Hope You're Comfortable...

Because I have a truckload of comics to review. So many that I am starting this during halftime of the Super Bowl. Not really going to comment on that until later if needed. I will say this. After seeing the IRON MAN trailer, I am convinced that it will give THE DARK KNIGHT a run for the money this spring.


So, on to the comics!


Marvel-
Amazing Spider-Man 547 &548- I really loved Dan Slott's run on THE THING. It was the best superhero book with humor out there. That being said, this has not been a great start. I know he is hamstrung by Quesada's agenda, and he probably cannot start any real good storylines because of the "Secret Invasion" stuff. (real quick sidenote on that; I may pick an issue, but having Yu doing the artwork to such a big project is turning my stomach. His stuff has not looked as strong as his earlier stuff. In my opinion.) So with all that, he managed to do put an OK start to this FUBAR hero. Not great, but OK. I will stay with it for a bit more and see what he can do before the hammer drops.
Astonishing X-Men 24- We're almost done with this Whedon /Cassaday run, and I know that a lot of you are happy about that. You know my feelings for Master Joss, and I love just about anything Cassaday does, but I think I feel the same way. He has tried to write this at times like his shows, or at least I think he does. I loved the line from Wolverine; "when does Pete get to throw me at something?" But for the most part, the story has been really sort of blah.
Captain America 34- The "new" Cap begins his run. There have been lots of stuff written about this, most of it by people who never bothered to pick up a comic in their lives. I like the fact that Bucky is using a different suit and his explaination of why he is using a gun. Steve Epting does a great job drawing the battle and Bucky's inner conflict at wearing the colors seems in place. Brubaker does a terrific job ratcheting up the suspense in this issue and the next should be as good.
Daredevil 104- Mr. Fear uses Lilly to drive Milla over the edge and beat the living crap out of her nurse. Matt is too busy plaing catch-up and discovers too late what is happening. Meanwhile, Mr. Fear and the Hood are meeting to (I guess) join forces. This has been a pretty good arc from Brubaker. He has turned DD from a reactive hero to a proactive one. The things he does to Ox with a blow torch , while not MAX line stuff, is not the usual fare from ol' hornhead.
Fantastic Four 553- This is Dwayne McDuffie's last issue before Mark Millar takes over the writing chores. Man, did this one give me a headache. Timelines, alternate timelines, Kang's 3rd law of time, yada, yada yada. Wow, felt like I needed a Phd or something at the start of this. As such, was not the best issue to start on. But we got a big battle with Dr. Doom and a nice wrap-up so I can't complain too much. On the whole, McDuffie's run has been one of the better one on FF in the past few years, with Mark Waid's really the best of the past decade or so. I look forward to seeing what Millar and Brian Hitch can cook up for the First Family of Marvel.
Iron Man 25- To begin with, I must agree with Jim's assessment of Marvel's continued gouging of it's fanbase. Charging 1 to 2 dollars more without giving more story or anything of signifigance is just wrong. If I want to read about the origin of IM, or see a preview of another miniseries, I'll look elsewhere. That being said, the main story was pretty good. We are FINALLY going to see Iron Man vs. the Mandarin. Can't wait to see that.
New Avengers Annual 2- Big battle, Jessica Jones turns herself in. Not really a whole lot more than that. Dr. Strange kicks them out of the house and leaves the group. And who the hell is the demon controlling the Hood? If it is Mephisto, I am holding a public burning of anything Marvel.
Punisher 54- We see a series of flashbacks on what made the Barracuda such a bad mofo. Man, the way that Frank finally ended him was so brutal, so final, it makes it tough to think that there will be any more miniseries.
Ultimate Spider-Man 118- First part of "Spidey and his Amazing Friends" arc. Don't know if that's what they're calling it, but I'm calling it that. So, Liz is the new Firestar? That's....cool. One thing the Ultimate universe prides itself is taking characters and putting some spins on them. This is one I like. I also like this kid Kenny. He seems somewhat grounded and has potential. Have to say I was not real thrilled with Stuart Immonen's art on this ish, but to quote Spider-Man from "Family Guy"; "everybody gets one save". So I'll consider this his.
Wolverine Origins 21- Not really much to say here except for one word; Deadpool. This issue really did nothing for me except make me laugh at a couple of times. The opening "duck" sequence was a pacesetter for how this arc is going to go.
X-Men 207- End of the "Messiah Complex" crossover. Other than *spoiler warning* Professor X ending up dead, what the heck really happened here? What is the deal with Bishop? Will he be a pariah? This is leading into the ongoing CABLE series, but sorry, not for me. Oh, would someone please tackle me and explain the deal with Rogue? I know she is one of Rusty's favorite character, but just what is her damage?

DC Comics-
Action 861- Looks like Brainiac wasn't such a bad guy after all. Turns out the JLE is using one of the lost Legion guys to turn the sun red. Then Brainiac loses control of his planet and the universe is headed towards war. This was a really terrific issue and Gary Frank's artwork (at least to me) got really better. Maybe he just needed to get his feet wet again, as I don't think he has done any monthly work in a while. If I'm wrong, I humbly apologize. As for Geoff Johns, this guy is becoming the Bendis of DC. Or maybe Brubaker is better. Anyway, just about anything this guy touches is done right and feels like a sure fire winner.
Batman 673- I love Grant Morrison's stuff, but sometimes it takes me awhile to catch up on what the heck is going on. Case in point, last issue Bats got shot in the chest and was left for dead, or so we thought. It was not until the last page that we actually discovered what happened. On the plus side, we did get a peek into what Bruce subjected himself thru during the Nanda Parbat thing. My unconfortableness aside, this was a pretty good issue upon further reading and I am looking forward to finding out just who is this guy in the other Bat suit.
Countdown 15-13 - I can pretty much sum alot of this up in one sentence. Superman Prime is the biggest jerk in the 52 universes and acts like a petulant child. But I have to say issue 15 had the line of the week during the battle between Wonder Girl and Donna Troy; "I'm Donna Troy, bitch. Donna. Troy.". Loved it. Darkseid makes his move and Monarch is killed, maybe along with Superman Prime (I hope).
Green Lantern 27- Creation of the Alpha Lanterns. They are the internal affairs of the corps. they will police the police, as they say. John Stewart had a chance to join, but refused the offer, perhaps sensing something is not all wel and good in Oa. An interlude in the issue shows a "guardian" asking Ash to recover the corpse of the Anti-Monitor. Last panel on that page shows it all. It also shows why I love Geoff Johns. He introduced an idea during the conclusion to the Sinestro Corps War and even though it won't become a major thing until 2009, he is already starting to sow the seeds. For the love of God DC, don't screw this up and let him go without completing this epic!
Justice League of America 17- Alan Burnett takes over the main story arc here while McDuffie writes the back-up. Main story deals with some villians looking to the JLA for sanctuary from the Suicide Squad. The stories are geting back to the JLA about the planet the bad guys have been put on (see SALVATION RUN for that one) and they aren't happy about it. Looks promising. Back up is dealing with Vixen's new powers, that of being able to leach the abilites off of her teammates as opposed to animals. For me, Jon Boy Meyers drew about as sexy a Vixen as I have ever seen. This story has me curious as to where it will lead. Is this something that she can control, or is it part of something more sinster using her as a bait? We'll see.
Robin 170- Well, it didn't take Chuck Dixon long to make himself right at home back on Robin, did it? He brings back one of Tim's better supporting cast (Ives) and introduces a new female villain in purple (Stephanie? nope.) to chase around. There has been a bunch of speculation on the 'net about if Steph will actually return from the dead or not. Me? I sure as hell hope not. I like the girl Tim has in his life now, and bringing her back will just draw Batman back into the mix, and he really works well as an ancillary character here.

Well gang, thats gonna wrap it up for me right now. There are a few more that I will comment on later, since I'm back to being poor and my selection will be come slim again. But I promise that there will not be any more 3 week breaks like this again. 2 at the max, no more.
See ya! =)