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Secret Invasion #2. Only one dang thing wrong with this book: it goes by way too fast! The New Avengers battle the 70s Marvel heroes in the Savage Land and it's not conclusive at all. It appears that most of the 70s guys are Skrulls, yet we've got big questions about Mockingbird and Captain America. I doubt that Cap is the real deal because Steve Rogers' body didn't become Skrully in the autopsy lab. I've been critical of Bendis in the past, but this year his Marvel Avengers work is firin' on all cylinders. My favorite character this issue is Hawkeye; I love how Bendis milks the drama between him and Mockingbird. How many of Marvel's current readership knows that Hawkeye was married to Mockingbird and about her death in Avengers West Coast #100? Lenil Yu's art is fantastic, there are several double page spreads that knocked my socks off. I especially liked the last one where the Super Skrulls invade New York City.
Mighty Avengers #13. Bendis has wanted to write a Nick Fury series since he first started with Marvel. Looks like this is where he gets his wet dream, continuing from last issue, where we saw Fury havin' sex with a Skrull babe who morphed into Val. This story is pretty much setup where Fury sends Daisy Johnson (earthquake chick from Secret Wars) to recruit a new crop of second generation heroes. Fury's pretty sure these guys and gals ain't Skrulls and he can use 'em to fight back. Have to see where this one goes...it's funnier than heck that Fury disguises himself as the Ultimates Samuel Jackson.
Action Comics Annual #11. What the heck? I thought I read this already. No, wait, I did not. Can anyone in the comics world tell me what happened to the Kubert brothers? They used to put out 10 comics a year and now they do 1 a year. Well, even if it's just one a year, Adam Kubert's widescreen storytelling hits you in the face like a summer blockbuster. Great stuff! Warner Brothers ought to look at this material for the next Superman movie. Geoff Johns (and Richard Donner) create a really touching ending to this whole "Son of Superman" thing and show you that Superman can be hurt. Lex Luthor is the real standout for me in this story, there are so many great Luthor scenes here, with my favorite quote, "This is what it feels like to kill a Kryptonian." The story is not without flaws, you can't help but think these villains are so powerful, why is Superman still around? When you see Metallo use Gold Kryptonite, you will know what I mean.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, #14: Drew Goddard's story gets deeper into the whole Twilight mystery. I love the fact that Dracula's back; he's got the funniest lines in this issue, and that's sayin' a lot, because there are many laughs in this story. Just when you think Buffy is a comedy, there's shocking twist on the last page. Hooboy.
Metal Men #8. Goldarn it, I'm torn on this one. The pictures are pretty and the story is purty good. I just can't get over the new anime-inspired Metal Men redesign that Duncan Rouleau created. I love the ending and the new, improved Viridium.
Amazing Spider-Man #558. I enjoy the Brand New Day stories more than anyone. The return of the classic Spidey formula is like comfort food to this good ol' boy. So you will know where I am comin' from when I say that this issue sucks. The only sequence I enjoyed is the one where Jonah Jameson comes home from the hospital and views the message from his wife. I don't care how rich you are, you just can't demolish a flat screen TV! Other than that, we have Menace, who is a fourth-rate watered down Goblin. The original and best villain was Green Goblin, then we had Hobgoblin (who I loved), then we had Jack-O-Lantern, and now we have Menace. I hope Osborne comes back and kills this lame freakazoid. Oh yeah, the main baddie this issue is Freak, who seems to me like a lame version of the Lizard, only because Curt Connors is flailing around in this story.
Detective Comics #844. Zatanna! Fishnets! What more do you need? Paul Dini's managed to make Scarface interesting, thanks to the new Ventriloquist. Duncan Nguyen has been doing a killer job on the artwork for the past few issues as well.
Avengers-Invaders #1. I'm an old coot, I probably have comic books older than most geeks alive today! I like the Invaders. But I didn't like Avengers-Invaders. Here's the problem, one that Oliver on Fanboy Radio pointed out recently. Alex Ross is tryin' to make himself into a brand with junk like Avengers-Invaders and Project SuperPowers. But when the main strength of your brand is awesome photo-realistic painted art, and these side comics have artwork that cannot match most mainstream superhero comics, you've screwed the pooch. Steven Sadowski's artwork is pretty scratchy and I can't make sense out of the action scenes. The story ain't great either, Krueger conjures up a flimsy excuse to catapult the Invaders into 2008, where Spider-Man is fightin' the Thunderbolts. Sorry, Alex, I wanted to like this one, I really did.
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