Outsiders #33

Overall: This issue begins with Geo-Force's crazy ex-wife running wild in Markovia, killing innocent Markovians. While that's going on, Geo-Force is proclaiming his love to a surprised Katana. Before poor confused Katana can respond, Eradicator enters the room and tells Geo-Force that they had found Geode. Geo-Force and Eradicator go after the deranged woman and she smacks them around for a bit since Geo-Force seems unable to go on the offensive against Geode. Finally, Eradicator has enough and blasts Geode unconscious. From there, some hooded figure blows a horn at Geo-Force, which... transports him and Eradicator somewhere... I guess. This issue ends with Achilles(from WW fame)and his hordes attacking Markovia for some reason.

Umm, what? There was so much going on here that I just didn't get. Why build up Geode as this huge threat only to have her lose in a matter of seconds? What's up with Halo being in a coma here, but helping the team in the Road Home: Outsiders one-shot? Geo-Force has the hots for Katana? Since when? Who was the guy with the horn? And why were Geo-Force and Eradicator struck down by said horn? And of course, what was up with Achilles suddenly attacking Markovia? I REALLY want to go off on a tear about Dan Didio(writer of this series), but for now I won't. But trust me, I can feel a rant coming on.

Score: 5 out of 10.It sure must be nice having Eradicator on you team...

X-Men #4

Overall: While the X-Men try to come up with a battle plan to halt the vampire incursion into San Fransisco, Wolverine(who is now a vampire, thanks to Jubilee)is itching to get onto Utopia to attack his former teammates. Meanwhile, Xarus(the leader of the vampire horde)learns from his scientists that Wolverine's healing factor has been unable to fight off the vampire influence, and that for all intents and purposes, Wolverine is now a full-blown vampire. Cyclops decides to try to talk to Xarus in order to ascertain why he's decided to invade San Fransisco, so the two set up a video chat. Xarus explains that vampires and mutants are practically the same, feared and hated minorities, and that they should stick together. Cyclops says hogwash, well he doesn't actually say that, but that was the gist of what he said, so Xarus brings Wolverine into view of the camera. Wolverine tells Cyclops that he's made a mistake by denying Xarus his wishes, and that Wolverine himself would be coming to Utopia to say hello to all of his old friends. With that, the vampires hang up and Xarus decides to launch an all-out attack against the X-Men in order to enslave as many mutants as possible. This issue ends with Xarus telling a happy Wolverine to kill, not capture Cyclops.

This issue was kind of like the calm before the storm. It was setting up that Wolverine is a vampire now, and that his healing factor has been unable to fight off the vampire infection. The X-Men are beginning to realize how dire the threat is, and Dracula is missing in action. Next issue should be the big one, with Wolverine leading the vampire horde to Utopia, where you'd have to believe that the X-Men have a trap waiting. So this issue was pretty much your run of the mill set-up/placeholder issue. It was okay, it set up the next few issues, but it wasn't anything great.

Score: 7 out of 10.Vampire Wolverine sure is a drama queen.

Invincible Iron Man #31

Overall: Thanks to his Iron Man armor, Tony Stark emerges unharmed from the wreckage of his prototype car after it was sabotaged by Spymaster. Tony's staff rush over to check on their CEO, but Tony is in no mood to talk, as he tells Pepper Potts to meet him in his office. Tony tells Pepper that he believes they have a spy in their midst. Tony also shares this information with Wyche, another trusted member of the Stark Resilient team. From there, Tony decides to have a public unveiling of his back-up prototype car for the media, which angers Justine Hammer. Hammer tells Lt. Johnson(the pilot of Detroit Steel)that she wanted him to send his drones to Stark's test course and eradicate Tony once and for all. Johnson is hesitant since he didn't want any civilians to get hurt, but Hammer manages to convince him that a little collateral damage was worth the price of eliminating Stark. The time arrives for Tony to unveil his car to the gathered throngs of media, and the test drive starts off well enough, until one of Tony's techies realizes that Hammer was about to send her Detroit Steel drones to attack the test drive. This issue ends with the drones attacking the course, hitting the crowd of media members while a horrified Tony looked on.

Hey, this was probably the best Iron Man comic I've read since I started reading the series again after Siege ended! I really enjoyed this one. Justine Hammer is becoming quite the viable threat, and I like the way she's putting the screws to Tony in order to destroy his fledgling company before it can really get started. Next issue should give us Tony vs Detroit Steel(and his army of drones)as Tony tries to save face after the utter disaster of his test drive. Detroit Steel is really the wild card here, as I could easily see him turning on Hammer, since he really didn't like the idea of causing civilian casualties, even in order to destroy Stark. Next issue should really start to bring things together with Tony, the Hammer girls and Detroit Steel and where they all stand. For once I'm really looking forward to finding out what happens next.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Paranoid much, Tony?

Booster Gold #37

Overall: We're still in the past where Booster and Blue Beetle(who is currently a chipmunk)have been locked up in an intergalactic prison. Booster winds up drawing the attention of a mad-woman who was breaking out of the prison. The woman, Estrogina, decides that after she breaks out she wanted to mate with Booster, so she grabs him and runs through the prison. Along the way she gets tired of hearing from Beetle, so she swallows him. Meanwhile, Skeets manages to find Booster's costume and gets it to him while Estrogina is distracted killing hapless guards. Now back in his costume, Booster figures if he can hit Estrogina hard enough in the gut she'll upchuck Beetle. This doesn't work out and Estrogina actually likes the fact that Booster is getting rough with her... Uh-huh... The two manage to get outside the prison and Booster decides to go with Estrogina since he was still trying to figure out a way to get Beetle out of Estrogina. On Estrogina's ship, Beetle begins to turn back into a human, which causes Estrogina to vomit him out. Needless to say, Estrogina is pretty angry by this turn of events, and decides to kill Booster and Beetle. Before she can complete the act though, Booster teleports Beetle back to the JLA headquarters where they started. This issue ends with Beetle convincing Booster to stick around to help him retrieve a book from the Darkstars.

I've got to say, I REALLY miss Dan Jurgens run on this series... I'm pretty tired of Keith Giffen and J.M. Dematteis(writers of this series)continuing to re-write the same types of stories they wrote like 20 years ago. Personally, I didn't even think their old JLA work was all that funny. So yeah, I'm really tired of the whole, “Booster hangs out in the 80's with his friend Blue Beetle to re-live his glory days!” story. All of the character development Geoff Johns and Dan Jurgens had done with Booster is falling by the wayside. The story wasn't great, and the comedy fell flat for me. I'm starting to get the feeling that I won't be collecting this series for that much longer...

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.Hilarious... *yawn*

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #3

Overall: On the Blue Lantern homeworld, Guy Gardner, Kilowog and Arisia(as well as that Blue Lantern that looks like an elephant)are confronted by the Red Lantern Atrocitus sent to find and assist Guy. Since the Red Lantern doesn't really have much in the way of social skills, the Green Lanterns attack the Red Lantern until the elephant guy steps in and halts the attack, soothing the Red Lantern and allowing her the ability to speak coherently. The Red Lantern tells Guy that there are major threats loose in the Unknown Sectors, and as such, Guy shouldn't purge the Red Lantern influence from himself just yet. Guy realizes that she has a point and decides to keep his blood-spitting abilities for a little longer. Also in this issue, Sodam Yat wakes up on Daxam and learns that he is being worshiped as a god by a faction of Daximites, while another faction(led by his own father)want him dead. Meanwhile, in the aforementioned Unknown Sectors, the creepy little robed figure continues plotting with the ruler of the Planet Kralok, a nasty piece of work named Zardor. The robed figure warns Zardor of the approach of Guy and company, but Zardor isn't worried, as he has massive telepathic abilities at his disposal. Finally, this issue ends with Guy and the Red Lantern secretly plotting to kill Sodam Yat if they find him since there is a possibility Sodam's return has been weakening Green Lantern rings.

This was a good comic all the way through, but the last page revelation that Guy intends on killing Sodam definitely added to its final score for me. That was a very interesting little touch, which should make next issue's events on Daxam VERY interesting. Besides that, no real complaints here. Although things are a bit slow right now I'm expecting the story to really pick up first on Daxam, and especially in the Unknown Sectors.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Ladies and gentlemen, your villians!

Shadowland: Blood on the Streets #3(of 4)

Overall: Paladin and Misty Knight are saved by the timely arrival of Silver Sable, who helps the two heroes escape a bunch of angry mobsters intent on avenging their dead leader(who the mobsters believe was killed by Misty and Paladin). The three heroes get together and compare notes, deciding that it wasn't the Hand who had been running around murdering criminals, but Hand copycats. After going over a list of people who would benefit from discrediting Daredevil, the trio come up with Mr. Negative. As such, Paladin heads to Chinatown to warn Negative away from his current actions. While beating up some of Negative's goons, Paladin is assaulted by the Hand, who seem intent on killing him. Paladin ends up being saved by the Shroud, who tells Paladin that Negative is innocent. Meanwhile, Silver Sable discovers who was behind the attacks, and Misty Knight is beaten bloody in an alley for sticking her nose where it didn't belong.

I really enjoyed reading this comic! There's a fun mystery going on here, and there have been a number of people who could have been responsible for the fake Hand attacks. My first instinct was that Kingpin was behind the killings and attacks, but as Misty Knight pointed out, such a public attack on the Hand wasn't Kingpin's style. It couldn't be the Hood, and Mr. Negative was taken care of in the Shadowland: Spider-Man one-shot. So who does that leave? From a few hints that were dropped in this issue, I'm currently leaning towards the attacks actually being committed by the Hand under Daredevil's command. We all know DD is possessed and evil now, so it makes sense that he's been sending his minions out to deliver vengeance to those criminals who had evaded justice in the past. Could I be wrong? Sure. Am I? I guess only time will tell...

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Blasted sneaky ninjas!

I Am An Avenger #2(of 5)

Overall: This comic contains four stories, although one is really short, and one is just a one page comedy deal. So basically there are two real stories going on here. One of them dealt with Steve Rogers attending the funeral of the soldier who was killed by Daken back during the closing stages of the Siege x-over. Steve basically does what Steve does, acts super classy and shows why he's one of my favorite characters in all of comics. In the end he asks for, and is given the dead soldier's dogtags and adds them to a collection of fallen soldiers dogtags back in his room. The other story was a two parter that showcased Justice and Firestar. It also had Speedball and Nova in it, so it was a nice little nod back to the New Warriors, who I have always been a fan of. Screw Civil War, the New Warriors rule! Anyway, everybody around Justice and Firestar suddenly disappear, and when they go to figure out what happened, they are attacked by alternate versions of themselves! The mini story was about Wolverine(acting WAY too jovial)taking Jarvis out for a few beers, and the one pager revolved around D-Man and a pie eating contest... Yeah...

If nothing else, the D-Man and Wolverine stories hurt this comic, because the other two stories were exceptional strong. I LOVED the Steve Rogers story, and the Firestar/Justice stuff was well done, especially with the way their past relationship was portrayed. Basically, read the first two stories, and then close this comic. Trust me, you wouldn't be missing out on much.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.In the words of my sister, this art was "pretty".

The Thanos Imperative #5(of 6)

Overall: The Guardians of the Galaxy and Thanos manage to narrowly defeat Lord Mar-Vell's Revengers(a twisted version of the Avengers)thanks to Revenger Scarlet Witch betraying her teammates and helping Thanos and crew to escape. Meanwhile, the cosmic beings of the Marvel Universe and the cosmic beings of the Cancerverse are still locked in a stalemate, however, even more powerful god-like characters are heading towards the Marvel U to break the tie. The heads of the Negative Zone(Blastarr), the Kree(Medusa), the Shi'ar(Gladiator)and a few other inter-galactic big-wigs decide that their best plan of attack was to head to the front lines and support the cosmic beings. Nova disagrees and feels that the best thing to do is to head into the Cancerverse to try to find the Guardians and Thanos and assist them, since Thanos is the prime target of Lord Mar-Vell. Thanos and the Guardians manage to arrive at the spot in the Cancerverse where their version of the Death abstract was killed, and before they can figure out a way to undo Death's... well, death, Mar-Vell and another batch of Revengers arrive on the scene, giving us the long awaited evil Captain Marvel vs good Thanos battle. The two powerhouses battle for a while before Thanos betrays EVERYBODY, by telling Mar-Vell if he was to grant Thanos the cold embrace of death, he would summon the Marvel U's Death abstract so Mar-Vell could destroy it, thereby eradicating the threat of death in the Marvel U.

For the most part I've really enjoyed this mini-series. The whole reversal of life being evil and death being good has made for quite the compelling story. BUT(you had to know that was coming!)this issue just never really came together like the previous ones did for me. Something just seemed to be missing... Maybe it was the fact that the heroes on the Marvel side of the Fault stood around and debated instead of doing anything, or maybe it was the way-too-easy way the Guardians escaped the Revengers the first time around. Even still, the story itself is top notch, and I really have enjoyed it immensely. Thanos's betrayal at the end was unexpected, but well within his character. I see him pulling one final double-cross, this time on Mar-Vell to end this mini-series and win it for the Marvel U, but who knows how this one will come to a close. Since next issue should be story and action heavy, I'm already predicting a 10 out of 10 score! As for this issue though, it'll have to get a...

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Well, I think I've found my new desktop wallpaper!