Best of the Rest! May 29th edition.

Hey all, X back with his last contribution to the blog this week.  This was a really light comic week for me, and as such, I have hardly anything to review for this post...  Just two measly comics...  Not only that, but JT doesn't have anything else to review!  So basically, this post will consist of two reviews, one of which is a last issue!  Since I'm not expecting anybody to read this, I'm just gonna blow through these as quick as can be.

Venom #35: Crazy Eddie confronts Flash at the High School Flash was teaching at, wanting a rematch of the prior night's festivities.  Before things can get too explosive between the two, the Unnamed Alien from the past few issues pops up, attacking students and teachers alike.  Eddie and Flash put their differences aside and team-up to destroy the Unnamed Alien.  After fighting besides Flash, Eddie decides to leave Flash alone, but threatens that he'd return if Flash proved unable to control his symbiote.  Hey, good stuff here!  I enjoyed this story and really enjoyed the interaction between Eddie and Flash.  I don't get what the hell was going on with the Unnamed Alien, as we learned nothing about it for three issues(not even it's name!), so I'm kind of perplexed as to why Cullen Bunn included it here.  Besides that though, I have no real complaints.  Score: 8 out of 10.

Dark Avengers #190(final issue): Basically the Dark Avengers manage to get back to their proper Earth thanks to Alternate Reed forcing the info out of the AIM agents who were wandering around for the past few issues.  In the end, US Agent, Moonstone, Ragnarok, Trickshot and that Witch woman decide to remain as a team, while Skaar takes off(good riddance, bitch) and that Spider-Man lookalike gets stepped on.  And that's about as much time as I want to take on this issue.  The Dark Avengers trip home was way more complicated than I spelled out above, and included slivers of time...  So you should be thankful I bottom lined it, 'cause it was all sorts of weird.  I'm sad to say that I'm not going to miss this series...  It's been treading water for a while, and the storyline with the alternate earth went on entirely too long for my liking.  Oh well.  Score: 6 out of 10.

And that'll do it for this week...  Here's hoping next week is a bit more lively than this week's pitiful display.  Until then?  X out.

Best of the Rest! April 17th edition.

Hey all, X back again with a new Best of the Rest post.  Between myself and JT(whose reviews with be in a blue text), there should be plenty of comics to check out.  So instead of talking about it, let's get to it!

Venom #34: Yes!  This is exactly what I want from this series!  This issue starts off with Toxin kicking Venom's ass, which leads to the mysterious cannibal showing up to join the fight.  However, Toxin is all, "Who invited you, bitch?!" and proceeds to BITE the head off of the cannibal!  That in turn leads to Venom biting off one of Toxin's arms!  Excellent!!  Toxin shrugs that off, grows a new arm and continues the ass-kickery.  Venom finally halts the assault by injecting Toxin with the serum that keeps his own symbiote under control.  Toxin rushes off since his symbiote was acting up, and Venom drags his battered ass to a rooftop to recuperate and prepare for round two. So yeah, Cullen Bunn just needs to keep doing this.  Every single issue.  Because this issue rocked.  Score: 8 out of 10.

Iron Man #8: 451 manages to get Tony his armor before Tony is murdered by Death's Head.  That leads to a massive brawl between Iron Man and DH, which 451 uses as a distraction to deactivate the cloaking device the Voldi had been using to hide from the Celestials.  The Celestials arrive and obliterate the planet and everybody on it.  Needless to say, Tony doesn't appreciate 451's actions and announces that he would have vengeance.  This issue was a meh for me.  It wasn't awful by any stretch, the fight between Tony and DH was cool, and I enjoyed 451's swerve, but I'm not going to remember this issue past tomorrow.  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Daredevil #25: Matt finally comes face-to-face with one of his tormentors, a guy wearing a facsimile of his original yellow attire named Ikari(which means 'Fury' in Japanese).  Oh, and Ikari?  He has all of DD's enhanced senses.  The two have a spectacular battle across the rooftops of Manhattan, ending up in a sporting goods shop.  DD manages to set off the sprinkler system, and hopes that his foe's inexperience with his hyper-senses will cause him to become totally disoriented by the noise and falling water.  And it's a great plan.  Except for one thing...  Ikari isn't blind!  Ikari beats the ever-loving hell out of a shocked Matt, who has no choice but to turn tail and run away, all while Ikari yells taunts after him.  Yeah, this issue?  Awesome.  I NEVER saw the swerve with Ikari having his sight coming, and when Matt realized Ikari COULD see?  Amazing!  I wanted to scream FOR Matt!  That's how perfect the reveal was.  Amazing work by the incomparable Mark Waid.  Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.

X-Factor #254: Hey, this "Hell" storyline is still going on...  Okay...  Tier decides he doesn't want to kill the Hell-Lords, which pisses Polaris off since Tier kind of has to or everybody is screwed.  Meanwhile, Mephisto is unsurprisingly knocking off the other Hell-Lords, polishing off Hela right after she had killed Asmodeus.  Jezebel, Possessed Madrox and Guido attack X-Factor since Jezebel needed Tier if she had any hope in defeating her father(Mephisto).  That leads to a showdown between Monet and Guido.  This issue was solid.  Much like most of this storyline.  It's okay.  It's not great or anything, it's okay.  To be honest, I'm to the point where I'm waiting for this storyline to just end already...  Score: 7 out of 10.

Nightwing #19: So Dick Grayson is in Chicago now, as he's decided to track down and capture Tony Zucco, who, in case you were unaware, killed Dick's parents.  The cops hate Nightwing because the cops in Chi-town hate costumed heroes, and Dick is broke because he won't ask Bruce for money.  Because they're feuding again after Death of the Family and Damian's death.  But honestly, do those two really need a reason to feud?!  They're almost always pissed at each other for one reason or another!  But I digress...  So yeah, Dick has no money and has to take a roommate in his apartment...  Because that's smart for a masked hero like Dick...  Anyway, it seems Zucco, who was the person who murdered Dick's parents, is the mayor's chauffeur or something...  The mayor is corrupt, it seems.  On top of that, the Prankster is punishing criminals.  So yeah, Dick's first issue in Chicago?  Not perfect.  But hey, it wasn't awful, so there's that!  I have to say, even though he appeared on a grand total of one page, the Prankster seems extremely interesting.  I liked the costume and I liked his brand of vigilantism.  So I'll be looking forward to seeing more of Prankster and less of Tony Zucco, who was the man responsible for the deaths of Dick Grayson's parents.  In case you hadn't heard...  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Dark Avengers #189: This is the penultimate issue of this series, and I have to admit, I won't really miss it...  It started off with such promise, but man did it fall apart quickly...  Basically Evil Dr. Strange dies when he randomly explodes.  That frees Skaar from Evil Strange, so Skaar can finally attack Evil Thing.  Ragnarok picks up that dimension's Thor's hammer(wait, how?!), which makes him turn into a guy who looks like the Executioner...  And AIM is still up to something, but damned if I know what!  Yeah, I don't have anything else to add to that issue...  Score: 4 out of 10.

Nova #3: In this issue of Nova, we see our protagonist run into The Watcher. He eventually is able to see through the Watcher's eyes that there are a ton of ships in the distance, but since he doesn't know what to do with that knowledge, he heads back to Earth. On Earth, Sam's mom hints she may know about Sam using his dad's helmet and says he can talk to her about anything. After that, Sam is approached by Gamora and Rocket Raccoon, who tell him he's the last of the Nova Corps and they start training Sam. In the midst of training, the Guardians mention the army that's on the way to attack Earth, and Sam tells them he saw it, thanks to the man on the moon, so they send Sam on recon since his Nova helmet can see the cloaked ships. The issue ends with Nova getting blasted in space by the ships, so I guess they can see him. Oops. I enjoyed this issue, it was nothing spectacular but it was a solid read. Score: 6.5/10

Captain Marvel #12: This issue focuses on Cap Marvel and Deathbird's aerial fight with Cap confined to her flying bike. After a long, tough battle, Cap finally defeats Deathbird, but has to fly at the end to due so, which weakens Cap due to the lesion on her brain. Throughout the issue we see her doctor talking to another doctor, the new one having dealt with a case like this before. It turns out his patient was Captain Marvel's friend, Helen Cobb, although she supposedly died in a fire. The doctors meet Cap at home to give her some news that we aren't privy to until the next issue. The issue ends with the mysterious man in the park revealing himself to be Yon-Rogg, now fully powered due to Captain Marvel's fights with Deathbird powering him. This was another solid issue, I enjoyed the fight with Deathbird but all the Doctor mumbo jumbo kinda slowed things down for me. I'm not familiar with Yon-Rogg but after looking him up and seeing he's the one that kidnapped Carol which led to her getting her powers, I'm excited to see where this goes. Score: 7/10

Justice League #19: This issue opened with Jason Todd and Alfred talking, so yeah, that's a free point from me. The two are attacked as some mysterious man who makes his way through the scan and past Batman's retinal scanner somehow to Bats' contingency room, as he has a case with a plan to beat each member of the League. The mystery man steals Superman's case, which has Kryptonite. Batman eventually returns and Jason is beating himself up for not hearing the intruder sneak up on them but Bruce says she's just glad Jason and Alfred are okay. After some help from Aquaman and Cyborg, they aren't able to figure out how this person got in or what they were after, Batman seems to know but plays dumb. Meanwhile, Superman and Wonder Woman fight some terrorists in Kahndaq, but Americans aren't allowed there, so Kahndaq is contemplating waging war on America. Batman meets with Supes and Wondy and they discuss how they went about things when he reveals he knows their dating, and also that someone came to the Batcave and took something to hurt Superman. The issue ends with Firestorm and the Atom, two of the newest Leaguers being attacked in the Watchtower by none other than Despero, wearing a Kryptonite ring. I enjoyed this issue surprisingly. I definitely didn't expect for this review to be so long. I enjoyed seeing Jason and Alfred, so... do more of that, Geoff Johns. I also enjoyed seeing Supes and Wondy fighting crime, and the odd way they influence one another, kinda reminds me their relationship in of Injustice: Gods Among Us. Lastly, this mystery man that knows Bruce could be interesting if done the right way, I'm curious to see who he is and why he'd help Despero, since I don't think it's him. Oh, and I like the new Atom, she rocks. Score: 8/10

Alright gang, that's it for me and mi amigo. Tomorrow, expect a new type of review from X, which he'll explain then, but until now, on behalf of buddy X, this is JT, signing off!

Best of the Rest! Week of 3/20/13

Hey all, X here with his final post of the week.  Yes, it's time to take a look at the Best of the Rest!  This time with 100% more JT!  Yes, mi hermano, JT, will be pitching in this week.  Probably to bring the post quality waaaaay down... But at least I'm here to bring some respectability to the proceedings.  Huh, it probably wasn't that smart to insult JT right off the bat since he'll be closing this post out, and as such will get the last word...  If I was smarter I'd delete the insults...  Meh.  So here's how it'll work.  I'll post my thoughts on a few comics, JT will post his thoughts in a different color, and then JT will close things out.  Boom, simple.  Like JT!!!  HA!!!!  *ahem*  Anyway, let's get this bad boy rolling.

Daredevil #24:  This was actually the high-point of this week's BotR post...  Which doesn't bode well as we move forward...  Basically DD is inching closer to finding out who the mystery villain who has been putting the screws to him was.  Foggy learns that he had a rare type of bone tumor, and the doctors weren't sure if it had spread or not.  Yeah, this comic is great, no doubt.  Mark Waid has a little something for everybody here.  Heroes, villains, secret plots, some drama, AND mutated dogs!  What more could one ask for?!  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

X-Factor #253: We get some escalation in the Hell on Earth war, as the various devils begin to wage war upon each other on Earth.  Satana tries to kill Tier(because Satana is frigging AWESOME), but Tier chases her away.  Polaris decides the best course of action was to sic Tier on the Hell-Lords, since he can hurt them.  And Madrox is a demon thanks to Mephisto.  Sadly, this comic didn't really do it for me.  I mean it was all right and all, and I LOVE that Peter David showed that other heroes were involved in battling the demons, which you don't often see in a story like this, but the narrative was kind of spread all over the place...  We were in Mephisto's hell.  And on the streets.  And watching demons fight.  And in a hotel room.  It just didn't gel for me, which is very rare for this series.  But hey, I'm sure I'll be heaping praise on the next issue, so one not-so-good issue isn't a big thing.  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Saga #11:  First things first, I LOVE the hell out of this series!!!  With that out of the way, I have to admit, this issue didn't really do it for me.  Basically Marco's father helped the group get away from the space baby, but at the cost of his life.  Marco and his mom naturally don't take the death well.  That's really the extent of the main storyline here.  I've got to admit, Marco's dad dying here was a bit disappointing.  I thought that character had some legs, and figured he'd slowly fade away as the issues progressed.  Instead he popped up a few issues ago and died.  If he would have stuck around a bit, the impact of his death probably would have been greater, but sadly, that's not what we got.  Even though this wasn't my favorite issue of this great series, it still wasn't bad, which shows you the quality of this title.  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Invincible #101: So yeah, Eve is pregnant again.  This time though, she has a doctor who specializes in super-human biology, and learns that she can't use her powers while she's pregnant, which you KNOW will come into play down the road.  Robot hates Mark, Cecil hates Nolan, and Thragg hates everybody.  That about sums this one up.  I hate to sound like a broken record, but again, this issue just didn't hit the mark for me...  I don't know what the problem was, but I just never connected to this comic.  It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great...  Score: 6 out of 10.

Indestructible Hulk #5: Hulk manages to defeat Attuma with some help from Lemurian rebels.  Plus one of the Lemurians makes out with Hulk.  Here we go again, you know the song I'm gonna be playing...  I never connected with this issue...  Yep, again.  There was some good here, namely Attuma, who Mark Waid wrote brilliantly, but I never fell into this story.  It was okay.  But that's all.  Score: 6 out of 10.

Dark Avengers #188: Oh boy, this comic...  Um, the Dark Avengers are still trapped in an alternate Earth.  There's some sort of mystery there concerning AIM(I think...) and the Spider-Man of that world is worshiped as a god by the likes of Shang-Chi and Misty Knight...  But he gets killed by Tigra.  Oh, and Moonstone died, but came back over the course of this comic.  See, now this comic?  This comic was bad.  Not okay, just bad.  I was willing to go along for the ride at first, I've repeatedly stated that I love alternate dimensional tales, but this one simply isn't working for me.  Probably because we have like zero character development going on here. Seriously, I have NO reason to care about ANY of the Dark Avengers.  We REALLY need to get away from the main story here and shine a light on the characters on this team...  Score: 3 out of 10.

DC Universe Presents: Starfire #18: Basically we see Starfire as a slave, then free, then allowing herself to get caught so she can free more people. The former top dog that wanted to free everyone was jealous, so he attacked her and she sliced his hands off with his sword. Upon gaining the chance to free everyone, the slaves were so afraid of Starfire they just wanted her to go, which she did. So... useless story sadly, nothing really happened, if only it showed that Star's a tough S.O.B. and scares people. Sad thing is, Joe Keatinge's last issue that starred Roy Harper was pretty good. Score: 2/10

Captain Marvel #11: Captain Marvel's been diagnosed with a lesion on her brain that expands every time she flies, it's not fatal but if she continues to fly it'll wipe away her memories, so now she's using a hover-bike, which she hates. We find out that she has some mysterious man stalking her, and he's been sending a new Deathbird, dubbed Newbird by Carol to her apartment building. Carol heads off to find Newbird and engages her in a fight in the sky, with her hover-bike of course. This was a pretty good issue, Carol continues to be written likable and fun, and the story of her not being able to fly, after putting so much emphasis on her love of flying throughout the series has been great. Score: 7/10

Justice League #18: The League is looking for new members because a few of them are busy with their cities or ruling Atlantis. Possible recruits are Black Canary (She's on the BoP...), Black Lighting, Blue Demon, Element Woman, Firestorm, Goldrush, Nightwing, Vixen, Zatanna and Platinum of the Metal Men. Platinum goes crazy, predictably, and the League and candidates take her down, with the help of The Atom. By the way, Atom is a Hispanic woman now. The League ends up picking Atom, Firestorm and Element Woman over Vixen, Zatanna and Canary because they're stupid, and Nightwing isn't interested in joining. The issue ends with them finding out their recruitment files have been hacked, so someone has info on all these heroes now. Oops! I was flabbergasted that they didn't pick at least one of the three women I named... but whatever. That aside, this issue was kind of predictable, especially with Platinum's heel turn. Score: 5/10

New Avengers #4: With time running out until Earth crashes into another Earth, the Illuminati decide to go to the other planet and try to use their Infinity Gems to blow it up, since the Illuminati's Gems broke in the last issue. Once they arrive, they see on this planet the Statue of Liberty is replaced by a statue of the Master of Magnet himself, Magneto. They also see Galactus is already about to eat this planet, but instead of counting this as a win, they decide to fight his Thanos-like herald, because why not? This issue was fine and dandy until the weird ending where they decided to fight a villain on a planet that's dying... the same planet they came to destroy. Also, I was expecting more with the fallout of them mind-wiping Captain America but not too much came of that. Score: 6/10

Red Hood and the Outlaws #18: This is Lobdell's last issue of RHATO, and after surprisingly enjoying issue 19, I was looking forward to this issue. Jason came to the realization that the reason he has lashed out at Bruce and the rest of the family is because he was trying to escape his past, but he needs to embrace it instead of run away from it. We also find out his face is going to be fine in the future thanks to Alfred's handiwork. We end things with Jason finally waking up and he's about to apologize but Bruce cuts him off and hugs him as the issue ends. I really enjoyed this issue, Jason finally being welcomed back to the fold is something I've wanted for a while as a Jason Todd fan, so this issue was a huge plus for me. Plus it really made sense for Bruce, after losing Jason once, then losing Damian, I doubt he wants to risk being distant with Jason any longer. The only thing I really had a problem with was this being billed as "Requiem" issue and Damian was never mentioned once. Score: 9/10

And THAT'S how you do a best of the rest post! Not like that farce X did last week. Anyway, I can see this being a weekly thing if mi hermano is up for it, so we can knock out even more books, considering sometimes people want info on books we read but don't review. So, look forward to me guiding X like the giant idiotic man-child he is through these posts on a regular basis. So that's it for me, until my final review of the week tomorrow. So til then, for myself and X, this is JT, signing off!

Dark Avengers #186

First review tonight is the latest issue of Dark Avengers.  This series has been... interesting, is the word I'm looking for, I guess.  I just wonder how much longer this team is going to be trapped in the dimension they're stuck in...  I mean, damn, Moonstone has been traveling through time and alternate dimensions seemingly forever now!

Dark Avengers #186

Summary: This issue mainly takes place among the denizens of an alternate planet Earth, while the Dark Avengers make plans on how to get home.  Basically the heroes of this world have carved up Manhattan into their own little kingdoms.  Dr. Strange has captured Dark Avengers Skaar and Moonstone and used his magic on them to force them to fight for Thing and Iron Man respectively.  Strange's plan is to sit back and watch as Iron Man and Thing destroy each other, leaving him to pick up the pieces.  Oh, and Reed Richards ends up getting captured by Thing.  On top of all that, Namor and the Invisible Woman are the rulers of all the oceans and have had enough of all this surface-dweller nonsense and have decreed that in 24 hours they'd flood all of New York.  So basically, the Dark Avengers have to find a way to get Skaar and Moonstone back(which means killing Strange) and rescue Reed Richards  since he'd be the one person smart enough to return them to their own dimension.  Got all that?  Great.  We find out what they do next issue.

Thoughts: Eh.  I didn't love or hate this issue, it just kind of was.  We spent a lot of time dealing with the politics of this alternate Earth, which is weird since I'm sure the Dark Avengers will be off of it in another issue or two.  So we learned a lot about a dimension we'll never be seeing again...  That kind of made this issue... well, worthless.  I mean this was an okay read and all, but in the long run it's all going to amount to nothing, so it's hard to care.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Poor Trickshot...  He's even second best to Hawkeye in his OWN fantasy!!

Dark Avengers #185

And this is it, this is the last X review of the week, my ninth overall and the third tonight.  I'll be ending my reviewing week on Dark Avengers, the first issue under the Marvel Now! banner(if I'm correct...).  Well, let's see what we've got going on here...

Dark Avengers #185

Summary:  This issue shows us that the Dark Scarlet Witch has managed to get the Hank Pym of the weird dimension the Dark Avengers were trapped in under her control.  With that, DSW goes about working on the Dark Avengers Iron Man's forces had managed to capture.  Meanwhile, Dr. Strange has decided to use Moonstone and Skaar to start a war between Iron Man and the Thing, figuring he could swoop in and take over both of their territories in the ensuing chaos.  Strange's plans work to perfection as he has Moonstone attack Thing's territory, and then sends Skaar to attack Iron Man's territory, leading to Thing sending his hordes into Iron Man's section, while Iron Man figures Skaar was the first of Thing's invaders.  Iron Man calls all of his forces to the street, including Pym, which leaves DSW alone in Pym's lab.  With no one to supervise her, she wakes up US Agent, who is shocked to discover that his arms and leg had been restored by Pym and DSW, ending this issue.

Thoughts: Okay, first things first, I am a HUGE sucker for dystopian alternate dimensional stories, so this storyline is right up my alley.  With that said, I'm not sure how many other comic fans this kind of book would appeal to...  I mean, there aren't any big name characters, and the characters who are here aren't even in the 616 Marvel U...  So yeah, while I liked this issue, and am enjoying this storyline, I worry that I may be alone there.  Anyway, I liked Strange's plan, setting Iron Man and Thing against each other, I like US Agent getting the use of his limbs back, hell, I liked most everything here.  This was a perfectly acceptable comic book, nothing more, nothing less.

Score: 7 out of 10.

The Best of the Rest! September 19th edition.

So this was supposed to be the spot I posted my third and final review of the week, with JT closing out the comic week tomorrow with his third review.  But you see, I ended up posting my first review on Wednesday and throwing the whole schedule out of whack(cue JT saying something negative about me...).  Since I've already posted my three reviews for the week, and don't want to leave an empty day(I won't be the first one to do that, JT will!), how's about I cobble together a quick post about ALL of the comics I read this week!  Yeah, that'll work!  Since I didn't really read most of these books with the idea of reviewing them in mind, I don't have any number scores for them...  Instead, I'll use the good old thumbs up/thumbs in the middle/thumbs down system.  What the HELL is that, you ask?  Thumbs up means a comic scored somewhere in the 8 to 10 range, in other words, a good comic.  Thumbs in the middle would be around 5 to 7 1/2, or an okay to meh comic.  Thumbs down?  You guessed it, a comic that falls in the sub-5 range, you know, a bad comic.  I don't really know why I felt the need to explain that...  Oh no, I'm in one of those moods where I can't stop writing!  I'd better get to the meat of this post lest this intro goes on forever!!!

Let's see, we'll get started with Red Hood and the Outlaws #0...  JT pretty much summed up my feelings for this one with his review, so I really don't have all that much to say here...  I will say this though...  If not for the idiotic Joker reveal, I probably would have given this comic a thumbs in the middle.  As it is, it gets a thumbs down and likes it.

Avengers #30 was your basic Bendis/Avengers comic book.  Spider-Woman and Hawkeye discussed their relationship while fighting Mr. Negative's goons...  It was as exciting as it sounds.  Honestly, I wasn't sure what the hell Bendis was going for here, since Hawkeye hadn't actually done anything to wrong Spider-Woman...  Basically she was pissed that Hawkeye and the Scarlet Witch MAY have unresolved feelings for each other...  Yeah..  If you like bad soap opera-esque comic books then THIS is the comic book for you!  For me, it was a thumbs in the middle, mainly because it(kind of) focused on Hawkeye, no matter how thin the story was.

Ah, finally a good one!  Daredevil #18 was probably the best comic I've read this week...  No, scratch that, it WAS the best comic I read this week, and if I was giving out scores this one would very likely get a perfect score.  Seriously, this issue was fantastic.  Mark Waid is(unsurprisingly) crafting a wonderful story here, as this issue actually makes the reader doubt DD's sanity.  The entire series has been seemingly building towards this storyline, and I have to say, this issue would be a great jumping on point for new readers...  Just sayin'...  Oh yeah, thumbs WAY up.

Next up is Dark Avengers #181.  All I can really say about this comic is that it happened...  I think I've reached the point now where I just want the Bad Bolts to return to the present and the Dark Avengers/Thunderbolts/whatever they're called to finish their mission.  Thumbs in the middle.

Rolling along it's Mighty Thor #20!  I don't know why I added an exclamation point to that, nor why I'm thinking out loud, but let's go with it...  This was another really good issue in the Everything Burns storyline(I really love that title, btw).  Asgardia is still being hammered by Surtur's forces and Thor is still down and out. However, there was a slight glimmer of hope for us Kid Loki fans, as this issue kind of makes you wonder if Loki betrayed Thor, as it seemed in the prior part of this storyline, or if Loki is actually planning on saving his brother.  I'll go thumbs up for this issue and fingers crossed on Kid Loki not going full blown villain.

New Mutants #49 had Nate Grey in it...  That's pretty much the only positive thing I can say about it...  Well, that and the fact that this issue ended the whole Evil Doug Ramsay from the future story.  I've never cared for Doug no matter how much Marvel tries to show he's more than a guy with sucky powers.  This story did nothing to change my opinion of Doug.  Thumbs down...  Sorry Nate...

Ultimates #15 was a comic I seriously considered giving a full review to, mainly due to the fact that it was getting mainstream press attention.  But as you can see, I decided against that course of action...  So yeah, anyway, this comic.  I have to admit that I enjoyed this one.  I've been enjoying the direction the Ultimate Marvel U has been going for a while now, and this was no exception.  This issue, especially in the way it was told, kind of perfectly led to the whole, "Captain America is the president now!" thing.  It didn't seem forced or anything, which was something I was afraid of.  And I can actually see Cap, especially the Ultimate version, ESPECIALLY considering the way things have been going in the Ultimate U, deciding to become the president.  It'll be very interesting to see how this experiment works out going forward.  For this issue though?  Thumbs up.

Oh god...  Not THIS comic...  Ugh, it's Venom #25...  I'm actually surprised, horrified and yes, a bit impressed at how quickly Cullen Bunn took this series from a book I always look forward to reading, to something I barely want to open...  Why would you want to add a supernatural element to this series?!  Who sat there and thought, "You know what this series is missing?  DEMONS!!!"  This is kind of like the mess that Scott Lobdell made out of Red Hood and the Outlaws, in that you take the lead character and put them in a situation that makes no sense...  I don't get why Daimon Hellstrom was used in this mess, I don't get why a battle between the Hell Lords is taking place in this series, I don't get any of it!  Hopefully things straighten out with the upcoming Minimum Carnage storyline...  Thumbs down.

And finally we arrive at X-Factor #244.  This was, as usual, a good, solid issue of this series.  It wasn't as good as some of the prior issues, but it was solid.  I will say this though...  I'm very curious to see where Peter David is going with this story...  He's really breaking the team apart here, it'll be interesting to see how things shake out and who's left standing.  Thumbs in the middle.

Sweet, I'm done!  That means I can go back to playing Borderlands 2!  Huzzah for me!  Until... Um, whenever the hell my next post is supposed to be, X out!

The Best of the Rest!!! May 22nd edition.

It's Saturday, which means it it's time for me to give my uninformed, overly sarcastic and at times offensive opinion on comic books and their creators, that's right, it's time for a new installment of The Best of the Rest(copyright pending)!!! And yes, I am going to use that opening line EVERY single week, so get used to it! Five books to get through tonight, and much to my chagrin, I enjoyed them all! I know, what's a Best of the Rest post without a whole bunch of complaints!?! Oh well, hopefully I'll read a bunch of horrid comics for the upcoming week and next week's post will be full of venom and fun! Enough babbling X, get on with the post already! Umm, okay I will...

Brightest Day: Titans: Villains for Hire Special #1... Wow, that's a long title!: Before we get into this comic I need you all to do me a favor. Forget the Faces of Evil: Deathstroke comic, as well as the Teen Titans Blackest Night x-over stuff, because it seems as if Deathstroke sure forgot about those comics! Anywho, Deathstroke hires the Tattooed Man(who REALLY needs a better codename!), Cheshire, Osiris and some girl named Cinder to be his... well, villains for hire(as is obvious from the title here!). The 5 villains/pseudo-villains get a contract to kill the Atom(Ryan Choi, not Geoff John's beloved Ray Palmer), and after some difficulty, they do just that... That slight sobbing sound is probably Kello, just so you know. So the villains kill the Atom and Deathstroke refuses to tell his team why they are called the Titans, or what his masterplan is... Well okay then.... Score: 8 out of 10.You see, Osiris broke my number one rule, NEVER trust a one-eyed man dressed fully in spandex.

REBELS #16: This comic kicks off with Starfire attacking some of the REBELS(or are they LEGION again?)because of the good old, “super-heroes meet and have general misunderstanding” law. After Adam Strange explains that the fight was a simple misunderstanding, Starfire goes to meet Vril Dox(AKA my hero). Dox tells Starfire that since her homeworld Tamarian(Tamaria? Tamariananar?)had been blown up good, he was having the planet Rann teleported into its place. There's a very good reason for all of this, but you'll have to trust me on that, 'cause I don't feel like getting into it! In a few weeks time, Dox has managed to transform Rann from a barren wasteland to a thriving planet again. And why did he do that? Because he's awesome! Well, that plus he plans on restarting his LEGION police force, and with the people of Rann now beholden to him, he figures he can base LEGION from Rann. Starfire's insane sister Blackfire learns that another planet had appeared in Tamarian's orbit, so she decides to attack it, because she's insane and all. Oh, and somewhere along the way Starfire joins with the REBELS/LEGION team and starts to flirt with Captain Comet. Eventually Blackfire(who is insane)and her evil Tamarians attack Rann. What happens next? I'll tell you next month. Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.If I was a songwriter I'd write a song and dedicate it to Vril Dox... I really would too!

Booster Gold #32: Booster Gold was sent into the distant future by Rip Hunter(that has to be THE best porn star name EVER! Not that I know anything about porn star names... *ahem* moving on...)to retrieve the helmet of Dr. Fate so that it wouldn't fall into the hands of Darkseid. After some VERY hit or miss comedy(much like this post!), Booster winds up bringing the helmet, as well as a small girl back in time with him. It seems the small girl is there to make potty jokes, because in the DCU, nothing is funnier then toilet humor. This issue ends with Booster learning from Rip Hunter that Max Lord was alive again, which Booster is none to pleased to find out. You know, because he killed Booster's good buddy Ted Kord. Back during Infinite Crisis. In the Countdown to Infinite Crisis comic. With a gun. In a castle. There, I spelled it out for you! Score: 7 out of 10.My GOD are there a lot of words on this page!!!

Gotham City Sirens #11: This comic follows two different storylines, Catwoman and Harley Quinn hunting for missing dogs and Poison Ivy starting her first day at her new STAR Labs job. First off, you'd think somebody named CATwoman would be glad that a bunch of dogs had gone missing, but apparently not... Go figure. CW and HQ(you can always tell I'm getting close to the end of a post by how many abbreviations/initials I start to use)wind up solving the case of the missing dogs when they discover that HQ's hyenas were eating all of the neighborhood pets. Oh the humanity! Or should I say oh the hilarity? Umm, I'll go with hilarity. Oh the hilarity! In the other story, Poison Ivy arrives on the job(but obviously NOT as Poison Ivy, because that would just be dumb), and fires a few people because she read(from Lex Luthor no less)that's the way to garner respect in the corporate world. Sure, if international super-criminal Lex Luthor says that's the way to go, them by gum, that's the way to go! Eventually one of the women Ivy fired returns and locks Ivy in some sort of evil plant oven thing because she was angry about being fired. I bet THAT never happened to Lex. And well, that's the end of this issue. Will Ivy be cooked? Will Catwoman rename herself Dogwoman?? Will I end this pseudo-review with a modicum of self-respect??? The answer to all of those questions is a resounding no! Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.See, just like I said, Ivy was trapped in an evil plant oven thing.

Dark Avengers #16: I'm gonna tell you right now, NOTHING in this comic matters except for the very last page. But don't you worry, I'll get to that soon enough... This is the final issue of Dark Avengers, because Dark Reign is over and Marvel must finally be over it's love of the word “dark”. Don't you worry though, I'm not over my love of the word “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”! This issue follows Siege #4, and shows all of the Dark Avengers(except for Daken, because he's too smart)being arrested by the heroes. The villains get locked away, Steve Rogers decides to hire Victoria Hand to be his right... umm, hand woman, and Norman Osborn gets to act crazy one more time, this time blaming all of his failings on his Green Goblin persona. So that's how Dark Avengers ended. On the very last page, series writer BENDIS writes his farewell address. And he signs it, “BENDIS!”!!! That's how I've been typing his name for over a year now! This can mean one of three things... Either BENDIS is so crazy that he actually DOES sign his name in block letters with an exclamation point(as I always suspected...), that he's is a frequent reader of my blog, or that I have been BENDIS all along, and have been bashing most of my... I mean BENDIS'S comics simply to see who would agree with me... him, and then have those cretins... I mean readers destroyed. All hail the Dread Lord BENDIS!!! Score: 8 out of 10.So he really DOES sign his name "BENDIS!"... I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

Dark Avengers #15 & Thunderbolts #142

Well, since I'm pretty engrossed in Dragon Age: Origins right now, I'm not really in the mood to do any reviews. As such, I'm going to be pretty quick with these reviews so I can get back to my game. Sure, that's not a very good excuse for posting sucky reviews, but it'll have to do. Anyway, the books I'm reviewing are two Siege x-overs, and let's face it, if you've read the main Siege books, you're not really missing out on much with the x-overs. OK, with that out of the way, let's see how quickly I can blitz through these reviews.

Dark Avengers #15: Writer: BENDIS. Artist: Mike Deodato.
Last Issue: 7 1/2 out of 10.

If you've read the Siege: The Cabal one shot from a few weeks(months?)back, then you know what went on through most of this comic, because this issue is just a rehash of those events. Here's the short form: Doom and Osborn have a disagreement over Namor being kicked out of the Cabal. Osborn threatens Doom with the Void, Doom doesn't back down, and the Void destroys Doom. We then learn that it wasn't actually Doom, but a Doombot, and the Doombot unleashes a swarm of nanites, which proceed to tear apart Avengers Tower. These events lead to Osborn evacuating the Tower, which is where the new stuff picks up. While evacuating, Bullseye takes the Sentry's wife on a private helicopter, and as per Osborn's instructions, he kills her, tossing her corpse into the Atlantic Ocean. After the mess with Doom is cleaned up, Bullseye returns to the Tower and tells the Sentry that his wife committed suicide rather then be with him, since she was terrified of him. The Sentry turns into the Void, attacks Bullseye, but is ultimately convinced by Osborn that Bullseye wasn't in the wrong. With that, the Sentry leaves to mourn, and Osborn gives Bullseye the, “good job” look, which Osborn's right hand woman, Victoria Hand picks up on, ending this issue.

Meh. There really wasn't NEARLY enough new content in this comic to justify the $3.99 cover price, since most of this comic dealt with events that I've already seen play out in the Siege: The Cabal comic... Not only that, but man was BENDIS in one of his bad dialogue moods... Ugh! Here's an example of what I most dislike about BENDIS'S writing style. During the scene where the Dark Avengers are evacuating the Tower, Moonstone, Venom and Daken have the following exchange about getting the Quinjet airborn.
Moonstone: Why isn't this thing working?? Venom: You have to turn the blue thing. Moonstone: I turned the blue thingy. Daken: I can fly it. Get out of the way. You had it on emergency lockdown. Moonstone: No, I didn't. Daken: Then how did it get in emergency lockdown? Moonstone: I don't even know what that is. Daken: Everyone in your seats. Where to, Ms. Hand?
And it keeps going on from there! It's just inane dialogue that adds nothing to the story... It's simply there to fill up the page, which(to me anyway)is such a waste of my time. Further the story, or develop the characters, don't just put dialogue for the sake of putting dialogue. Exactly what did that exchange accomplish? That Moonstone can't fly a Quinjet, but that Daken can? Couldn't that have been accomplished with much fewer words? And why exactly did we need to know that anyway? I don't know, to me it seemed like BENDIS really didn't have anything to do with this comic, besides killing off the Sentry's wife, so he just filled this comic with scenes from a comic that came out a while ago, as well as throwing in tons of annoying dialogue... On the plus side, the art was REALLY well done, and as most of my regulars know, I hardly ever notice the art in a comic. To me, Mike Deodato's artwork really made this comic tolerable.

Score: 5 out of 10.You've got to love Taskmaster's reaction to the Void.

Thunderbolts #142: Writer: Jeff Parker. Pencils: Wellinton Alves.
Last Issue: 8 out of 10.

This entire issue revolves around the battle between the Thunderbolts and some of the Mighty Avengers(Vision, Stature, Amadeus Cho and US Agent), as they all attempt to get their hands on Odin's Spear, which is on par with Thor's hammer when it comes to ultra powerful Asgardian weaponry. The T-Bolts are under orders to retrieve the Spear and get it to Osborn, while the Avengers want to make sure that doesn't happen. So after many pages of fisticuffs, as well as the reveal that the leader of the T-Bolts, Headman, is actually Nuke, the entire city of Asgard begins to crumble thanks to the Sentry's attack in Siege #3. After all of the dust has cleared, US Agent comes to and realizes that the Spear landed right next to him after the fall of Asgard. Agent goes to grab the Spear, but before he can, Nuke procures it, stabs Agent with it and this issue concludes with Nuke declaring that the Spear is now the property of Norman Osborn and HAMMER.

I enjoy a good all out fight as much as the next guy, and this issue gave me that. The art was crisp, and the dialogue didn't get in the way of the story(unlike in Dark Avengers #15), it added to it. The only thing I can honestly say I didn't like was that tool, Amadeus Cho, defeating Mr. X in battle... The same Mr. X who handed Wolverine his ass... Yeah, that definitely didn't work for me. Besides that, I enjoyed everything else about this comic, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Jeez, Nuke must be challenging Magneto's record for most times returned from the dead!

Avengers: The Initiative #33, Dark Avengers #14, New Avengers #62, Thor #607 & Thunderbolts #141.

Well, with the next few days looking free and clear for me schoolwork-wise, I've got a lot of comic reviews to try to bust out before I wind up getting swamped with homework/papers/exams again... With that said, I'm going to post not one, not two, not even three reviews tonight, I'm going to post a whopping 5(!)reviews, and all 5 are a part of Marvel's latest money-grab... I mean MAJOR CROSSOVER EVENT, Siege!!! No, this isn't going to be a, “Let's bash Marvel post”(or at least I don't think it will be...), so far I've been pleasantly to SHOCKINGLY impressed with Siege so far. While Blackest Night continues to drag along in the DCU, Siege has been a well-paced, fast-moving x-over. And the biggest surprise of all? It's written by BENDIS! I'm sure the other shoe will eventually drop, and this x-over will leave me feeling sad and angry, but thus far, BENDIS has been alarmingly on his game, which is very much unlike him... OK, with all of the warm and fuzzies out of the way, let's see if these x-over comics continue to leave me happy, or will reality finally set in?

Avengers: The Initiative #33: Writer: Christos Gage. Pencils: Jorge Molina.

OK, we have a few different storylines here, so I'm going to tackle them one at a time to keep this review somewhat coherent... Or at least that's the plan. Besides that, it should be noted all of the action here takes place during the events of Siege #2. Osborn and his crew stand triumphant over Thor, which has Taskmaster grinning from ear to ear. Before he can do a happy dance or anything, Osborn disciplines him for attacking Thor against orders and sends him back to Asgard. However, Osborn allows Diamondback to remain, which leaves her wondering if he had managed to figure out she was a double-agent, also working with the Avengers Resistance. Before she discovers why Osborn asked her to stick around though, Maria Hill strikes and rescues Thor, while Constrictor arrives on the scene to spirit Diamondback out of there. After being sent away, Taskmaster battles a few Asgardians, only managing to get away from them after the Asgardians stop to watch what Sentry did to Ares. Away from all of this, at Camp HAMMER, the Avengers Resistance is attacking the undermanned facility, and are doing a pretty good job of making their way into one of Osborn's main bases. Before they manage to gain entrance, the Hood shows up and begins to blast the heroes with magic, rendering them unconscious. Before the Hood can kill anybody, he is attacked by Tigra, who was still looking for revenge against the Hood due to his brutal attack on her several months back. We end this issue with the Hood telling Night Thrasher of the Avengers Resistance(who he had been secretly conspiring with)that if he killed Tigra, the Hood would use his magics to return the original Night Thrasher to life.

You know, I don't know what's going to become of the Avengers titles after Siege, but whatever happens, I REALLY hope Christos gets one of, if not THE main Avengers book, because he's been incredibly solid on this series since he took it over. He did a wonderful job of blending his story into the main Siege storyline, while continuing to move the storylines from this series forward. We're definitely starting these reviews out on the right foot, with this one...

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.I'm so glad the Taskmaster is finally getting some respect in the Marvel U.

Dark Avengers: #14: Writer: BENDIS. Artist: Mike Deodato.

This issue actually takes place before Siege gets underway, and yet it has the Siege banner adorning the cover... We kick things off with Osborn's second in command, Victoria Hand, telling Osborn that he should go to see a psychologist to make sure that his Goblin side doesn't re-emerge due to the stress he's been under. Osborn says no, Hand says yes, and after several pages of this, Osborn finally agrees to do as he's told. From there, Hand walks into the Avengers conference room where Moonstone and Bullseye were in the throes of passion and blasts Moonstone with a gun that can even harm Moonstone as a lesson to stop disrespecting Osborn. From there, the Sentry, who is now fully possessed by the Void launches an attack on NYC with tendrils of darkness striking down from the heavens, causing widespread damage. The Dark Avengers hit the streets and try to save as many people as they can, and Osborn heads into the sky to try to talk the Void down. The Void complains about his Sentry side, and the Sentry's wife. The Void then insults Osborn, telling him that Osborn has no way to stop his rampage, but Osborn informs the Sentry that although he can't stop the Void, there are several other heroes who can. That gives the Void pause, and Osborn tells the Void that if he ceases his tantrum, he'd do something that would make the Void quite happy. With that the Void halts his attack on NYC, and this issue ends with Osborn heading into Bullseye's room later that night to inform him that when he gives the word, he wants Bullseye to murder the Sentry's wife.

Although I was annoyed that this issue had NOTHING to do with the Siege storyline, even though the cover clearly states that this was a Siege x-over issue, I have to say, this comic was quite good, which kind of scares me... I mean, whatever happened to BENDIS, the man who I could always count on providing a horrible story? I used to be able to say with confidence, even before I read a BENDIS comic that it would be terrible... However, lately BENDIS has been busting out some of his best work in YEARS! If he keeps this up, I may have to stop calling him by all caps... Now, there were a few dead spots in this comic, such as the LOOONG and boring conversation between Hand and Osborn(sorry, I have NO interest in Hand at all), but for the most part, the story was sound, BENDIS refrained from his usual annoying dialogue(for the most part anyway)and the cliffhanger ending was good. So yeah, as weird as it feels, I have to say that I did like this comic.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.A shiny new penny to the first person who tells me why this comic was a Siege x-over issue!

New Avengers #62: Writer: BENDIS! Pencils: Stuart Immonen.

This issue begins with Spider-Woman trying to kill Spider-Man thanks to the telepathic influence of Mandrill, who is basically a talking monkey-thing... *Sigh* This fight goes on for most of this issue, and eventually ends when Spider-Man somehow gets through to Spider-Woman, freeing her of her mind-control. The two heroes then take care of Mandrill and Griffin. Back at the New Avengers not-so-secret headquarters, Bucky and Steve Rogers manage to take care of some HAMMER agents and the Living Laser with some help from BENDIS'S FAVORITE character, Luke Cage, because in BENDIS-Land, one Luke Cage is WAY better then two Captain Americas... OK, since thinking about this comic is actually starting to piss me off, I'm just going to fast forward to the ending. All of the Avengers meet up at one of Nick Fury's bases and decide to go to Asgard to help Thor... Hey wait, didn't I already see this EXACT scene play out in Siege #2?

Well, this is what I get for complimenting BENDIS... Serves me right I guess. This comic was complete and total rubbish. BENDIS writes a HORRIBLE Spider-Man, probably because he writes mainstream Spidey in the exact same manner he writes teenage Ultimate Spidey. The dialogue was crappy, the story was pointless, and the payoff was something I've already read about in the Siege mini... In other words, reading this comic was a complete and utter waste of time.

Score: 3 out of 10.No comment...

Thor #607: Writer: Kieron Gillen. Artists: Billy Tan, Bat & Rich Elson.

We open this issue up with the Asgardians chilling(I guess Asgardians chill...)at a big old banquet dinner. While they're all eating and being merry, Fandral and Hogun alert the current king of Asgard, Balder, as to what transpired between the U-Foes and Volstagg at Soldier Field in Chi-Town. The two Asgardians explain to Balder that Volstagg, feeling terrible for the tragedy he was unwittingly a part of had surrendered himself over to the Oklahoma police force. While the Asgardians are discussing how to make matters right, Knut, who can apparently see the future(although he is more often wrong then right)rushes into the banquet hall and warns the Asgardians that Asgard will fall the following morning. Nobody buys Knut's ramblings, and Loki promises to take Knut back to him room, telling the other Asgardians that Knut probably simply had too much to drink. Knut begs Loki to believe him, and to Knut's surprise, Loki tells the old man that he does, after which time Loki kills Knut so he wouldn't be capable of warning the Asgardians to what was to come. The following morning, Loki manages to lock the watchman of Asgard, Heimdall, in some sort of magical nether-dimension, so he would be incapable of warning the Asgardians nor assisting when Osborn's forces attacked. With that, Osborn and company launch their attack, and the Asgardians, caught by surprise begin to mount a defense. Upon hearing about what was transpiring, Volstagg asks the cops who were watching over him to let him speak to the country to offer his forgiveness. The cops allow Volstagg to use a webcam to apologize, while casting doubt on Osborn's story that Volstagg acted alone. Volstagg then leaves the prison to help his fellow Asgardians, but he is met and attacked by Ragnarok(!!!).

This was actually the first Thor comic I've read in probably two years(I stopped reading after they turned Loki into a woman), and I have to say, I really enjoyed it! The story basically gave us some idea of what the Asgardians were going through while Osborn was rallying his forces against them. Plus the inclusion of Ragnarok at the end was VERY welcome. I've been waiting to see Ragnarok pop up again after he left the Initiative series, and it makes perfect sense for him to show up in this book. I know I'm definitely looking forward to a Thor/Ragnarok showdown. All in all, this comic was so good, I'm a little bit tempted to grab a few trades to see just what I've been missing.

Score: 8 out of 10.Man, I'd forgotten just how awesome Loki could be!

Thunderbolts #141: Writer: Jeff Parker. Artist: Miguel Sepulveda.

The T-Bolts get orders from Osborn to sneak into Asgard while Osborn and his forces occupy the Asgardians in order to steal a supremely powerful Asgardian artifact from Asgard's armory called the Spear of Odin. Osborn figures if he were to wield an Asgardian weapon against the Asgardians, he could possibly defeat all of Asgard. With that, the T-Bolts sneak into Asgard, make their way to the armory, fool around a little bit, and eventually discover the Spear. Before they can escape with the Spear, they are confronted by an Asgardian guard, who Mr. X actually manages to kill(!), before they run into the Mighty Avengers, ending this issue.

This was another comic I used to collect before I started reading DC books and had to cut back on my Marvel expenditures, and much like Thor, I was pleasantly surprised by this comic. Having not read it for quite some time, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was into the story from the get go, which means the writer did a good job. Once again, if I have some extra money laying around, I may try to grab a few T-Bolt trades to see what I've been missing.

Score: 8 out of 10.Wow, I wonder who decided to start using Mr. X... What an utterly obscure character.

Dark Avengers #13 & Wolverine Origins #44

First off, congrats to the US men's Olympic hockey team for picking up their first win today against Switzerland. While comic books are my passion, hockey ranks very high amongst my favorite things. Sure, nobody is giving Team USA a chance in the Olympic tournament, with powerhouses Canada and Russia the big favorites, but as a proud American, and a feral hockey fan, I'm one of the few who believes the young American team can make some waves in this tourney. Next up for the American team is Team Norway, which was spanked today by Canada, and then it's the big game against those Canadians... But since this blog isn't called X-Man's Hockey Blog, I think I should get to what this blog is supposed to be about, and that would be comics. I'll be checking out two books tonight, one I will probably hate, while the other one should be solid.

Dark Avengers #13: Writer: BENDIS!!! Artist: Mike Deodato.

For some reason we start in ancient Egypt where some guys are smearing lamb's blood onto the doors of their homes so their firstborn children will be spared from an angry and vengeful god... Oh boy, this is going to be a real BENDIS of a comic book, isn't it... We then go to a few months ago where we discover that Norman Osborn has been able to recreate the formula that gave the Sentry his powers. Osborn presents a thankful Sentry with the vial, and he drinks it, releasing the Void. Osborn then calls the Void his secret weapon, which means it looks like I was correct when I guessed the Void was Osborn's weapon for keeping the Cabal under control. After that scene, we head to right after the Sentry's wife blows his head off with a weapon left for her by Marvel Boy a few issues back. Sentry's wife reveals that before he became the Sentry, Robert Reynolds was a simple junkie, and that he gained his powers by breaking into a laboratory and drinking the formula which ultimately turned him into the Sentry. After this revelation, the Sentry returns to life as the Void, and announces that he is going to kill Sentry's wife for her actions. Before he can follow through on his threat, Sentry retakes control and demands that the Void leaves his wife alone. The two argue for a while, and the Sentry ultimately leaves Avengers Tower and races towards the sun with the hope that he'd burn up and die. Of course that doesn't happen, and the Void ultimately convinces him that if he just gives in to the Void, good things will happen, which is apparently what Sentry decides to do as this issue ends.

Well, the Dread Lord BENDIS strikes again! I wonder if he's contractually obligated to alter character's origins and personas, because it sure as hell seems that way! I've never seen a writer radically change as many characters as BENDIS has during his time with Marvel... It's really crazy. The Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, the Hood, Osborn, and now the Sentry, have faced radical changes at the hands of BENDIS, just to name a few. Now, I know what you're thinking, "He must have REALLY hated this comic!"... However, to be honest, this comic wasn't that bad. Sure, it annoyed me that yet another character has been radically changed by BENDIS, but it was the Sentry, and I really don't care about him anyway. To me, he's always been a poor man's Thor/Superman. If I was a Sentry fan, I'm sure I'd be pretty pissed, but as it is, I'm apathetic towards these changes to the Sentry's origin. That's a good way to describe how I felt about this comic actually, apathetic.

Score: 6 out of 10.So wait, now the Void is Galactus, and the Sentry is a junkie??? OOOOOOK...

Wolverine Origins #44: Writer: Daniel Way. Pencils: Doug Braithwaite.

We open this issue with Wolverine breaking Ruby Thursday out of her cell at the Raft prison. It seems that Ruby is an integral part of Wolvie's plan to finally bring Romulus down, and he explains to her that he'll set her free provided she assists him, which Ruby is all to happy to do. The warden at the Raft locks down that section of the Raft and puts the power dampeners on, which prevents Cloak from teleporting Wolvie and Ruby to safety. The warden receives a call from Romulus, who informs him that he'll assist the warden in taking Wolvie out, provided the Warden tells Romulus who Wolvie went in there to break out. Meanwhile, Wolvie steals clothing from a few guards and along with Ruby and Cloak, disguises himself as a guard. This only gets them so far before the warden realizes what Wolvie did, and calls HAMMER for assistance. Skaar shows up, and the warden mistakenly believes he was sent by HAMMER, so he tells Skaar what was going on, and that when he makes contact with Wolvie, he'll give the signal to return the superhuman powers to the occupants of the Raft. Skaar finds Wolvie and reports that he's made contact just as Ares of the Dark Avengers(who was the guy HAMMER sent), arrives on the scene and attacks Skaar. Since the warden shut down the power dampeners, Wovie has Cloak teleport Ruby out of the Raft, while he tries to convince Skaar that there is no reason to battle Ares, since Wolvie got what he came for. Upon getting out of the Raft, Cloak tells Ruby to lay low and await further instruction from Wolvie, so she leaves. Back in the Raft, Wolvie finally convinces Skaar to stop fighting Ares, and the two make an escape. This issue ends with Romulus catching up to Ruby and knocking her around, while demanding to know exactly what Wolvie was planning.

As usual, this was another solid outing for this series. Sure, I could care less about Ares, Skaar, Cloak and Rudy Thursday(what a bizarre character to bring back...), but even with all of that deadwood hanging around, Daniel STILL managed to make this comic book interesting. That's the sign of a great writer, being able to take a bunch of characters that I would normally avoid reading about and making the comic they're in readable. On top of that, and I NEVER thought I'd say this, the whole Romulus story has really grown on me... Now, when Jeph Loeb first introduced the idea of Romulus, I thought it was one of the most idiotic story ideas I'd read in quite some time... I'm supposed to believe that this one figure(Romulus)has been secretly manipulating Wolverine for nearly 100 years now, and nobody, not Wolvie, not Professor X, not SHIELD, nobody knew about him? Come on! But then, a miraculous thing happened, Daniel Way took the idea and really ran with it... He made it almost believable(almost), plus he managed to work Romulus into many of his stories, which helped make Romulus look like some kind of serious threat. Plus, unlike BENDIS, he was able to work Romulus into Wolvie's(and a lot of other character's)mythos without dramatically changing the characters. I know I'll be eagerly anticipating the next issue to see what happens next in the thus far highly entertaining Woloverine/Romulus battle.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Yeah that's right, Romulus has managed to grow on me!

A Quick Look at Dark Avengers #12

Writer: BENDIS. Pencils: Mike Deodato.

What happened: Picking up from last issue, Victoria Hand from HAMMER, on behalf of the United States of America, has decided to surrender to the Molecule Man. Victoria agrees to leave the Molecule Man alone provided that he return the Avengers to her. Molecule Man agrees to the deal and brings her to Norman Osborn who is still laying naked on the floor of the Molecule Man's base, still being tormented mentally. All of a sudden the Sentry pops out of the Molecule Man and attacks him. This action surprises the Molecule Man, but ultimately he simply destroys the Sentry. Sentry pulls himself back together and actually begins to use the Molecule Man's own powers against him. Sentry then demands that Molecule Man returns everything back to the way it was, which includes returning the Avengers to where they were, as well as bringing back all the people he adducted, to which the Molecule Man does. After Molecule Man completes all of those actions, the Sentry destroys Molecule Man completely. The Sentry then tells his dumbfounded teammates that he can control the molecules of the world. Osborn tries to reason with Sentry, but proves unsuccessful, so Moonstone, using her psychiatric training, manages to calm Sentry down. Sentry then decides to return home alone. This issue concludes with Norman Osborn locking himself up in his downstairs lab and Avengers Tower, slowly going insane thanks to what he went through with the Molecule Man, as well as Loki's influence.

What I thought: Eh, I really didn't enjoy this comic at all. I've never been a fan of the Sentry, and now it seems we'll be getting even more of him. While I did enjoy the first two parts of this storyline, this one definitely fell flat to me. Next issue promises to have a lot more of the Sentry, so needless to say I'm not looking forward to it.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

If seeing Norman Osborn running around naked is your kind of thing, then this is the comic for you!

A Quick Look at Dark Avengers Annual #1

Writer: BENDIS! Pencils: Chris Bachalo.

What Happened: We discover that after Marvel Boy(Noh-Varr)abandoned the Dark Avengers after learning they were all either criminals or insane(or is some cases both!)he began trying to contact the Kree Supreme Intelligence for orders. Having no success, Noh-Varr decides to try to figure out what humans want and why they act the way they do. While sitting in a park eating raw eggs, Noh-Varr witnesses a break up between a woman and her boyfriend. Noh-Varr approaches the woman to try to understand what was going on when the Sentry appears in the air above Noh-Varr demanding that he returns to the Dark Avengers with him. Noh-Varr attacks Sentry with some of his fancy, futuristic Kree weaponry, but that only serves to annoy Sentry, who ultimately gets a hold of Noh-Varr. Before Sentry can do any real damage to Noh-Varr, the woman Noh-Varr was conversing with earlier blasts Sentry out of the sky with a discarded weapon of Noh-Varr's(more on that later...). Sentry is forced to abandon the battle in order to avoid the blast, and Noh-Varr grabs his bag of weapons and escapes. Noh-Varr then heads to one of his safe houses and successfully contacts the Supreme Intelligence(more on that later...). The Supreme Intelligence decides that it will be Noh-Varr's job to watch over humanity, and to help him accomplish that duty the Supreme Intelligence fits Noh-Varr with a brand new set of Nega-Bands. Osborn and his Dark Avengers discover they can no longer track Noh-Varr(because of the Bands), and Noh-Varr tracks down the woman from earlier and says good-bye for now. This issue ends with Captain America and a blond guy named "Steve"(more on that later...)watching Noh-Varr from a distance, trying to decide if they should attempt to contact him and make him a member of their Norman Osborn resistance group.

What I Thought: Well, on the bright side Noh-Varr was in this comic, and he wasn't killed off. That's a good thing, right? However there were A LOT of little things in this comic that were WAY off. First off, I respect that the Dread Lord BENDIS at least tried to keep Noh-Varr close to the way Grant Morrison created him. BENDIS did get a number of things about Noh-Varr correct, however he managed to butcher a lot about Noh-Varr as well. First off, why was Noh-Varr carrying his weapons around in a bag? Noh-Varr has access to any weapon he requires due to his futuristic gauntlets. In other words, Noh-Varr doesn't need to carry any weapons around in a bag, his gauntlets can create any weapons he needs! Next up, and most galling, is the appearance of the Supreme Intelligence... Um, BENDIS, the Supreme Intelligence isn't the leader of the Kree anymore, the Inhumans are. Not only that, but he's kind of dead.... So Noh-Varr contacting, and receiving Nega-Bands from the dead Supreme Intellegence is definitely pretty impressive. Finally, the end of this comic pretty much spoiled Captain America Reborn BIG TIME! Unless I'm TOTALLY wrong, Bucky(dressed as Captain America)and Steve Rogers are watching Noh-Varr from a distance... That's a REALLY big problem considering the fact that Steve hasn't officially come back yet!!! Not only that, but this issue pretty much tells us who will be wearing the Captain America outfit(Bucky)and who won't be(Steve). Besides all that, I was glad that it seems Noh-Varr does still have a place in the Marvel Universe, hopefully though, where ever he does end up will be far away from BENDIS!

Score: 6 out of 10.So that's Noh-Varr's new costume. I don't think I like it...

A Quick Look at Dark Avengers #11

Writer: BENDIS. Art: Mike Deodato and Greg Horn.

What Happened: Norman "Marvel" Osborn finds himself and his Dark Avengers trapped in a world created by the Molecule Man. Osborn tries to reason with MM, but winds up getting psychologically tortured for his troubles. MM then proceeds to attack each member of the Dark Avengers one by one. Having dealt with all of the Dark Avengers, MM tries to figure out what he should do, fearing that his actions will cause Reed Richards to come down on him like the hand of god. While MM is pondering his situation, Victoria Hand, Osborn's second in command approaches MM and announces that HAMMER and the USA surrender to him, ending this issue.

What I Thought: The annoying ending notwithstanding(the US surrendering to the Molecule Man? Really!?!)this comic wasn't half bad. You know, I may rag on BENDIS alot, but giving credit where credit is due, he's done a pretty good job with this series. This series is SO much better than New Avengers it's staggering. Did I just compliment BENDIS? Weird... Anyway, this was a pretty good comic that has me looking forward to the next issue.

Score: 7 out of 10.Ooo, pretty...

A Quick Look at Dark Avengers #10

Writer: BENDIS. Artist: Mike Deodato.

What Happened: After learning that the daughter of a politician has gone missing in the small town of Dinosaur, Colorado, Norman "Marvel" Osborn sends the Sentry to get to the bottom of the situation. Upon arriving the Senty(painfully)vanishes. Osborn assembles the Dark Avengers and the team arrives in force. Osborn sends Moonstone in first, and she ends up vanishing as well. This issue ends with Osborn appearing at the feet of the Molecule Man, who is surrounded by Mephisto, the Beyonder, the Enchantress, and that evil demon from Ghost Rider(the one whose name begins with a "Z").

What I Thought: For a BENDIS written comic this one wasn't all that bad. It was readable, and BENDIS kept his customary terrible dialogue to a minimum. As for the ending, I'm guessing the Molecule Man is behind everything and that the other 4 figures are just illusions.

Score: 7 out of 10.Ah, more great dialogue from the Dread Lord...

A Quick Look at Dark Avengers #9

Writer: BENDIS. Art: Mike Deodato.

What Happened: Ares follows his son and discovers that he is working with Nick Fury's Secret Warriors. Ares confesses to Fury that he doesn't know how to relate to his kid and that he also knows that if he kills Fury and the rest of the Warriors, his kid would never forgive him. After some deliberation, Ares decides to leave his son in the custody of Fury and the Warriors, but he warns Fury that if anything happens to his son, Zeus himself would punish Fury. Besides that, Osborn has locked himself in the basement of Avengers Tower and the Sentry's wife blasts Sentry in the face with a gun given to her by Marvel Boy.

What I thought: Nothing. That's what I think. I don't care about this series. If I wasn't subscribed to it I wouldn't even be reading it. Sorry, but that's all I've got to say about this issue.

Score: 6 out of 10.How--how can I tell this comic was written by--by BENDIS? Be--Because everybody has a sp--speech impediment.

A Quick Look at Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus

Writer: Matt Fraction. Art: Mike Deodato, Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson.

What Happened: Norman(Marvel)Osborn brings the combined forces of the Dark X-Men and Avengers to Cyclops' Utopia island and attacks the X-Men present there. Unfortunately for Osborn(and me), Cyclops has all the bases covered. He eliminates Ares from the battle by having him face Hela, and he gets rid of Sentry by having Emma Frost enter his mind(although it seems she may have let the Void out as well). In the end, it comes down to Norman and Moonstone against an army of mutants. Instead of killing the lot of them and looking bad in the eyes of the world, Norman orders a hasty retreat from the island. Cyclops is pleased that he stole a portion of the US to live on off the coast of California and Osborn spins it to the media that with the X-Men no longer living on US soil, San Fransisco is safe from the mutant menace that Cyclops and his X-Men represented.

What I thought: At least this x-over started off well enough... The last few chapters of Utopia were just terrible. I can't believe that Cyclops was allowed to steal a piece of the United States of America and get away with it!!! I don't care how Osborn spins it, you can't lose a chunk of California and claim victory! Ugh, there really wasn't anything I liked about this issue. Daken being defeated by X-23, Armor and Pixie??? Are you serious? What the hell was Matt on when he wrote that?!? Weapon Omega wasn't able to defeat Wolverine one-on-one? That's also a hard one to swallow. Basically, the Dark Avengers/X-Men looked like complete chumps in this series, while the Uncanny X-Men came out smelling like roses... Care to guess which series Matt Fraction writes? This was definitely a huge letdown for me.

Score: 3 out of 10.If only they would have killed them all... Why? Why has Marvel decided to ruin the X-titles? Why? What have I done to deserve this?

Dark Avengers #8

Writer: Matt Fraction, Pencils: Luke Ross.

What Happened: This issue begins with Moonstar trying to make a deal with Hela. From there we watch as the Dark X-Men easily defeat Simon Trask(it was so easy it wasn't even shown!). From there they spend the next several days building up goodwill with the people of San Fransisco by dealing with all sorts of threats. All the while, Cyclops and his X-Men sit back and do nothing, as Scott seems to be waiting for Beast's science team to accomplish something under the waters of San Fran before making his move. Dark Beast and Osborn finally show the members of the Dark X-Men exactly what the Omega Machine does. Cloak and Dagger both seem very unnerved by the machine, but they realize they're stuck on the Dark X-Men for the time being. X-Force break into to the secret facility of the Dark X-Men and free all of the mutants Dark Beast had been experimenting on. Dark Beast sounds the alarm and Weapon Omega responds, however, the two are easily defeated by X-Force. The rest of the Dark X-Men respond to the scene and Emma and Namor betray the rest of the team, rejoining the X-Men in the process. Cyclops then raises his base in San Fran out of the water and cedes from the United States...... Yes, really. This issue ends with Osborn FINALLY having had enough of Cyclops, sending the combined forces of the Dark X-Men and Avengers after Cyclops and his X-Men.

What I thought: What did I think??? You don't want to know! Wait, you've read this far, so I guess you do. Well, OK, here goes, but be warned, it's not going to be pretty. I absolutely HATED this issue!!! Where do I begin... First off, let's start with Emma. I hate her. Always have, always will. I hated her in the Hellfire Club, I hated her as the headmistress of Generation X, I hated her when she was cheating with Scott behind Jean Grey's back, and I hate her now. I was really hoping this x-over was going to finally break up the unholy combination that is Scott and Emma, but alas, Emma is right back at Scott's side by the end of this issue. Dammit! Then there's Scott Summers, possibly the most unlikable character in comic books today. What the hell happened to the Scott Summers I grew up a huge fan of? I guess Matt Fraction is deliberately trying to make Scott as unlikable as possible... I don't know why, but just read any X-comic over the past 2-3 years and you'll understand what I'm talking about. And then the coup de grace, Scott lifting the entire island the X-Men were living on into the air and announcing that since he was no longer wanted in the United States he would leave... OK, I'm fine with that, but if you're going to leave, you can't take a part of San Fransisco with you!!! I've never been a big fan of Norman Osborn, but I know I'll be hoping that he marches his forces right onto X-Island(are you kidding me???)and kicks Scott's ass back to the 1990's.

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.Go Norman go!!!

A Quick Look at Uncanny X-Men #514

This is the forth part of the Uncanny X-Men/Dark Avengers x-over, Utopia. This issue is written by Matt Fraction and pencilled by Terry Dotson. Before I get started on the review, let me just say that the cover price on my copy of this comic is $4.99! Since I get my copy of Uncanny through Marvel's subscription service, the cover price doesn't hurt me, but $5 for a regular sized comic book seems a bit excessive, no? Well, anyway, on with the review.

-Simon Trask and his Biosentinels are running amok in San Fransisco and Emma Frost and her Dark X-Men(under the direction of Norman "Marvel" Osborn)take the battle to them.

-While Emma's squad battles the Biosentinels, Cyclops begins to put his plans into motion. He sends Moonstar to Las Vegas to meet with someone, Domino(along with the rest of X-Force)is to rendezvous with Wolverine, Mindee of the Stepford Cuckoo's is told to get herself arrested and Psylocke and the X-Club are told to do something underneath the waters of San Fran. As for Cyclops and the rest of the X-Men, they head to the scene of the Dark X-Men/Biosentinel brouhaha to watch the Dark X-Men in battle.

-The Dark X-Men manage to destroy the rampaging Biosentinels and after contacting Osborn, Emma decides to take the battle directly to Trask, who is said to be operating out of a hospital in San Fran.

-Cyclops, who watched the battle from afar, seems impressed by the way the Dark X-Men handled the fight, but smugly predicts that his team would trounce Emma's team if the two groups ever battled.

And that's pretty much that. How's that for a quick review! This issue was pretty action-packed, with the battle between the Dark X-Men and the Biosentinels taking centerstage. I actually thought this was a pretty good comic book, although there were a few things that bugged me. First of all, I felt like I missed an issue somewhere along the line! I could swear in part three of this x-over Trask was still plotting his attack, however, I open this comic and the Biosentinels are already running wild through the streets of San Fran! I'll chalk that up to my own faulty memory I guess.

Besides that, Cyclops was pissing me off something fierce this issue! I really can't stand him anymore! There was a time Scott was among my favorite comic characters, but now he's such an arrogant pain in the ass! I know it's not going to happen, but I wish the Dark X-Men would beat the hell out of Scott and his band of X-Men. Really humble them. Of course I doubt that's going to happen, but still, Scott getting humbled would be sweet. For a score I'll give this issue a respectable 7 1/2 out of 10. After reading this issue I have to say, I actually like the Dark X-Men! Matt has done an eXtremely good job at giving each character their own voice. I'll definitely be looking forward to the next part of this x-over.If only Daken would have killed that damn fake Hawkeye... I hate that Bullseye is sullying the Hawkeye mantle!