A Quick Look at Dark Reign: Young Avengers #4(of 5)

Writer: Paul Cornell. Pencils: Mark Brooks.

What Happened: We begin with the Young Avengers trying to convince Executioner that Kate Bishop and Hawkeye aren't one and the same. The Young Avengers then meet with the faux Young Avengers and offer Coat of Arms and Enchantress a spot on the Young Avengers, with the rest of the faux YA having to find a new name and continue working towards true heroism. Coat declines, not wanting to abandon her team, but Enchantress happily joins the YA. Melter of the faux YA is incredibly insulted that he was snubbed(plus he isn't pleased that his girlfriend, Enchantress, will be leaving), so he makes a call to Norman "Marvel" Osborn, which Coat overhears. Loki reveals to Osborn that Enchantress is a mortal who mistaken believes she is an Asgardian, and Osborn seems pleased by what was said during the phone call. Big Zero and Egghead decide to ruin Enchantress' chances of being a YA, and they download information about Enchantress' true identity to Vision. The YA promptly toss Enchantress off the team and she returns to the faux YA extremely displeased. Coat vaguely warns Speed that her teammates are up to something, but she refuses to divulge exactly what. This issue ends with the faux YA tricking the real YA into meeting them, where they are jumped by the faux YA and some members of the Dark Avengers.

What I Thought: Hey, I enjoyed this issue. But then again, I'm just happy that the Young Avengers are actually doing SOMETHING in the Marvel U. The story has been solid, the art is good, and the cliffhanger at the end definitely has me eagerly anticipating the final issue of this mini-series. I have to say, after reading this mini, I'm quite pleased Paul has been tasked with bringing back the greatest comic book character of all-time, X-Man(duh!), in the upcoming Dark X-Men mini-series. Paul can definitely write an entertaining comic.

Score: 8 out of 10.Boy is Enchantress barking up the wrong tree... Not only is Wiccan gay, he's, "Very, very gay!".

Next on deck.

Whew, 6 new posts tonight on this blog, along with 2 posts on the picture blog, not bad for one night's work! Tomorrow I should be checking out Secret Six #13, War of Kings: Who Will Rule, Dark Reign: Young Avengers #4 and possibly Runaways #13. I also have like 3 or 4 comics written by the one and only BENDIS, but needless to say I've been avoiding them! Out of the 4 comics listed above, I'm probably the most curious about DR: YA #4, that series has definitely been better then I thought it was going to be.

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

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

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

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

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

A Quick Look at Dark X-Men #3(of 3)

Writers: Paul Cornell, Jason Aaron, Simon Spurrier. Artists: Leonard Kirk, Jock, Paul Davidson.

What Happened: For the record, this issue was split into three separate stories. The first one was about Namor and Emma Frost. We discover that apparently the only reason Namor joined the Dark X-Men was because he wants Emma. The second story detailed Norman(Marvel)Osborn convincing Mystique to join the Dark X-Men by telling her Wolverine has a son. The third story details Norman's attempts at getting Aurora onto the Dark X-Men. Unfortunately for Norman, Aurora manages to to defeat him and his HAMMER cronies and decides she won't be joining the Dark X-Men.

What I Thought: I really enjoyed the Mystique story(then again, I've always been a huge Mystique fan), the Namor story was pretty good and the Auaroa story was readable. All in all, this issue was better then I expected it to be.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.You know, I've never once mistook Mystique for Wolverine.

A Quick Look at New Mutants #4

Writer: Zeb Well, Pencils: Diogenes Neves.

What Happened: Sam sends Dani away from the battle, and the three remaining New Mutants battle Legion, who now is able to use any mutant power he wants. Legion cuts through the team, and nearly kills Sam, if not for the timely intervention of Dani. While that's going on, Magik manages to find Karma and David Haller locked away in Legion's subconscious. David retakes control of his mind and the X-Men arrive on the scene to mindwipe the folks who witnessed the battle and take custody of Legion.

What I thought: This was possibly the worst opening story line I've ever read from any comic book. I really wanted to enjoy this series, I was a huge fan of the old New Mutants/X-Force books, hell, the original X-Force is one of my all-time favorite X-titles. This series is just terrible. The characterizations are all wrong, what happened to Sam's accent? Since when does he run around swearing? Why was Legion able to touch Sam through his blast field when Gladiator, one of the most powerful beings in the universe could not? Why is Legion even alive? Since when can Legion access dozens of different mutant powers? I can honestly say that this was definitely the last issue of this series I'll be picking up, at least until there is a change of writers, because Zeb has absolutely NO idea as to who these characters are or what they've done in the past.

Score: 2 out of 10.Hey look, now Legion is a speedster! What's next, Cyclops suddenly becomes a telepath? Maybe Wolverine can develop pyrokinesis... Unbelievable...

A Quick Look at Wonder Woman #36

Writer: Gail Simone, Pencils: Aaron Lopresti.

What Happened: Last issue Wonder Woman and Tom broke up, and WW decides to take her frustrations out on Giganta. Giganta manages to convince WW that she wasn't doing anything wrong, and the two wind up girl talking about guys. From there, Zeus' champion, Achilles, nearly attacks a US military squad, but he is stopped by WW and Giganta. WW manages to defeat Achilles in combat, and he tells her that if she continues to stand in his way, her mother's life is forfeit.

What I thought: This is one of those comics that didn't leave an impression on me one way or the other. It was OK and readable, but the story just never really grabbed me. WW and Giganta hanging out on a beach together, talking about guys wasn't exactly what I was hoping for in this comic.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Wonder Woman must not be up on her Greek Mythology, of course Achilles can be harmed. Just kick him in the ankle!

Getting down to business!

I've been really lackadaisical lately with my comic book reading/posting . Well, that's going to change. Until I'm caught up with my new issues, I'll be posting quick reviews. In other words, don't expect long, drawn out reviews! Each review will consist of a line or two about what happened in the issue with the remainder of the review being what I thought along with my score. No sense talking about it, I might as well get started.

Superman #692

Writer: James Robinson, Pencils: Fernando Dagnino.

What Happened: This issue gives us the aftermath to the “Codename: Patriot” storyline, with Metropolis in near ruins with its sewer systems destroyed, and no fresh water available. The JSA and a few other heroes stop by to help Guardian get the sewers up and running again, but apparently Gen. Lane used stolen nanites from Steel to make it so that nobody would be able to fix the sewer system, superpowers or not. With Mon-El presumed dead at the hands of Supergirl, Morgan Edge(as per the orders of Gen. Lane) is trying to whip Metropolis into a fit of anti-Kryptonian rage. Guardian and his Science Police are doing what they can to maintain order in the increasingly desperate city. Meanwhile, Zatara has been captured by Gen. Lane's associate, Mirabai(huh?), and she plans on forcing him to work for her. Guardian reveals to the SP that Jon Kent and Mon-El were one and the same, which shocks the SP, especially Billi Harper, Mon's partner. Billi approaches Guardian and Guardian reveals that he knows he's related to Billi and the two wind up bonding. This issue ends with Codename Assassin and Gen. Lane checking on the latest captive of Project 7734, Mon-El, who is being kept immobile in a stasis tube.

What I thought: Eh, this comic was OK I guess. Nothing really spectacular happened here, this was basically an issue to deal with the fallout from Codename: Patriot. I'm guessing I missed the comic where Zatara gets captured(possibly the Superman Annual?), when I place my next comic order, I'll have to see if I can figure out what I missed. I was a bit bothered that Guardian outed Mon's identity so readily... I get Guardian's explanation(Mon's dead, so why hide it), but jeez, people come back to life all the time in the DCU! At least wait a few weeks to make sure he's really dead before you out the guy!

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.If I was floating in a tube full of green water only wearing a pair of shorts, I'd be pissed too!