Checkmate #10: Continues to be one of my favorite books, exploring the DCU as if it were a real universe, and setting international intrigue/spy adventures within it. Unlike our NSA or FBI, Checkmate just uses magic to sneak a spy into a terrorist organization. And somehow, it makes perfect sense.
Helmet of Fate: Ibis the Invincible: A long-wided tale, set in the past, that doesn’t seem to jive with the events of, oh, let’s say Seven Soldiers. Or any number of other books. But whatever, there’s a new Ibis the Invincible, and he has a rich cultural heritage! Let’s give a minority an F list superhero identity! And we’ll use a jive-talking Thoth! Not recommended.
Robin #158: Frazier Irving’s art is great (can’t we put him on Conan or something?), but the story seems unconcerned with, again, what ACTUALLY happened in Seven Soldiers, and not just the ending.
52 #39: On the cover it says “Montoya Fights a Dragon!” and inside… no Montoya at all. Ralph Dibny encounters the original Aquaman who for some reason hasn’t mutated yet, and Natasha’s boyfriend was gruesomely killed. And then she’s beaten up by a super-powered Luthor. Better than average issue with a number of reveals.
Daredevil #93: Brubaker’s arc wrapped up in a convienent little package. It’s interesting that he was able to tell a pretty big story arc and not have the climax be a big fight, but instead an argument with a dying woman, and then a conclusion that wraps everything up, appropriately, with legal matters.
Ion #10: Oh boy, the Tangent universe is back, the Wildstorm-verse is connected, and the DCU is getting the bleed? It seems like everything that happened here should have been in a more important book.
Jack of Fables #7: Continues to be great, though it’s very rare in comics to see them change the direction of a story suddenly, and have the main character say “We’ll fix it in the trade”
JLA Classified #33: Another old school superhero tale told with my favorite Justice League, but it just somehow seems dissapointing coming from Dan Slott. Still, I like the idea of three parallel versions of events happening in successive comics.
OCT #4: This is a really good comic. Lots of mysticism made into police procedural. Kind of like M.I.B. but with magic instead of aliens. Entirely photoreferenced artwork with muted tones. And nearly every panel features Rosario Dawson. Rar.
Teen Titans #43: A pretty fun issue introducing Titans East, the bad guy versions of the Teen Titans. We also get to see more Miss Martian, who’s the new “powerful pollyanna” who happens to be a white martian. And a possible explanation for why Batgirl went bad: evil serum! My only problem with this issue is that there’s a lot of gratuitous cheesecake shots.
Ultimate Fantastic Four #38: While totally confusing at times because of alienness, Pasqual Ferry’s artwork fit it all perfectly. Now Ultimate Thanos and Ultimate Ronan are in continuity, and the stage is set for Ultimate Cosmic Cube.
Annhilation #6: Galactus gets PISSED, and that pretty much does it. A bunch of people killed actually survived (cheap movie trick), but looks like there’s something of a new status quo in the Space Marvel Universe, with Silver Surfer once again being Galactus’s herald, and Thanos being toast.
Annihilation has been getting pretty good marks, but I really question the timing. With Civil War shoved down our throats who is really supposed to keep up with the space crossover? Are there any ongoing titles in Marvel even cosmically based right now? And when they do put out the obligatory Nova/Surfer titles will anyone even care?
No kidding. Between this, Silent War, and Civil War, there seems to be crossoverload. (heh, I just made that up.) My thinking is that Marvel saw Rann/Thanagar War, said “We can do that, but better” and proceeded to do so despite everything else that was already going on.
Civil War seemed to come out of nowhere with almost no lead-in. Perhaps these projects just aren’t being planned very far in advance, the opposite of DC’s “look, every book has a portent!”
Your mom is so fat that even Galactus couldn’t eat her.