Avengers #1

Just this review on tap for tonight, as I continue to try to shake the vacation doldrums. I think I'll probably post my Comic Gazing post tomorrow night(instead of Wednesday)and try to get a couple of reviews up for Wednesday and Thursday night. It's not as if I'm NOT reading anything, I've just been too lazy to post reviews... Anyway, let's get to the one review I did manage to type up today.

Avengers #1 Writer: BENDIS! Pencils: John Romita Jr.(!)

Review: This issue opens up somewhere in the not-so-distant future where the children of the current Avengers wind up killing Immortus(who is the older version of Kang the Conqueror by the way). Back in the present, Capt. Rogers(the new head of HAMMER/SHIELD)tells the Avengers that he needs them to step up to the plate and be the Earth's Mightiest Heroes once more. All of the heroes Cap talks to seem quite happy to help out, with the glaring exception of Wonder Man, who tells Cap that re-assembling the Avengers is a horrible idea. After Cap rallies the troops, he calls Thor, Spider-Man, Hawkeye, Wolverine, Captain America(Bucky), Spider-Woman, and Iron Man to Avengers Tower to become the newest incarnation of the Avengers. Cap also brings Maria Hill in and announces that she'll be responsible for the running of the team. Everybody then babbles for a while, until Kang the Conqueror(thankfully)interrupts. Kang tries to give the team a warning, but Thor will hear none of it, and knocks Kang out the window. The heroes follow Kang, and he threatens them with a Dark Matter Accelerator, which would destroy the entire city of New York. Kang explains that he only wants to talk, and he recounts to them the way their futuristic off-spring would be responsible for killing his older Immortus self. Kang then heads back into the timestream, but not before he warns the heroes to do something about their ilk before he returns and detonates his Dark Matter Accelerator. The heroes stand around debating what they should do in order to get to the future to see what their offspring had done, and we end things here with Kang heading to an old version of the Hulk(possibly the Maestro), promising the Old Hulk that the heroes were on their way.

What I Thought: Hmm... Well, first things first, the good. I'm a sucker for alternate reality/futuristic storylines, so I definitely enjoy the premise here. Especially with the involvement of the younger Avengers from the future and the arrival of Kang, who I've always(kind of)liked. Plus, for the first time in a long time, we FINALLY have the return of the classic, real Avengers(plus Spider-Man and Wolverine...)! So that's the stuff that I really enjoyed. Unfortunately, BENDIS's horrible dialogue ruined a lot of this comic for me... Ugh! The scan that I'm posting with this review pretty much shows exactly what my problem was with this issue. All BENDIS really had to get across here was that Iron Man wasn't sure about working with Cap again, in light of the whole Civil War debacle. Instead, we get Iron Man babbling for a while, Hawkeye and Spider-Man wasting a bunch of space, and Wolverine and Spider-Woman stretching some simple banter into an unnecessarily long conversation... Why not just have Spider-Woman question her place on the team and Wolverine simply respond that she had all ready earned her place, or that Cap had hand-chosen her? Instead we get a long, agonizing spiel that doesn't really add anything to the story or characters... I really wish BENDIS would realize that sometimes less is more... So this re-re-re-reboot of the Avengers was a bit of a mixed bag for me; good art, a good story but horrid dialogue. Here's hoping next issue is more action packed, with less verbiage.

Score: 7 out of 10.Blah blah blah blah......

The Random Scan of the Week!

It's about time I posted an X-Man pic! From Amazing Spider-Man #420(Feb. 1997).

The Best of the Rest!!! June 5th edition.

It's Saturday, which means it it's time for me to give my uninformed, overly sarcastic and at times offensive opinion on comic books and their creators, that's right, it's time for a new installment of The Best of the Rest! Ahh, that run-on sentence never gets old! And thus begin the excuses... So you see, I only have three pseudo-reviews to bust out tonight on account of my busy week(in other words, I've been lazy...). Now I'm sure you're probably thinking to yourself, “Well shucks, if he only has three reviews to do, these here reviews are gonna be DY-NO-MITE!” Sadly, that's not the case... No, be it thirty-seven reviews or three, I'm not going to bother putting together a really good Best of the Rest, I just can't. Nope, this post will be as bad(or maybe even worse!)then all of the other Best of the Rest posts, or my name isn't BENDIS! Um, I mean X...

Deadpool #22: So Deadpool is on a bus to Georgia as a part of his seemingly never ending quest to become a better super-hero... I'm not really sure how he expects to learn the finer points of super-heroics in Georgia, but whatever. DP's bus winds up getting hijacked by a bunch of slack-jawed redneck types, and DP decides to put a world-class whooping on them(that's how you say, “He's going to beat them up” in redneck). So DP is showing up the hillbillies when a really large redneck wearing a big ol' battery pack moseys on over to DP and blasts him full of electricity(That's redneck for, “They shocked DP up but good!”). DP wakes up and after finding a police radio realizes that the robbers had to be local police officers. So DP heads down to the station house and finds one of the yokels who robbed his bus settin' behind his desk(that's redneck for, “sitting behind his desk” yeah, it's not much of a difference, but still)DP locks up the crooked cop and discovers a rather attractive female cop also at the station. The female cop tells DP where he could find the rest of the crooked cop posse(that's redneck for, “crooked police officer gang” that's right, I'm going to BEAT this gag into the ground!), so DP heads out to shut those lousy cops down hard, but not before he locks up the female cop after he figures out that she was the brains of the operation... This is actually revealed at the end of this comic, but since it's my review(or pseudo-review)I don't have to follow a linear path! Hell, one day I might just review a comic backwards! Anyway, back to the story... DP tracks down the crooked cops, and shuts them down. The end... What? That's more or less what happened here. DP beat up the crooked cops, left them for the ATF(because the crooked cops were also making moonshine)and leaves town with a spring in his step and a song in his heart. The real question is, what's up with Daniel Way and the state of Georgia?! Ah reckon he ain'ts like's 'em folks much(that's redneck for, “I don't think he likes those nimrods much”)... Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Is he even speaking English!?! Sheesh...

Thor #610: And so we pick up after the Siege storyline... Who the HELL opens up a review(or pseudo-review)by saying, “And so”? What horrible sentence structure... Anywho, Balder(who is the current king of Asgard FYI)is roaming around the ruins of Asgard thinking about what a crappy job he's been doing as king... Well, considering you allowed your people to be pretty much spanked by Norman “Freaking” Osborn, I'd have to agree. Thor arrives to tell Balder that he's done an admirable job as king(um, really?), and that Balder should remain the king of Asgard, but with Thor as his advisor. So yay, Thor is un-exiled from Asgard(“un-exiled”?)and Balder the Jellyfish is still the king. All is right and good in Asgard... Or is it?!? I'll answer that one myself, no, everything most definitely ISN'T good in Asgard! Thor's deranged clone, Ragnarok, climbs out of some rubble and decides to beat down some Asgardians in an effort to get Thor's attention... Man, for gods, the Asgardians are being trounced by just about everybody lately! Thor confronts his wacky clone, and after a few shouts of “verily”, “thou” and “Pretender” the two battle, with Thor pretty much demolishing Ragnarok in quick fashion... Huh, that was... pretty anti-climatic actually... Oh, and that was also the end of this comic... Score: 7 out of 10.HEY!!! What's Green Arrow doing in Asgard!?!

Justice League: Generation Lost #2: This issue kicks off with the former JLI members(or the c-list members of the JLA, if you prefer)trying to convince Superman that Maxwell Lord had erased knowledge of his existence from every person on Earth(and maybe Mars too, who knows). Supes(being an a-lister)doesn't have time to humor a bunch of losers, and pretty much says so(but in his non-offensive, Superman sort of way)before leaving. The c-listers decide to split up and see if they can convince anybody that they're telling the truth... You know, if the world's biggest boy scout won't believe you, I don't think anybody else will... Booster Gold heads to the Batcave, where Batman won't believe him, while Fire learns that she was fired by Checkmate by Wonder Woman, who insists that she had never killed anybody by the name of Max Lord. But she did! I read it!! Oh wait, Max Lord must have erased her memory! Of course... Ice tries to convince Guy Gardner that Max Lord is trouble, but Guy refuses to listen, since Max had put some false memories in his head making Guy think Ice was crazy... Wait, so Max Lord was able to alter the mind of a Green Lantern?!? Huh... Captain Atom heads to his military base and spots Max Lord, and immediately attacks him. Atom beats up Max, and during the beating, Atom realizes that he wasn't beating up Max, but that he was pummeling his commanding officer! Whoops!! Atom runs away from the military base, and meets up with the other JLI members, and the c-listers share their sob stories. They all figure out that Max was discrediting them(ya think?!?)and Fire and Ice leave, deciding that they didn't want to deal with the situation anymore. Atom and Booster are told by Skeets(you know, that little sassy robot thing that's always haunting around Booster)that they were being monitored by something in El Paso, Texas. So the two heroes head to the great state of Texas to find... Oh come on... the fake Blue Beetle being beaten up by a bunch of OMACs. Way to ruin a perfectly good comic there guys! Score: 9 out of 10.Isn't it funny how I didn't even mention Magog in this review, but then I posted a page with him? And THAT ladies and gentlemen is why I call them, pseudo-reviews!

Flashback Friday: June 4th.

Get ready for a blast from the past, it's time for Flashback Friday! Well, kind of... With how busy the beginning of this week was, I really haven't had much time to lay around reading back issues, so this week's Flashback is going to be brisk. And by brisk I mean only 5 singles and a trade... But hey, that's better then nothing, right?

Robin III #3(Jan. 1993): We're still working our way through the final Robin mini-series before he received an ongoing. This issue begins with Tim lying to his guidance counselor about where all of his bruises came from, claiming a bully did it. The counselor still felt that the bruises were coming from that cad, Bruce Wayne, but had no proof. Later on, Tim and Huntress go out trying to learn the whereabouts of the Russian girl who was kidnapped by the Russian mob. After a fight against some Russians, Tim and Huntress are told that the girl was dead. While the Russians were licking their wounds, King Snake's Ghost Dragons capture a Russian and learn about the Russian mob's plans. Oh, and Tim wakes up with a swollen eye, which he fears is going to be blamed on Bruce once the counselor finds out. Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

Robin III #4(Feb. 1993): Tim cuts school so as to avoid the guidance counselor, and later that night heads out to meet with Huntress again. The two wind up finding KGBeast, and narrowly avoid getting killed by the crazed Russian assassin. KGBeast gets away, and when Tim returns home that night, his father informs him that he was being sent away to Metropolis since Tim was obviously hiding something. Definitely my favorite issue out of any of the prior Robin mini-series. Score: 9 out of 10.

Robin III #5(Feb. 1993): Tim heads out to meet up with Huntress again, and the two finally discover the location of the Russian mob's counterfeiting operation. The two split up, and Huntress winds up being discovered and defeated by the KGBeast(off-panel!!!). Tim finds the Russian girl from the beginning of this series(who he thought was dead), and is discovered by a bunch of angry Russian mobsters. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Robin III#6(March 1993): King Snake and his Ghost Dragon gang attack the Russian mob's counterfeiting warehouse, which gives Tim the chance to get away with the mobsters with the kidnapped Russian girl. KGBeast and King Snake wind up having a pretty fun fight, and Tim rescues Huntress. Snake and his Dragon's chase KGBeast and the Russians away, and Tim tells Snake that he can have all of the counterfeit money, provided he allows Tim, Huntress and the Russian girl safe passage to leave the warehouse, to which Snake readily accepts. Tim later reveals to Huntress that he had messed up the counterfeiting equipment, making all of the phony money worthless. This mini ends with Tim and his father making up, with his father deciding he wouldn't be sending Tim away to Metropolis. Score: 7 out of 10.

Detective Comics #796(Sept. 2004): Batman and Robin(Stephanie Brown)go after the recently escaped Victor Zsasz. The Dynamic Duo discover a sliced up body in a subway station, and while they are investigating the area, Zsasz spots Steph and decides that she'll be his next victim. Bats sends her away, since Zsasz was too dangerous a foe, and while she was leaving, Zsasz captures her(whoops!). Bats realizes what had happened and tracks down Zsasz before he is able to kill Steph. Zsasz nearly kills Bats, which leads to Steph almost killing Zsasz(!). She fails to do so(mainly due to dumb luck), and Bats takes Zsasz in, but not before voicing his displeasure at Steph's actions. Score: 8 out of 10.

Gen13: Best of a Bad Lot TPB(Gen13 Vol. 4, Gen13 #1-6): This is a re-imagining of the Gen13 team, as told by writer Gail Simone(of Wonder Woman and Bird of Prey fame). A crazy(but HILARIOUS)doctor creates meta-human teenagers, who are forced into compromising situations in order to entertain a bunch of rich sickos who pay to watch the action on-line. The kids are unaware of their plight until the day the crazy doctor sends out a bunch of his foot soldiers to capture the teenagers to bring them back into the program. The story was good enough to get me interested in reading the next trade, so that's a good thing. The crazy doctor stole the show for me(he spent much of this trade wearing footsie pajamas!!!), as the 5 members of Gen13 were kind of bland and interchangeable. Hopefully they'll be given more of an opportunity to shine/establish themselves in the next trade. Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

And that's it for this week... See, I wasn't kidding when I said I didn't have very much to review! Check back tomorrow for the ALWAYS offensive Best of the Rest, and be sure to check out JT's blog on Sunday(or any other day, he won't mind!), as I hear he has something especially AWESOME planned... What is it? Sorry, I can't tell, I've been sworn to double super-duper secrecy, BUT I stake my phony Internet name on the fact that it's going to be Green... I mean great!

Thunderbolts #144

Hey all, it's just going to be this one review tonight, as I've been struck down with a severe case of the “mehs”... What exactly is a case of the mehs you ask? That's when you're on vacation and you just don't really feel like doing anything... So yeah, it's just a case of the vacation doldrums. Vacation doldrums or not, I will have a new installment of Flashback Friday up tomorrow, but let me tell you in advance, it's probably going to be a brief post, since this week has been rather busy for me. With all of the activity at the beginning of this week, I just haven't had many opportunities to lounge around and read copious amounts of comic book back issues. But that's tomorrow, let's get to tonight's review first.

Thunderbolts #144: Writer: Jeff Parker. Pencils: Kev Walker.
Last Issue: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Review: We start this new era of the T Bolts off with Steve Rogers asking Luke Cage to take over the Thunderbolts program, since Luke knew what it was like to go from prison to super-heroics. After some hesitation, Luke agrees to do it... But come on, if the original Captain America asked me to leap off a cliff, I'd be looking for the nearest mountain! From there, Luke heads to the Raft, which is the primary prison for super-powered offenders. Luke meets up with original T Bolt Fixer, who introduces Luke to the Ghost, who is the first of Luke's new T Bolts. After talking to Ghost, Luke heads inside and meets up with Songbird(another former original T Bolt), and the two recruit another original T Bolt, Moonstone, to join Luke's team. Luke next heads down to the Ultra-Block, where the REAL powerful villains are held, and meets up with the Juggernaut. Luke isn't exactly keen about putting Juggy on the team, but after an impassioned plea from Prof. Xavier, Luke relents and offers Juggy a chance to make amends. Next up Luke heads to the cell of Crossbones(?!!?)and offers him a chance at being a T Bolt, which Crossbones gladly takes. Why Crossbones? Luke's advisors figured that Crossbones would be such a heinous person to place on the T Bolts, that most of the new T Bolts would gravitate away from Crossbones and towards Luke, which is what Luke's advisors wanted to see happen. From there, Luke meets up with original T Bolt Mach V, who takes Luke to Hank Pym. Pym then leads Luke to a room in the sub-basement of the Raft, where the Man-Thing was being held. Pym explains that Man-Thing would serve as the team's transportation, opening portals to wherever the T Bolts needed to go. After a quick meet and greet with Man-Thing, Luke gathers all of the other T Bolts and takes them outside of the Raft to run through some maneuvers. However, while Luke was mid-way through a speech to his new team, he is struck down by a large undersea craft. All of the new T Bolts watch surprised as the door to the craft opens up and former T Bolt's leader, Baron Zemo emerges and tells the T Bolts that he was offering them a chance to escape the Raft, so long as they pledged allegiance to him!

What I Thought: Not bad, not bad at all! This issue was going to go a LONG way in deciding whether or not I'd bother continuing with this series, or whether I'd be dropping it. After reading this comic, I can firmly state that I'll be sticking with T Bolts for the foreseeable future. I was... unsure about Luke Cage becoming the leader of this team, but thankfully Jeff seems like he'll be writing Luke more as the character from the old “Heroes for Hire” series(which I really liked), and not like the BENDIS-ized version of the character from “New Avengers”(which I didn't like). Being a huge fan of Juggernaut(maybe the ONLY good thing to come out of Chuck Austen's Uncanny X-Men run was the way he wrote Juggy), I was very pleased to see him join this team, and I REALLY hope this leads to Juggy returning to the side of the angels, because much like Riddler in the DCU, Juggy is a way more effective/interesting character as a hero type, as opposed to a common, ineffective villain. As for the other characters, I don't really like the addition of Crossbones, he's the type of character that could never reform, so why bother putting him on the T Bolts, although his inclusion WAS adequately explained. I like Moonstone, so she's a plus, and I have no feelings one way or the other for the Ghost or Man-Thing, so for the most part, I'm pretty happy with this version of the T Bolts. My one real gripe was with the end of this issue, with Baron Zemo... Now I KNOW Zemo switches sides more then just about any other comic book character, but I was under the impression that he was currently a hero(or at least an anti-hero), not a villain... Hopefully he's actually working with Luke and is only trying to see which of the new T Bolts would be willing to betray Luke, if not, I'm going to be a wee bit annoyed...

Score: 8 out of 10.Well, if nothing else, adding Crossbones to the mix will make things very interesting!

Comic Gazing for: 6/03/10

It's Wednesday, so it's time to go Comic Gazing... Well, kind of... With Memorial Day taking place this past Monday, the comic book release day was pushed back from Wednesday to Thursday, so no new comics until tomorrow. But Memorial Day or not, I have a schedule to keep, so here's the comics I'll be getting, you know, once they're actually released!

Adventure Comics #12: Well, this is the final Adventure Comic of my current subscription, and with how lousy the DCU has been lately, this is one of a few DC books I'll be dropping as I slowly begin to switch my allegiances back to Marvel. Interest Level: 1 out of 10.

Brightest Day #3: Probably one of the biggest comic related disappointments I've seen since the end of the House of M... Interest Level: 4 out of 10.

JSA All-Stars #7: I haven't read the past two issues, so yeah, I'd better get to that!Interest Level: 6 out of 10.

Justice Society of America #39: Interest Level: 7 out of 10.

Red Hood: Lost Days #1: Jason Todd + writer Judd Winick = HIGH expectations! Hopefully Judd can fix the character Crazy Grant Morrison wrecked in Batman and Robin... Interest Level: 10 out of 10.

Red Robin #13: Woo-hoo, now that Fabian Nicieza is taking over the writing duties in this series, I can FINALLY begin to read about one of my favorite DC characters again! Interest Level: 10 out of 10.

Superman/Batman Annual #4: Why not? Interest Level: 6 out of 10.

Avengers Prime #1: Yeah, I know BENDIS is writing this, but it stars Steve Rogers, Iron Man and Thor... Not even HE can mess THAT up... Can he? Interest Level: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Hawkeye and Mockingbird #1: My FAVORITE comic book archer, Hawkeye, and his insanely awesome (ex-)wife Mockingbird... TOGETHER in a series?!? THANK YOU Marvel!!!Interest Level: 10+ out of 10!

Thanos Imperative #1: Interest Level: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Not a huge week for me with only ten books, but there are a couple here that I'm REALLY looking forward to. Before I get to that though, DC easily takes the battle for my buck this week by a 7 to 3 edge. However, the comic I'm most looking forward to is Hawkeye and Mockingbird #1, a Marvel book... That's actually been somewhat of a reoccurring trend lately... I may end up buying more DC books, but I'm more interested in the Marvel titles I collect as of late. And with my recent EXTREME displeasure with the current direction of the DCU, coupled with my elation over Marvel's current direction, I can easily see myself picking up fewer and fewer DC books, and more Marvels as the summer progresses. For example, I'm dropping Adventure Comics and Flash from DC, while I'll be picking up Thunderbolts, Thor, and possibly Iron Man from Marvel. I guess I should consider changing my sign-off from Long Live The Legion, to Avengers Assemble!!!

Justice League: Rise of Arsenal #3

Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal #3: Writer: JT Krul. Pencils: Geraldo Borges, Kevin Sharpe & Sergio Arino.
Last Issue: 8 out of 10.

Review: This issue opens up with Roy managing to get the upper hand on Cheshire(who had arrived at Roy's place last issue to kill him as retribution for their daughter's death), even though he was only fighting with one arm... They then decide to try to have sex after Cheshire was bemoaning the death of their daughter, except Roy couldn't get going... Um, what in the BLUE HELL is going on here?!? Being frustrated by his inability to preform, Roy straps on his robot arm and decides to hit the streets. After messing up some losers, Roy's arm begins to pain him, which leads to him searching for, and finding a drug dealer. Roy scores some heroin, sits down in some alley and gets high. In his drugged up haze, Roy thinks Lian is there with him, and he winds up protecting her from an army of Prometheus's. Unfortunately, “Lian” happened to be a dead cat, and the “Prometheus's” were a bunch of hapless junkies. Batman arrives on the scene and him and drugged up Roy fight, with Bats knocking his longtime friend unconscious. Roy wakes up strapped down to a bed, with Black Canary sadly overlooking him. Roy demands to be let free, but Dinah tells him that with him back on heroin again, he was going to have to stay in a rehab clinic until he got himself clean. BC leaves Roy and meets with Bats outside the room, and the two discuss Roy, and whether or not he'd be able to kick the habit this time. This issue ends with Roy hallucinating that his dead and mangled daughter was standing in front of him asking him why he wasn't there for her.

What I Thought: Well, let's recap... I HATED the first issue of this mini, and I really enjoyed the second issue, so I was hoping that this issue would continue the upward climb... Unfortunately, this issue took three steps back instead... I HATED this issue!!! Right from the start, with Roy and Cheshire going from fighting to trying to screw on the floor, I knew this comic was going to be a painful ordeal, and it sure was... I just don't have anything good to say here... From the opening sequence, to Roy deciding to get back on the junk, there really wasn't anything here that I can point at and say, “I liked that!”... And then of course there was the closing scene with Roy being visited by the mangled ghoul of his poor little dead 7 year old daughter... Yeah, this was altogether terrible...

Score: 3 out of 10.Yeah, she is... Thus proving my point that DC is run by a bunch of scumbags...

Avengers: The Initiative #35

A new package of comics arrived at my doorstep today, which as everybody should know by now, is one of those things that can always manage to put a big old smile on my face. So tonight I'll be going over one of my older comics that I really need to get out of the way, and a comic from the new package. One comic was pretty good, while the other... Not so much. Well, let's get on with it and see what's what.

Avengers: The Initiative #35 Writer: Christos Gage. Pencils: Jorge Molina
Last Issue: 8 out of 10.

Review: This is yet another Siege aftermath issue, so if you don't know what happened in Siege #4, you might be lost reading this review... Taskmaster, who was heading up the Initiative program for Norman Osborn, realizes that Osborn's cause is lost, and decides to make like a rat and abandon ship. Unfortunately he was injured when Asgard fell, and as such needs some assistance getting away from the warzone. Taskmaster comes across Constrictor, and the two agree to help each other get away from the ruins of Asgard, provided Taskmaster helps Constrictor find his girlfriend, Diamondback. Diamondback winds up reviving near her ex, Captain America, and he helps her up and agrees to help Diamondback find Constrictor. From a distance, Taskmaster and Constrictor spot Cap and Diamondback together, and figuring she was getting back together with Cap, Constrictor sadly agrees to get out of Dodge with Taskmaster. When Hood loses his Norn Stones, all of the villains he was powering up lose their powers, which gives the Avengers Resistance a HUGE advantage over the confused villains, and leads to the Resistance routing the hapless bad guys. Meanwhile, in the sub-basement of Camp HAMMER(the headquarters of Osborn's evil Initiative), Baron Von Blitzschlag(AKA the best Nazi EVER!), is going about deleting all of the illegal actions that he and Osborn were responsible for. Komodo, Cloud 9 and Hardball arrive on the scene and after Hardball apologizes for everything he did to Komodo(and gives her her powers back), Blitzschlag offers to hand over evidence of all of Osborn's crimes provided he's guaranteed a soft sentence... Ahh, Baron Blitzschlag... From there we fast forward a few days to the Hood, who was captured by the Avengers in the abysmal New Avengers Finale comic. Tigra pays the Hood a visit and taunts him, telling him that he wasn't even worth killing, even after everything he'd done to her. The scene then shifts to the party on the roof of Avengers Tower, where Tigra reveals that she actually gave birth to a son before Osborn took power(I think the father was Skrull Pym, although I may be mistaken...), Justice decides that the New Warriors/Avengers Resistance should stick together, and Steve Rogers offers Diamondback the position of head of the fifty state initiative program. However, still hurting over Constrictor's disappearance, Diamondback tells Cap that she'll need some time to think about the offer. And after that, we get a few wrap-ups for various Initiative regulars, and this series comes to a close.

What I Thought: Well, first off, I should probably explain that this was the last issue of this series, as the title is transforming into Avengers Academy. I can honestly say that I'm going to miss this series, there were times when this title was THE best Avengers series on the market, which is a pretty impressive feat. I honestly didn't think this series would see an issue #12, let alone 35 issues, so yeah, I'm pretty sad to see this series end... But at least Christos will be getting to(hopefully)continue many of the storylines from this comic in Avengers Academy. But enough reminiscing, let's get back to THIS issue. For what it was(a wrap-up issue)it did a good job. Most of the characters I enjoyed reading about these past 2 and a half years got a chance to appear(Hardball, Komodo, Cloud 9, Scarlet Spider, Gauntlet, Trauma, etc), and many of their outstanding storylines(like the Hardball/Komodo stuff)were nicely wrapped up. What more can I really say? This was a great series while it lasted, introduced several interesting characters, and almost always left me satisfied. So long Avengers: The Initiative, it's been a blast!

Score: 8 out of 10.That's STILL the best war cry in comic book history!