The Best of the Rest! Jan. 11th edition.

Hey all, I think it's way past time for a new installment of the Best of the Rest! Since I've been on vacation I've had the time to do full reviews, meaning I really haven't had the need to do the abbreviated, BotR-type reviews. Well, after reading a bunch of comics last night, and realizing that I really didn't want to do full reviews for them for various reasons, I figured now was as good a time as any to do the first BotR post of 2011. There's some bad(well, mainly bad)as well as some mediocre reviews here, so yeah, I wouldn't blame you for skipping this post entirely! Anyway, before we get to the reviews, let's see what other random comic related things I can think of...

Redheads have more fun?
It seems the return of Saint Barry Allen has been affecting the DCU in more bizarre ways than I could have ever imagined... First things first, in case you're new around here, I HATE Saint Barry Allen. I mean I hate him as much as a(somewhat)sane human being can hate a fictional character. Trust me, if I simply didn't like Saint Barry, I'd say “I don't like him.” Instead, I'm using the word HATE here. I hate the character, I hate the way his return was explained(he wasn't really dead, just running for years), I hate what his return did the the newer members of the Flash comics(Capt. Boomerang II, dead. Inertia/Kid Zoom, dead. Zoom, de-powered.), and most of all, I hate the way Wally West(the former and rightful Flash)has been treated. So there, we've established that I hate Saint Barry, and why. But it seems that the Saint Barry affect isn't going to stop there... No, the return of Saint Barry also seems to be having a rather bizarre and unexpected influence on one of(if not my favorite)DC character, Bart Allen/Kid Flash/Impulse. It seems that in an attempt to show us that Wally West NEVER HAPPENED, Bart is slowly BECOMING Wally! It's sort of like something out of a bad science-fiction movie... First things first, here's a pic of Bart as Impulse:Next, here's one of Bart as Kid Flash before he died:Next up, here's a shot of Bart after he was aged and took over the Flash mantle:Finally, here's Bart as he's been looking lately in the most recent issue of Superboy:What is up with Bart's suddenly red hair?! I mean seriously? And it's not like this was a snafu only taking place in Superboy... No, since his return to life, Bart's hair really HAS turned red! Which other speedster and former Kid Flash also has red hair? WALLY WEST!!! Yep, my guess is that DC is slowly turning Bart INTO a younger version of Wally, so that they can simply strike Wally from the DCU altogether, thus cementing the evil Saint Barry Allen as the one and only Flash... Well besides Jay Garrick, but really, who counts him? Madness you say? Ha. We'll see... Remember you read this two years from now when Wally West is nothing more than a faded memory, Saint Barry is still fighting the same old rogues, and Bart is acting EXACTLY like Wally circa 1965...

DC: Deception Comics?
Hey, since I'm already in attack mode, I might as well keep attacking, no? A few months back, DC came out and said that they were going to lower the price of all of their standard comic books back to $2.99 from $3.99. They did state that over-sized comics and a few mini-series would still be placed at $3.99, but for the most part, DC fans rejoiced. Right after the announcement was made, DC began putting the $2.99 price in the upper left-hand corner of each comic(in larger font then before), instead of hiding the price down by the bar code, which is a tactic that both DC and Marvel had been using(and Marvel still uses with all of their books to this day). When you buy as many comics as I do, you tend to notice these little things. Anyway, this past Wednesday I picked up the first issue of the Weird Worlds mini-series and immediately noticed that the price wasn't in the upper left-hand corner like it was all of my other DC books. After a closer look, I realized that this was one of DC's $3.99 priced comics, and that low and behold, the price was hidden back by the bar code. Now this might not seem like much, but it really annoyed me... I mean, DC received a lot of positive press(and deservedly so)for reducing the price of many of their comics, and DC themselves made sure to put the $2.99 price tag RIGHT at the top of the book so there was no missing it. But to basically hide the price of the $3.99 comics, while proudly displaying the $2.99 price just seems like an underhanded move to me... Either put ALL of your prices in the top left hand corner, or put them ALL hidden at the bottom. Going both ways, in my opinion at least, makes it seem as if DC is trying to trick consumers into buying the more expensive comics, figuring(incorrectly)that ALL of DC's comics are priced at $2.99 now. So while DC should be lauded for putting an overwhelming majority of their comic books at $2.99, they also deserve to be scolded for trying to pull a fast one by playing “Hide the Price” with their $3.99 books.

Enough ranting, let's get this party started! First up is Widowmaker #2, which stars Black Widow, Hawkeye and Mockingbird, meaning I SHOULD love it... This issue opens with the Supreme Soviets(think the Russian Avengers)fighting Widow, Hawkeye and Mockingbird, since they believe that Hawkeye is the leader of a Japanese crime organization. Why would they believe that? Because the leader of the evil Japanese society is named Ronin, a name Hawkeye used up until recently. Eventually the heroes defeat the Russians, but get separated in the process. Mockingbird winds up with Dominick Fortune(who came by to help Mock out), while Widow and Hawkeye get away together. Widow manages to save a Russian diplomat from the evil Japanese crime organization after a phone call to Steve Rogers, and this issue ends with the real Ronin looking at pictures of Black Widow and Mockingbird, who he had marked for death. Ugh. I didn't like this comic much at all. Actually, the only thing it really had going for it was the three main characters. I don't get the story, other then the whole, “Evil Ronin is killing spies.” thing, which might just be all you need to know about this mini. I'd kind of like a bit more to the story than that, but maybe that'll come next issue. I mean it has to come soon, there are only two issues left! Score-wise, I'll go with a 5 out of 10.

Next up is Vampire Superman #706... Oh wait, that's actually Superman #706, but seriously, what is up with Superman on this cover?!Weird. Anyway, the story in this comic is ALLLLL about Perry White, editor extraordinaire of the Daily Planet. Basically some political blog has been eating into the Planet's readership, and the blog is promising to reveal a photo of Superman getting busy with Lois Lane. Upon learning this, Perry sends a young Planet photographer(thankfully not Jimmy Olsen)to infiltrate the blog while he tries to verify the photo. He calls Lois, who denies that she's ever been anything less than professional with Supes(HA!), and Supes himself takes time off from his stroll across America to fly over to the Daily Planet building to tell Perry that he would NEVER have relations with that woman. In the end, the photographer brings back evidence that the photo the blog had was simply a Photoshop job, and Perry offers the head of the blog the chance to work for the Planet... Zuh-huh?! What was this all about?! I mean yeah, I've been very vocal in my displeasure with the whole, “Supes walks around the country for some reason” story, but I'd rather read about that then the adventures of Perry White! If you're a fan of Perry White then this was the issue of Superman for you. Then again, if you're a fan of Perry White, you probably already brought and read this comic already. Oh well, for those of us who aren't obsessed with Perry this was a very skippable issue of Supes, one which I'll score 5 1/2 out of 10.

Moving back to Marvel it's time to check out Invincible Iron Man #33, or as the folks at Marvel call it, “The issue before Iron Man #500!” Only at Marvel do they count 31, 32, 33, 500... Anyway, I'm going to really fly through this review, but for a very good reason... Tony Stark(with some help from Maria Hill)manages to shut down the Detroit Steel drones that were trying to kill him. This angers the Hammer girls, who want Detroit Steel to kill Stark anyway. General Babbage, who is an ally of the Hammer girls, tells them to call off the attack, since he didn't want Steel to be seen murdering Stark, which the women reluctantly agree to do. However, they do get Babbage to release Ezekiel Stane from US custody, after which time they send Stane to their other ally, the Mandarin. See, this was a 9(!)part storyline that I began reading at about part 4 or 5... So there was A LOT about this story that I didn't fully grasp. But that's really no fault of Matt Fraction, who seems to have a definite idea of where he wants this series to go. So while this story left me REALLY confused at times, the future looks good. Now I know the Hammer girls are in cahoots with a US general, as well as the Mandarin, and that the Mandarin has Stane working for him. So I'll be looking forward to the start of this next storyline, which I'll be reading from the start. As for a score, I'll go with a 6 1/2 out of 10, which is basically for the stuff that I did understand, as well as the promise for the future.

Sticking with the House of Ideas, here's Namor #5! Hey, check it out, this series actually made it 5 issues! With the way Marvel cancels books, that's almost cause for celebration! Now if Namor makes it to a seventh issue, I'll be gobsmacked! This issue took a look at Namor through the years. We start pre-WWII where Namor would occasionally attack the surface world because it seemed like the thing to do. I mean when you live under the sea and only have that one green speedo, what else do you have to do for amusement? Fast forward to the middle of WWII where Namor had become an American hero due to his opposition of the Axis forces. Besides being respected and not attacking the surface anymore, Namor has also started dating a surface woman named Betty. Moving past WWII, Betty has become upset with Namor's frequent absences, and confronts Namor about it. Namor basically blows her off, and gets a tongue-lashing from Betty's friend, Alice. From there we move all the way up to four years ago where young X-Man Loa and her father are being assaulted by some petty criminal who could control sharks. Loa's mutant powers manifest for the first time and she manages to kill a shark, but is nearly eaten by another one. Namor saves the girl and her father from the sharks and tosses the criminal back to the shore, where Namor spots an elderly Alice. Alice introduces Loa as her granddaughter, and reveals that she had lost contact with Betty years ago and that Betty had left a necklace that Namor had given Betty to Alice. Alice offers to return the necklace, but Namor insists that Alice keeps it before leaving. We then head back three weeks ago where Loa is at the funeral of Alice. Alice leaves the Namor-necklace to Loa and soon thereafter she realizes that the necklace allows her to breathe underwater. This issue ends with Loa swimming to New Atlantis where she is welcomed by Namor. Hey, I actually liked this issue. Due to my extensive Fantastic Four comic collection, I would count myself as a fan of Namor. I personally like crazy, surface-dweller bashing Namor to kinder, gentler King Namor, which is why I enjoyed this issue. You kind of got both sides of the Namor coin. There was crazy, jerky Namor and calmer, mature Namor. So however you like your Namor, you got a taste of it here! For a score, let's go with a 7 out of 10.

Let's finish this post up by looking at the What If Venom possessed Deadpool story that ran through this years What If? comics. Basically Marvel broke this story into four parts and put a part in the back of the four What If? comics, I'd guess with the hopes that fans would buy all of the What If? books in order to get the full Deadpool/Venom story. This story gets started back in the mid 1980's with Galactus hiring Deadpool to destroy the Beyonder with a gun that would wipe the Beyonder from continuity. DP goes to do the deed, but becomes enamored by the Beyonder and decides to hang out with him instead. Eventually, Spidey(back when he was the host for the Venom symbiote)tries to attack the Beyonder and DP, but loses and gets separated from the symbiote, which merges with DP, as dreadlocks... Time passes and the Beyonder gets tired of hanging out with DP and ditches him, which leads to DP wanting to shoot the Beyonder with the retcon gun. DP also ditches the symbiote dreadlocks(but seems to keep the symbiote itself somehow), and the dreadlocks become his mortal enemy, Carnage. The Beyonder and Carnage hook up and Carnage gets pregnant, which bums out DP. Moving forward, Galactus comes to Earth and announces that he had impregnated Carnage, which leads to the Beyonder and Galactus fighting and destroying the Earth. With the Earth gone, DP uses the retcon gun on both the Beyonder and Galactus, getting rid of them both, while returning the Earth. With his foe the Beyonder gone, DP becomes depressed and decides to use the retcon gun on the entire universe, ending this story... Now THIS was a train wreck! I mean, needless to say, this story was supposed to be funny, but MAN did Rick Remender miss the mark for me... I didn't find the story funny in the least, and with no humor there was just the story, which was, as you could probably tell from my write-up for it, REALLY bad. An unfunny comedy, coupled with a bad story gets a 1 out of 10 score from me. Comedy is a very subjective thing, so maybe you'd like this story. Me, I couldn't have liked it less.

What If? #200

Review: This issue was jam-packed with What If? goodness, containing FIVE separate features. The first What If? story dealt with What If Norman Osborn had won the Siege of Asgard? Basically the point of divergence was the Sentry killing Ares before the Siege took place at the command of Osborn. With Sentry going into the Siege battle fresh, he managed to tear though the Asgardians and the Avengers. The Fantastic Four and some X-Men join the battle on the side of the Avengers, but Sentry and Osborn's forces are too much, and they also get murdered. Dr. Doom arrives on the scene and spirits Emma Frost away from the battle and with Namor and Loki, plot against Osborn. Doom puts his plan into motion by sneaking into Asgard with his allies and capturing Bullseye. Sentry comes to the rescue and Emma reveals that Bullseye had killed the Sentry's wife. Instead of killing Bullseye though, Sentry kills Emma. Bullseye gloats, and then gets killed as well. With that, the Sentry gives way to the Void, and the Void makes quick work of Loki, Namor and Doom. The Void then heads to Osborn and tells him that it was done teaming with him, killing Osborn too. From there, the Void runs roughshod over the Earth, killing everything and destroying the entire planet. Well that was cheerful, no? Our next story is What If the Watcher had killed Galactus, written by The Man himself, Stan Lee(!!!). The story takes place at the time of Galactus' first meeting with the Fantastic Four(the CLASSIC FF #48-50). Instead of Reed scaring off Galactus with the Ultimate Nullifier, the Watcher(Uatu)takes care of Galactus himself, much to the rage of the Silver Surfer. The council of Watchers show up on the scene and teleport Uatu, the Surfer and the FF to their domain. The Surfer basically serves as the prosecutor, telling the other Watchers of Uatu's crime, while Mr. Fantastic heads up the defense, telling the Watchers that had Uatu not acted, Galactus would have killed billions on Earth. The Watchers don't really want to hear it, and even Uatu himself seems resigned to his fate, as the head Watcher sentences Uatu to die the following day. The FF decide to free Uatu, but are halted by the Surfer, who was determined to see Uatu face justice. With the heroes all battling in front of his cell, Uatu tells them to cease battling, since he didn't want to be freed, and was ready to face his punishment. After watching that scene play out, the head Watcher changes his mind, and this issue ends with the Watchers tasking Uatu to take the place of Galactus as the new devourer of worlds. We also had an interview with Roy Thomas, who created the What If? idea all those years ago, a few pages of several Marvel creators listing their favorite What If? issue, and we end things with a reprint of What If? #35, What If Electra had Lived.

Thoughts: This was the BEST $5 comic I have EVER purchased! Hell, I'd have happily paid $3 just for the Stan Lee story(which was AWESOME!), which means all of the other stuff was only $2. A GREAT bargain! The first story(the Siege one)was written by Marc Guggenheim and was exceptional. I'd have easily given it a 9. The Stan Lee story was STUPENDOUS! Nobody can voice the Thing like The Man can, and besides Stan Lee's fantastic dialogue(as always)the story was WAAAAY better than I would have expected it to be. Score-wise, it definitely deserved a 10. Somebody get that Stan Lee guy a regular series! The interview with Roy Thomas was quite informative, and gave some insight into the early days of What If? as well as the differences between Marvel's What If's and DC's Elseworlds stories, which until Thomas pointed them out, I hadn't even realized. The reprinted comic was the favorite What If? comic of both Ed Brubaker and Brian Michael Bendis, and was written AND penciled by Frank Miller, who wrote the original death of Elektra story, making this What If? that much more intriguing. I never had the privilege of reading that comic, and if asked to give it a score, I'd easily give it a 9 1/2 or a 10. Yes, the cover price might scare some people away from this one, but trust me, it is WELL worth the price!

Score: 10 out of 10. What better way to end 2010 then with a perfect score?Stan Lee + Fantastic Four = Perfect. Nuff said.

What If? Dark Reign #1

Review: This issue revolves around that totally out of character moment when Clint Barton(Hawkeye/Ronin)decided he was going to kill Norman Osborn. In the regular 616 Marvel Universe, Clint fails, and is captured by Stormin' Norman and his fake Avengers. In this reality though, Clint succeeds and puts an arrow between Osborn's eyes, becoming public enemy number one. With one of their own responsible for a murder, Captain America, Spider-Man and Mockingbird decide that they had to locate Clint before some trigger happy Osborn supporter did. After some sleuthing, Mockingbird locates Clint huddled in a park pretending to be a hobo, and after some thought, she decides to give him a fake ID and passport so he can leave the country, since it was obvious that nowhere in the US would be safe for Clint. Clint heads for a taxi, but is stopped by Cap, who punches Clint, but then allows him to run away... Huh? Clint makes a break for it, but is watched from a rooftop by a plainclothes Spider-Man. Clint decides to hide in a bar(?), but is soon accosted by both Cap and Spidey... So much for leaving the country I guess... While the trio argue over who was right and who was wrong, they catch a news bulletin and spot a madman threatening to blow up a hotel where the madman thought Clint had been hiding. Oh, and Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and their baby were in that hotel just to complicate matters even more. Spidey and Cap let Clint go, and he heads to the building, where he confronts the crazy man. Clint gets close enough to the nutjob to get his hands on the bomb trigger, but in doing so is shot and killed by a concealed handgun the madman had on his person, ending this issue.

Thoughts: Okay, in the interest of total disclosure, allow me to admit that a)I am, and always have been a HUGE fan of Clint Barton/Hawkeye, and b)I HATED the fact that Clint ever even considered killing Osborn, because it was SO out of character for him. So right off the bat, that's a big strike against this story from the get go. Did I like the story? No, not really. It wasn't that the story was horrible or anything, it was just that I hated that Clint could so callously kill somebody, along with a number of other little quibbles. I mean, why did Cap and Spidey allow Clint to go after the madman on the hotel rooftop alone? Why couldn't Spidey have been backing Clint up, and as such have been there to web the gun away at the last second? I mean Cap and Spidey just let Clint, who WAS a wanted criminal, run off to save the entire hotel building alone?! Bah, I could have definitely gone without reading this one...

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.This scene seems vaguely familiar... All we're missing is Clint dressed in green and Osborn stuck to the wall!

What If? Spider-Man: Grim Hunt #1

Overall: As you probably gathered from the title of this comic, this issue of What If? asks what would have happened is Spidey had killed Kraven the Hunter during the Grim Hunt storyline. Basically he'd go completely crazy, kill an imprisoned Norman Osborn to protect his friends and family, and after Mary Jane breaks up with him, decide to ditch the Spider-Man mantle and become Kraven the... err, Peter the Hunter. Madame Web tries and fails to convince Anya Corazon to become Spider-Girl, and then decides to get a few spider-themed heroes together(Spider-Woman, Anti-Venom and Venom)to take Peter down. Unfortunately for Web, Peter kills the trio of spider-characters and fatally wounds Madame Web, who teleports to Anya, who she asks one final time to become Spider-Girl. Anya finally decides to become Spider-Girl, confronts Peter on her lonesome and beats him when his shotgun blows up in his face, leaving him blind(?!?). Blind Peter heads back to MJ after having been evil for weeks, she takes him back, and Spider-Girl patrols NYC in Peter's stead.

Ugh... See, this is the problem with a What If? Comic... They're either good, or really bad. This issue was definitely the latter. First of all, the story wasn't even narrated by the Watcher! It was narrated by Madame Web(until she dies). I mean what kind of a What If? comic isn't narrated by the Watcher?! That would be like buying an issue of Daredevil and instead ending up with a comic starring Black Panther instead... Oh wait... Um, anyway, besides the fact that the Watcher wasn't present here, the story itself really wasn't that good. So Peter kills Kraven, then tells MJ, who scolds him. This leads to Peter eating a lion atop the Brooklyn Bridge, where MJ meets him to ask him to come back. Peter responds to this by going to the Raft and killing Norman Osborn, and then heading home to MJ, Aunt May and Harry Osborn, expecting them to... I don't know, break into dance because Norman was dead. After seeing everybody was upset by Norman's death, Peter decides, “What the hey, I'll become Kraven the Hunter because that worked out SO well for him!” And then a gun explodes in his face... Yeah, this was one What If? I could have easily went without.

Score: 4 out of 10.Sure, if I killed one of my loser enemies, the first thing I would do is BECOME that loser enemy!

What If? Wolverine: Father #1

Overall: This issue gets started with the Winter Soldier killing Wolverine's wife, Itsu, just like in the regular, 616 Marvel Universe. However, in this particular reality, Wolverine walks in on the scene and kills the surprised Winter Soldier and cuts his son out of his dead wife after hearing the infant's heartbeat. From there we move forward 12 years and discover that Wolverine had moved to Tibet with his son John, to live a quiet, violence-free life. Needless to say, John isn't happy with this life of peaceful tranquility, and Wolvie begins to notice little things that indicate that John may be a mutant. Wolvie's fears are furthered when Prof. Xavier arrives at Wolvie's quaint little home and asks him to join the X-Men. Wolvie turns Prof. X down, which annoys John, who was hoping Prof. X would get him out of the village. Two years later, John begins to get into fights with other children, with one fight leading to a boy being gashed by what seem to be claws, although John claims ignorance to how the boy received the wounds. To punish John, Wolvie decides to leave him alone for a few weeks, telling John he was responsible for all of the chores that needed to be done around the house. With Wolvie gone, John begins to realize that he might have some special abilities when a girl from the village searches him out, even though she was obviously terrified of him. Before anything can develop between John and the girl, Sabretooth arrives on the scene and tosses the girl off of a mountain, before throwing John off the mountain too, figuring the boy would have a healing factor like his father. By this time Wolvie returns and decapitates Sabretooth, tossing his pieces off the mountain before rushing down to find John. Wolvie doesn't find John's body, just finding some blood, and upon returning to the village he discovers everybody dead at the hands(or claws)of John. From there John heads east, takes up the name Daken and winds up taking over the Japanese crime scene in just a few short years. Wolvie tracks his wayward son down, and after dealing with his goons, stabs Daken with the Muramasa Blade(which negates healing factors)killing him, before turning the blade on himself, putting an end to his cursed bloodline.

First off, I enjoyed this comic. I do love What If? comics, so right off the bat I was expecting good things here, and for the most part, that's what I received. There were a few things I could nit-pick if I wanted(how easily the Winter Soldier was dispatched, the lack of Romulus), but I'm not going to. Instead, I'm going to say that I liked this glimpse into a world where Wolvie raised his son. I'm an unabashed fan of Daken, and while I didn't like the fact that Wolvie killed him so easily here, nor how obvious the ending was(who DIDN'T see that coming?), I liked most everything else. I guess the lesson here is that a bad seed is a bad seed, no matter how he is raised...

Score: 8 out of 10.Daken: Trouble in ANY world.

What If? Iron Man: Demon In An Armor #1

What If? Iron Man: Demon In An Armor #1.

-The premise here is that instead of getting Reed Richards as a roommate in college, Victor Von Doom gets Tony, “Life of the party” Stark.
-Initially Stark and his drunken tomfoolery annoys Doom, but as time progresses, Doom begins to buddy up to the rich playboy.
-It turns up that Doom was only using Tony, and Doom tricks Tony into swapping bodies with him, meaning Doom's mind was in Stark's body, while Tony's mind was in Doom's.
-And to make matters worse, Doom wiped Tony's memory to boot!
-Tony winds up getting expelled from college and deported back to Latveria, while Doom uses Tony's fortune to create Stark Universal, a leading weapons manufacturing company.
-Meanwhile, Tony starts up Doom Industries in Latveria, since he's still a genius, even if he doesn't remember ever being Tony Stark.
-Doom Industries begins to chip into Stark Industries bottom line, so Doom heads to Latveria in a green and silver Iron Man suit to destroy Tony's company.
-Tony dons a, you guessed it, gold and red Dr. Doom suit and the two battle, with Tony emerging victorious.
-Doom tries to bargain with Tony, revealing to him that they were in the wrong bodies, and offering to switch them back to their proper bodies, provided Tony doesn't turn Doom in for attempting to destroy Doom Industries.
-Tony says nuts to that, since Doom had sullied the name of Tony Stark, and decides to remain Victor Von Doom, who was well respected in this world, turning Doom over to the proper authorities.

I'm a sucker for What If's, and this comic didn't disappoint. Sure there were a few things that bothered me, such as why wasn't Doom trying to rescue his mother, but the few inaccuracies weren't enough to ruin this story for me. All in all, a good story, although my review probably makes it sound WAY more confusing then it actually was!

Score: 7 out of 10.Hey, check it out, it's Doom Man vs Dr. Iron!

Wolverine, Love Guru.

Ever wonder what Wolverine means when he says he's, "the best there is at what he does"? The following panels show that apparently, Wolvie's area of expertise is dating advice...

What else you got?

Besides the 3 comics I've read and posted earlier tonight, JSA#22, Teen Titans #66 and Avengers: The Initiative #20, here's the rest of the stuff that arrived today.

Final Crisis: Secret Files- Don't know what it's all about, but since it says Final Crisis on it, I was compelled to buy it.

What If? Secret Wars- It's a What If?, and Dr. Doom is on the cover... Nuff said.

Legion of Super-Heroes #49- After this issue, there is only one issue of this comic series left. I can't even express in words how sad that makes me. This comic is one of my monthly favorites, and I'm really going to miss reading about these characters...

Justice League of America #28- Hoo boy, I'm not looking forward to reading this comic!

Guardians of the Galaxy #8- Now this comic on the other hand I can't wait to dig into! GotG is one of those little known gems Marvel is putting out.

Batman #684- It's Batman! Why wouldn't I buy it?

What If?: Spider-Man Back in Black #1

Overall- Once again, I'll do this review in bullet format. Knowing how I am though, I'm sure I'll still write a whole lot here.

-The main difference in this comic book is that Mary Jane is shot and killed by Kingpin's assassin, as opposed to Aunt May. Spidey gets clipped by the assassin, but manages to catch up to the killer. Spidey threatens the assassin, and he gives up the Kingpin as the guy who hired him. The assassin tries to shoot Spidey, but winds up shooting himself and dies.

-Kingpin alerts the authorities that his life is in danger and the F.B.I. tells Tony Stark to move Kingpin someplace safer then Rykers Island Prison. Stark tries to have SHIELD escort Kingpin away from Rykers, but Spidey intercepts the transport and attacks the agents. Iron Man arrives and attacks Spidey.

-While Spidey and Stark fight, Kingpin is led away by a couple of uniformed police officers. Spidey manages to defeat Stark, by exploiting a flaw in Stark's armor, and eventually catches up to Kingpin at Newark Airport.

-Kingpin reveals that the cops who took him away were in his pocket and that he has kidnapped Aunt May. Kingpin steps aside and we see Aunt May flanked by 2 goons holding guns to her head. Kingpin tells Spidey that he wants to literally beat him to death, and that if Spidey make one move towards Aunt May or attempts to defend himself, the goons will shoot May.

-Spidey punches Kingpin as hard as he can in the chest, which kills him and webs up one of the goons. Spidey then tells the other goon that since Kingpin is dead, he won't be getting paid to shoot May, plus if he does shoot her, Spidey will just kill him as well. The goon surrenders and Spidey webs him up.

-Aunt May is repulsed and horrified by Spidey's murderous antics and Iron Man and the cops show up to arrest Spidey. Spidey turns himself in to the cops, but not before blaming Stark for what happened to MJ. Stark, pompous as ever, states that everything that occurred was Spidey's fault and the issue ends with Spidey being led away in handcuffs, while Stark consoles the distraught Aunt May.

This issue wasn't that bad. Actually, this ending would have been preferable to what Marvel ultimately did with Spidey, you know, erasing years of character development because they f###ed up by revealing Spidey's identity in a lame attempt to boost comic book sales... ANYWAY, I had no problem with this issue one way or the other. It told an OK story, and was perfectly acceptable to me. For a score, I'll give this comic a 7 out of 10.

What If?: Newer Fantastic Four #1

Overall- There's not much I can say about this comic book besides that I liked it. It was a fun read. That may not sound all that insightful, but it is what it is. I'll give you this review in bullet point format to change things up a bit.

-In this comic book, the original Fantastic Four die and are replaced by a new Fantastic Four which included Spider-Man, Hulk(when he was grey), Ghost Rider and of course, Wolverine. Just for the record this team actually did form in the mainstream Marvel Universe around F.F. #348 or so.

-Much like in regular Marvel history, Thanos acquires the Infinity Gauntlet, and becomes a god. Mephisto becomes Thanos' advisor and Thanos decides to kill off half of the universe to show how much he loves Death. Among the dead half of the universe is Ghost Rider. Since GR was a member of the FF, and the team needed a forth member(or they wouldn't be the Fantastic FOUR), they decide to offer Iron Man membership to the team, which he gladly accepts.

-Adam Warlock, Dr. Strange and Silver Surfer come to the FF for help, but Wolvie and Hulk won't trust Warlock, and Iron Man doesn't want to help unless Warlock explains his plan, which Warlock can't without Thanos discovering what Warlock was planning. Thanos teleports Warlock, Strange and Surfer as well as the FF to him basically to show off his power. After showing off, Thanos sends the heroes back home.

-Iron Man still won't work with Warlock and company, so Warlock, Surfer and Strange leave to find other allies. Iron Man decides to attack Thanos with Reed Richards weapons and the FF confront Thanos again.

-Wolverine betrays his teammates and convinces Thanos to kill off Mephisto, explaining to Thanos that eventually Mephisto would attempt to betray him, because let's face it, Mephisto is the devil, betrayal is his nature. Wolvie decides to become Thanos' advisor since he figures Thanos can hook him up with Jean Grey. Wolvie also convinces Thanos not to kill off the FF, explaining they are like a bunch of stupid children and don't understand the power of Thanos. The FF leaves, now minus Wolvie, but gaining Bruce Banner, who Thanos separated from Hulk while he was showing off his power.

-Iron Man comes up with a plan to use a dead Celestrial against Thanos, but Thanos easily repels the attack. While distracted by Iron Man and the FF, Wolvie tells Thanos he should touch Death, to show her he cares. While Thanos touches Death's face, Wolvie chops Thanos' arm off and grabs the Infinity Gauntlet, which was Wolvie's plan all along. Not trusting himself with absolute power, Wolvie tosses the Gauntlet to Spidey, who undoes all of the damage Thanos had inflicted on the universe. After that, Spidey gives the Gauntlet to the Watchers to watch over. The end.

Jeez, why did I bother with the bullet format? I wrote just as much as I usually do... Oh well. I always loved the Infinity Guantlet crossover, and consider it a forgotten Marvel gem. Thanos was always one of my favorites, and the original IG was a damn good story. This comic was kind of like the comical version of the original story. Thanos is like a teenage boy with a crush, and watching Wolvie manipulate Thanos, who is a god, was just kind of perversely funny to me. I can't really explain why I liked this comic as much as I did, but sometimes life just doesn't make sense. I should have hated this comic because of how dumb Thanos acted throughout it, but instead I really got a kick out of it... Go figure. For a score, I'll give this comic a 8 out of 10.

What If?: Fallen Son #1

This should be interesting...

Overall- My hatred over the end of the "Civil War" crossover is legendary. OK, maybe "legendary " is overselling it a little, but when Cap surrendered, I nearly put my fist through the wall of my apartment. I was literally too pissed off to talk about that comic for days. Think about that, ME, unable to form coherent words regarding a comic book. Yeah, I hated that ending. I can actually feel my blood pressure rising as I type about Cap's surrender even today, 2 years later! Now that I've clearly made my feelings known about the climax of "Civil War", let's see what this issue of "What if?" does for me. The concept of this comic is, "What if Tony Stark had died instead of Steve Rogers?"

Well, I liked the part where Tony Stark was pounded into hamburger meat by the nephew of the deceased Black Goliath, who had stolen the growth serum that gave his uncle his growth powers. This comic really didn't go anywhere though... Cap was locked up by S.H.I.E.L.D. for 36 months for his role in "Civil War", and we basically were shown a lot of glimpses of people who were important to Stark. War Machine becomes the head of the 50 state initiative and pushes the recruits harder then even Gauntlet, since he wants to keep Stark's dreams alive.

Aleksander Lukin(Red Skull), takes over Stark Enterprises in the wake of Stark's stock prices plummeting after his death. We later see Lukin/Skull walking through Tony Stark's armory, looking over all of the various Iron Man armors. The heroes gather for the Stark's funeral, and his body is sent into space on a space craft, as per Stark's last wishes. Cap is allowed out of prison to witness the funeral, and gives his old friend a salute as he is sent hurtling into the oblivion of space.

Meanwhile, the Skrulls decide to step up their "Secret Invasion" plans with Stark out of the way, and as Stark's coffin flies away from the planet, the Skrull armada fast approaches the Earth. That scene ends this comic.

There were some things I liked here, such as Stark getting his richly deserved just deserts, Lukin hostilely taking over Stark Enterprises, and Cap saluting Stark as he was being blasted off into space. You see, that's the difference between me and Cap. I would have saluted Stark as well, but I would have only used one finger. I'm sure you can figure out which finger I mean.

Most of this comic fell into the bad category though. Tony Stark wasn't the driving force behind the 50 states initiative, Skrull Hank Pym was. The Skrulls used Stark and his technology to instigate their attack on Earth during "Secret Invasion", so why would Stark's death have made them decide to attack Earth earlier? With Stark dead, the Skrulls would have lost out on the advantage of corrupting the Stark Tech, which was one of the most important points to their Invasion...

Besides these flagrantly wrong events, the whole comic was WAY too rushed. Every page basically dealt with a different person/event, and nothing was ever explored as much as it should/could have been. When all was said and done, I'd say this was a mediocre comic book at best. I do however have to bump the score up a little, because there is nothing better than watching Tony Stark get pounded into street pizza by an angry giant. For a score, I'll go with a 5 1/2 out of 10. I'd have gone with a 5, but seeing Stark get killed added that extra 1/2 all by itself. Yeah, in case you haven't noticed, I REALLY hate Tony Stark. Now, I think I'll go back and re-read Stark's death. I just can't get enough of that!

What If?: House of M #1

Overall- Even though I cringe at the thought of the House of M storyline(or more specifically, the rancid ending), I just can't resist a new What If? comic book. This year, Marvel is putting out 5(?) new What If? comic books, each with a main story(like the House of M storyline in this one)and a secondary 5 part story involving the Runaways and the Young Avengers. I'm not going to even read the Runaway/Young Avengers story until I have all 5 parts, that way I can enjoy the whole story in one reading. With that said, away we go.

OK, the difference between this comic and the actual events of House of M would be that in this comic, Wanda says "No more powers.", which de-powers everybody on the planet, mutant, super-human or otherwise. Great, so now the playing field has been leveled, right? Now, there are no more super-villains, no more super-heroes, no more super-anything. S.H.I.E.L.D. is happy, figuring hey have no more worries, except for normal everyday crime. Iron Man seems to feel differently, and he tells S.H.I.E.L.D. Commander Hill that there is something brewing. Hill tells Stark that he is paranoid and clinging to the past, before throwing him off the helicarrier.

It seems Stark is right(boy, I NEVER thought I'd type those 5 words together), and the Red Skull is still in possession of the Cosmic Cube. Skull unites Hydra, the Hand, and A.I.M., and launches a large scale attack on the Baxter Building, killing the de-powered Johnny Storm, Ben Grimm and Reed Richards. After killing 3 of the formerly Fantastic Four, Skull retrieves the armor of Dr. Doom, which was stored in one of the trophy rooms in the building.

Now dressed in Doom's armor(except for the helmet, because then how would everyone know it was Red Skull in the armor?)Red Skull strolls out of the Baxter Building, tosses Reed Richards body into the street, and states that to power his Cosmic Cube, he would have to kill all of the people in New York City. Before Skull can make a move, Iron Man, and some other armor-clad heroes arrive on the scene, and attack Skull and his evil horde. The de-powered X-Men grab their Shiar weaponry, and lend a hand at the scene, but as the battle begins to really rage, Red Skull becomes stronger, since every death is powering the Cosmic Cube.

Now gaining in power, Skull begins to actively kill heroes himself, slaughtering the X-Men, as well as most of Stark's Iron Avengers. Before Skull can strike the death blow on Tony Stark, some familiar webbing snares the Cube from Red Skull's hand, and smashes it into the street, destroying its power. From there, we see Peter Parker, dressed in street clothes and his web shooters, standing down the Red Skull and his remaining evil horde. Peter shouts to the people of New York to stop standing around, and defend their city, stating that without the Cosmic Cube, Skull and his army were no different from anybody else.

With that, a gang of angry New Yorkers gather behind Peter, and led by Peter, the gang attacks Skull and his evil army. From here, the story shifts to the future where we see an elderly Peter Parker watching his granddaughter play in a garden. Tony Stark walks over, and the two reminisce about the old days when they had powers. Stark, still paranoid, states that he fears that one day, evil will again rise up, but as Peter watches his granddaughter bound playfully around, assures Tony that there will always be heroes to counter the forces of evil in the world.

You know, I should have liked this comic alot more than I did. The story was good, but there was just something lacking... I can't put my finger on it, but I came away from this comic with the feeling that something was off. Maybe it was the ending or maybe it was the climatic battle, but the end of this comic was just a little bit off for me... I can't really explain my feelings about this book any better than that. The scene where the people of New York joined Peter just didn't seem right to me. I don't know.

The beginning of the comic was really good, and the stuff with Red Skull was great, but I guess with the way Skull was built up throughout the course of this book, he really shouldn't have lost. I think that is what bothered me the most. This comic needed to end on a sour note, as opposed to an inspirational one. I know good is always supposed to overcome evil, but this story begged for the bad guy to win. That's the cool thing about reading a "What If?" comic book, the bad guy CAN win, because in the end, the story impacts nothing. Red Skull's plan was so flawless, and his power was so immense, he really shouldn't have lost. So, as strange as it may seem, the fact that the bad guy didn't win really hurt this comic for me... Go figure. For a score, I'll go with a 7 out of 10. For the most part, I really enjoyed this comic, but if ever a What If? comic begged for a dark ending, it was this one.