Keeps my mind off the eyedrops and steroids, at any rate.

X-Men Legacy, 210.

Or Charles Xavier’s goofy Road Trip book, as it should become known as. I finally figured out what was going on, and I’m actually beginning to dig the book. Although I nearly broke down when I saw that we’re going right back to Rogue aswell. Fuck sake – the chick is useless. Great Greg Land art aswell, which isn’t a sentence you’d hear a lot. Maybe he gets away with it because its all flashback work.

The ORDER Finale

I think the saddest thing about the demise of the book is that it’s once again proved that an aspect of fans out there just can’t handle the idea of heroes being imperfect. This book could have run for years, and its failed, essentially at the first hurdle, and seeing what Slott has done with Ant-Man, I’m not keen on the idea of folding them into the Initiative. Oh well. Zeke Stane, on the other hand, is the best heel Marvel have had in years. YEARS.

ULTIMATE HUMAN 4(of 4)

Tony Headbutts Banner. Banner explodes. Cary Nord draws this exactly as you’d think. It’s awesome. I love Warren Ellis and will do so until the end of time because he writes this stuff. Perfect. I’m buying the trade aswell.

The New AvengerSKRULLS 40.

An entire issue, of Skrull backstory, basically how they got from the end of the Illuminati trade to…where we are now. Nearly. Bendis makes the first mis-step of this epic with a final page reveal that comes off as head-explodingly stupid, instead of “Huh…..wha”. If it had been any other character except ..her, I would have said…huh….that works, I guess – but because this one is already up to her eyeballs in screwing people over, it just doesn’t work out the way they wanted.

IRON FIST 14.

I’m really in too minds about this whole arc, but it paid off in the end. I think Fraction spent way too long introducing way too many characters and my head just began to melt. Thankfully, right at the end, we go right back to you know, fighting, and it works. This is what the book should be, and the twist at the end is a good enough direction for Sweircynski to go off onto. (is this Fraction’s last issue??)

Finally,

THOR:Ages Of THUNDER

In the future, Matt Fraction will write Thor and it’ll be awesome. None of the yapping thats killing JMS’ work, this is Thor. Fighting Frost Giants. And Loki being an ass. This is a proper Thor book and I LIKE IT.

Captain America 34.

Yay for awesome comics with Winter Soldier becoming Captain America. It’s actually the Directors Cut – but the script makes it that much more awesome. By the way – feelings on the new suit

-Alex Ross Bad

-Steve Epting Good.

Doctor Who, 1 &2

Hey, that rhymes. And, while I know stuff about what happened behind the scenes – at this point it is appropriate to say “At this point, it’s more like Doctor Why Bother”

Ultimate Human 3

Ellis should write Queen and Country. Awesome stuff that virtually ignores Stark, Banner and The PLOT and gives us an issue of Pete Wisdom, The Leader

Dan Dare 5

I know the book has it’s detractors, and the entire cast is Ennis stock – but, you know something – the stock works when you do it right.

X-Factor 29

And I’m done at the end of this arc. I am not interested in Larry Stroman, no Layla Millar, Deadshot, friggin Arcade and a crossover with She Hulk.

Thunderbolts 119

Ellis Gone I go.

Uncanny X-Men 496.

Now this I liked. I’ll be sad to see Choi going, and it is an obvious set up for the new Status Quo, but hey, Brubaker bringing The Red Room. Can’t go wrong with that.

Fantastic Four 555 & 556

This is I just don’t get. All the pieces are there – but I have ZERO connection, emotional or otherwise, to the book. Maybe it’s just me and I find the concept laughable but I just can’t get into it – and I soooo wanted to.

CABLE 1 & 2

This, on the other hand, I sorta dug, even if it is as slow as molasses and I really should hate Olivetti’s art. What can I say – I’m willing to give the new guy a shot.

Iron Fist 13.

And I intend on giving him a shot on this too. But by god is this a fantastic book. If Matt Fraction wrote nothing else for Marvel, and I intend on checking out Iron Man – the final page is the pinnacle of bad-ass comics.

The ORDER 9

Everyone who didn’t support this book should die a sorry death until their eyeballs falls out.

X-Men Legacy 209

Um……what the hell is going on…..shouldn’t Xavier be a vegetable? Is Magneto with Exodus…..Carey’s using words like Flatscan..

I’m freaked out, but I’ll continue reading….for the time being.

SECRET INVASION 1.

Emma Frost better not be a skrull. Other than that it’s open season, I guess. I dug the hell out of this, compared to the dull openers of Civil War and House Of M.

Amazing Spiderman 555 & 556

Dear Marvel.

Please make Zeb Wells and Chris Bachalo the permanent creative team on this book, and I will forgive you hiring Guggenheim and Slott. That is all.
I mean, seriously – and I used to hate BOTH of them.

Criminal, Vol. 2, 2

Standard Criminal Review – If you need me to recommend Criminal – you’re not reading enough Criminal.

Kick-Ass 2

Huh. Much like Fantastic Four – I fail to see the actual point- but I certainly have an emotional connection to it. The book is just funny as all hell, but utterly realistic. Lets face it – you probably would youtube him.

The Boys 16 & 17.

I WAS EATING MY LUNCH YOU SICK FUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kick Ass 1.

So, I’m a big fan of Millars work. Not the biggest, not to the point of, say….Ellis, where, bar Excalibur, I have at least read, everything he’s put down on paper – but I’d support and follow his work.

And, I’ve read enough to figure something out.

Chosen, for example, is the most obvious – a kid learns he’s something more, and the book is about his change. Wanted has a similar undercurrent, although Wesley is obviously older. In Red Son, you could argue that Superman only really grows up when he takes control of Russia. Hell, I’d go so far as to say Ultimates is about a group of people who grow into becoming heroes.

Kick-ASS turns this theme on its head by having a kid who refuses wait, and takes the grown-up thing to HIM – and the dangers within. It’s quite fascinating actually

It’s also quite a brilliant book.

Dan Dare 3.

In which Ennis turns The Mekon into the Dominion, a major character buys the farm,  and everything is DOOMED. After only three issues. I remain somewhat underwhelmed, but then again, I have a copy of the Fury trade nearby, and Ennis has a character called Fuckface. I have difficulty relating the two.

X-Men: Legacy 208 (a purely honorable number, given that its as near to a new book as possible – and I suspect they just couldn’t be bothered launching ANOTHER new book, at the expense of the Jim Lee one)

So, post Messiah Complex, and after X-Force, Uncanny, X-Factor and an issue of Wolverine, it’s left to Mike Carey to deal with, you know, Xavier being dead. No, wait, he’s not dead – Exodus’ crew and a MAJOR SURPRISE. have him and are trying to put his brain back together after Bishop shot him. Where’s Bishop, who cares. John Romita Jr. does flashback(?) art and it looks quite fantastic. I was on the fence for a while but Carey’s work on the book has been exemplary so far, so I’ll keep going for a while.

Criminal, Vol.2

If you need a part time blogger to recommend friggin CRIMINAL to you, you’re clearly eading the wrong reviews. Just fantastic stuff.

Next week – Duane Swiercynski and Ariel Olivetti attempt a Cable re-launch, and X-Factor and Uncanny X-Men continue their post-Messiah Complex stories. And The Boys.

Ultimate Human, (2/4).

As I’ve already stated my love of this….I can’t for the life of me think why Ellis wasn’t given a shot at revitalizing the entire Ultimate Universe by himself, or at the very least, the presumably inevitable solo-Ultimate Hulk miniseries. We’ll ignore the fact that it took me this long to figure out that Human is actually a dead witty portmanteau of Hulk and (iron) Man, and focus entirely on Stark calling the Iron Man suit “the flying metal pajamas of death”. Furthermore, Ellis’ reinterpretation of both the Leader, and Peter Wisdom, is downright brilliant, chilling, and the most creative thing I’ve seen in the imprint in a long time. Jeph Loeb ought to take notes

The Order, (8/10)

I could bitch and piss and moan about the book hitting it’s creative stride, AFTER the cancellation notice, but that would be quite redundant, as Fraction takes the book, and turns it into an elaborate prequel for his Iron Man book. That’s creative license for you. The book itself is fine – although if you wern’t aware of May’s solicits, then the reveal of the villain would be a head scratcher. For the record – the reveal of Mulholland’s abilities is a classice Marvel double edged sword – one group of fans will kvetch about “another” mutant getting their powers back by a Deus Ex Machina – the other will just piss about the idea of “another” mutant faffing about.

Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall & The Green Mist Of Death

Didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would, which seems about right for Fraction’s batting average. The problem with creating this huge backstory for these new characters is exactly that – they’re new characters, and all the Russ Heath art in the world isn’t going to mae me care about the Confederates Of The Curious.

Cool name though.

Runaways 29 (5/6?)

This on the other hand, was a bit of a revelation – an issue of this where I was able to tell what was going on without reading the previous issues. Too bad it’s the penultimate issue – and Whedon introducing this “stay with me/come with us” horseshit is an obvious red herring, because he has too much respect for BKV and Terry Moore to go on shaking the apple cart now. However, I think once the final issue hits, everyone will just step back and try and forget it ever happened.

Next week, Dan Dare, Criminal and Mark Millar and John Romita debut Kick Ass. And the first Diggle Hellblazer trade, if I can find it.

If a comic book publisher can put out a better single issue of a book this year – I’ll be staggered.