrie and some sort of Hel dog in their group. I also like that the writers of both series are noted in the credits. Just because Gillen writes JiM and not NM doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a bunch of input on what’s going on in this title, and vice versa. Also, even though Thor is in this, this could KIND OF be an unofficial AVX crossover. Kind of. Also also, the ending caught me by surprise. I like it when that happens.

I guess I’m okay with the way Thunderbolts ended. I haven’t been reading the title for the last 174 issues, only since Warren Ellis took over the writing chores. I think it’s because of that that I didn’t really have any feelings for the Fixer’s fate one way or the other. I mean, it sucks what happened, but dude brought it on himself. At least he had the wherewithal to man up and take one for the team. I’m more interested in seeing how this is going to transition into Dark Avengers. I like the idea of a dark Avengers team, and while I liked Osborn’s original team more than the most recent iteration, I’m interested in seeing where Jeff Parker is going to take the team and how quickly he’ll be able to get rid of Clor. Seriously, get rid of that shit.

One of the highlights of James Robinson’s Starman was the Times Past issues. The fact that he’s bringing the concept over to The Shade is a treat. This series is slightly odd. We’re learning so much about the Shade’s history, but as of yet we still haven’t learned how he got his powers, and I don’t think we will. Despite the murder and demonic possession, this was actually a sweet comic. The Shade meets his grandson and sees his wife one last time. There wasn’t much action, but I find that Robinson doesn’t really excel at that. His forte is history and storytelling. The thing I’m wondering most about this series is how it fits in to DC’s New 52. Although the Knight family hasn’t been mentioned, it seems like everything that we know about the Shade from that series is still in continuity. But there is absolutely no way the Knight legacy can still exist. If I understand the new continuity correctly (and the only two series I’m reading are Batman and The Shade, so I could be totally wrong with this), but Superman was the first superhero to show up, right? So there were no mystery men during World War II? So Ted Knight wasn’t Starman, and there is no Starman legacy. I don’t know, I’m just confused. In my mind, it’s all good though because I can enjoy all of those stories regardless of current continuity. But, if there’s a chance Mr. Robinson is reading this (‘cause imma tag you on Twitter, yo), please please PLEASE explain how the Shade and the Knights fit into The New 52.

Wow. X-Factor was kind of depressing, and Shatterstar and Madrox were almost useless. I mean, sure, Shatterstar saved the day and killed the bad guy, but how many innocents were killed first, some of them while Shatterstar was RIGHT THERE? I’m not 100% familiar with X-Factor’s recent history. I originally started reading the title when Peter David first came on board in the ‘90s, and I was pleased. I stopped reading it when I stopped reading all X-books, right in the middle of the Phalanx Covenant. I got back in when the current series was renumbered starting with issue #200. I need to go back and get the David issues that I missed. Anyways, all that to say…is that Mr. Tryp manipulating Far Sight? I’ve only seen him when Jamie was bouncing around the alternate timelines, and I have no idea who he is or what he can do. Like I said, I’ve got some back issues to find.

My two back issues for this week were, Ultimate Spider-Man #s 158 and 159, and I picked up a small packet of Justice League Adventures comics, issues 4, 6 and 8, for my son. He was happy.

Here’s my list for next week:

Fables #117

Amazing Spider-Man #686

Journey into Mystery #638

Oh thank God this is a small week. The past two were horrible. Hmm, that’s going to make for a small blog entry. At least I should be able to get it posted at a reasonable time. Grr.

What You Should Have Read #59

Reviews for Comics Released May 9, 2012

Between my new issues and a handful of back issues, this was a big week for me. Let’s get right to the reviews.

Bendis and Bagley together is usually a no-brainer for me, but I’m getting very tired of Bendis and his Avengers, but that’s something I’ll get to with my New Avengers review. I’ve got no problems with Bagley’s art here. It’s solid and clean, and it’s what I expect from him. He’s not a superstar artist, but he’s dependable, and you always know what you’re going to get. I’m giving a bit of an internal eye roll, though, that this title even exists. I mean, I get the reason for it, but titles created solely in order to cash in on something rather than because the creators want to do a particular story, well, I find that those tend to come off as a bit flat and emotionless. This team of Avengers consists of the characters from the movie, including Maria Hill (no Cheese…excuse me, Agent Coulson…yet, but I’m sure he’s not far behind). Hell, even the last page smacks of MOVIE CROSS PROMOTION!!! That said, I’m enjoying this title more than either of the other Avengers titles at the moment. Just because I don’t like the reason for something doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the finished product.

  

I’ve never been able to get into Batman as a solo character. I loved what Morrison and Waid did with him during their JLA runs, but I’ve never been able to get into any of his solo series. I decided to give it a try with DC’s reboot since I liked both Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Although I enjoyed the first issue, I just couldn’t keep with it so I dropped it. After reading nothing but rave reviews, I decided to pick it up again this week, and I double-dipped by picking up the previous issue so I could get in on the ground floor of “Night of the Owls.” Dammit, looks like I’ve got to go back and pick up some back issues, because I’m officially hooked. I like that Bruce, while still a genius detective, is pretty damn tough. He’s a fighter, and not the kind who uses specially place nerve punches to quickly take out an opponent. He’s a brawler. I’m also enjoying the back-up stories with art by Snyder’s American Vampire cohort Rafael Albuquerque. Issue eight had an Alfred-focused story, and issue nine focused on Alfred’s dad. I’m loving this bit of history, and it makes me all the more eager to snatch up issues two through seven (my buddy bought the hardcover collection yesterday, and I’ll probably borrow that before I can pick up the single issues) of the series to see what else Snyder has done with Batman’s world and Gotham. It makes me think about James Robinson’s Starman, and that’s high praise indeed, since it’s my favorite series. If Snyder is going to continually give us a history lesson and make Gotham an actual “character” (and not just a dark collection of warehouses and alleyways) like Robinson did with Opal City, then sign me up. I do hope I can enjoy the current storyline without having to get the other tie-in issues. So far it looks like I’ll be able to. The flow between issues eight and nine was smooth, and a small blurb let me know that I can read about one of Bruce’s side missions over in Detective Comics, but it didn’t look like it had any bearing on the thread that’s running through Batman. So yay! I’m reading a Batman book, and that brings my New DC tally up to three!

I wasn’t able to hit up a comic book store last weekend to participate in Free Comic Book Day. Had it been the weekend that my kids’ mother had them, then I totally would have, but it wasn’t, so I couldn’t. My LCS had a few copies of Dark Horse’s contribution, though, and I grabbed one on my way out of the store. A Serenity story written by Zack Whedon? Yup, I’m in. And it was pretty awesome. It was short and sweet, and it really captured the voices of all the characters. I could totally see this as the opening of a new episode…and now I’m sad. The Star Wars story was good, too, but it felt extremely similar to the Serenity story.

I’m always surprised that enjoy Journey into Mystery so much. I’ve never been a fan of Thor or his supporting cast, and while I tended to enjoy J. Michael Stracyznski’s series, I was never really blown away by it. Kieron Gillen makes everyone so likeable, even “villains.” This issue gets a smidge confusing, but it’s explained away well enough. It’s part two of a crossover with the New Mutants (almost as bad of a name Cougar Town) that began with last week’s Exiled one-shot. There are a bunch of plotlines coming together, and it’s neat to see them all lead back to the same place. As excited I am to finally be involved in Batman’s world, I’m also excited to be learning about this new-to-me corner of the Marvel Universe.

I am disappointed in the current storyline in New Avengers. I assume there will be a decent payoff, but wow, Bendis is not doing his best work here. First of all, there is not a single appearance by an Avenger, new or otherwise, in this book. At least we got a panel or two of Iron Fist last issue. Between the Kree stuff going on in Secret Avengers and the K’un L’un stuff going on here, it looks as if the mythology of the Phoenix is being rewritten as to have a larger connection with the mystically cosmic part of the Marvel Universe. I guess that’s okay. It’s something you have to come to grips with in comics. Retcons happen. The Kree stuff makes sense. This, though…this just feels forced. And hey, let’s throw Leonardo da Vinci into the mix, too. Jonathan Hickman’s S.H.I.E.L.D. was confusing enough, but it mostly existed in a vacuum. Sure, Nathaniel Richards and Howard Stark showed up, as did the Brood and Galactus, but I was okay with that. The story, while trying to give S.H.I.E.L.D. a larger history in the Marvel Universe (unnecessary), was surprisingly insular. It didn’t (at least it hasn’t yet, and I don’t know what additional plans there are for the series) have any interactions with any regular Marvel characters and instead dealt more with inserting various classical thinkers and scientists into Marvel’s history. One of the main characters was da Vinci, and now Bendis has brought him over and shoehorned him into this crossover. After the wonderful Osborn stories, the past two issue of this series has really killed my enjoyment of the title. This storyline is back-up material at best.

Wolverine and his hit squad are having a hard time of late. This is a team that shouldn’t work. The characters don’t work well together. There are too many conflicting personalities, ideals, and motives. But writer Rick Remender does a wonderful job of smoothly making this dysfunctional team succeed where they have to. I love Deadpool here, more so than in his regular series. I like him playing off of other characters rather than just his internal monologues. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it, he and Fantomex need a spin-off road-trip mini-series. The team is down to a skeleton crew for this issue, but Wolvie isn’t worried since he’s assuming the mission will be a cakewalk. Of course it doesn’t turn out like that. After a bit of a confusing stumble with the Captain Britain stuff, I’m back on board with where it looks like this book is going: massive murder, moral conflicts, and the eventual wringing of hands and pulling of hair.

Wolverine and the X-Men is still my favorite post-Schism X-book. It’s weird to see Wolverine in the role of headmaster, but it works, and the kids are all amazing. There’s a bit of dissention in the ranks this issue, and it doesn’t seem forced at all. Jason Aaron does a good job of explaining why certain characters make certain decisions. So far I’m enjoying this little slice of the Avengers vs. X-Men crossover than anything else happening with it. I also like that Aaron isn’t abandoning current plot threads to focus on the crossover. We still get a good dose of Angel and Genesis and even a bit of Quentin and Idie.

I also picked up a couple of back issues for my collection, and I picked up a few issues for my oldest son. We sat on the floor of my comic book room (read: my walk-in closet) bagging and boarding our new issues. I got him Justice League Adventures #s 2 and 3 and I ended up getting:

Amazing Spider-Man #656 (Captain America 70^th Anniversary variant cover)

Amazing Spider-Man #665 (I Am Captain America variant cover)

Amazing Spider-Man #671 (my favorite cover in quite some time)

Justice League Adventures #1 (it actually came with my son’s grab pack, but I kept it because of the Alex Ross cover)

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #4

Here are the new comics I’m expecting to get next week:

Shade #8

Locke and Key: Clockworks #6

Amazing Spider-Man: Ends of Earth #1

Avengers #26

Avengers vs. X-Men #4

Fantastic Four #605.1

Invincible Iron Man #517

New Mutants #42

Thunderbolts #174

X-Factor #236