Quick Hits: 2/15/11

I really don't have much of an introduction today... Um, this is an all-Marvel Quick Hits edition, and... well, that's pretty much it. I'll definitely have a New Comic Day post up tomorrow, and I MAY be able to do a DC Quick Hits post, but that may have to wait until Thursday. Alright, enough small talk, let's get on with it!

X-Factor #215:

Summary: We begin with Jamie and Layla investigating a case where a man was killed in an apparent vampire attack. The man's daughter claims that her stepmother did it and staged the vampire attack thing. Jamie and Layla speak to both parties(the daughter and the stepmother), and don't come up with any answers. The duo head to the morgue and talk to the... um, morgue guy(?) and he seems to be pretty sure that the man was killed in a vampire attack. As they leave the morgue, Layla makes a vague comment insinuating that she knew more about the case(as usual)then Jamie did. This infuriates Jamie, who demands that Layla tell him what she knew so he could solve the case. Layla doesn't want to do this, because if she told Jamie everything that she knew, he'd have no free will, since he'd simply be following whatever Layla said. After a moment of thought, Layla tells Jamie that they should head to the daughter's apartment and stake it out. After some watching, some sort of mist rises from the sleeping form of the daughter and materializes into some sort of vampire-like creature. Layla helpfully explains that the creature is actually a Vandella, which is a fancy way of saying a succubus. Jamie drives after the creature, which heads to the home of the daughter's stepmother. The Vandella moves in to kill the frightened woman, but is stopped by one of Jamie's dupes. By this point Jamie and Layla arrive on the scene and the creature attacks Jamie. Layla spouts some mystical mumbo-jumbo that she had learned during the time she spent with Dr. Doom, and exorcises the creature from the still sleeping daughter, solving the case, and ending this issue.

Thoughts: There was absolutely nothing wrong with this story. It was the embodiment of a perfectly acceptable comic book. The story held my attention from cover to cover, the mystery was pretty good, with me not guessing who had killed the victim until it was revealed, and the artwork was good. Did it blow me away? No, but it was a fine way to spend a few minutes.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Vampire, Vandella, same thing.


Widowmaker #4(of 4):

Summary: We begin things with Black Widow, Hawkeye, Mockingbird and Dominic Fortune facing off against a horde of Soviet super-villains and a gaggle of Japanese ninjas all being led my BW's ex-husband, Ronin. Oh yeah, plus there's a volcano erupting as well. The heroes decide to run towards the volcano with the hope being that they could halt any further eruption. They actually succeed by throwing explosives at the base of the volcano... Um, okay... From there, the heroes split up, with Fortune mopping up the Soviet's, Mockingbird and Hawkeye dealing with the ninjas and BW battling her crazed ex-husband. Fortune holds up his end and deals with the Soviet's and winds up assisting Hawkeye and Mockingbird against the ninjas. BW winds up tricking Ronin into believing he had decapitated her(with an assist from Soviet villain Fantasma), allowing her to shoot Ronin in the back a few times. With all of the villains defeated, BW loads the injured Ronin on a plane, and the heroes leave.

Thoughts: Man, what happened here?! I mean this mini-series had Hawkeye, Mockingbird and Black Widow in it! Those three characters are among my favorite Avengers, hands down. And yet this mini-series did absolutely nothing for me. The story was quite bad, and took forever to unfold, which is kind of weird considering this mini was only 4 parts! I will say that the dialogue was well done, as I enjoyed the back and forth bantering between Hawkeye and Mockingbird, but when the saving grace of a comic is the dialogue, you know there's a problem. Maybe if I reread this mini-series over again in one sitting I'd have a better appreciation for it, but as it stands right now, it was severely disappointing.

Score: 4 out of 10.Hawkeye: the BEST comic book archer out there today, hands down.


Captain America: Hail Hydra! #2(of 5):

Summary: Sprinkled throughout this comic were some well done flashback's that tell us that Hydra has been around since before 2671 BCE, and that the organization has always seemed obsessed with the secrets of immortality. The main story gets underway soon after Captain America(Steve Rogers)emerges from his long ice bath and joins the Avengers. Cap gets a letter from a German freedom fighter he knew during WWII telling him to meet her near Bucky's grave. Cap meets the woman and after some small talk the woman questions why Cap wanted to meet her. Cap asks the same question and realizes that he had been suckered into a trap, as a bunch of undead Hydra agents attack. Luckily for Cap, he was suspicious of the letter once he received it, and the classic Avengers were waiting off in the distance to back him up. Baron Strucker and Dr. Geist(two Hydra bigwigs)watch the battle from afar and decide that with the Avengers there the fight had become unwinnable. Geist shoots the German freedom fighter in the back, and all but one of the undead Hydra agents escape in the confusion. Giant Man takes the Hydra corpse back to Avengers Mansion with him, while the rest of the Avengers head to the hospital with Cap and his shot friend. It turns out that the woman was shot with a poisoned bullet and the doctors can do nothing to save her, so she tasks Cap with continuing her crusade against Hydra. Meanwhile, the Hydra corpse Giant Man was working on comes to life and attacks him, allowing a horde of undead Hydra agents(and Dr. Geist) into the mansion. Cap and the other Avengers arrive and Cap spots Geist, who he had run afoul of during WWII. Over the course of the battle, Thor winds up getting shot in the back by a mystical arrow which draws his blood. Some of the deceased Hydra agents grab the arrow out of Thor and retreat, leaving Cap and the Avengers somewhat baffled by what had just occurred. This issue ends with Geist and Strucker celebrating the fact that they had managed to acquire the blood of Captain America(a super-soldier)and Thor(a god), meaning they were one step closer to Hydra's longtime goal of immortality.

Thoughts: I have no real complaints here. Much like the last issue, this was a perfectly acceptable story. I liked the flashback sequences, as they helped to hammer home the point that Hydra has been around for several millennium, meaning they are not just some simple terrorist group that sprung up in the 20th century. The flashback's also helped establish that Hydra had been collecting and hording mystical weapons throughout the years(including the arrow that pierced Thor), all for their ultimate plan of creating an army of perfect beings, indestructible and immortal. What can I say, I've always been a fan of Captain America, and I've also always felt Hydra was severely underutilized, so this mini-series is right up my alley!

Score: 7 out of 10.How can I not like a comic with th CLASSIC Avengers in it?!

Best of the Rest! January 22nd edition.

Hey all, I won't bore you all with a long winded intro, instead I'll just go right into my two topics du jour and then to the reviews. Onward!

I want to buy Iron Man #500... Can you spare $150?
So I was going through the solicits on Tuesday to see what I'd be grabbing from the comic book shop come Wednesday, and I noticed that Invincible Iron Man #500 would be released. That's good, since issue #500 was the start of a new storyline(or so I thought), one that I'd be following from the beginning, unlike the last story, which I started reading at the 3rd or 4th part. Since this is one of those MEGA, GALA, SUPER anniversary issues Marvel LOVES to put out, not only was Iron Man released with one cover, it also received several variant covers. Now I personally have never understood who would buy a $3/$4/$5 comic book for an extra amount of money simply because of the cover, but somebody must, because Marvel REALLY loves putting out variants. Anyway, IM #500 had 4 different covers, so I figured I'd take a look at them just for kicks. You had the original cover which was $5, a JRJR cover for $18, a Marko Djurdjevic cover for $50(!)and a Joe Quesada cover for $150(!!!!)... Yes, that's right, one hundred and fifty dollars for a comic book you could instead buy for $5... I mean really, who in the WORLD would pay an extra $145 for a COVER?! Maybe if the comic was made of gold and had an I-Pod built into it I'd consider paying that much money for a NEW comic, but $150 simply for a cover?! I can't rationalize that at all...

Good-bye DC... It's been fun.
The rumors state that Chairman Johns, aka he of no original ideas, will be renumbering many DC series during the sure to be sucktacular Saint Barry Allen love-in Flashpoint ala the awesome Age of Apocalypse from Marvel back in the 90's. I've already stated that I WON'T be buying any DC Flashpoint issues as a protest due to DC allowing Chairman Johns almost unlimited power to destroy the DCU as he sees fit, but now it appears that DC will be dragging even more titles into the black hole of creativity that I'm sure Flashpoint will be. Let me state this in as plain a manner as I can. I buy a lot of comics, both Marvel and DC. Lately my enjoyment of DC comics has been waning, while my enjoyment of the Marvel books has been growing. I WILL NOT buy ANY DC comic that carries the Flashpoint banner. So let's say for example DC decides to have the Secret Six x-over with Flashpoint. That means I won't buy the Secret Six for as long as Flashpoint is ongoing. Furthermore, once I stop buying a book like Secret Six, there's a really good chance I won't bother picking it up again once Flashpoint ends, since I'll probably have started picking up other Marvel/Image or indy books to fill the void. I've enjoyed reading about the DCU these past four years or so. I've brought TONS of DC comics, as this blog is a testament to(as of right now I have 1,001 posts with a “DC Comics” label). I honestly think Flashpoint will be my breaking point, and the thing that destroys my interest in DC once and for all... I hope that isn't true, I mean if I was able to withstand the unadulterated awfulness that was Secret Invasion from Marvel, maybe I'll be able to stand Flashpoint, but the outlook seems bleak, and I fear I'll be saying good-bye to those DC characters I still do enjoy. I hope you're happy Chairman Johns and his brainwashed Silver Age cronies, you're about to lose a huge fan...

Okay, let's get to the reviews. Up first is Widowmaker #3(of 4). We get things started with Black Widow sending Hawkeye into a Dark Ocean Japanese brothel with the hopes of getting some information about the Dark Ocean organization. Basically, the Dark Ocean is an evil Japanese organized crime organization run by Ronin that has been killing several international spies. Hawkeye blows his cover almost immediately and is attacked by the women in the brothel. Black Widow rushes in to help and confronts the leader of the brothel, the Madame. The Madame explains that she was working with Ronin and that once Ronin's plans come to fruition she'd be an emperess, not just a simple Madame. After dropping some more vague hints, she disappears, leaving Widow not only knowing where Ronin was, but WHO he was. Meanwhile, Mockingbird and Dominic Fortune go after the Russian side of the Ronin mystery, and after beating up and tricking Russian soldiers, they head to an island that was disputed by the Russians and the Japanese. Upon arriving at the disputed island, Mock and Fortune meet up with Hawkeye and Widow, who had arrived moments before. The heroes share notes, and Ronin walks out of a temple, at which time Black Widow attacks. She takes Ronin down and unmasks him to reveal the Red Guardian, her ex-husband. Ronin explains that he was sickened by the democratic Russia, and wanted to take out the leaders of both Russia and Japan to create a new world power. This issue ends with Ronin forcing a volcano to erupt on the disputed island, figuring the destruction of the island would distract the Russian and Japanese governments enough for him to swoop in and kill all of their leaders. Well, we finally found out who Ronin was, and what his plans were. That was a major plus here, because the first two issues basically had the heroes running about aimlessly. I really don't have much more to say than I enjoyed this issue and am looking forward to seeing how the heroes will be able to stop the insane plots of Ronin. Score-wise, let's give this one a solid 7 1/2 out of 10.

Next up we head to DC and Secret Six #29. This comic actually crosses over with the last issue of Action Comics, although I have NO idea what issue that was, and I'm not really interested in figuring it out. Picking up from that issue of Action, the remote control rigged to blow up Lex's building is sitting precariously on top of its button. Lex acts nonchalant about it, which annoys Vandal Savage, but Lex has good reason not to care, as he sits in his chair and erects a force field around himself, sure that he'd survive the explosion. Lex taunts Vandal a bit and then has a bunch of guns set their sights on Scandal Savage, telling Vandal that if he doesn't disarm the bomb, he'd ventilate Vandal's daughter. Vandal stomps over to the remote and tries to shut it down, but realizes that it was stuck... D'oh! With the bombs now activated and counting down, Lex sends Black Alice away to try to find as many bombs as she could, while Vandal asks Lex to at least allow his daughter into the force field. Scandal says that she wouldn't go unless the rest of her team was saved as well, so Lex says fine, provided Vandal admitted defeat. Vandal reluctantly does as asked, and Lex allows Vandal, his underlings and the Secret Six into the force field just as the building blows. From there, Scandal slugs Lex for threatening to have her killed earlier and leaves with the Six, while Lex and Vandal decide to stick together, ending this issue. Hey, this was the first time in AGES I enjoyed an issue of the Secret Six! Of course Gail Simone did try to ruin that by emphasizing Ragdoll, who is just painfully unfunny by this point. This story would have been SO much better had it simply focused on Lex and the two Savages. Instead we get Ragdoll narrating the thing. Ragdoll was funny back when he was still new, back when Simone first brought the Six together, but right now he's just tired... I get it, he's a sexual deviant and screws monkeys. Yawn. Whatever. The Ragdoll annoyances really brought down what could have been a great comic and simply left it a very good comic. I mean I still REALLY enjoyed this comic, but I can't help but feel it could have been better. As it was though, I'd easily recommend this issue and the Action Comics that set it up, as this was a fun little two-part crossover. I'll give this issue an 8 out of 10 for a score.

Heading back to the Marvel Universe, here's X-Factor #213. After his confrontation with Hela last issue, Darwin seems to be having some difficulty ridding himself of her death influence. Jamie catches up with Darwin in Vegas, and Darwin tells Jamie he wouldn't be returning with Jamie to X-Factor Investigations until he was able to purge Hela's influence. With that, Jamie returns to the rest of the team and they complain that he should have done more to help Darwin. Shatterstar tells Rictor that Wolfsbane's child wasn't his, which is something Rictor had figured out two issues back. Shatterstar tells Rictor that he met the father of the unborn baby while fighting Hela, and Rictor decides he needed to clear the air with Wolfsbane. Rictor heads to Wolfsbane and tells her he knows about the baby's father, and was wondering why she lied. Wolfsbane tells Rictor that she didn't want to be responsible for Rictor going to Hell(on account of him being gay)and figured a baby with her would have kept him with her and away from Shatterstar. The two talk, and Rictor once again reiterates that Wolfsbane leaving him didn't “turn” him gay, and that with a baby on the way she had more important things to worry about then Rictor's soul. This issue ends with Pip the Troll(who X-Factor saved from Hela last issue and was serving as X-Factor's receptionist)seemingly plotting against the team over the phone with somebody. This was really an aftermath/set-up issue, and it was a VERY strong one at that. Wolfsbane seems to finally have come to terms with Rictor's homosexuality(or at least as much as she can with her ultra conservative upbringing), Darwin has left the team for the time being, while Pip has joined and seems to have some sort of plan against the team formulating. Really good stuff here, but what would you expect? It's written by Peter David. For a score, I'll go with an 8 out of 10.

Sticking with Marvel, here comes the final part of the I Am An Avenger mini-series with issue #5. We have three stories here, so let's get started. The first one is a suicide prevention PSA starring Captain America. A teenager with a lousy life heads up to his roof to jump when he spots Cap battling against the forces of Hydra. Cap puts down the Hydra goons, but a huge Hydra robot lands to continue the battle. Cap flings his shield at the robot, but it knocks it away, right over to the kid on the rooftop. Without his shield, the robot manages to take advantage of Cap, and the kid decides to try to help Cap by tossing the shield back, hitting the robot. The robot blasts at the kid, destroying everything around him but somehow leaving the kid unharmed, which gives Cap the opportunity to destroy the robot. Cap looks over at the kid and gives him thumbs up, and the kid heads back inside to call the suicide prevention hotline. Story #2 deals with Ant-Man sneaking around Avengers mansion(or thinking he's sneaking around Avengers Mansion). After some sleuthing, Quicksilver approaches Ant-Man and tells him that he was vouched for by Steve Rogers, meaning he had no reason to sneak around the Mansion like a criminal. After some thought, Ant-Man leaves the Mansion and walks in the front door, being welcomed by the team. Finally we had a little 3 issue story about the Young Avengers wanting to play baseball, but realizing it was raining outside, and we all know it's IMPOSSIBLE to play baseball outside, lest the universe implodes. Man are baseball players a bunch of wimps... ANYWAY, Thor arrives and wonders why the kids were standing around with clubs(HA!), and they stammer that they were just hanging out. Finally realizing what they were up to, Thor taps his hammer and clears the storm. However, after seeing Thor, the kids decide to head back inside to train as opposed to playing around. I actually liked all three stories in this mini. Not loved, but liked. The Ant-Man one was probably my favorite, but as a HUGE Young Avengers fan, I also enjoyed their little mini-story. What more can I say, this was a perfectly acceptable comic, and what kind of score do we give perfectly acceptable comics around here? How about a 7 out of 10.

One more and we're done. I'll close this post out with another Marvel book in Uncanny X-Men #531. I don't remember if I posted a review for Uncanny #530, but I guess that's neither here nor there. This issue begins with most(if not all)of the mutants living on Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia)suffering from a strange flu that was robbing them of their powers. Lord Summers(who has also taken ill, but is no-selling it)walks along the hallways of Crazy Mutie Island looking in at all of his various sick soldiers. The few X-Men who were off of Crazy Mutie Island are told by Lord Summers they can't return to Crazy Mutie Island until they've figured out what was causing the flu, so they decide to look into the Collective Man's attempt to take over the crime gangs of San Francisco's Chinatown. From there we head to the Sublime Corporation's Secret Offices where Lobe(the leader of the Sublime group)is toasting his 5 fake X-Men. Back on Crazy Mutie Island... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz............ Oh wow, I must have fallen asleep out of absolute boredom! Um, where was I? Oh who cares. This issue ends with Sebastian Shaw falling out of Fantomex's ship and powering up from impact of the fall, much to the rage of Emma Frost. Sorry, this issue was just painfully boring. I don't care about this weird rehashing of the Legacy Virus storyline. I don't care about the Sublime Corporation and the fake X-Men(if it wasn't for the dumb “No More Mutants” proclamation, we wouldn't NEED fake mutants!), and I SURE as hell don't care about Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw! After reading Invincible Iron Man, I KNOW Matt Fraction can do better than this, but I'm now of the mindset that NO writer can really make the X-books worth reading again until Marvel FINALLY undoes the damage done during the House of M. With the Scarlet Witch's return in Avengers: The Children's Crusade, hopefully this will be the year “No More Mutants” is retconned and the X-Men are once again led by Professor X and head back to X-Mansion, where they belong. For a score, I'll go with a 3 1/2 out of 10, which is almost generous...

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.

Widowmaker #1(of 4)

Overall: This issue gets underway with some Russian diplomats heading to a disputed island to talk to the Japanese government about the island. Upon arriving, Ronin and a couple of ninja minions kill the Russians after having killed the Japanese diplomats as well. Back in the US, Hawkeye and Mockingbird break into the diplomat quarters at the UN building and discover an ex-SHIELD agent who was serving as a member of the Japanese Secret Service murdered in his room. This goes on to prove the data that Hawkeye had received from Steve Rogers about a list that was targeting many spies and ex-spies(a list that includes Mockingbird). Mockingbird gets a transmission from her WCA agents telling her that a spy den in Russia had been attacked, which leads to her, Hawkeye and Dominic Fortune going to Russia to try to figure out what was going on. The trio arrive at the spy den where they are met by the Black Widow, who had also gotten wind of the spy hit list. BW explains that she had trained in this spy facility, making the death of all the spies inside personal to her. While the four heroes look over the devastation in the spy den, a bunch of Russian super-heroes tear the roof off the joint and tell the heroes that they would imprison them, but that the ring leader had to be executed. This issue ends with the Russians telling Hawkeye that since he was the leader of the Japanese terror group, he'd be executed, even though he isn't the Ronin who had been killing the diplomats.

Umm, I guess this comic was okay. It didn't really blow me away or anything, it just kind of was. I'm going to chalk the slow start up to the fact that this was only the first issue, and as such had to set things up. With three of my favorite Marvel characters in this mini(Hawkeye, Mockingbird & Black Widow), I'm still expecting GREAT things, but so far, I'm still waiting.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.I love how the Russians simply refer to Black Widow as "Traitor".