Daredevil #505, Guardians of the Galaxy #23 & Uncanny X-Men #521.

Well, I've been reading a lot of back issues lately, which is putting a slight hitch in my new comic reading, but I've got to say, the back issues I'm reading and by and large better then a large majority of the new stuff I read! Hawkman has been good, LEGION has been EXCELLENT, and I've also been reading a few back mini-series as well. I have three more Marvel comics to review tonight, and be warned, by the end of the third review I start to get cranky and even somewhat crass... But, if there's anything that can stoke the flames of rage in me, it's an X-Men comic that annoys me... Hey, look at that, I've already spoiled my thoughts on Uncanny X-Men #521! All right, you've all been forewarned, let's commence the complaining!

Daredevil #505: Writers: Andy Diggle & Antony Johnston. Artist: Marco Checchetto.

This issue revolves around Daredevil taking a trip out to Japan to meet with the four other Daimyos(think generals)of the Hand(DD's ally, White Tiger is the fifth). DD wants to try to get all of the Daimyos on the same page as he is, so he can continue to turn the Hand from assassins for hire into his own vision of it. Three of the Daimyos seem to be pleased that DD is leading the Hand, and as a matter of fact, they insinuate that DD's ascension to the position of leader of the Hand was in part due to their string pulling. The final Daimyo, Bakuto, is young and arrogant, and not well liked by the other three Daimyos. DD arrives and Bakuto tries to push his buttons, but is unable to get a rise out of DD, instead Bakuto nearly comes to blows with White Tiger. Upon seeing this, the other three Daimyos decide that Bakuto stands in the way of their plans for DD and the Hand, so they resign themselves to kill him. After eating dinner, Bakuto begins to have hallucinations of the sensei he murdered in order to obtain his position as Daimyo, and he is brought back to his room to rest up. DD decides to try to reason with the brash Bakuto while he is separated from the rest of the Daimyos, and this issue ends with DD and the still hallucinating Bakuto being forced to team-up against an army of Hand ninjas obviously sent by the other three Daimyos to kill Bakuto.

I kind of liked this comic... It wasn't great or anything, but I enjoyed the fact that all of the Daimyos are far from heroic(as it should be!), and that they all have copious amounts of blood on their hands. So DD is forced to defend Bakuto, who is a scumbag from an assassination attempt from the other three Daimyos, who are also scumbags! Oh what a tangled web DD is weaving... Next issue should have lots of ninja action, while DD tries to unravel who wants Bakuto dead, as well as figuring out what the other three Daimyos are after.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Why Daredevil, what big teeth you have!

Guardians of the Galaxy #23: Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning. Pencils: Wes Craig.

This issue begins with a flashback to when the Magus killed Guardians members Martyr, Mantis, Cosmos, Major Victory and Gamora. After Magus's evil actions, Star-Lord(along with some assistance from a Cosmic Cube)blows the Magus's brains out in order to protect the universe... Or so he thought... It appears that the Magus has actually captured the 5 Guardians and faked his own death by using his massive magical abilities. Why go through all of this trouble? It seems that for the Magus's plans to go forward(plans that include summoning the gods from beyond the Fault), he needs to convert the 5 Guardians into members of his Universal Church of Truth. Martyr insults Magus, so he leaves the room to cool off(or continue his nefarious plans), leaving his Church members to continue to torture the Guardians. Mantis, Cosmos and Victory manage to pool their psionic powers and led them to Martyr with the hope that she would be able to use their telepathic abilities to reach Moondragon of the Guardians to warn her of the Magus's plans. While this is going on, Star-Lord and the other Guardians are pulling security duty at a huge summit of some of the most powerful rulers in the universe. As Moondragon receives the message from Martyr warning her of the Magus's survival, the Guardians are attacked by a swarm of Brood looking creatures, ending this issue.

Eh, this comic was OK, but it is still nowhere on par with how it was back before all of the x-over stuff began to monopolize things... It seems like Marvel's space-based titles have been going through crossover after crossover for a solid year or so now. I think(hope)next month finally concludes the whole ordeal with the Fault and allows this title to go back to the great stories it was telling back towards the beginning of the series.

Score: 7 out of 10.You know, I really got a kick out of the Magus here!

Uncanny X-Men #521: Writer: Matt Fraction. Pencils: Greg Land.

This is going to be a quickie review, because I can't stomach spending all that much time on this comic... Lord Summers The First and Emma Frost discover Magneto sitting atop a mountain in San Francisco in some kind of meditative state. Neither Emma nor the Lord can figure out what Mags is up to, which results in some of the worst dialogue this side of BENDIS... What the hell happened to Matt Fraction? Meanwhile, Wolverine and a group of X-Men battle a bunch of humans who were empowering themselves with mutant powers thanks to super-computers. The faux-mutants nearly defeat Wolvie and company, but are saved by the timely arrival of Fantomex. The faux-mutnats then reveal all of their plans(they were working for or with John Sublime)before setting loose a flu-bug that only affects mutants. Fantomex gets the X-Men out of there and the faux-mutants escape. At the end of this issue we discover that Magneto was dragging the big planet killing bullet from Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men arc from outer space to earth, presumably to rescue Shadowcat from it...

Ugh, I didn't like anything about this comic. Well, I guess I liked the art, but story and dialogue-wise, this one was painful to read... I can't stand the disrespectful tone of Lord Summers The First anymore, and his constant referring of Mags as, “Old man” was very off-putting to me... Is this really the same character who not all that long ago couldn't even bring himself to call Prof. X by his first name? Man is Fraction just BUTCHERING Lord Summers character... Then to top it all off, the fact that Chris Claremont's fantasy girl was on the last page, and is apparently headed back to earth and the X-Men really caused me to blow a gasket... Why? I mean really, why the hell do we need Shadowcat back? I've NEVER liked her, and my dislike has only grown for her the more Chris Claremont used to jam her down the throats of the X-fans... Sure, maybe he had a sick fixation with her, but I sure as hell didn't! But you know, maybe that's the way it has to be now... Since Marvel is just too damn stupid to reverse their asinine “No more mutants” policy, they are forced to continuously recycle the same TIRED characters over and over again... The only saving grace here was the John Sublime reveal, but I'm sure Matt will screw that up, just as him and all of the X-writers have screwed pretty much the last 5 years of X-stories up. God, what a horrible time to be an X-Men fan...

Score: 3 1/2 out of 10.What more could I possibly say?

Avengers: The Initiative #33, Dark Avengers #14, New Avengers #62, Thor #607 & Thunderbolts #141.

Well, with the next few days looking free and clear for me schoolwork-wise, I've got a lot of comic reviews to try to bust out before I wind up getting swamped with homework/papers/exams again... With that said, I'm going to post not one, not two, not even three reviews tonight, I'm going to post a whopping 5(!)reviews, and all 5 are a part of Marvel's latest money-grab... I mean MAJOR CROSSOVER EVENT, Siege!!! No, this isn't going to be a, “Let's bash Marvel post”(or at least I don't think it will be...), so far I've been pleasantly to SHOCKINGLY impressed with Siege so far. While Blackest Night continues to drag along in the DCU, Siege has been a well-paced, fast-moving x-over. And the biggest surprise of all? It's written by BENDIS! I'm sure the other shoe will eventually drop, and this x-over will leave me feeling sad and angry, but thus far, BENDIS has been alarmingly on his game, which is very much unlike him... OK, with all of the warm and fuzzies out of the way, let's see if these x-over comics continue to leave me happy, or will reality finally set in?

Avengers: The Initiative #33: Writer: Christos Gage. Pencils: Jorge Molina.

OK, we have a few different storylines here, so I'm going to tackle them one at a time to keep this review somewhat coherent... Or at least that's the plan. Besides that, it should be noted all of the action here takes place during the events of Siege #2. Osborn and his crew stand triumphant over Thor, which has Taskmaster grinning from ear to ear. Before he can do a happy dance or anything, Osborn disciplines him for attacking Thor against orders and sends him back to Asgard. However, Osborn allows Diamondback to remain, which leaves her wondering if he had managed to figure out she was a double-agent, also working with the Avengers Resistance. Before she discovers why Osborn asked her to stick around though, Maria Hill strikes and rescues Thor, while Constrictor arrives on the scene to spirit Diamondback out of there. After being sent away, Taskmaster battles a few Asgardians, only managing to get away from them after the Asgardians stop to watch what Sentry did to Ares. Away from all of this, at Camp HAMMER, the Avengers Resistance is attacking the undermanned facility, and are doing a pretty good job of making their way into one of Osborn's main bases. Before they manage to gain entrance, the Hood shows up and begins to blast the heroes with magic, rendering them unconscious. Before the Hood can kill anybody, he is attacked by Tigra, who was still looking for revenge against the Hood due to his brutal attack on her several months back. We end this issue with the Hood telling Night Thrasher of the Avengers Resistance(who he had been secretly conspiring with)that if he killed Tigra, the Hood would use his magics to return the original Night Thrasher to life.

You know, I don't know what's going to become of the Avengers titles after Siege, but whatever happens, I REALLY hope Christos gets one of, if not THE main Avengers book, because he's been incredibly solid on this series since he took it over. He did a wonderful job of blending his story into the main Siege storyline, while continuing to move the storylines from this series forward. We're definitely starting these reviews out on the right foot, with this one...

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.I'm so glad the Taskmaster is finally getting some respect in the Marvel U.

Dark Avengers: #14: Writer: BENDIS. Artist: Mike Deodato.

This issue actually takes place before Siege gets underway, and yet it has the Siege banner adorning the cover... We kick things off with Osborn's second in command, Victoria Hand, telling Osborn that he should go to see a psychologist to make sure that his Goblin side doesn't re-emerge due to the stress he's been under. Osborn says no, Hand says yes, and after several pages of this, Osborn finally agrees to do as he's told. From there, Hand walks into the Avengers conference room where Moonstone and Bullseye were in the throes of passion and blasts Moonstone with a gun that can even harm Moonstone as a lesson to stop disrespecting Osborn. From there, the Sentry, who is now fully possessed by the Void launches an attack on NYC with tendrils of darkness striking down from the heavens, causing widespread damage. The Dark Avengers hit the streets and try to save as many people as they can, and Osborn heads into the sky to try to talk the Void down. The Void complains about his Sentry side, and the Sentry's wife. The Void then insults Osborn, telling him that Osborn has no way to stop his rampage, but Osborn informs the Sentry that although he can't stop the Void, there are several other heroes who can. That gives the Void pause, and Osborn tells the Void that if he ceases his tantrum, he'd do something that would make the Void quite happy. With that the Void halts his attack on NYC, and this issue ends with Osborn heading into Bullseye's room later that night to inform him that when he gives the word, he wants Bullseye to murder the Sentry's wife.

Although I was annoyed that this issue had NOTHING to do with the Siege storyline, even though the cover clearly states that this was a Siege x-over issue, I have to say, this comic was quite good, which kind of scares me... I mean, whatever happened to BENDIS, the man who I could always count on providing a horrible story? I used to be able to say with confidence, even before I read a BENDIS comic that it would be terrible... However, lately BENDIS has been busting out some of his best work in YEARS! If he keeps this up, I may have to stop calling him by all caps... Now, there were a few dead spots in this comic, such as the LOOONG and boring conversation between Hand and Osborn(sorry, I have NO interest in Hand at all), but for the most part, the story was sound, BENDIS refrained from his usual annoying dialogue(for the most part anyway)and the cliffhanger ending was good. So yeah, as weird as it feels, I have to say that I did like this comic.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.A shiny new penny to the first person who tells me why this comic was a Siege x-over issue!

New Avengers #62: Writer: BENDIS! Pencils: Stuart Immonen.

This issue begins with Spider-Woman trying to kill Spider-Man thanks to the telepathic influence of Mandrill, who is basically a talking monkey-thing... *Sigh* This fight goes on for most of this issue, and eventually ends when Spider-Man somehow gets through to Spider-Woman, freeing her of her mind-control. The two heroes then take care of Mandrill and Griffin. Back at the New Avengers not-so-secret headquarters, Bucky and Steve Rogers manage to take care of some HAMMER agents and the Living Laser with some help from BENDIS'S FAVORITE character, Luke Cage, because in BENDIS-Land, one Luke Cage is WAY better then two Captain Americas... OK, since thinking about this comic is actually starting to piss me off, I'm just going to fast forward to the ending. All of the Avengers meet up at one of Nick Fury's bases and decide to go to Asgard to help Thor... Hey wait, didn't I already see this EXACT scene play out in Siege #2?

Well, this is what I get for complimenting BENDIS... Serves me right I guess. This comic was complete and total rubbish. BENDIS writes a HORRIBLE Spider-Man, probably because he writes mainstream Spidey in the exact same manner he writes teenage Ultimate Spidey. The dialogue was crappy, the story was pointless, and the payoff was something I've already read about in the Siege mini... In other words, reading this comic was a complete and utter waste of time.

Score: 3 out of 10.No comment...

Thor #607: Writer: Kieron Gillen. Artists: Billy Tan, Bat & Rich Elson.

We open this issue up with the Asgardians chilling(I guess Asgardians chill...)at a big old banquet dinner. While they're all eating and being merry, Fandral and Hogun alert the current king of Asgard, Balder, as to what transpired between the U-Foes and Volstagg at Soldier Field in Chi-Town. The two Asgardians explain to Balder that Volstagg, feeling terrible for the tragedy he was unwittingly a part of had surrendered himself over to the Oklahoma police force. While the Asgardians are discussing how to make matters right, Knut, who can apparently see the future(although he is more often wrong then right)rushes into the banquet hall and warns the Asgardians that Asgard will fall the following morning. Nobody buys Knut's ramblings, and Loki promises to take Knut back to him room, telling the other Asgardians that Knut probably simply had too much to drink. Knut begs Loki to believe him, and to Knut's surprise, Loki tells the old man that he does, after which time Loki kills Knut so he wouldn't be capable of warning the Asgardians to what was to come. The following morning, Loki manages to lock the watchman of Asgard, Heimdall, in some sort of magical nether-dimension, so he would be incapable of warning the Asgardians nor assisting when Osborn's forces attacked. With that, Osborn and company launch their attack, and the Asgardians, caught by surprise begin to mount a defense. Upon hearing about what was transpiring, Volstagg asks the cops who were watching over him to let him speak to the country to offer his forgiveness. The cops allow Volstagg to use a webcam to apologize, while casting doubt on Osborn's story that Volstagg acted alone. Volstagg then leaves the prison to help his fellow Asgardians, but he is met and attacked by Ragnarok(!!!).

This was actually the first Thor comic I've read in probably two years(I stopped reading after they turned Loki into a woman), and I have to say, I really enjoyed it! The story basically gave us some idea of what the Asgardians were going through while Osborn was rallying his forces against them. Plus the inclusion of Ragnarok at the end was VERY welcome. I've been waiting to see Ragnarok pop up again after he left the Initiative series, and it makes perfect sense for him to show up in this book. I know I'm definitely looking forward to a Thor/Ragnarok showdown. All in all, this comic was so good, I'm a little bit tempted to grab a few trades to see just what I've been missing.

Score: 8 out of 10.Man, I'd forgotten just how awesome Loki could be!

Thunderbolts #141: Writer: Jeff Parker. Artist: Miguel Sepulveda.

The T-Bolts get orders from Osborn to sneak into Asgard while Osborn and his forces occupy the Asgardians in order to steal a supremely powerful Asgardian artifact from Asgard's armory called the Spear of Odin. Osborn figures if he were to wield an Asgardian weapon against the Asgardians, he could possibly defeat all of Asgard. With that, the T-Bolts sneak into Asgard, make their way to the armory, fool around a little bit, and eventually discover the Spear. Before they can escape with the Spear, they are confronted by an Asgardian guard, who Mr. X actually manages to kill(!), before they run into the Mighty Avengers, ending this issue.

This was another comic I used to collect before I started reading DC books and had to cut back on my Marvel expenditures, and much like Thor, I was pleasantly surprised by this comic. Having not read it for quite some time, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was into the story from the get go, which means the writer did a good job. Once again, if I have some extra money laying around, I may try to grab a few T-Bolt trades to see what I've been missing.

Score: 8 out of 10.Wow, I wonder who decided to start using Mr. X... What an utterly obscure character.

Comic Gazing for: 3/17/10

Happy St. Paddy's Day X-Maniacs! To be honest with you, I didn't even know it was St. Patrick's Day until I was in school, and everybody was wearing green... I on the other hand was wearing my Black Lantern t-shirt... Anyway, before I get to what comics I'll be picking up this week(and it better be A LOT!)good news! My LEGION comics came in the mail, and I am DYING to start reading them! The only problem is that I just started reading the Hawkman series from the 2000's... I may just read both series at the same time, because like I said, I am really looking forward to those LEGION books. Seeing as that REBELS is probably among my top 3 favorite monthly books, and that the LEGION series was the precursor to REBELS, it's going to be really tough to stay away from it. Believe it or not, Vril Dox is probably my second or third favorite comic character, which is pretty amazing considering I hadn't even heard of the character a few months ago. All right, I think my obligatory, "Gush about the REBELS series" part of this post is over, let's see what's coming out this week.

Batman #697: If you've been reading this blog of mine with any regularity, you probably know that Tony Daniel's run on Batman has been a big disappointment to me, especially on the heels of his really good Battle for the Cowl mini. However, instead of dreading this comic as I usually do, I'm actually looking forward to it. Why? Because we're supposedly going to find out the identity of Black Mask. I have a few guesses as to who it is(it seems REALLY obvious...), but I guess I'll find out for sure whenever this comic makes it to me.

Booster Gold #30: If this issue is as strong as the last issue was, this comic should be awesome! One big gripe though, I REALLY don't want to read about the fake Blue Beetle in the back-up story... When is DC going to drop this Second Feature idea?

Green Arrow #31: Now this is something I'm definitely looking forward to. Whenever GA gets a major storyline in the DCU, I'm happy!

Green Lantern Corps #46: This is the very last Blackest Night x-over issue for this series, AND it's double-sized! I have to say, I'm looking forward to the end of Blackest Night, so this series can disconnect from BN and start pumping out the awesome stories it had been before the BN x-over took over.

Supergirl #51: Being unable to stay away from Superman x-over stories, I'm picking this one up since it follows the whole Brainiac invading New Krypton stuff.

Titans #23: Strangely, the solicit for this one seems to insinuate that Roy Harper(Red Arrow/Arsenal)is being spotlighted... That should be interesting, seeing as that DC decided to maim him in Cry for Justice!!! Grrr...

Dark Avengers #15: Since I plan on reading Dark Avengers #14 tonight, I really don't have anything to say about this issue yet.

Guardians of the Galaxy #24: Whoops, here's another series I've fallen a month back on... I'll have to dig out GotG #23 and give it a read...

Nova #35: The last issue did the near impossible, make the Sphinx somewhat interesting to me, so I'm intrigued to see what he does next to Nova and the time lost heroes... Oh yeah, and I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that this leads to Namorita returning to the mainstream Marvel U, even though I know that's doubtful at best.

Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard #5: I'm not reading this mini until I've collected all of the parts, so I really don't have anything to say about it...

Siege #3: Well well well, it's the penultimate part to the SHOCKINGLY good Siege storyline! BENDIS is putting together his best story since the beginning of the House of M event(imo), so here's hoping he continues the good work, and doesn't revert back to the Dread Lord of comics...

Wolverine Origins #45: Now this is a comic I'm definitely looking forward to! Daniel Way has been building towards a final showdown between Logan and Romulus, and with each passing issue we're getting closer and closer to Wolvie's endgame against his long-time(kind of...)nemesis. I can't wait to see what happens in this one.

X-Men Legacy #234: Well this one is a little bittersweet for me... The very first comic I ever brought was X-Men #1, and over the years I've managed to pick up all 233 X-Men comics that came before this one... That long streak comes to an end with this issue. My subscription to this series is up after this comic, and with how AWFUL Mike Carey's entire X-Men run has been, it is with a heavy heart I say good-bye to this series. I can't believe Carey's run has lasted as long as it has(some 40 issues!), and instead of waiting for a new writer to take over, I'm finally cutting the cord. Once there is finally a writer change I'll be back, but until then, I'll stick with Uncanny and Astonishing.

7 Marvel's to 6 DC's! How about that, Marvel has FINALLY taken the top spot back from DC in the battle for my money! So, is this a one week glitch, or is this a sign of things to come? I guess I'll find out next week... How's that for a cliffhanger! Yeah I agree, not very good...

The top three comics I'll be looking forward to reading this week would be: Siege #3, Green Arrow #31 & Green Lantern Corps #46. Well, that's it for this week, as always, Long Live The Legion!

The Random Scan of the(middle of the)Week!

Yeah, I'm doing another scan... I have a pretty massive Accounting exam tomorrow, which means I really can't spend all that much time doing the whole blogging thing tonight. A quick post here, a quick post over at the picture blog, and that's it, I'll be spending the rest of my night staring haplessly at a bunch of numbers until my eyes burn and I pass out... Sounds like a blast, right?From Exiles #78(May 2006).

Doomwar #1, Gotham City Sirens #9 & X-Factor #202.

After I purchased the full run of the LEGION series off of eBay the other day, I discovered that LEGION continued into a series called REBELS(not the current REBELS, which is AWESOME by the way, but an earlier one)... Upon learning of this I of course went back to eBay and managed to track down the REBELS books(it only went like 18 issues)and picked them up as well. The moral of this story? If you have poor impulse control(and a credit card!)you should avoid eBay at all costs! And that is my Public Service Announcement for the day.

Doomwar #1(of 6): Writer: Jonathan Maberry. Pencils: Scot Eaton.

This comic deals mainly with events that have been occurring in the Black Panther comic(I guess...). Since I've never really been a big fan of Black Panther(although I do like his costume), I've never collected Black Panther comics. So needless to say, most of this comic was like trying to read a foreign language... With that disclaimer out of the way, here's what I did gather. Black Panther has been dethroned in Wakanda, and a group called Desturi has taken power. The Desturi have been secretly backed by Dr. Doom, all for the purpose of Doom gaining access to the Vibranium deposits that reside in Wakanda. If Doom was able to get his metal mitts on the Vibranium, he'd be the most powerful being on the planet, make everybody eat liver for dinner and purge the world of puppies... You know, basic evil stuff. While Black Panther and his sister(who is also a Black Panther)managed to escape Wakanda, Panther's wife, Storm, was captured by the Desturi party. She was tried as a witch, found guilty and sentenced to death. Since Storm's life was now in danger, Black Panther reaches out to the X-Men to help him overthrow the Desturi, save Storm and throw Doom out of Wakanda. Cyclops explains that he can't openly assist Black Panther, since that could put his wacky mutant island in danger, but he doesn't stand in the way of the few X-Men who are willing to join Panther's cause(and yes, Wolverine is OF COURSE one of those X-Men.). Back in Wakanda, Doom forces Storm to help him break into the Vibranium vault by killing her in-laws, and this issue ends with Panther's sister, with some help from the supposedly pious Nightcrawler, sneaking into Wakanda and murdering the leader of the Desturis.

Nope, I didn't care for this comic at all. The problem is when I see a title like “Doomwar”, and look at a cover that shows the X-Men, the FF and Deadpool on it, I go in expecting to see Doom vs those aforementioned characters... Not a Black Panther story... Doesn't Black Panther have his own series anyway? Why couldn't this mini have just taken place there? I guess Marvel was hoping to entice(TRICK!) people who don't normally buy the Black Panther comic into picking this mini up. Well it's only going to work this one time Marvel! This mini didn't grab me enough to make me want to spend $3.99 for the next 5 issues to find out how this story ends. If you follow the Black Panther series, then I'd guess this is a must read, if not, then I'd recommend skipping it entirely, which is exactly what I'll be doing.

Score: 3 out of 10.To answer Wolverine's question, oh HELL NO!!!

Gotham City Sirens #9: Writer: Paul Dini. Artist: Guillem March.

This issue gets started with the Riddler walking into his office and discovering the Sirens waiting there for him. It seems they are being framed for a murder and they want to enlist the help of the Riddler in clearing their collective names. The Riddler interviews the three Sirens and learns that a woman fell through the skylight at the Sirens headquarters, and that the woman had all of the markings on her body that would indicate that the Sirens did indeed commit the murder. With his interest now piqued, Riddler heads to the Sirens headquarters while the ladies lay low at his office. Upon looking the dead woman's body over, Riddler concludes that the wounds were most definitely NOT made by the Sirens, rather they were created by a cheap imitation. Before he can leave the Sirens headquarters however, Riddler is attacked by whole mess of animals, from eagles to wolves to a lion. This issue concludes with Riddler coming face to face with the man responsible for sending the animals loose, as well as framing the Sirens, Dr. Aesop... Wha?!?

First off, a confession... I'm a huge fan of the Riddler, especially in his Private Eye role. The Riddler never appealed to me as a villain because... Well, let's face it, as a villain, he's quite the loser. As a hero/pseudo-hero however, I'm really into the character. I only say this because it seems that we'll soon be seeing the Riddler return to his criminal roots(he's been hearing voices in his head), which is really too bad. Much like the Juggernaut over at Marvel, Riddler is a much more interesting character when he's trying to do good, as opposed to being constantly beaten up by Batman and his ilk. OK, that's my thoughts on Riddler, as for this comic, since it was so Riddler heavy, I have to say that I really enjoyed it! The story was extremely interesting and it had me going right up until the last page... Why Paul is bringing Dr. Aesop back is simply beyond me... Wasn't he the same writer who mercifully had Hush gun that loser down in the first place? Anyway, besides the letdown of Aesop(which probably cost this comic an extra 1/2 to its score), everything else about this comic was very good, and as such, I'd happily recommend this comic.

Score: 9 out of 10.Am I the only one who is going to be really bummed when Riddler turns back to crime?

X-Factor #202: Writer: Peter David. Pencils: Bing Cansino.

This issue gets started by explaining exactly who this other Reed Richards is(he's an alternate version of Dr. Doom who became trapped in the body of Reed). With that info out of the way, we head back to X-Factor's base of operation, where Franklin and Valeria Richards have run to in order to escape their fake daddy... You know, only in a comic book(or maybe a soap opera...)could I type out that line and not feel like an idiot. The kids tell Guido what was happening, and after he watches the way fake Reed acts around his kids, Guido decides to attack fake Reed. While those two are battling back in New York, the Thing, Shatterstar and Monet have decided to attack Doom's castle in Latveria, since it appears Doom has been working in cahoots with fake Reed, and as such, Doom has been holding Invisible Woman captive. The trio of heroes make quick work of Doom's defenses, which alarms Thing a bit, and they wind up rescuing Invisible Woman from a machine that was allowing her to peacefully live out her fantasies(which included Namor and a bottle of wine, BTW). Taking Invisible Woman with them, the four heroes run into Doom, who was painting a portrait of Layla Miller(!?!)in the middle of one of his corridors. Weird... Thing and Shatterstar decide to attack Doom, and wind up getting knocked out by an invisible force field. From there, Doom explains that he means the heroes no harm, and that he was only keeping Invisible Woman captive for her own good, since fake Reed had some nefarious plans for her. Doom goes on to explain that he figures fake Reed will eventually betray him, and as such, he has no interest in assisting his alternate self any longer. Meanwhile, Mr. Fantastic, Madrox and the rest of the X-Factor crew have also arrived at Doom's castle and storm it, running into Doom and the rest of the heroes. Madrox is immediately shocked to find Layla standing with Doom, and Doom tells the Fantastic Three and X-Factor to take their leave from his castle. Shatterstar opens up a portal to fake Reed, just as Guido is punching the impostor in the head. After all of the heroes exit the portal, Layla disrupts Shatterstar's concentration, which causes him to close the portal, severing fake Reed's head from the rest of his body... Ouch. So this issue ends with Madrox realizing that Layla was fully aware of what she was doing(helping Doom and allowing fake Reed to get decapitated), while Layla and Shatterstar remain behind in Latveria.

There's nothing like reading a good issue of X-Factor! After reading this comic, I've got to ask the powers that be over at Marvel a simple question... Why the hell haven't you guys ever let Peter David write the main FF comic?!? He's obviously got a good feel for the team, as well as Doom, who he's used brilliantly in consecutive story arcs now... It seems pretty simple to me... As for this comic, it was good. I can't say I enjoyed this storyline as much as a few past ones, but it was definitely better then 80% of the comics I tend to read in a week, so I'm happy with that. I guess the next few issues should explore what's up with Layla and why she's been secretly assisting Doc Doom for the past few months. If nothing else, these developments should put Madrox in an even more melancholy mood then usual, and that's always fun to read about!

Score: 8 out of 10.I don't think Reed is going to be winning any father of the year awards...

The Random Scan of the Week!

From Avengers/JLA #4(2003).

Adventure Comics #8, Deadpool #19 & 20.

Hey X-Maniacs, it's time for another post filled with comic books, complaints and bad grammar!!! Tonight I'll be checking out a DC comic and 2 Marvels. On the DC side of the equation, I'll be reading Adventure Comics, while the two Marvel books are Deadpool comics. For some reason(probably monetary)I stopped collecting Deadpool comics about 12 issues ago, but after doing a Deadpool week over at my other blog, my interest in DP was rekindled. That, along with the fact that Daniel Way is an excellent writer, led me to pick up the two most recent issues of DP... Unfortunately these comics both featured a monkey... *sigh*... I HATE monkeys in comic books!!! I hate the talking monkey's in the DCU, and I hated having to read about a monkey in these two Deadpool books!

Before I get on with the reviews, it's time to talk about my spur of the moment eBay purchase of the day! After my anti-Golden Age Legion of Super-Heroes rant yesterday, I decided to see if I could find a couple of the re-boot Legion books from the mid to late-90's. Unfortunately(or fortunately, depending on your perspective), I didn't find any full runs, BUT I did find a full run of the LEGION series from the early-90's... What was LEGION? I'm not 100% sure, but I do know that the lead character is Vril Dox, who is also the lead character in what has become my favorite DC comic, REBELS. Since Dox/Brainiac 2 has slowly grown into one of my favorite DC characters, I figured I'd give his first series a shot. All right, that's what I did today, now for the reviews!

Adventure Comics #8: Writers: Sterling Gates, James Robinson & Eric Trautmann... Well, I guess that answers the age-old question of how many writers does it take to write a really bad issue of Adventure Comics... Pencils: Travis Moore, Julian Lopez & Pier Gallo.

This comic actually follows three different storylines, so I'll take 'em one at a time. The first story follows the adventures of the Legion of Super-Heroes(or the Old Legion), who have discovered a bunch of temporal rifts opening up in the 31st century, where they are located. After some investigation, the Old Legion learns that Brainiac is responsible for the time rifts thanks to his actions in the present. The second story follows Superboy and Mon-El as they meet with the Old Legion espionage squad. The Old Legionaries explain that they have come back in time to save New Krypton from an attack by Brainiac. The final story deals with General Lane unknowingly taking the Kryptonian terrorist who blew up the Science Police building in Metropolis and putting her in his anti-New Krypton army... And that's pretty much it for this issue...

Needless to say this comic did absolutely NOTHING for me. Don't like the Old Legion, don't care about them or their problems, and I didn't appreciate that every story ended by telling me, “To be continued in Last Stand of New Krypton #1!”... Yeah yeah, I got that the first time! If you're a fan of the Golden Age Legion/the Old Legion, or are Geoff Johns, you'll probably enjoy this comic. If not, then I'd recommending avoiding this one.

Score: 4 out of 10.Nothing says Cosmic "Boy" more then a guy who looks like he's pushing 40...

Deadpool #19: Writer: Daniel Way. Pencils: Carlo Barberi.

This comic begins with Deadpool arriving in NYC in order to find Spider-Man, so he could learn how to be a super-hero. He unwittingly passes Spidey(as Peter Parker)in the subway, which causes Spidey to realize that DP was lurking around NYC. Later on, Spidey goes to his corner grocery store and discovers the bodies of the owner of the store and a few other people gunned down in the storeroom. After calling the cops(and switching to his Peter Parker identity), Peter learns from the cops that the killings looked like they were done by a professional, which automatically causes Peter to figure Deadpool was behind the killings. Spidey finds Deadpool on the rooftop, and proceeds to beat him unconscious. Deadpool wakes up bound in webbing and is asked by Spidey why he killed the people in the store. Pool explains that he wasn't responsible, and after producing an alibi, Spidey cuts Pool loose. Pool then offers to assist Spidey in the investigation since he'd be able to offer Spidey some valuable insight into the killings. Spidey and Pool head to the store and after looking around the crime scene, Pool deduces that a monkey hitman named Hit-Monkey(yes, really...)was responsible for the killings and that he probably wasn't done killing yet. Pool tells Spidey that Hit-Monkey only kills other hitmen/assassins, which leads Spidey to realize that Hit-Monkey was probably gunning for Pool!

Yeah, after reading the intro, what did you think I was going to say about this issue? For what it was, it was an OK story, but my blinding hatred of monkeys in comic books prevented me from being able to enjoy it any more then I did. I'm sure people without a monkey-bias will have enjoyed this comic more then me, because it really wasn't horrible.

Score: 6 out of 10.And that ladies and gentlemen is a beat-down.

Deadpool #20: Writer: Daniel Way. Pencils: Carlo Barberi.

This issue begins with Hit-Monkey gunning down some crooked cops, which proves to Spidey that Deadpool didn't make up the story of Hit-Monkey, as he had suspected. While the two are discussing a way to lure Hit-Monkey out in the open, Hit-Monkey attacks Deadpool and Spidey. Sadly, the two of them are unable to overcome the unmitigated force known as monkey power, and this issue ends with Hit-Monkey riddling Deadpool's body with bullets.

If you really want to know what I thought about this comic, see what I said about issue #19. The exact same stuff applies here. Don't like monkeys, don't like reading about 'em. That pretty much sums up my feelings towards this storyline in a nutshell.

Score: 6 out of 10.Am I the only one who wondered how guys like Spidey and Deadpool could make their masks SO expressive?

Booster Gold #29, JSA All-Stars #3 & Superman #697. Plus a bonus rant against Geoff Johns?!? Wha???

Now that I have all of my midterms and papers finished and out of the way(for now...), I can devote a little bit more time to my favorite pastime, comic books! Before I get into the reviews, a word to the wise... Although this post reviews three DC comics, I have a pretty large pile of Marvel comic books that I'll probably start getting into soon. I only say this because I know that most of my regulars are more DC oriented people, as is evident by the fact that I always get WAY more comments on my DC related posts then my Marvel related posts. So as to not annoy my DC X-Maniacs, I'll make sure to try to add at least one DC review to every couple of Marvel reviews I post, that way everybody is happy! Aren't I the greatest?

Booster Gold #29: Writer/Artist: Dan Jurgens.

We have a couple of converging storylines happening here, so I'll try to keep this review as linear as humanly possible... That's code for: if this review sucks, don't blame me! I'll start off with Booster Gold sister, Michelle, who has been living in the past since she split from her brother. After coming face to face with Cyborg Superman in Coast City during the Reign of the Supermen storyline from a few years ago, Michelle remembers that Cyborg Supes is responsible for the utter annihilation of Coast City, and as such she does what any sane human being would do in a similar situation, she gets the hell away from Cyborg Supes! Michelle heads back to her boyfriend and tries to warn him that Coast City is about to be vaporized, but he is hesitant to believe her, since she won't give him any reason other then the vague, “I know what will happen in the future”. While this is going on, the woman who tried to assassinate Cyborg Supes before he becomes a maniacal Cyborg from last issue arrives in pre-annihilated Coast City and begins to hunt down the nefarious Cyborg. Booster Gold is summoned by Rip Hunter, who warns Booster that he has to head to Coast City and prevent the woman from killing the Cyborg, even though it means 7 million people will die at the hands of the evil Cyborg. Booster reluctantly follows Rip's orders, and heads into the past to Coast City and finds the woman(whose name is Sondra Crain, by the way). Booster tries to reason with Sondra by telling her that as awful as it sounds, Cyborg Supes MUST destroy Coast City in order to protect the integrity of the timestream. Sondra eventually manages to convince Booster that it would be wrong to stand by and allow seven million people to die in Coast City, and just as it seems like Booster is about to take a stand and do the right thing, Cyborg Superman and Mongol's plan to destroy Coast City gets underway... D'oh!

Oh yeah, I really enjoyed this story. As a matter of fact, the past couple of issues of this series(especially the last two issues)have been really strong. In particular, I'm loving this story and the moral choices it is forcing Booster to make... Does he stand by and allow the past to unfold as it was originally intended to, as Rip Hunter has been telling/ordering him to do, or does he take a stand and do what seems like the right thing to do, even though that would mean altering the timeline... Pretty deep, no? If I were Booster, knowing what I know, I don't see how he can't prevent Cyborg Superman from destroying Coast City... Not only would you be saving seven million innocent beings, but perhaps as importantly, saving Coast City would prevent Hal Jordan from going insane with grief, destroying the Green Lantern Corps and becoming Parallax... Then again, if Hal doesn't become Parallax, he would never gain enough power to defeat the Sun Eater and save the entire Earth... Huh... Damn it, Rip was right!!! Jeez, as awful as it may be, I guess Coast City has to die or there would never be a Parallax, and no Parallax means the Earth would die. What a downer... See, you know a comic book is really good when it makes you think THAT much after reading it!

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Hmm, I wonder just how many times Booster has been smacked by a woman...

JSA All-Stars #3: Writer: Matthew Sturges. Artist: Freddie Williams II

Johnny Sorrow, still a bit miffed that his Injustice League lost Stargirl last issue, cuts out the heart of one of his underlings to present as a sacrifice to some evil god he is worshiping... Note to self: if you ever turn to crime, DO NOT work for Johnny Sorrow... Meanwhile, the All-Stars decide that although they don't know where Sorrow is, it would be in their best interests to train ultra hard in preparation for his eventual return. Oh, and they learn that Atom Smasher was missing as well. Unbeknownst to them, it appears Atom Smasher has been abducted by some kind of evil magician. From there we go to several pages of the All-Stars training their hand to hand fighting techniques, which leads to an all out brawl between Power Girl and Magog over what kind of tactics they should be using. Magog favors killing his enemies, while PG is obviously against that, so the two decide to release some of their frustrations by beating the hell out of each other. Unsurprisingly, PG gets the best of that, which leads to Magog storming away. Later on, the All-Stars learn that Magog was responsible for a jail break(which happened in the terrible Magog series), and they decide to go after him(which occurs in the JSA Annual). This issue ends with Sand being visited by his mentor the Sandman in a dream, and being warned that “The Cycle” was about to occur, and that he had best to alert the JSA.

Not bad. Not bad at all. Granted, this wasn't the best comic book I've ever read or anything, but it was perfectly acceptable. The story was coming together, and I like the tension that exists between Magog and... well, everybody else on the All-Stars. Unfortunately, it looks as if Magog leaves the team as a result of what happened in the JSA Annual, but I'm still interested enough in this series to stick around to see just what Johnny Sorrow's master plan is.

Score: 7 out of 10.Here's a quick and helpful tip for Mr. Magog... Unless your name is Wonder Woman, DON'T try to take Power Girl in a fist fight...

Superman #697: Writer: James Robinson. Pencils: Bernard Chang.

This issue opens with Mon-El, Guardian and the forces of General Lane discovering that Control at the Science Police was actually the shape-shifting Chameleon of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Needless to say, nobody is overly pleased to find out about this chicanery, and Lane sends his men to capture the sneaky Durlan. Before Lane's forces can take out Chameleon, a robot from the future appears and attacks Lane, Guardian and Mon-El, allowing Chameleon to make his escape. Mon-El and Guardian give chase, but Guardian is blasted out of the sky by the idiot Starman from the Legion/JSA and Mon is taken out by several of Chameleon's Legion teammates. After that, Mon goes around and whines to his girlfriend, Steel and Superboy about how hard it is trying to live up to Supes, the junk with the Legion, as well as a few other problems he's having. While he's in Smallville complaining to Superboy, Superboy manages to set up a meeting between Mon and the Legion which crosses over with Adventure Comics #8, which as luck would have it just arrived in the mail today!

Umm yeah, I really didn't like this issue at all... For the most part, NOTHING of note happened... And the stuff that did happen I didn't like at all... I've said it ad nauseam, but I'll say it again, I HATE the original Legion... They shouldn't be! Uh-oh, I feel a rant coming on... Once again, this is a case of Geoff Johns run amok! You all know I like Geoff and all, but jeez, the guy has a really unhealthy fixation with DC's Golden/Silver Age... Here's a quick crash course on the Legion. They're a bunch of teenagers from the 30th/31st century who have banded together to deal with the adult run government, as well as dealing with whatever threats came their way. The original Legion met Superman back when he was still Superboy and living in Smallville. They shared some adventures, and eventually Supes grew up. After Zero Hour, DC changed up the Legion's origin, so as to revert them back to their teenage years. After that, in the mid-2000's, DC re-re-booted the Legion again(the Threeboot Legion)and built the team up from scratch, once again reverting the team members to their teenage roots as well as redoing the team origin. While the Threeboot Legion was still around, Geoff Johns decided to bring back the original Legion, and reincorporate them into Superman's life... This(along with bad sales)led to the cancellation of the Threeboot Legion, which is something I'm still sore about to this day... But my immense displeasure at the original Legion goes farther then that... Common sense tells us that Superman is probably at the very least 30 years old... Although I'd be willing to bet that he's even older then that. That would mean that the original members of the Legion that teenage Superman use to hang out with are probably approximately the same age as Supes is. And yet they still go by codenames that end in boy, girl, lad and lass... What the hell is that all about?!? What thirty year olds still refers to themselves as Cosmic “Boy” or Saturn “Girl”??? Not only that, but the entire backstory of the Legion(that they're kids fighting against an unfair system)doesn't work anymore because they ARE adults now, and as such, ARE a part of the system... It was fine when Geoff brought the JSA from the Golden Era into the Modern one. I was fine with him rebooting Hal Jordan back to his Silver Age self. But returning the Silver Age Flash(Barry Allen)and the Golden Age Legion is just a bit too much for me to stomach! We get it, Geoff Johns LOVES DC's vast past. That's great, DC's long and illustrious past SHOULD be respected... Just not at the expense of everything that has happened during DC's Modern Age... Wow, I sure got offtrack there, didn't I? The bottom line to all this is the fact that I didn't enjoy this comic at all, and that I don't understand why I'm reading about a Legion that should have died several decades ago... LONG LIVE THE THREEBOOT LEGION!!!

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.You should be sorry... For doing this to this series!!!