Deadpool #46

It's Deadpool vs EVIL Deadpool! 'Nuff said!

Deadpool #46:

Summary: This issue gets started proper with Deadpool heading to his favorite Mexican restaurant in New Jersey, only to find that some fiend had blown it up. The fiend? EVIL Deadpool!!! Needless to say, the two Deadpool's meet and the fight is on. The two battle for a while until they run out of ammo, at which time they decide to reschedule the fight for later on after they'd reequipped... HA!!! Deadpool heads to the warehouse where he kept his good toys, but alas, EVIL Deadpool, knowing what Pool was going to do, had arrived first and had gotten his hands on Pool's good weaponry. However, it turns out Pool had rigged all of his good weapon warehouses with explosives after he ran afoul Norman Osborn back during the bad old HAMMER days, and blows the place up. Pool smugly figures that the explosion had killed EVIL Deadpool, until he thinks about it and realizes that if he had been able to take cover, EVIL Deadpool probably did as well. Pool turns around and finds EVIL Deadpool standing behind him with an automatic rifle, taunting him. Pool is pissed by this turn of events and tells EVIL Deadpool to just pull the trigger and finish it, but instead, EVIL Deadpool surprises Pool by ducking out out of sight. Pool is obviously confused by THAT turn of events, and stands there trying to figure out what EVIL Deadpool was going to do next, seeing as that they share the same brain and all. Pool is suddenly smashed in the head by a flying shield, which surprises him since that's NOT the move he would have made in EVIL Deadpool's shoes. When Pool turns to deal with what he figured would be EVIL Deadpool, he is shocked to see Captain America(!!!) standing there, telling Deadpool he was being taken in.

Thoughts: This... Comic... Was... AWESOME!!! First off, I must have laughed through the ENTIRE issue... And as I've said before, the main thing I want out of a Deadpool comic is to be entertained, and I sure as hell was with this one. Besides that, the story, the dialogue and the art? They were fantastic. The interaction between Pool and EVIL Deadpool was flat out perfect. And the Cap appearance at the end? I NEVER saw that coming for one second. Now I score Deadpool comic books a bit differently than I score regular comic books in that I'll score it higher if it's funny even if other aspects of it aren't up to snuff. With that said, not only does this comic get a 10 as a Deadpool comic, it gets a 10 as a regular comic. This one ruled.

Score: 10 out of 10.Why did he do it? Because he's EVIL! That's why!

Avengers Academy #22

Hey, it turns out I WAS able to get tonight's reviews up on time! So huzzah for me! Anyway, I have three reviews on tap for tonight, with the first being this week's Pick of the Litter, or the comic book I am MOST looking forward to reading. It says A LOT about the writing prowess of Christos Gage that what is basically the forth-string Avengers book is by FAR the best Avengers book, and probably my favorite ongoing comic book from any company.

Avengers Academy #22:

Summary: Poor Pym has been working on Jocasta's inert form since the Academy discovered her destroyed in the Academy security room, and is no closer to discovering who or what attacked her. Tigra and Quicksilver, worried about Pym's mental state, tell him to take a break and maybe find somebody who wasn't as close to Jocasta to look into the attack. To that end, Pym decides to enlist Magneto(!!), you know, Quicksilver's VERY estranged father. Mags arrives along with Emma Frost and Lord Summers, who felt that publicly assisting the Avengers would be good for the Crazy X-Men's public image. Right from the start things are tense between Mags and Quicksilver, and two of the Academy students, Finesse(who has been secretly blackmailing Quicksilver into teaching her how to be more like Magneto) and Reptil(who is actually currently possessed by his evil future self unbeknown to anybody) decide to spy on the meeting to see what transpires. Mags tells Pym he'd be happy to help, but under one term... That Quicksilver was to never again get himself involved in mutant affairs, since Mags blamed Quicksilver for pushing the Scarlet Witch into the House of M debacle which ended up costing the world thousands(million?) of mutants. From there Mags continues ripping into Quicksilver, bringing up the time Quicksilver was using the Terrigen Mists to give mutants faulty powers, and causing a war between the Earth and the Inhumans, before finally bringing up the fact that Quicksilver's own daughter wouldn't even speak to him do to his actions with the Mists. Finesse has heard enough of Mags tearing down Quicksilver and charges into the lab, attacking Mags. Mags defends himself, which brings Quicksilver into the fight, attacking his father. Emma goes to put a stop to the fight mentally, but is ambushed by Reptil, who alerts the other students that the Crazy X-Men had attacked Finesse. Lord Summers attacks Reptil, which is seen by Hawkeye(who thought bringing what he considered the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to the Academy Compound was a terrible idea from the start), so he attacks Mags and the other Crazy X-Men. The students rally around Hawkeye, but Mags has had enough of this nonsense and begins to use his powers to pin the students and Hawkeye to the ground, before being attacked by Finesse again. This time Mags deals with her in a more forceful manner, which brings Quicksilver to attack Mags again. Having recovered, Emma mentally freezes everybody in their places, except for Mags who was immune to her powers due to his helmet. Realizing that he once again screwed up where Quicksilver was concerned, Mags makes a half-hearted attempt to reconcile with Quicksilver, but is rebuffed, as Quicksilver states that from now on, as per Magneto's wishes, he'd contact another mutant before involving himself in mutants affairs, but that it would be a mutant he trusted, like Storm or Beast, but NEVER Mags. Having had enough, Mags tells Pym he was ready to see Jocasta and after scanning her sees that besides electromagnetism, Jocasta also had trace tachyon particles on her, meaning she was most likely attacked from a different dimension or possibly through time. With that, the Crazy X-Men take their leave and this one ends with Finesse telling Quicksilver that after having met Magneto, she was no longer interested in becoming like him, instead she was more interested in learning how to be more like Quicksilver.

Thoughts: What can I say? This comic, for me, was perfect. It had Magneto and Quicksilver going at it, the dialogue was topnotch(as always in this series), there were several little character development scenes that I didn't even get to mention here(such as Hazmat's quick dig at Lightspeed), and the story was smooth, fast and made perfect sense. Once again, this comic book left me with a big smile on my face, and eagerly looking forward to the next issue. I love this series.

Score: 10 out of 10.Yes, the Sentinel DID make me laugh.

New Mutants #33

First review for tonight? None other than the comic book that stars the greatest comic book character of all... And I think the character I'd consider the greatest of all should be rather obvious, so instead of stating who it is, I'm just going to get right to the review!

New Mutants #33:

Summary: This issue basically deals with the New Mutants and what decisions they are going to make in regards to the whole Lord Summers/Wolverine Schism deal. Cannonball and Karma decide to go with Wolverine since living on Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia) wasn't the best thing for them. Magma and Sunspot are undecided, while Cypher and Warlock can't help but think there had to be more than just those two choices. As for the greatest comic book character of all, X-Man, Nate Grey(there, now you know who it is!), while he doesn't like the idea of staying in one place for too long, he's prefer to stay on Crazy Mutie Island in order to get to know Lord Summers better, seeing as that Lord Summers IS his father, in an alternate reality sort of way. Plus Nate doesn't see the sense in shielding children from the real world, which is a BRILLIANT nod to Nate's own past, so I tip my hat to Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning for that. As for Moonstar, she can see both sides of the argument, but feels loyalty towards Lord Summers since he believed in her even after she lost her mutant powers. However, she doesn't think staying secluded on Crazy Mutie Island is the way forward for mutantkind. As such, she meets up with Lord Summers and gets him to agree to allow the six remaining New Mutants(Moonstar, Nate, Sunspot, Magma, Cypher and Warlock) to live in nearby San Fransisco where they'd still be close to Crazy Mutie Island, but be able to interact with humanity. This issue ends with Lord Summers giving Moonstar her next assignment, to find Blink(!).

Thoughts: So here's my dilemma... The last two comic books I reviewed I gave perfect scores to. After I put this comic book down, my first instinct was to give it a perfect score... I couldn't think of any faults in it, but I've always hated giving out too many perfect scores, because it dilutes the importance of them... So what to do... To solve this, I decided to go back through this issue to look for something, anything that I didn't like... And I couldn't find it. This comic was just SO well written, and the art was strong. I mean Abnett and Lanning wrote Nate here about as well as he's been written. Not only that, but everybody else was written strongly as well! Add the fact that the team is going to look for Blink, and I have to say, I loved this issue. And you know what that means...

Score: 10 out of 10. THREE straight perfect scores!!! Wow, this is shaping up to be a hell of a great week comic-wise for me!Huh, that's probably the best dialogue Nate's had in the longest time, and I'd know best seeing as that I own every single comic book he's ever appeared in!

Avengers Academy #21

The second comic I'll be reviewing tonight? The series that may very well be my favorite ongoing from any company... I collect over 60 comic series a month, between ongoings and minis, so let that sink in for a moment... THIS series may very well be my favorite... THAT is the absolute highest praise I can give to any comic book.

Avengers Academy #21:

Summary: With the Avengers Academy expanding to include other students(both part and full-time) and the Academy relocating to the former headquarters of the West Coast Avengers, Avengers Luke Cage, Captain America and Hawkeye head out west to talk to Hank Pym about the recent events happening with the Academy cadets. Understandably, the five remaining Academy originals are somewhat worried that the arrival of the Avengers bigwigs(and Luke Cage...) coupled with the new students meant that they were getting the old heave-ho. Jocasta, who overheard the murmuring of the Academy originals, tries to tell them that there was nothing to fear, but the kids are still a bit on edge, at which time they're summoned to see the Avengers leadership. Things fall apart rapidly, and before you know it, punches are thrown and the fight is on. Ultimately Jocasta ends the battle and explains to the Avengers that the kids thought they were getting tossed out of the Academy, thus explaining their actions. The Academy kids separate from the Avengers, at which time Jocasta scolds them for not realizing how much the kids had been through what with the whole Fear Itself mess and losing one of their own. The Avengers discuss that amongst themselves, while Hawkeye stands in the background uncharacteristically quiet... Cap asks for Hawkeye's thoughts on the matter and Hawkeye is reminded of his early Avengers days which had him constantly at odds with his teammates and leaders. Liking the spunk he saw in the kids, Hawkeye offers himself to Pym as a full-time member of the Academy staff, thus raising the awesomeness quotient of this series by a whopping 1,000%! While everybody is pondering their situations, Jocasta heads to the Academy's control room since she had figured out the perfect way to fix the fractured environment at the Academy... A little later, the Academy originals again meet the Avengers and there are apologies all around as both sides admit that they hadn't made the best decisions earlier. With that, the Avengers staff introduce the two new full-time students(Lightspeed and White Tiger), and all seems well... At least until the Avengers realize that Jocasta hadn't shown up for the meeting. Quicksilver heads off to find her and rushes back, telling the Avengers to get to the control room asap. Upon arrival, the Avengers find Jocasta's body destroyed, and a quick security check tells them that security systems were shut down from the inside, meaning whoever destroyed Jocasta was on the Academy grounds when it happened. This issue ends with us finding out the the older, evil version of Reptil from the future had managed to gain control of Reptil's body in the present and was in communication with the evil Academy originals from the future(!).

Thoughts: Whew, that was A LOT to take in! Let's see, for starters, this series is awesome. The addition of Hawkeye and the new students? If there was a word past awesome, that would be what this series is now. Seriously, there is no flaw in this series... The characterizations are perfect, the art is great, the writing is topnotch, this has to be the most complete series I read. So going forward we have the “murder” investigation surrounding Jocasta, the real Reptil being trapped in the future while his evil future self tries to take advantage of the confusion surrounding Jocasta's “death”, new students AND Hawkeye!!! In other words, the future looks GREAT. This is a fantastic jumping on point for any comic fans who haven't yet given this series a chance... It's only $2.99 and it's worth every single penny.

Score: 10 out of 10. Wow, two consecutive perfect scores! Here's hoping the perfection continues tomorrow night!Every piece of dialogue here was GREAT!!!

Fear Itself #7.1

The first comic I'll be reviewing this week? That's an easy one, it was this week's Pick of the Litter, and a comic I was so excited about after reading it I had to immediately post my thoughts about it. So now, without further ado, the Captain America aftermath issue of Fear Itself.

Fear Itself: Captain America #7.1:

Summary: We get things started with Nick Fury entering the apartment of Steve Rogers(Captain America), who was preparing the eulogy for Bucky Barnes. Nick tells Cap that he had something important to tell him, but he wasn't exactly sure how to go about it... With that, we have a flashback to right after Bucky was killed by Sin in Fear Itself #4. As Bucky is being flown away from the battlefield on an army aircraft, the army medics manage to get a slight pulse in Bucky, and tell Black Widow that if she had any last words to say to him, now would be the best time for them. Fury, who was also aboard the plane, says nuts to that and tells the pilot to fly to a secret SHIELD location. Once there, Fury shows Black Widow a Bucky LMD(that would be a Life Model Decoy, which is something that looks exactly like a person), and tells her that he was willing to give Bucky the rest of his Infinity Formula, which could possibly bring Bucky back to life... Fury tells the Widow that if they were to go through with this, nobody could know, since what the world needed during the Fear Itself events was Steve Rogers as Captain America, rallying the troops and taking the fight to the Serpent, and Bucky's “death” would be a sure way to get that to happen. Widow agrees to not tell another soul and Fury orders his doctors to administer the Formula to Bucky. Two days pass and Bucky wakes up, much to the Black Widow's relief(and mine as well!!). And that brings us back to the present. After hearing this story from Fury, Cap attacks him and begins to beat the hell out of him for lying to him about the fate of his best friend. Cap finally pulls away from Fury when Bucky and Widow enter the room which quickly calms things down. From there, the quartet decide to keep Bucky's return to life a secret, since that would take care of the whole “Bucky as a fugitive” troubles that Bucky was going through before Fear Itself began. Fury tells Cap that Bucky would be working in the shadows again, which angers Cap, but is what Bucky needs right now. With that, Cap heads off to Bucky's memorial service, and Bucky heads off to take care of some business that was left over from his Winter Soldier days.

Thoughts: Wooooooooooo!!!!!!! Yes, Bucky is BACK! What other thoughts could I possibly have about this comic book? Bucky never should have “died” during Fear Itself in the first place, but now that he's back, and Steve is back as Cap, I guess all is right in the world again. I'll be honest with you, I did NOT expect Bucky to come back here... I was always hoping that he'd come back, but I figured Marvel would string things out for a while first. So imagine my surprise, and yes, elation when I read this comic and Bucky came to in Fury's secret hospital. What more can I add? One of my top five favorite comic book characters came back from the dead, in a story that made sense and is getting an ongoing series in a few month's time... This comic, for me, was perfect.

Score: 10 out of 10.Yes.

Fear Itself #7! Spoilers, thoughts and more!

Well, before I do a single thing today, play Arkham City, continue the job search, eat, there's one thing that MUST get done... And that would be reading Fear Itself #7. In my opinion, Fear Itself has been one of Marvel's stronger events in recent memory, so yeah, I'm pretty excited to see how it ends... Sort of... Since Marvel has already announced three extra Fear Itself issues(7.1-7.3) as well as The Fearless, a twelve issue maxi-series that spins out of Fear Itself, it looks like the Fear Itself festivities will be continuing going forward. So while the Serpent will almost definitely be taken down in this issue, there's A LOT of fallout that should be felt through the Marvel U from Fear Itself going forward. Here's hoping that fallout makes for some great stories. And now, without further ado......

Fear Itself #7(of 7):

Summary: Okay, lots to go through as this was actually a $5 comic that was well worth the price. We begin with Captain America(the original and sadly the only) standing his ground near Broxton, Oklahoma, while the Serpent and most of his Worthy(Hulk was freed in Fear Itself: Hulk vs Dracula #3) slowly approach the location of fallen Asgard and the World Tree. However, Iron Man emerges at the World Tree site and hands out the 8 enchanted weapons(well, 10 if you count Iron Man's armor and Thor's additional armament) Odin gave him to attempt to stop the Serpent before Odin and the hordes of Asgard had to step in and destroy the Earth to stop the Serpent's march. The enchanted Avengers, The Mighty, charge to Cap's aid and engage the Worthy, while Thor himself makes a beeline for the Serpent, even though Thor knew that he was prophesied to fall with the Serpent if they were to battle each other. Thor throws his hammer at the Serpent, but it is deflected away, so he attacks the Serpent's with the Odinsword instead. As for the hammer, it falls near Cap, who picks it up(!!!!!) and rallies the Avengers. As these events are going on, around the globe the citizens of the planet are slowly breaking free of the fear effect the Serpent had been plaguing the planet with and are helping their fellow man, thus weakening the Serpent's powers even more. The battle rages with the heroes slowly gaining a tentative advantage, but Odin can't wait any longer and rallies his own troops and begins to march to the Earth to raze the planet and kill his evil brother. As Odin enters the Earth from Asgard, he watches as Thor thrusts the Odinsword deep into the Serpent's head, killing him. With the Serpent dead, all of the Serpent's mystical hammers abandon the Serpent's Worthy, turning them back to regular flash and blood villains. Villains who were no match for the still god-powered heroes. As for Thor, as prophesied, he falls at the feet of his father, seemingly dead(!!). And that's that. A few days later Thor is laid to rest in the remains of fallen Asgard in Broxton, where Earth's heroes are preparing a funeral pyre for him. Before the pyre is lit, Odin takes the corpse of his brother to Asgard to stand guard over it forevermore, and apparently leaves the rest of the Asgardians on Earth at the site of fallen Asgard. From there the days roll along and Bucky is buried(.....), Tony Stark heads back to his dwarf friends and the dwarfs recreate Captain America's shield, this time mixing it with some Uru, making it stronger than ever, although there is a slight scar in the shield. Stark gives the shield to Cap, who is pleased with the new shield, and feels that the scar gives the shield a bit of character. With that, Cap promises the Avengers that they would rebuild, and the planet slowly begins to get back to normal... And that ends the main part of this event. However, there are several epilogues here, and I'll hit on each of them in rapid fashion. First, Sin is freed from captivity by some weird looking freaks, and Sin realizes that although she lost her god-like powers, she still remembered all she had learned as Skadi(the World Tree, the hammers of power, etc)... The Hulk, tired of being used, and doubly tired of Bruce Banner's constant whining, separates from Banner, leaving them as two separate beings, a feat that leaves Banner shocked and angered... Something about Marcus Johnson being the most wanted man in the world(don't ask me what that means!)... And finally the Hulk realizing that when he broke his Serpent hammer, he released Nul, the Breaker of Worlds and gave him physical form. Not being able to let Nul roam free, Hulk heads to Dr. Strange to tell him that the Defenders were needed once again...

Thoughts: Well, that's that. There really wasn't much NOT to like here. The final battle was powerfully drawn, and well written. Cap picking up and using Thor's hammer was awesome in so many ways. Cap getting the new shield and wanting to leave the scar on it makes sense since Cap himself is scarred from the events of this mini-series. Thor's death? I'm not sold on it since Thor is a major part of the upcoming Avengers movie coming out next Spring, as well as the fact that he still, you know, has a solo series... So I'm not expecting Thor's “death” to really stand for long. I liked Odin heading to Asgard space and locking the portal behind him to watch over his brother to make sure no more evil would come from him. The Asgardians on Earth? Been there, done that. So I'm not too keen on that. I will say I am a bit pissed that Sin survived this, because nothing would have felt better than to read Sin dying at Cap's hands to end this one. But I guess Marvel thinks she's worth more alive than dead, but after what happened to Bucky, I almost needed to see her die here... But hey, there's always later on down the road, right? That's probably the best thing about this event. There IS more to come. The multiple epilogues, for the most part, they look really interesting going forward. Hell, I actually want buy a HULK comic for the first time in my life! How crazy is that! So overall, this event did some things wrong(Bucky's death), but did many more things right. And for that, and this very strong final issue, I'm going to give this comic, deserving or not, a score of.....

Score: 10 out of 10.Oh hell yeah!!!

Avengers Academy #19

Awesome, it's my favorite ongoing Avengers series!! Not only is this my favorite Avengers series, it's in the running for my favorite Fear Itself tie-in story, as well as my favorite teen-oriented series! Yeah, I like this series a lot!

Avengers Academy #19(Fear Itself tie-in):

Summary: With the Serpent-possessed Absorbing Man having absorbed the Pym Particle generator that fueled Infinite Avengers Mansion and expanding the Mansion at a rapid rate, the Avengers Academy cadets are faced with a terrible decision... Do nothing and allow the Mansion to grow until it passed through the Microverse and entered the 616 Marvel Universe, where it would destroy a major city due to it's enormous size, or have two students stay behind to detonate the Mansion's self-destruct systems, blowing it up and saving countless lives. Finesse decides that she was going to remain behind to operate the self-destruct systems since she was the only one who understood the computers, and Reptil decides to remain behind to try to distract the Absorbing Man and Serpent-possessed Titania long enough for the other students to escape. Finesse nixes that idea since Reptil didn't have the necessary powers to slow down the Serpent-possessed duo for the time needed. Veil offers to stay, figuring she could turn to mist during the explosion before reforming unharmed, but Finesse nixes that idea as well since the force of the explosion would scatter Veil's mist form to such an extent she'd never be able to reform. Finesse tells Hazmat that it made the most sense for her to stay since Hazmat had shown that she COULD slow down the two villains with her powers. Mettle freaks out at that suggestion, not wanting to see his girlfriend go off on a suicide mission, but Hazmat realizes that Finesse was right, and agrees to stay. With that, Mettle also decides to stay, since he wasn't going to allow Hazmat to die alone. With the Absorbing Man and Titania rapidly approaching, Finesse tells the other three Academy cadets to prepare to leave the Mansion, since they'd have a three second window to jump out of the building before Finesse detonated it. Reptil plants a kiss on Finesse for her valiant sacrifice, while Mettle and Hazmat head into the hallway where they share a kiss as Titania and the Absorbing Man rapidly approach their position. Mettle and Hazmat engage the two villains, and Finesse tells the other three cadets to prepare to jump as she begins to arm the Mansion's self-destruct systems just as the Mansion materializes above Chicago. Right when Finesse was telling the three cadets to jump, Giant Man's hands crash through the wall of the Mansion and knock Titania and Absorbing Man away from Mettle and Hazmat. Quicksilver rushes into the control room and tells Finesse to leave the Mansion since he could set off the self-destruct and still escape the Mansion before it exploded. Giant Man collects Mettle and Hazmat, while Finesse joins the other three cadets and exits the Mansion a split second before Quicksilver blows it up. The explosion doesn't kill Titania and the Absorbing Man, but rather then continue to battle the Avengers and their cadets, they teleport to the Serpent in preparation for the final battle. Giant Man commends his students on a job well done and tells them to grab a hotel room and rest while the Avengers head after the Serpent to finish things up, one way or the other. Veil flips out at how nonchalantly Giant Man, Tigra and the other Avengers are acting about the ordeal the cadets had just been in, what with all of the Nazi killing, running from two Thor-level villains and suicide pacts, and disgustedly quits the Avengers Academy.

Thoughts: Scratch what I said in the introductory paragraph, not only is this the best Avengers comic book, this is probably one of the top three ongoing series I read monthly, and anybody who frequents this blog with any regularity knows that I read A LOT of comic books monthly! I tip my proverbial hat to Christos Gage, Tom Raney, Scott Hanna and the rest of the creative team behind this series, because they deserve it. Seriously, this was a great issue from a great series. I don't often say this, but I'd STRONGLY recommend this series to ANY comic book fan. And as I said, I hardly ever come right out and recommend something here on the blog. But I am openly recommending people to check this series out. There's nothing more for me to do here expect give this comic it's well deserved perfect score and move to the next review.

Score: 10 out of 10.Everything about this issue? Awesome.

Captain America & Bucky #622

Next up is Marvel's WWII flashback series, Captain America and Bucky. I'm still holding out hope that sometime down the road this series will revert to a Bucky solo series when he is brought back to life by a thankful Thor/Odin... But for now, all I have of Bucky are flashback issues... So far this series has been exceptionally good, let's see if that holds up.

Captain America & Bucky #622:

Summary: This issue kicks off by introducing us to the Invaders... You had Captain America, Namor, the Human Torch, Toro, and Bucky... And needless to say, in that company, Bucky felt pretty inadequate. From there we head to 1942 and see Bucky scouting out a burnt down Nazi hideout. While Bucky is reporting his findings back to Cap via a radio, Bucky hears a firefight and rushes back to the allied camp only to find devastation, Cap's shield and no Invaders. Bucky hops on a motorcycle and drives along, hoping to pick up some sort of trail as to what the Nazis did with his comrades. After some rough traveling in the snow, Bucky happens across a Nazi occupied castle and sneaks inside. Upon reaching the basement, Bucky spots Dr. Armin Zola(!!!), pre-transformation, draining the abilities from his Invaders teammates and feeding them into one of Zola's Nazi agents. Realizing that time was of the essence, Bucky leaps into action, taking out Zola's guards. Zola unstraps his agent, and tells him to kill Bucky, but warns the super-powered Nazi that the power transfer wasn't complete and that he had to dispatch of Bucky quickly. Hearing that, Bucky realizes that he had try to last long enough against the super-powered Nazi for his powers to drain before having a hope in beating him. Bucky manages to deflect the Nazi's fireballs with Cap's shield before throwing the shield at the tanks holding his fellow Invaders, freeing them and knocking Zola out with the shield as a bonus. Unfortunately, losing the shield meant having to battle against a Nazi with the combined strength of Captain America and Namor... Bucky taunts the Nazi and takes a few punches, with each subsequent blow becoming weaker as the Nazi's super-powers ebbed. Before the Nazi could finish Bucky off with a flaming punch, Cap races over and knocks the Nazi out with a thunderous right cross. With Zola's threat taken care of, Cap ties Zola and his goon up while the Torch and Toro burn down the laboratory. This issue ends with Namor giving Bucky a rare compliment(or at least as much as a compliment as Namor could muster), and Bucky finally feeling like he belonged on the team.

Thoughts: What can I say? This issue was perfect. Plain and simple. The story was great, the dialogue, especially Bucky's self-doubt, was fantastic, and the artwork fit perfectly with the time period being portrayed in this one. I'm wracking my brain trying to think of SOMETHING negative to say, but I'm coming up completely empty... I guess if there's a negative it's that Bucky is apparently dead in the present, which sucks because this issue would turn ANYBODY into a fan of Bucky. It was that good. If the rest of the comics I read this week are half as good as this issue, I'm in for a fantastic week!

Score: 10 out of 10.HA! I love jackass Namor...

Wolverine #14

Let's start this week off with a single review for the latest issue of Wolverine, the final part of the thus far fantastic “Wolverine's Revenge!” storyline. To be honest with you, after the first few issues of this storyline, I'm expecting near perfection here... Here's hoping that's what I get.

Wolverine #14:

Summary: We get started with the members of the Red Right Hand, with Wolverine right outside their door, taking a drink of poisoned wine while shouting, “To Revenge!”. The old leader of the RRH doesn't yet take a drink, watching his allies fall while telling them to die with a smile. As he looks around at the corpses, the old man sees that the youngest member of the RRH hadn't yet taken the drink, and when asked why, the boy tells him that he wanted to see Wolverine's face before he perished. With that, the old man tells the boy to make sure that he takes the drink before Wolverine enters the room, before drinking up himself, falling to the floor dead. As for the boy, he thinks back to what led him to join the RRH to begin with. It turns out the boy was raised by a single mother who managed to work her way through nursing school. The boy's mother was proud to be able to give her son a better life, and went to work for SHIELD. During the time Wolverine was possessed by the Hand(in the fantastic “Enemy of the State” storyline), Wolverine murdered the boy's mother while she was trying to tend to his wounds, leaving the boy an orphan. After bouncing around foster homes, the leader of the RRH(the old man) takes the boy in and makes him a member of the RRH. With the flashback over with, Wolverine charges into the RRH's inner sanctum and finds no super-villains to battle, simply a sea of dead bodies, including the boy. Wolvie is ready to leave the room when a video screen lights up and the old man from the RRH says hello to Wolvie. With that, he explains why they sent Wolvie to Hell(as revenge for Wolvie killing their family members and loved ones), leaving Wolvie a file of all that the RRH lost to Wolvie's murderous life. From there, the old man plays a video of Wolvie killing the 5 guardians the RRH had stationed in their base, telling Wolvie that they never expected the five guardians to defeat Wolvie, since the plan all along was for Wolvie to kill the five guardians. With that, the old man tells Wolvie to look at the other file on the table, and Wolvie realizes that the five guardians he killed were none other than various children he had left around the world(!!!). With that, the old man tells Wolvie that he now knows what it was like to feel the loss the RRH had felt, before welcoming Wolvie to the club and ending the video. Wolvie is completely devastated by this turn of events, and the boy from earlier, who was still clinging to life, does get to see the look on Wolvie's face, and is quite pleased to see the pain wracking Wolvie's before dying himself. From there, the members of the RRH head to Hell and meet up with the family members they had lost to Wolverine... All except for the boy, whose mother was nowhere in sight. This issue ends with Wolvie collapsing to the floor as the enormity of what he did finally sets in.

Thoughts: Usually I'll agonize over whether of not I should give a comic book a perfect score, or a 9 1/2... It's VERY rare for me to close a comic book and know right away that it was indeed, a perfect comic. This was one of those rare occasions. Once I finished this book, I knew I'd read something special. The reveal that those five guardians were actually a few of the bastards Wolvie left all over the planet during his long life? Absolutely brilliant. The boy's story, about how Wolvie killed his mother, a nurse for SHIELD, thus tying this story into my previous favorite Wolverine storyline? Fantastic. Jason Aaron REALLY outdid himself here. This is a story that I can see myself talking to people about in the same breath as Enemy of the State and Agent of SHIELD. As a matter of fact, this may just be my favorite Wolverine story ever, and I've read A LOT of Wolverine comics over the course of my life. The RRH were absolutely magnificent antagonists to Wolvie(and notice I didn't call them villains), as they were people with legitimate gripes against Wolvie. And not the normal, “Wolvie stopped me from robbing a bank, so now I have to get even with him!” gripes, but real gripes. These people were all collateral damage to the murders Wolvie has wreaked throughout his life. They personally did NOTHING to him, but suffered due to the fact that he had killed their loved ones. Out of all the RRH members profiles we've read about these past few issues, the boy's story was probably the best in showing the hell Wolverine has put people through... Yes, some of the family members of the RRH members that Wolvie killed were into some shady dealings, but the boy's mother was a nurse. Her ONLY misstep was trying to help Wolverine, and what does she get for that? Stabbed through the chest, leaving her only child an orphan. I could go on and on about this comic, but there's really nothing more to say. I'm sure some people won't enjoy this storyline as I did, it didn't have Wolvie battling a member of his rogue's gallery or any spectacular battle scenes or anything like that, it just had a bunch of people who wanted revenge on Wolvie, gaining that revenge and leaving Wolvie with NOTHING to do about it. Awesome stuff.

Score: 10 out of 10.Game, set and match for the Red Right Hand.

Batgirl #24 & Detective Comics #881

Back to DC with two comics which are probably going to have the best chance at breaking my long drought of no perfect scores... Seriously, I haven't handed out a perfect score since July 15th, a streak of nearly a month! Considering I read in excess of 65 new comics every month, that's quite the drought for me... Fingers crossed that drought ends today!

Batgirl #24:

Summary: We get this party started with Batgirl(the FANTASTIC Stephanie Brown) confronting her thought to be dead father, the Cluemaster, in his prison cell, where he had been manipulating events to get Steph to the jail he was incarcerated at... In a bizarre, super-villainy way, that's brilliant. Steph is none too pleased that Cluemaster had put as many people in danger as he had simply to see her, and she prepares to leave him in his cell while she deals with the riot raging outside. However, Cluemaster acts cryptically crazy and starts telling Steph that he had taken up a secondary hobby, gardening... With her interest piqued by the crazy words of her father, she walks over to his little gardening area and discovers he was cultivating Black Mercy plants(!). Steph tells her father how dangerous/illegal those things were, as Cluemaster grinds one of the plants up into dust. Totally confused by her father's antics, Steph approaches, and Cluemaster blows the dust into Steph's face, forcing her to live her fantasy life. Before succumbing to the Mercy though, Steph managed to throw a gooperang at the wall, which snares Cluemaster, preventing him from escaping his cell. After several days of hallucinations, Steph wakes up at the hospital, where her mother is watching over her... Steph is relieved that she still had her mask on, but soon finds out that Steph's mother knew Steph had been doing the Batgirl thing and was proud of her. After being released, Steph meets up with Barbara Gordon, AKA that usurping bitch, and the two talk about Steph's run as Batgirl, and the ups and downs that came along with it. With that, Steph swings off of the rooftop as Batgirl for the final time, ending this issue.

Thoughts: This was a very good (and sappy!) comic that was carried by Bryan Q. Miller's incredibly strong dialogue, and Pere Perez's sweet artwork. A lot of the comic consisted of full page splashes of Steph's various hallucinations, and were all REALLY well done(I'll be posting my favorite one at the end of this review). Miller's dialogue was fantastic as usual, and I think I'd safely put him in the same category as Dan Slott and Peter David as one of the best comic book dialogue writers in the business today. My only real problem with this issue was the story, which was kind of weak. There really wasn't a battle, per se, although you could look at the verbal sparring between Steph and her father as a battle of sorts. On top of that, I have NO idea how Cluemaster was able to get Black Mercy plants into his cell... I mean those things are alien plants, and would HAVE to be considered some serious contraband! I get why Miller added the Mercy to the story, to show us all of the great times Steph could/should/would have had if this series continued, but Cluemaster having an alien plant in his jail cell was bizarre to say the least! Other than that though, this was a great comic and a strong, if VERY bittersweet, ending to one of my favorite monthly DC titles... Good-bye Steph. And good luck with the reboot...

Score: 9 out of 10.You KNOW that's my new desktop background!!


Detective Comics #881:

Summary: This issue gets started with Batman(Dick Grayson) promising Commissioner Gordon that he would find Barbara Gordon, who had been kidnapped by Gordon's psychotic son, James Jr. Upon waking up, Babs finds herself James Jr's captive, at which point James begins to reveal that yes, he was indeed stark-raving mad. To hammer home how crazy he was, James Jr tells Babs that he was given an experimental drug that gave him a degree of empathy, which led him to believe that people with empathy were weak, and that people like him(psychopaths), were going to be the true inheritors of the Earth. Babs and James have a conversation about how Babs always knew James was a psychopath, even from the first time they met as children, and how that relieved James, since it meant that he wasn't the only one who thought there was something wrong with him. The two then discuss some of the evil, vindictive things James had done to people over the course of his life, before James shows Babs that he had jammed two knives into the femoral arteries in both of her legs. In other words, if one of those knives were pulled out, Babs would bleed out in a matter of minutes. After tiring of his talk with Babs, he tears one of the knives out and picks up one of Babs secure communication devices, signaling Bats. Bats, who had been canvasing Gotham hoping to find a trace of James and Babs, is surprised that a) James had called him, and that b) James was calling him Dick, meaning that James knew Dick and Bats were one and the same. James explains that it was actually Dick who lured James back to Gotham, as he felt that Dick was his polar opposite. Whereas James had NO feelings towards others, Dick, in James' mind, felt TOO strongly towards others. To deal with that, James tells Dick that he was going to kill Babs, and then Commissioner Gordon, before vanishing again, figuring that losing two people he cared so strongly about would leave Dick a broken man. Naturally Dick tells James that he'd find him and bring him to justice, before telling James that he had foiled James' plot to introduce a drug into a factory that created baby formula, a drug that would create children as psychotic as James was. James simply tells Dick that maybe he did halt James' plans, or maybe James had already introduced the drug into the formula months ago, and allowed Dick to learn about his plans so that Dick would never know if he prevented the poisonings or not... With that, James tells Dick he was done talking and was ready to finish off Babs, at which point he turns around and finds that Babs had wheeled herself away from James while he was chatting with Dick. James goes after Babs, and following the trail of blood she was leaving behind, jumps around the corner where Babs was hiding, at which point Babs pulls the other knife out of her leg and stabs James in the eye(!!!!)! James collapses to the floor as Babs falls out of her wheelchair and begins to crawl across the room to get help. Babs happens to look back and sees James, with the knife STILL jammed in his eye socket, getting up and telling Babs that she shouldn't have done that(!!!). James begins to stalk Babs as she tries to crawl away from him, losing more and more blood as she went. Before James could stab Babs, Bats arrives on the scene and punches James in the stomach, knocking him over. Bats then rushes over to Babs and tells her that he would cauterize the wounds in her legs to prevent her from losing anymore blood. Unfortunately, this act allows James Jr. the opportunity to escape from the apartment he was holding Babs in. James strolls across a bridge in Gotham(with a knife STILL jutting out of his eye!!), gloating that he was free when he is shot in the leg. James turns around and sees his father standing there, gun in hand, telling James that it was over. James goes to stand up when Gordon shoots his deranged son in the other leg, this time sending James over the side of the bridge. Before James can plummet to his death, Gordon rushes over and grabs James' arm, finally having caught his son. A few days later, Dick is clearing out the lab Wayne Enterprises lent to the Gotham PD since the Gotham PD had never really used it. Gordon approaches Dick and thanks him for everything he's done for him, on all fronts, before the two discuss the one piece of unfinished business from James' madness, the potential poisoning at the baby formula factory... Dick tells Gordon that after several tests, there was no way to tell if James was telling the truth about whether he'd gone ahead and poisoned the formula several weeks ago, because the drug would have dissipated by now. This issue then ends with Dick and Gordon looking out the window watching a baby in a stroller, wondering what the future would bring.

Thoughts: I've got to say, Scott Snyder has earned himself a devoted fan in me after this storyline. I guess I could go back even further and say not just this storyline, but his entire Detective run... Snyder's work is SUCH a breath of fresh air from Grant Morrison's occasionally too insane to understand Bat-books and Tony Daniel's just plain bad Bat-books. He absolutely NAILED presenting us with an eerie feel throughout this entire comic book. He took a little known character and did such an amazing job with him that he nearly puts the Joker to shame! I mean goddamn, James Jr. is probably one of the most frightening Bat-villains I've read about in years! He's not dressed in some garish costume, he's not running around trying to kill hundreds of Gothamites, he's not broadcasting his next move to the world at large, he's just an unassuming, utterly psychotic man torturing, tormenting and killing people simply because he can. And really, that's probably scarier than all of the Mr. Freezes and Riddlers in the world put together. I'd be remiss not to applaud the job Jock and Francesco Francavilla did here with the art, because their artwork PERFECTLY matched the tone Snyder set forth with the story. The art was dark and shadowy, with lots of blacks and reds used to create the nightmarish scene that James Jr was living in. Seriously, this storyline was a psychological masterpiece that you rarely find in a comic book. Does it break my non-perfect score streak? What do YOU think?!

Score: 10 out of 10.Don't think James Jr is as creepy as the Joker? Then you must not have read this comic.

Ultimate Fallout #1 & Amazing Spider-Man #665

And we're back to Marvel, with two books that should set stuff up for the future. First up is Ultimate Fallout, which begins Marvel's reboot of the Ultimate books... God, you've got to love Marvel... DC announces that they were rebooting their entire company, and Marvel decides to completely shake up their Ultimate titles... Now, I don't know if Marvel deliberately planned to have the Ultimate reboot occur the MONTH before the DC reboot, but it's pretty awesome if they did. The other book is Amazing Spider-Man, which is almost always a great read, so this should be a good post... Well, at least the comics I'm reading should be good... The reviews themselves will probably suck, but what can ya do?

Ultimate Fallout #1(of 6?):

Summary: This issue begins by giving us little snippets as to how various characters are reacting to the death of Peter Parker, you know, that Spider-Man guy. We see Gwen Stacy, J. Jonah Jameson, Johnny Storm, Kitty Pryde, Flash Thompson, Mary Jane Watson and Nick Fury. Needless to say, they're all pretty broken up about it. Jameson is at a complete loss for words, Kitty is taking out her frustrations on criminals, and MJ blames Fury and SHIELD and wants to see them pay for Peter's death. The day of the funeral, Tony Stark picks up Gwen and Aunt May and promises them that he'd take care of them in any way he possibly could, from arranging the funeral to any kind of monetary arrangements May could possibly need. After a somber drive, they arrive at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in the heart of NYC for Peter's funeral, where thousands of New Yorkers have gathered to pay their respects. Not having wanted a big thing, just a private ceremony for her nephew, May is a bit taken aback by the massive crowd, and isn't sure if she even wants to exit the limo. Tony explains that if she wasn't comfortable with the huge gathering, he'd take her away and schedule something smaller before explaining that all of New York was grieving for their fallen hero, and that they needed a way to express their collective sorrow as well. With that, May decides to exit the car where she's greeted by thousands of solemn faces. One small girl in the crowd asks May if she was Spidey's mother, with May explaining that she was actually his Aunt. The girl tells May that Spidey saved her from a fire when she was younger and offers May a hug, which a teary May accepts before heading inside. After sitting down, May is approached by a crestfallen Steve Rogers, who takes May's hand and is struck temporarily speechless before blurting out that it was his fault that Peter was dead.

Thoughts: Wow... That was quite the emotional ride right there... I seriously teared up when that little girl and May embraced outside the Cathedral... Hell, just typing about it is making me kind of misty eyed right now! The combination of Brian Bendis not over-dialogging the scene, coupled with Mark Bagley's PERFECT depiction of that little girl is enough to make even the toughest person feel something... I didn't collect the Death of Spider-Man storyline because, well because I just hadn't been that interested in the Ultimate Spider-Man series since around issue #75 or so. I basically picked this comic up on a whim since it was supposed to lay the groundwork for the three new Ultimate titles that would be starting next month. I mean I really didn't expect much from it, which is why it was like 11th in my comic reading order. I figured the art would be great because I'm a sucker for Mark Bagley's work, and the story would be(hopefully) okay, but this was WAY more than okay. I'll tell you this, this comic makes me REALLY want to get the eventual Death of Spider-Man trade to read exactly how Spidey bit the bullet, as well as has me psyched for the second issue of this mini(which comes out pretty soon I believe). Yeah, this was one of those rare comics where everything came together perfectly, the art, story and dialogue, and actually left me feeling quite emotional afterwards. I bow to Bagley and Bendis on a job VERY well done.

Score: 10 out of 10.Stop trying to make me cry, dammit!! *sniff*


Amazing Spider-Man #665:

Summary: This issue gets underway by telling us that Peter Parker and Betty Brant(that wacky Stan Lee and his alliteration!) always try to keep Friday nights open to watch a movie together... Except lately, what with his new job, position on three super-hero teams, as well as doing the solo super hero thing, Peter's been skipping Friday after Friday. While Betty understands that Peter is busy with his job at Horizon Labs, there's a particular movie she REALLY wants to see, one that's playing at only one theater in a kind of seedy side of town... I bet you can see where THIS is going! Peter ends up breaking the movie date again, this time because of his Horizon Lab work, so Betty's boyfriend, Flash Thompson, offers to take her to see the movie once he returned to town(he was headed to Washington DC for a secret Venom mission). Since the movie would be closed by the time Flash returned, Betty decides to go and see the movie herself. After leaving the theater, she is promptly mugged and beaten into a coma... Yeah well, that'll happen in the Big Apple... I'd know, I lived there!! From there, all of Betty's friends gather at the hospital, including J. Jonah Jameson, who brings in his own team of high-priced doctors. Upon learning what happened, Spidey naturally blames himself for blowing off the movie with Betty and decides to tear the neighborhood Betty was mugged in apart until he found the man responsible. After a lot of hunting and beatings, Spidey gets a name and begins to close the net around his target. After a few more hours, Spidey manages to find the man responsible, but before he is able to pounce, he gets a phone call from a very angry and disappointed Aunt May. May scolds Peter for not being at the hospital with his friends and basically guilts him into leaving his quarry behind and heading over to the hospital. Peter gets to the hospital, and as luck would have it, Betty wakes up while he's keeping watch over her bedside, at which point the two watch a movie together. Oh, and the next day, Spidey catches up to the man responsible for the attack and drops him off with the police. The back up story deals with Aunt May and Jameson's father deciding to move to Boston to get away from all the craziness that was in New York, which made me wonder aloud to myself, if May isn't even going to be a main character in the Spidey books anymore, why the HELL did Marvel bring her back from the dead and wreck Spidey's marriage?!?

Thoughts: I liked this issue a lot, but there were a few things about it that bugged me... First off, wasn't Betty JUST the damsel in distress in the past few issues of Venom?! I mean damn, that woman should really just lock herself up in her apartment and never leave or something! Once this story opened talking about what great friends Peter and Betty were, you KNEW that something bad was going to happen to Betty, and the moment Peter ditched her and wouldn't go to the movies with her, you knew WHAT was going to happen! I mean for me, the entire story was pretty obvious... Now it may sound like I didn't enjoy this issue, and that would be the wrong assumption, because I actually enjoyed this comic a lot, lack of unpredictability be damned! It was a solid story, the dialogue was excellent, and we got to see the softer side of many characters. So yeah, it was good, I just could have used a few more surprises here and there.

Score: 9 out of 10.Hey look, Betty's in trouble! Again...

Ultimate X #5 & Fear Itself: Black Widow #1

Next up on the review train is two more Marvel comic books I'm extremely interested in reading, but for two different reasons. Ultimate X has been a shockingly good series, but has been crippled by delays, so whenever a new issue comes out, I'm happy. Fear Itself: Black Widow could be VERY interesting depending on when during the Fear Itself event it takes place. If it takes place after the events of Fear Itself #3, it could be a must read. I doubt it will, but still...

Ultimate X Comics #5:

Summary: So wait, THIS was the last issue?! DAMMIT!!! *sigh* Okay, on with the review... This issue kicks off with Jimmy(that would be Wolverine's son) trying to buy some beer at a liquor store. After getting turned away for being underage, he heads outside where he is approached by a guy who says he'd buy Jimmy the booze, and wouldn't even take Jimmy's money, since he instead wanted Jimmy's life. It turns out the guy is Sabretooth(!), and that he wanted to off Jimmy before the kid grew up to be the kind of threat Wolverine was. Tooth beats the ever-loving hell out of Jimmy, but is prevented from delivering the deathblow by Quicksilver, who swoops in and drags Tooth away. Jean Grey ends up locating Jimmy and brings his battered body back to their hotel room. Since Jimmy's healing factor was working slowly to repair the multitude of damage done to Jimmy's body, Jean patches him up as best she can before heading out to recruit somebody else to join her cause... Bruce Banner! Banner has been working at a soup kitchen, and upon hearing from Jean doesn't want to help, since the Hulk was an uncontrollable monster. However, Jean tells Banner that she'd be able to help him keep Hulk in check, which would go a long way in Banner making amends for the Hulk's MANY crimes. Banner agrees to go with Jean, and later that day, the Hulk attacks Sabretooth in a bar, beating the hell out of him. After a while, Quicksilver and his group of mutants(including Mystique and the new Blob) arrive on the scene to confront Jean and her group. Realizing that they were WAY overpowered with the Hulk there, Quicksilver tells Jean that he never sanctioned Sabretooth's attack on Jimmy, and now that Tooth had been beaten for his actions, they were even. Not really looking for a fight, Jean allows Quicksilver to take Tooth and his team and leave. Jean heads back to the hotel with her team, and Jimmy wakes up, obviously shocked to see the Hulk standing there with the rest of the group. Jean tells them that the Hulk was in control of himself now, and then drops another bombshell, bringing Nick Fury into the room. Fury tells the group that he didn't approve of the way the government was dealing with the mutant situation, and that he was going to be providing Jean and her group with information to help them assist mutants in need. Jean tells the group that they didn't work for Fury or the anybody else, and that they'd do what they felt was the right thing to do for themselves and mutantkind. From there, the scene shifts to Quicksilver's base, where he tells his team that the US government and it's war on mutants had to be stopped, at which time he reveals HIS secret weapon, the Scarlet Witch!!

Thoughts: Yeah, so at the end of this issue we find out that this was the last issue of this “mini-series” even though it was originally promoted as a bi-monthly ongoing series... That REALLY sucks, because I REALLY like Jimmy, and was getting into the concept of this series. Oh well... It seems that in the coming months, Marvel is going to try to fix up their Ultimate Universe, with a new Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimates and Ultimate X-Men series. The Ultimate X-Men series is being written by Nick Spencer(which should be a good thing!), and SHOULD be picking up where this “mini-series” left off. I'll be honest, in many ways I see Jeph Loeb in the same light as I see Grant Morrison... He's very hit or miss, and tends to polarize comic fans. For me, I've always felt more positive than negative towards Loeb's work(he DID create Nate Grey!!!), but I also didn't read much of his Ultimate Universe works, like Ultimatum, which seems to be what pissed off a great many comic fans. With all that said though, THIS “mini-series” was Loeb at his best. I can honestly say I enjoyed practically every issue(not that there were a lot...), and I honestly hope we see another Ultimate X mini, or better yet, the characters in this “mini-series” show up as members of the new Ultimate X-Men comic. As for a score, I'm not sure it deserves it, but what the hell, it's my blog, and as such I'll give this issue a perfect score, the second one I've given out today!

Score: 10 out of 10.And that ladies and gentlemen, is an ass-kicking.


Fear Itself: Black Widow #1:

Summary: After what happened in Washington DC(so this DOES take place after Fear Itself #3), Steve Rogers has sent the Black Widow out to Marseille, France to deal with some terrorists, as well as to get her away from the “loss” she suffered in Washington... Grr.... Anyway, BW and a French hero named Peregrine head to a church and discover that a mess of terrorists had taken over the church since it also housed a secret French Ministry of Defense room. The terrorists manage to discover the launch codes for France's nuclear arsenal, and before Black Widow can attack them, have sent the codes to whoever hired them. After a quick tussle, BW leaves a few of the terrorists alive and interrogates them, forcing one of them into giving up the location of their leader. Black Widow sneaks onto a ship, and gets blindsided by some more terrorists and captured. The terrorist leader taunts BW before shooting her in the head(!). With BW out of the way, the terrorist leader decides to launch France's nukes at London, since he wanted people to fear his organization, not the Serpent. After having heard all the terrorist's plans, the Black Widow speaks to the terrorists, telling them that they had actually captured a life model decoy, and not the real Black Widow, and that the LMD was filled with enough explosives to sink their ship. With that, BW pushes a button and detonates her LMD, sinking the boat, killing the terrorists and saving London. This issue ends with Peregrine telling BW that they had won a victory worth celebrating, while BW sees nothing more than a hollow victory.

Thoughts: Eh, this wasn't a bad comic at all. It was a good little one and done issue, that starred Black Widow. There's nothing wrong with that. It did hint at the events of Fear Itself #3, but didn't come right out and SAY that Bucky had died, even though reading between the lines made me even more sure that Marvel made the dumbest possible move and killed Bucky, all for the sake of that goddamn movie... Anyway, like I said, this was a good comic that wasn't REALLY connected to the main Fear Itself stuff. While that did annoy me a bit, it didn't hurt my enjoyment of this issue, which is all that really matters.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Hey, can the Bucky thing have been a LMD too? Please?

Avengers: The Children's Crusade #6 is still perfect!

Yep, just one review in this post, and it's the comic I was most looking forward to reading all week... Scratch that, all month... Hell, I've been looking forward to reading this one since the moment I finished the last issue actually! And boy did this issue not disappoint. If only every Avengers comic was like this mini-series has been... Hell, if only every comic book was as good as this mini-series has been! Well, let's not waste any more time, here's my review of the awesomeness that is Avengers: The Children's Crusade #6.

Avengers: The Children's Crusade #6(of 9):

Summary: Having regained her powers and memories, the Scarlet Witch isn't exactly what you'd call happy, as she also recalls decimating mutantkind and killing several Avengers, including her husband, Vision. With those thoughts in her head, Wanda decides to kill herself the same way she disassembled the Avengers, with an army of magic created Kree warships and Ultrons. While the Young Avengers ponder what to do, Hawkeye, Beast and Jessica Jones emerge from Avengers Mansion to see exactly what the hell was going on here. Upon seeing Wanda bursting with power, and the identical way so many Avengers died before(including Hawkeye), the three Avengers are taken aback, at least until the Young Avengers bring the resurrected Scott Lang over to them. After a quick explanation of how they retrieved Lang from the timestream and how Wanda was back to being Crazy Wanda again, Hawkeye contacts the rest of the Avengers and tells them what was going on. Iron Man tells Hawkeye to keep Wanda there for as long as possible, and to try to keep casualties to a minimum. Not wanting to see somebody like Wolverine murder the woman he felt was his mother, Wiccan has Stature bring him up to speak to Wanda. Wanda decried the fact that her husband, teammates and children were dead, and Wiccan refutes all of those points, telling her the Avengers were still standing, the Vision was still alive(in a way...) and that him and his twin brother(Speed) were Wanda's children. Not fully believing him, but curious, Wanda uses her magic on Wiccan and realizes that Wiccan and Speed are indeed her long thought to be dead children... Well, there it is, it's official now! Wanda makes the forces she created disappear, and lands to talk to her sons. While Wiccan is simply happy to have found his mother, Speed is more realistic, and warns Wiccan that the Avengers were simply going to come by to put Wanda down, as they had planned before the House of M. Beast approaches Wanda and tells her that with three words she took the mutant powers away from millions of mutants, and he was hoping she could undo the damage that she did. Wanda tells Beast that she doesn't want to unleash a worldwide spell like that again(because she's not Crazy Wanda anymore), but that she would be willing to try to fix a depowered mutant who wanted to act as a guinea pig. To that end, Jessica Jones recommends heading to X-Factor Investigations, which had taken numerous cases from depowered mutants wanting to know what had happened to their powers. Upon seeing the Scarlet Witch, and knowing that angry former mutants would probably try to kill her upon seeing her, Madrox tells the collection of Young Avengers and Avengers to leave before there was trouble. Wanda reiterates that she wants to try to undo what she did, so Rictor agrees to serve as the guinea pig, much to Shatterstar's dismay. Wanda walks over and grabs Rictor's face, hitting him with magic that sends him flying across the room. With that, the room shakes, and Madrox figures that now Wanda was going to bring his offices down on him, until Rictor reveals that he was the one who created that tremor, and that his mutant powers had returned(!!!). Madrox congratulates Wanda on her accomplishment and tells her that was one depowered mutant down, with about a million more to go. While Wanda let's that number sink in, the X-Men land outside Madrox's offices in force, not looking very happy. When asked what her plan was, Wanda simply states that she'd give the X-Men what they wanted the most, more mutants.

Thoughts: Okay, let's not even play any games here, I'm giving this comic a perfect score. Once again, Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung have proven that they are the best writer/artist tandem in all of comics. There's so much I want to say about this comic, that I don't even know where to start... I mean we now know definitively that Wiccan and Speed ARE Wanda's sons. Yeah, it was practically a given anyway, but this issue put it down once and for all, they ARE who we thought they were. Besides that, we have Wanda back at full power. And NOT insane! I mean the fact that she gave Rictor his powers back could have huge ramifications throughout the Marvel Universe. First though, let's talk about Rictor... Will he be keeping his powers? I mean because if he did, that would be eight different kinds of awesome! I'm a bit dubious because, in a way, it seems like this mini-series is taking place in it's own little world... I mean with how long it's taken this mini to come out, when would Peter David give Rictor his powers in X-Factor? If he was to give him his powers back now, then we'd know that Wanda's spell was permanent. It's the laggy timing of this series that's throwing everything out of whack. Personally, I can't see Rictor keeping his powers... But then, he has them back now, so maybe he will. And what of the previously dead Scott Lang? Will he remain alive too? There are SO many ways this mini-series could go as we race towards the finish line, that I don't even want to throw anymore guesses out there. I'm just going to sit back, smile, and enjoy the best Avengers story that I've read in ages.

Score: 10 out of 10.Finally.

Batman: Gates of Gotham #2 & Superman #712

Two more DC books to get through today, one of which shocked the hell out of me and received a COMPLETELY unexpected perfect score! Which comic received the highest honor I can bestow? Read on and find out!

Batman: Gates of Gotham #2(of 5):

Summary: This issue gets started with one of Gotham City's major architects from the 1800's talking about how the city grew into what it is today. We learn that the Waynes, Elliots and Cobblepots had a major hand in the funding of much of 1800's Gotham, and were assisted by two architect brothers. Back in the present, Batman(Dick Grayson) and Red Robin learn that some mystery man had kidnapped Hush from his cell in Arkham, which coincides with last issues attacks on the three bridges that carry the Wayne, Elliot and Cobblepot family names. With Hush(Tommy Elliot) already kidnapped, the police try unsuccessfully to convince Penguin(Oswald Cobblepot) to allow them to take him into protective custody. Penguin refuses, instead deciding to remain in his Iceberg Lounge club. With Bruce Wayne out of the country, and therefore safe from any potential attacks, the police begin checking Wayne Tower for any potential hazards. Since Penguin refused to cooperate, Bats sends Robin and Black Bat(Cassandra Cain) to keep an eye on the Iceberg. Inside the club, Penguin discovers a bomb in his office, which causes people to begin to spill out of the club, leading to Robin entering. Upon discovering the bomb, Robin goes to work on disarming it. While that is going on, the sensors in Wayne Tower go off, indicating the presence of a powerful explosive, which leads to Bats arriving at the scene. After a quick search, Bats discovers Hush, tied in a straitjacket with a bomb strapped to his chest. Hush tells Bats that if he disconnected the bomb from Hush, it's countdown would speed up, meaning Bats had to either save Hush or Wayne Tower. Not wanting to be responsible for Hush's death, Bats cuts the bomb off of him and carries Hush to safety. Back at the Iceberg, Robin is still working on disarming the bomb, but is rapidly running out of time. Not wanting to risk Robin failing to disarm the bomb, Black Bat grabs him and rushes out of the club, just as the bombs at Wayne Tower and the Iceberg Lounge explode. Bats is a bit confused by how blowing up Wayne Tower and the Iceberg Lounge had anything to do with the Gates of Gotham(meaning the destroyed bridges), when Hush tells him the Gates of Gotham wasn't referring to a what(the bridges), but a who, the two architect brothers who built Gotham up.

Thoughts: I enjoyed reading this one. We got a mess of Bat family characters here, with nobody seeming out of place or forced into the story. We also learn(from Hush of all people) that the Gates of Gotham weren't a what, but a who, giving us our villain(s) of the story. So either the Gates of Gotham are REALLY old, or whoever is trying to blow up all Wayne/Elliot/Cobblepot named things in Gotham are the disgruntled offspring of the original Gates, who are probably pissed that their names didn't carry on the same legacy as the other three families. Whoever the villain of this piece is, I'll be interested in learning moire next issue.

Score: 8 out of 10.Heh heh, Damian is such an ass!


Superman #712:

Summary: Well this is a strange one... This comic is not only a break from the terrible, “Superman's wild cross country adventure!!!” storyline, it's set in the past, more specifically, RIGHT after Infinite Crisis. And stars Krypto, a character I normal loathe. This issue kicks off pre-Crisis with Superboy flying through the air playing frisbee with Krypto. Unfortunately for the frisbee, it's no match for Krypto's choppers, so SB decides to take a manhole cover to play frisbee with instead. From there we head post-Crisis, where we find a downcast Krypto waiting for Superboy to return on the front porch of the Kent family farm. After laying there for a while, Krypto notices an airplane, and recalls the Teen Titans plane that SB rode in with his teammates. Krypto sniffs the air and manages to catch Superboy's scent and begins to fly cross country, flying past the various places Superboy visited during Infinite Crisis. Krypto goes from Metropolis, to Titans Tower, back to the Kent family farm, out to the ocean before finally finding the location of Superboy's final battle with Superboy Prime. Krypto finds some of SB's blood in the snow, and after searching around and not finding Superboy unleashes a pained howl that is heard miles around. Unable to find SB, Krypto next tries to locate Superman himself, but is unable to find him either. With that, Krypto flies back to the Kent farm, takes the manhole cover frisbee from earlier and flies into space, landing on an asteroid and waiting for his master to return.

Thoughts: Well... First off, let me just put this out there. I hate the idea of Krypto. I mean really, a super-powered dog from outer space? Yeah, no. So once I opened this comic and realized it was all about Krypto, I had VERY low expectations for it. Seriously, I didn't expect to enjoy this comic at all. And then a funny thing happened... I was completely pulled in to Krypto's journey... Kurt Busiek, who wrote this inventory tale, absolutely sucked me in here! When Krypto arrived at the site of the final battle between Superboy and Prime and realized that Superboy was gone, my eyes literally teared up! Trust me, that doesn't happen often! This was an unbelievably good comic... It was so good, I had to ask myself, does it deserve a perfect score? I mean it's a tale from a few years ago, that has no bearing on anything, and has hardly any dialogue, just a few flashbacks. I actually debated this overnight, and left the score portion of this review blank, which is something I never do. After much thought, I have to say that yes, I'd consider this comic perfect, and as such, I'll give it a score of...

Score: 10 out of 10.Poor Krypto...

Avengers #14 & Avengers Academy #15

We're still in the midst of my Fear Itself books, as I tackle two of the Avengers family of books as they tie into FI. Last month's issue of Avengers was mind numbingly bad, so I'm expecting NOTHING from this month's offering, but Avengers Academy is one of my favorite Avengers titles, so hopefully it keeps up it's momentum here.

Avengers #14:

Summary: For my own sanity, I'm going to skip all of the useless dialogue that Brian Bendis seems obsessed with filling this comic with and simply get right into the meat of the story. The Thing received one of the Serpent's hammers in Fear Itself #3, and is immediately confronted by the Red Hulk, who joined the Avengers not that long ago. Red Hulk tells Possessed Thing to stand down, but Thing isn't having that, and slams Red Hulk across the face with his hammer, drawing first blood. Red Hulk gets up and fights back, but it becomes readily apparent that Thing is now a full power-level above the Red Hulk, and he basically pulverizes Red Hulk, knocking him several blocks away before turning his attention to Avengers Tower. Thing turns all of his power towards the Tower and unleashes wave after wave of magical force at it. Red Hulk sees what Thing was thinking and rushes over, trying to brace the falling building with his own strength, but it's for naught, as the building collapses on top of the Red Hulk. While Thing is surveying the damage he wrought, Red Hulk comes smashing out of the wreckage and attacks Thing anew. However, Thing once again proves to be the superior powerhouse, and uses his hammer to hit the Red Hulk as hard as he possibly could, sending the Red Hulk sailing far, far away, and in the words of Jarvis, never to return.

Thoughts: See, Bendis doesn't NEED to fill page after page of every comic with rambling dialogue! This comic was WAY better than the last issue, mainly because Bendis reined himself in and let the action in the story do the talking. I mean if you have John Romita Jr. doing art for you, let HIM tell the story with his art! This issue actually tied into the main Fear Itself books nicely(unlike last issue...), and basically showed us what happened to the Thing after he got his magical hammer. Now unfortunately, I'm not a huge fan of either the Thing or the Red Hulk, but I was still able to enjoy this story. I'd imagine a fan of either of those characters would like this one even more. Here's hoping THIS Bendis sticks around for a while, and not that other gabby Bendis...

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.It's EVIL Clobberin' time!


Avengers Academy #15:

Summary: With the Raft broken apart, and super-powered criminals racing away from it, Steve Rogers calls on Hank Pym and the Avengers Academy instructors to head out to New York to try to apprehend as many of the villains as they could. Steve also tells Pym that if worst comes to worst, he'd ask Pym to let the Academy cadets out to assist with civilian rescue and stuff like that. Pym is hesitant, but tells Steve that if need be, the kids would be ready to do what they had to in the name of the Avengers. With that, Pym calls the staff together and decides to leave Tigra behind with the kids, since her power set was least suited to deal with a mass super-villain break out. Before leaving, Pym tells Tigra that if the kids are deployed, he's entrusting her with keeping them alive, which is a more important task then anything him or the rest of the staff would be doing. A little bit later, Tigra gets word that Washington DC was under attack by Sin's forces(as seen in pretty much EVERY Fear Itself tie-in), and decides that she had no choice but to bring the kids to DC to try to help evacuate civilians. Upon teleporting to DC, Tigra and the kids come face to face with Sin's Nazi death machines, and begin to try to save as many people as they possibly could. While that's going on, Jocasta sends word to Pym that the students had been deployed, which gives Pym a greater urgency to capture the Raft escapees so he could head to DC to be with his students. Back in DC, Tigra does her best to assist the kids in helping as many people as they could, as well as keeping them focused and not shell shocked by the horrible events occurring all around them. In particular, she manages to get Striker's head in the game, since he was still a bit of a basket-case due to being “killed” by Michael Korvac a few issues back, while dealing with Mettle, who accidentally killed one of the men controlling the Nazi death machines. Pym and the Academy staff return to their base after dealing with many of the Raft escapees, and Pym immediately wants to head to DC, but is told by Maria Hill(who took over command of the Avengers when Steve Rogers decided to lead the battle on the ground) that he was needed more in Dubai, where the possessed Absorbing Man and Titania were razing the countryside. Realizing that there were no superheroes in Dubai who could deal with the Absorbing Man, Pym RELUCTANTLY sets off to face the Absorbing Man. Upon arriving, Pym is immediately attacked by the 20 foot tall and monstrously powerful Absorbing Man.

Thoughts: Wow, this was a fantastic comic book. I have no other words to describe it. I mean I know that Christos Gage is a great writer and all, but this comic was, for lack of a better word, perfect. Not only was the story perfectly done, Tom Raney's artwork fit the events here perfectly. You could see the pain etched on Pym's face when he realized that he had to leave his students in Washington and head to Dubai. The artwork made the story that much more powerful, which is always a good thing. And the story... Pretty much every character was written fantastically. From the kids, who originally were chomping at the bit to get to DC, but rapidly realized the hell they were stepping foot in, to Tigra, who had to try to save as many civilians as she could, all while trying to keep her students not only safe, but mentally together, especially after seeing the atrocities happening all around them. And of course there was Pym, who desperately wanted to go to DC to assist his kids, but realized that the entire population of Dubai was more important than his own feelings. The parts with Striker, who nearly went into a shell due to having “died” once before, and Mettle, who was horrified that he actually took a life, were amazingly done. I mean I've NEVER liked Tigra, and this comic had me feeling terrible for the plight she found herself in... This ONE issue actually made me into a Tigra fan! All I can do here is give this issue a WELL deserved perfect score and tip my hat to Christos Gage and company. THIS is what all the other Fear Itself tie-ins SHOULD be like!

Score: 10 out of 10.Absolutely perfect!

Amazing Spider-Man #661 & Avengers Academy #14

And now we hit the good stuff back in the Marvel Universe. Let me rephrase that, now we hit the great stuff, as this post gives us the RARE perfect score for one of the comics here! Huzzah!

Amazing Spider-Man #661:

Summary: This issue kicks off with Spidey walking through the Baxter Building and catching a glimpse of Reed teaching a classroom full of attentive students. That scene causes Spidey to think back to his own days as a teacher, and how much he missed it. Before Spidey can wax nostalgic any further though, the FF are called away to deal with a giant monkey rampaging through New York. Spidey and Thing attack the monkey to distract it, while Reed begins scanning it, learning it was from the Microverse, meaning there was no conceivable reason it was that large. Eventually Giant Man(Hank Pym) arrives on the scene and uses his Pym particles to shrink the monkey down, ending it's threat. Pym tells the FF that he was actually looking for them, as he needed a substitute to teach the classes for the Avengers Academy the following day, since all the regular instructors were tied up. Spidey figures for sure he'd get asked, but Pym instead asks Thing... HA! Spidey is pissed, and complains to Pym that unlike Thing, HE had a teacher's license, and therefore was more qualified to teach the kids. Pym concurs, but for different reasons, stating that Spidey had made every mistake imaginable for a teenage super-hero, and thus would have valuable insight to share... HA!! Insults aside, Spidey is happy to go anyway, at least until he realizes that it had been a while since he last taught, and he starts to get cold feet. In the end, he goes through with it anyway, and tries to teach the kids about superhuman ethics... And the kids HILARIOUSLY pick Spidey's example apart... Spidey decides to switch gears and does the “With Great Powers...” speech, but one of the kids cut him off, asking Spidey why he was stealing Pym's line, since Pym was always using that saying... HA!!!! Spidey is aghast that Pym would steal HIS saying, and with the class rapidly falling apart before Spidey's eyes, Spidey decides to take the kids out on patrol, if only to get out of the classroom. While on patrol the kids stop two muggers, but use more force then Spidey is comfortable with seeing. Spidey begins to doubt that he had any right to teach the kids, but then it dawns on him that the kids and himself were being plagued by fear, doubt and hate, and along with the monkey from the Microverse, Spidey figures out that the Psycho-Man must be back on Earth, and sure enough, he appears before Spidey. The kids immediately attack, but the Psycho-Man uses his tablet on them, causing them to turn against each other, while Spidey cowered from the whole scene. Not wanting to see his charges killed on his watch, Spidey fights through his fear and self-doubt and attacks the Psycho-Man, breaking his tablet and ending his threat... Or does he?!? The Psycho-Man reveals that while the tablet augments his powers, he himself was now able to control emotions, and this issue ends with Spidey turning around to see all of the Academy kids staring at him while repeating “hate.”

Thoughts: I can't remember the least time I laughed this much while reading a comic. And I don't mean those times when you think to yourself, “This is funny.” I mean literally laughing out loud at some of the stuff I was reading. The scenes with Spidey trying(quite unsuccessfully I might add) to teach the kids were totally hilarious. And the story itself was extremely solid, with the hints of the Psycho-Man's involvement being dropped early on with the monkey(I missed it), making his reveal surprising, but completely within reason. What more can I say, this is comic easily gets the 12th perfect score for 2011.

Score: 10 out of 10.What DO YOU Do?!?


Avengers Academy #14:

Summary: This issue gets started with most of the Avengers Academy staff off in Italy trying to prevent any major damage from a volcanic eruption. Tigra is left behind to watch the kids, since, let's face it, her powers can't exactly do much in the face of a volcano. While Tigra and the Academy students are watching how to properly deal with an emergency, a call comes in from the French chief of police telling the Avengers that Electro was stealing some scientific equipment from a lab in France, and that they needed help. The kids want to go, but Tigra nixes it at least until Reptil makes an impassioned plea to Tigra, stating that after their battle with Korvac, the kids needed a victory, and that with her there to watch, that's exactly what they could get. After having Jocasta run some scenarios of the battle in her head, Jocasta tells Tigra that the kids should win with relative ease, so Tigra and the students head off to France. Upon entering the lab, Tigra is immediately taken out by Electro, who reveals that he wasn't alone... At that point, the rest of the Sinister Six(minus Chameleon) show themselves, and the kids realize they were screwed. They manage to hold their own against four of the Six, as Dr. Octopus basically ignores them as he's after some piece of science at the lab. Unfortunately, when Octopus has found what he was looking for, he joins the battle, as does Chameleon(who is disguised as Tigra), and the full compliment of the Six decimate the kids in no time. With the students no longer a threat, Octopus steals one of their teleporting devices, and uses it to take himself, his team and the science equipment he stole away. By this point, Pym, Quicksilver and Jocasta arrive on the scene, but can only collect the injured students, and deal with the fallout from the angry French. The French chief of police scolds Pym for sending children in to such a dangerous situation, and reveals that he never sent a distress call to the Avengers, at which time Pym realizes it had to be Chameleon. With that, the French chief tells Pym to leave France, stating that both he and his associates were no longer welcome... Well boo-hoo! What a big loss THAT is... *rolls eyes* Back home, Pym learns that this whole situation was orchestrated by Octopus simply in order to prove he was smarter than Pym was. As for Pym, he tells the students that from this point forward, they'd be training twice as hard, to make sure something like that never happened again.

Thoughts: As always, I enjoyed this comic. This is one of those series that is solid, month in and month out, so kudos to Christos Gage, who also wrote the above issue of Amazing Spider-Man as well. While this wasn't my favorite story in this series(I'm getting a bit burnt out by seeing Dr. Octopus and the Sinister Six EVERYWHERE!), it was still a good, solid story, that showed us that the students still had a LOT to learn on their journey towards being legitimate super-heroes.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.So nobody likes Mysterio I see...