MARVEL
Assault on New Olympus one-shot – Greg Pak/Fred Van Lente + Rodney Buchemi. Both plot and action heavy, this special features a recap of what happened to the old Olympus, the re-union of Herc and Cho, a cameo from the Mighty Avengers, a big Herc and Spider-Man dust-up, another reunion, this time of Herc and his wife, and the revelation of what Hera has planned for humanity. Despite how dense it is, there is a lot of amusing dialog and great character moments. Also features a brief Agents of Atlas back-up by Jeff Parker + Gabriel Hardman which is continued from the X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas mini-series and continues as back-ups in Incredible Hercules beginning with issue 138.

Astonishing X-Men #32 – Warren Ellis + Phil Jimenez. OK, this issue is less derivative of WildCATs vs. Aliens, but it's still pretty unoriginal and overly de-compressed. Seriously, the issue spans something like a 15 minute timeframe.

Black Widow: Deadly Origin #1 of 4 – Paul Cornell + Tom Raney/John Paul Leon. The drastically differing art styles of the two artists help to fully ground the flashback and current events with distinctly different tones. So far, very good.

Deadpool Team-Up #899 – Fred Van Lente + Dalibor Talajic. The first ongoing, reverse-numbered series is here, courtesy of the Merc with a Mouth. Deadpool and Hercules find themselves in a labyrinth lorded over by Arcade and Nightmare, and the boys do some male bonding while battling the voices in their head and their neglected children, respectively.

Deathlok #1 of 7 – Charlie Huston + Lan Medina. The expanded retelling of the original Deathlok's origin is off to a great start. Realistic and detailed artwork makes the callous, celebrity-enthralled future world a viscerally violent experience.

Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire #4 of 6 – Jason Aaron + Roland Boschi. The Ghost Rider brothers continue their infernal quest to use the Antichrist child to stop Zadkiel, the renegade angel who has stolen Heaven from God. They're aided by Daimon Hellstrom, aka the Son of Satan, and the occult terrorist Jane Cutter. They're opposed by a pair of empowered madmen that embody the insanity of the situation. Plus a lot of nuns with guns. The reprint of the second half of Ghost Rider #2 from the 70s is really the weakest part of the issue. As much as it tried, the original series never embodied the horror that it wanted to, that the new series does.

Immortal Weapons #4 of 5 – Duane Swierczynski + Khari Evans. The story of Tiger's Beautiful Daughter is the story of women warriors denied their nature and destiny until it's possibly too late. A well illustrated and written fairy tale. The continuing Iron Fist back-up by Swierczynski + Hatuey Diaz is getting batter as it pulls itself together.

Marvel Zombies: Evil Evolution one-shot – Karl Kesel + Adam DeKraker/Rob DiSalvo/Carlo Soriano/Joe Suitor. This special got the Marvel Zombies name because that's the higher profile series, but it really is a Marvel Apes versus Marvel Zombies piece. And the Marvel Apes are more of a focus than the Zombies. Maybe I'd care more about the characters the writer expects me to care about if I'd read the Apes specials, but I haven't. And that should have caused me to miss the first Apes vs. Zombies altercation in Marvel Apes: Prime Eight, but it turns out that was never actually printed as an individual special and instead was serialized online. Don't think on that too hard. This special, without the foundation for the Ape characters, is a fairly haphazard and superficial read.

Nova #31 – Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning + Andrea DiVito. In order to help his former New Warriors teammate, Nova hunts down Darkhawk, who was (somewhat) wrongfully accused of killing Empress Lilandra during the War of Kings.

Official Index to the Marvel Universe #11 – Amazing Spider-Man #436-441, vol.2 #1-36, Iron Man vol.3 #36-77, and Uncanny X-Men #413-456

Strange Tales #3 of 3 – Stan Sakai, yes, THAT Stan Sakai, creates one of the most interesting iterations of the Hulk story. Longshot gets the anime-rave treatment courtesy of Corey Lewis. Peter Bagge's Hulk tale comes to a close. Jeffrey Brown, Jay Stephens, Max Cannon, Jonathan Jay Lee, Paul Hornschemeier, and Becky Cloonan all offer their own weird little takes on Marvel characters. But Chris Chua provides the most bizarre thing I've seen in years.

X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #2 of 2 – Jeff Parker + Carlo Pagulayan/Gabriel Hardman/Chris Samnee/Carlos Rodriguez. There's more fighting, then talking, then fighting, then talking. Hey, it's written by Jeff Parker so it's all a heaping helping of awesome. Leads into the Agents of Atlas back-up in Assault on New Olympus.

DC
Batman: The Widening Gyre #3 of 6 – Kevin Smith + Walter Flanagan. The relationship between Bruce and Silver is like all relationships between Bruce and a normal woman: the weakest part of the story. Still, the rest is fantastic enough to make up for it.

Doom Patrol #4 – Keith Giffen + Justiniano. Blackest Night hits the Doom Patrol, a team with more than its fair share of deceased members. Confronting their pasts and the failings does a lot to endear this series to me. Plus, more Metal Men fun by Giffen/DeMatteis + Maguire.

Lobo: Highway to Hell #1 of 2 – Scott Ian + Sam Kieth. A nicely violent and surreal trip into the depths of Hell with the Main Man.

IDW PUBLISHING
G.I.Joe #11 – Chuck Dixon + S L Gallant. Still progressing far too slowly, at least we're closer to the Joe leadership figuring out that Cobra does exist and is a legitimate threat.

WILDSTORM
Authority vol. 5 #16 – Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning + Drew Johnson/Mike Miller/Simon Coleby. With their powers returned, what's left of the team lays a super-sized smackdown upon Kaizen Gamorra and completely ignore the character development they've shown over the course of the series. So is it powers that make them bastards, or weakness that makes them self-reflective? With Abnett and Lanning leaving the series, we may never know.

MARVEL
Avengers: The Initiative #29 – Christos N Gage + Jorge Molina. Constrictor gets some character time, subplots with the New Warriors/Avengers Resistance continue, and the newest Big Bad makes his play. When the plot is moving I start to lose interest, it's only the moments of characterization that keep me here.

Dark Reign: The List – Punisher one-shot – Rick Remender + John Romita Jr. (inks by Klaus Janson). Continuing off the end of Punisher #10 (also out this week), Osborn goes all out to take down Castle, and his weapon of choice is Daken, Wolverine's son. We finally get a look at what would happen if Punisher and Wolverine had a no-holds barred fight. And it isn't pretty. I've never seen Romita this brutal (I didn't read Kick-Ass), so I have to admit to being kind of shocked. Overall, this was highly enjoyable, and even someone who hasn't been reading Remender's Punisher would be able to enjoy this bloodfest. This does leave me wondering how they are going to eventually return Punisher to the regular status quo of the normal guy with guns... because you just know that Frankencastle isn't going to be permanent. Marvel doesn't know how to actually change something permanently.

Dark Reign: The List – Wolverine one-shot – Jason Aaron + Esad Ribic (inks by Tom Palmer). Someone online rightfully suggested instead of calling this a Wolverine special, that Marvel should have called it “Finally a decent usage of a bunch of things created by Grant Morrison.” Wolverine spends most of the issue on the sidelines, brainwashed into being a religious zealot by Weapon XI, while Noh-Varr (Marvel Boy) and Fantomex (Weapon XIII) invade The World to keep Norman Osborn from getting its superior technology. That's all a mouthful, but what makes this great is the delightful patter between Noh-Varr and Fantomex as well as the bizarreness of the adversaries that all recall some of the best work Morrison did for Marvel. The art works almost as well as the dialog, which means it looks pretty damn good, too. A surprise hit well worth checking out, and only barely tied to what all is going down in the Marvel U.

Dark Reign: Young Avengers # 5 of 5 – Paul Cornell + Mark Brooks. Meh. I loved Cornell on Captain Britain and MI:13, but this series never really hooked me. But that's less his fault and more the nature of the cast, a bunch of self-centered, self-involved celebrity seekers. The real Young Avengers spent far too little time on page, and the “Dark Young Avengers” spent far too much.

Fantastic Four #572 – Jonathan Hickman + Dale Eaglesham. Holy awesomely cosmic slugfest! Plus, a beautiful illustration of what makes our Reed Richards different from the rest. A great, and heartwarming, start for Hickman's run. Another pleasant surprise for the week.

Guardians of the Galaxy #19 – Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning + Wesley Craig. What can I say about GotG that I haven't already said? How's about referring to an issue as the biggest sucker-punch to the gut since the death of Wash. I reached the end of the issue and said, “No, wait, it can't really end like that. Not really. You can't. You have to fix it. You HAVE to FIX it.” A third of the team, interesting and potential-filled characters that have been around since before the beginning of this series, were snuffed out in a matter of panels. Not issues, not pages, panels. But when all is said and done, I still love every second of this series.

Halo: Helljumper #4 of 5 – Peter David + Eric Nguyen. I'm finally starting to get a handle on the characters, and having this and the previous issue being a bit more linear certainly helped, but it's not going to be until it's over and I read them all that I will really have a sense of it.

Hulk #16 – Jeph Loeb + Ian Churchill. And now we have a Red She-Hulk. It truly IS as ludicrous as it sounds. If it weren't rolling into an event with two top notch writers, Greg Pak and Jeff Parker, I'd be back to dropping this off my list.

Incredible Hercules #137 – Fred Van Lente/Greg Pak + Rodney Buchemi. Amadeus Cho's quest for the man who killed his parents comes to a close with lots of revelations, explanations, and fantastic characterization. Leads into next week's Assault on New Olympus.

Marvel Divas #4 of 4 – Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa + Tonci Zonic. The girls go to Hell to rescue Patsy Walker (a.k.a. Hellcat) from her creepy ex, Damon Hellstrom (a.k.a. the Son of Satan). And this all started when it was discovered that Firestar had breast cancer.

New Mutants #6 – Zeb Wells + Diogenes Neves. Necrosha arrives in the most horrifying comic I've ever read... and remember, I read The Walking Dead. To be honest, not every reader will have the same reaction as I do. Even though the original series had just ended when I started collecting it, I feel closest to the New Mutants. These characters have a place in my heart like no others, because I was at just the right age when I read their stories. So to see one of them back from the dead and attacking his friends, to read so directly, by way of his ability to read body language, the team's confusion and pain, their feelings of love and betrayal, it still chokes me up.

Nova #30 – Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning + Kevin Sharpe. More great stuff from Abnett & Lanning. It was also reassuring to see that all of my complaints about the Monark Starstalker character have been rendered null and void. I should have had more faith.

Punisher #10 – Rick Remender + Tan Eng Huat. The single-mindedness of Frank Castle is highlighted as he proves to be crazy enough to shock a couple of the villains, including the Hood. It's an action filled character piece that leads into Dark Reign: The List – Punisher one-shot, and Frankencastle.

Wolverine Art Appreciation one-shot – Write ups on the Wolverine art appreciation variant covers, the artists that created them, and the original pieces/artists that inspired them. Very interesting, but could have been better if they had a little more on the originals as well as examples of the ones that are in the public domain. As it is, it's a nice pin up book and art history introduction.

Wolverine: First Class #20 – Peter David + Dennis Calero. Another great issue as Captain Marvel helps Wolvie and Kitty escape from Skrulls.

Wolverine: Weapon X #6 – Jason Aaron + Yanick Paquette. A promising beginning to the institutionalized Logan story. They call it “Insane in the Brain,” and skipped right over doing some kind of pun on One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest. It's creepy cool.

X-Factor #50 – Peter David + Valentine De Landro. A fantastic finale that wraps up most of the threads from the last few years. The explanation about Layla's powers and how she knows stuff works really well, even if I've seen both before.

X-Force #20 – Craig Kyle/Christopher Yost + Mike Choi/Sonia Oback. X-23 does her bad-ass best, while the rest of the team picks up the pieces from the last few issues in preparation for the Necrosha event.

X Necrosha one-shot – Necrosha begins, as Selene, The Black Queen, uses a mix of sorcery and the alien transmode virus to resurrect deceased friends and enemies of the X-Men in her quest to become a deity of death.
The X-Force story by Kyle/Yost + Clayton Crain sees the undead arriving on the shores of Utopia, as well as the dead-filled nation of Genosha. The New Mutants tale by Zeb Wells + Ibraim Roberson depicts the resurrection of Doug Ramsey with my new favorite first words of “What language am I?” It goes on to only hint at the horror to come in New Mutants #6. Finally, the X-Men: Legacy piece by Mike Carey + Laurence Campbell features the resurrected Destiny, and the revelation of who her daughter is.
The timing of this event could be better, occurring as it does right now at the same time as Blackest Night it comes off as unoriginal and derivative. The truth is that the groundwork for this, and the continuity it uses, has been being established over the last couple of years. I'm not saying this is 100% original, but neither is it 100% rip-off, which is what most people unfamiliar with it will believe.

ARCHAIA
Days Missing #3 of 5 – Ian Edginton + Lee Moder. Another good issue as our mysterious savior is discovered, and ramifications ensue.

DC
Blackest Night #4 – Geoff Johns + Ivan Reis. B-list heroes are told to “hero up,” essentially, while the evil force behind the Black Lanterns step into the light.

Gotham City Sirens #5 – Paul Dini + Guillem March. The girls take on the psychotically evil jokester that has been plaguing them of late. My interest in this series is quickly waning. The art is very good and the dialog is pretty amusing, but none of the characters are really holding my attention. Even good ol' Harley Quinn is leaving me cold, and I usually go for the crazy chicks.

Green Lantern #47 – Geoff Johns + Doug Mahnke. Hal Jordan and Sinestro have a heart-to-heart amidst the chaos. Not really, but Hal learns that there is more to Sinestro than he thought as they fight a resurrected Abin Sur, amongst other.

SLAVE LABOR GRAPHICS
Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer graphic novel – Van Jensen + Dusty Higgins. Brilliant. A funny yet poignant graphic novel with art done in a vaguely woodcut-esque style.


back issue buys
DARK HORSE COMICS
Hellboy volume 7: The Troll Witch and Others – A collection of short stories from various locales, from the Dark Horse Book of .... series to a Hellboy miniseries, as well as a new original one. Most are both written and illustrated by Mignola, but one is illustrated by the unique Richard Corben while the new piece is by the illustrious P. Craig Russell. They are all pretty loose on character, coming across like Mignola doing legend and myth fanfiction. “I'll take this old story I found... and throw in Hellboy!” It would seem egotistical and silly if they didn't work so well.

DC
Seven Soldiers: Bulleteer #1-4 (Jan 06 – May 06) – Grant Morrison + Yanick Paquette. It's a pretty good commentary upon the fetishization of super-heroines while at the same time being what it is commenting upon, and it can be enjoyed without the rest of the Seven Soldiers stuff. But I'm a little uncomfortable with the seedy underbelly to super-heroics shown in the DC Universe here. I'd be fine with it in Wildstorm or, hell, even Marvel, but part of me doesn't want to consider the idea of super-heroine porn being peddled in the wholesome land of Superman.

SLAVE LABOR GRAPHICS
Space Raoul graphic novel – Jamie Smart. I love Space Raoul. He's little, pink, British, and arrogantly sure of his right to do as he pleases in the pursuit of his idea of justice. Oh, and tea. It's a bunch of lighthearted fun in a bunch of short, amusing strips.

VALIANT
Archer & Armstrong: First Impressions hardcover – Bob Layton/Jim Shooter/Barry Windsor Smith + Barry Windsor-Smith. The book collects issues #0 – 6 of the original series, with an extra new story by Shooter + Sal Velutto. The story of a young martial arts spiritualist and a super strong, couple-millenia-old reprobate works better in theory than execution. The art makes it a worthwhile read, but I'm not going to run out and get the rest. While the characterization of Armstrong the strongman was consistent (get the subtle pun with the name?), the portrayal of Archer, the “monk” with a crossbow, jumped around a whole lot (another subtle pun with the name). To be fair, being the the first seven issues of a brand new ongoing series with brand new characters in a brand new shared universe from a brand new publishing company, I'm sure they did need some time to stretch their legs and work out the kinks. Valiant was a solid contender in the early nineties, and probably wouldn't have imploded if Image hadn't come along and stolen the talent and limelight. (Of course, Valiant pushing out the founder, Jim Shooter, certainly had a lot to do with its demise.)

In the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland there exists a little piece of mystery... the mysterious mini-henge.



Where did it come from?



Was it built by aliens?



Or was it some really drunk and bored blue-collar workers?

Just because I don't know, and didn't bother to do any research, doesn't mean that there isn't an answer out there.

MARVEL
Dark Reign: The List – Hulk one-shot – Greg Pak + Ben Oliver. I had a little discussion with my shop owner about the merits of these one shots. I wasn't impressed by this one and most of them, but he had the opposite opinion. I realized later that the reason is differing criteria of what “good” is. For me, I expect them to be something that fits with the series they are featuring as well as being something significant enough to warrant a special as opposed to just being another issue of the series. That's where this failed for me, it felt tangential to the regular series, mostly unimportant to the regular series, and the only pieces significant to the ongoing plot could have been woven into the regular series as subplot pages over the course of a couple of issues. His measure of good was whether someone unfamiliar with what was happening in the regular series could pick up and enjoy the issue on its own.
But that got me thinking further. If the measure of “good” is based upon the purpose of the special, then it works. What is its purpose? To sell comics. To sell itself, and its related series. Under that, most of these Dark Reign: The List specials qualify as a “good.” The creators involved draw people in and the story is set to get people into buying the regular series. That all said, if I was going to gage how good things were by how well they sold I could just post up the Diamond sales figures and be done with it, but that's not how I roll. I do not subscribe to the idea that something is good simply because a lot of people buy it, and that something is bad because only a few people buy it. Success may be measured in those terms, but not quality. And me, I want some god damn quality, motherfucker. This was a major disappointment in that regard because it came in well under the writing quality of The Incredible Hulk and other works by Greg Pak, and it felt like a hollow waste of $3.99.
OK, the art is quite nice, and it contains a reprint of the first appearance of the Green Goblin from Amazing Spider-Man #14 by Lee+Ditko, which also happened to feature the Hulk.

Deadpool: Merc With a Mouth #4 – Victor Gischler + Bong Dazo. The adventure in the Savage Land continues, and this time we get a zombie T-Rex on top of the hordes of cannibals, Hydra Agents, and regular dinosaurs a trying to take possession of Zombie Deadpool's head. OK, the zom T-Rex just wanted to eat everybody, but you get the gist.

Incredible Hulk #603 – Greg Pak + Ariel Olivetti/Giuseppe Camuncoli. Banner's training of Skaar continues with a brawl against Wolverine. Then Daken shows up to make it a “sons versus fathers” event. Brilliant choice to give Ariel Olivetti the break he needs (he's unfortunately not fast enough for monthly) by having the regular artist on Dark Wolverine draw the scenes with Daken.

Mighty Avengers #30 – Christos N. Gage/Dan Slott +Sean Chen. The battle with the Unspoken gets taken seriously as the Mighty are joined by the Young and the New Avengers as well as the Avengers Resistance. And Hank Pym levels up. Seriously.

Punisher Noir #3 of 4 – Frank Tieri + Paul Azaceta. Frank Jr. takes on two of the three people that took out his dad, Barracuda and Jigsaw. It's all setting up for him to go against the third next issue, the most dangerous of the bunch?

Skrull Kill Krew #5 of 5 – Adam Felber + Mark Robinson. Hmmm. I wanted to really like this series. The preview and the first issue were both high octane “violence is hilarious, don't you think?” stories. Then it broke the tone with the Krew finding out they are now genetically identical to Skrulls, and some of them going through self-questioning angst with the news. And then there's the artificially saccharine realization that some Skrulls just want to live their lives and aren't interested in subjugating/killing humanity. And then Norman Osborn is involved in a web of conspiracy against everybody. I'm not saying it had to be a violence-is-funny festival all the way through, and frankly it's better that they tried to move beyond that, but they overreached and and made it overcomplicated. At the end of the day, it's a marginally enjoyable mess.

Wolverine: Origins #41 – Daniel Way + Doug Braithwaite. Bad editing rears its head as a second Wolverine-meet-Skaar story comes out in the same week, neither one acknowledging the other and both being represented as first time introductions. Aside from that, the series continues with its trend of having Wolvie get his ass kicked every issue.

X-Men: Legacy #228 – Mike Carey + Daniel Acuna. The fight against Emplate continues. I was afraid when this series began featuring the full X-Men cast again that Carey was going to degenerate back into the flat yet ludicrous crapfest writing that he used before it became Legacy. Thankfully, his walkabout with Xavier seems to have left him in a better state to handle these characters, have them react believably, and overall reach a satisfying balance of humor, action, and suspense.

DARK HORSE COMICS
Beasts of Burden #2 of 4 – Evan Dorkin + Jill Thompson. A very sad, very creepy tale about the search for lost puppies. Thompson has always impressed me, but Dorkin is really stepping up to prove that he's more than just that guy that's good at humorously surreal violence.

Sugarshock one-shot – Joss Whedon + Fabio Moon. Pretty funny. Kinda disjointed, and really directionless, but it's funny and they're characters I wouldn't mind reading more about.

DC
Blackest Night: Superman #3 of 3 – James Robinson + Eddy Barrows/Alan Goldman. Superman, Superboy, and Krypto the Super Dog kill the dead. The interaction between Superman and Superboy is the highlight of the series, and really the main point for there being a Superboy anyway. Then again, seeing Krypto take on Black Lantern Lois Lane was freaking awesome.

Power Girl #6 – Justin Gray/Jimmy Palmiotti + Amanda Conner. It feels a little over-bright, over-caffeinated. Like it's trying too hard to be fun romp. I don't know. I'll give it a little more time simply because I love Conner's art.

IDW PUBLISHING
G.I.Joe #10 – Chuck Dixon + S L Gallant. Finally! It's Snake-Eyes in action. And either he's not as good in this continuity, or the Cobra soldiers are a hell of a lot better than they've ever been shown before.

• Go to Tremont, get shots of the Radke mural down the street/alley by Fat Cats, plus Mini-Stone Henge
• Work on the Cat & D wedding photos (Not completed, but mostly)
• Finish Weekly Haul for 10/21
• Do Weekly Haul for 10/28 at least, maybe 11/4 (Not completed, but at least worked on)
• Bring up the art from storage, measure the ones I want framed right away
• Get the glasses case with the phone # for the optomotrist
• Quake 4

EDIT 11/9  - Also cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed 80% of the apartment, got pictures of the Radke murals on the Morrison Dance Studio building, had dinner with mom, played Left 4 Dead 2 and Halo 3: ODST with Grafton, did dishes, and cleaned up dog poo in the yard. I think that about covers everything. Productive weekend made me feel good.

yuki_onna and justbeast 's wedding was a lovely affair, but I had far too much vodka. So many toasts!

I took almost 500 photos of the affair, though on a brief perusal I could already tell that some of them are good for nothing but deletion. It's so much easier to toss photos I don't think came out well when film wasn't actually used to create them. Once I'm done with them I'll get them on the flickr group (what's it called?) and will also let folks know via bardandbeast .

But it's going to be a couple days at least.

Keeping with the tradition of more comic book info than you care to hear -

Say hello to the Genghis Con.

It's a Cleveland comic book convention showcasing local, independent artists. The official site is located at www.thegenghiscon.com

These two paragraphs from the latest news release really won me over, and have me very excited about the event---

The organizers of Genghis Con are committed to creating an event which is unique in many ways. Early in the planning stages, the convention organizers decided to break most of the rules of a normal comic convention. These changes include eliminating the dealer’s room and the endless rows of fading TV celebrities. Perhaps the most radical difference is participants will not be charged for table space as they are at other comic conventions. The organizers feel this will free the artists from feeling the pressure to “make up their costs” and allow them to focus on promoting their work.

"We are not doing this to make money,” says Scott Rudge, one of the Genghis Con organizers and owner of Astound Comics in Westlake, Ohio. “We want the creators to use the money they save on renting space to offer inexpensive copies of their work. This benefits both the artist and the audience in a way not seen at a typical comic con. We want those attending the convention to feel comfortable interacting meaningfully with the creators and we hope to do that by making the communication of ideas as inexpensive as possible.”

MARVEL
Astonishing X-Men #31 – Warren Ellis + Phil Jimenez. It's Jimenez's debut, but I've never been too impressed by him. He's good, but not great. At least he's reliably good, which is better than you can say for most artists. It may be too early to feel this way, but it seems Ellis is doing a vast decompressed rehashment of a tale he did years ago, WildCATs versus Aliens. (Its main claim to fame was the destruction of Stormwatch that led directly to the Authority.) This whole issue covered events depicted in only three or four pages in that old one-shot, namely the wildly uncontrolled descent to Earth of an escape pod ejected because of the presence of hostile xenomorphs, in this case the Brood, Marvel's blatant rip-off of the famous Aliens. So far I'm very unimpressed, even though Ellis does get to show off his skill with snarky dialog when it comes to Abigail Brand. It certainly sounds better coming from her than it does any of the X-Men.

Avengers: The Initiative #28 – Christos N. Gage + Rafa Sandoval. One of the Initiative teams decides to publicly secede and trash-talk Norman, which of course leads to them getting their asses kicked despite a helping hand from the Avengers Resistance (former members of the Initiative and/or of the original New Warriors). Predominantly a slugfest with a a few moments of character.

Cable #19 – Duane Swierczynski + Gabriel Guzman. It's Cable, in the future, in space, battling the Brood. Geez, they're worse than cockroaches.

Daredevil #501 – Andy Diggle + Robert De La Torre. It's OK. That's it.

Deadpool #16 – Daniel Way + Paco Medina. Deadpool asks to join the X-Men, and the X-Men nearly unanimously think it is a horrible idea. Domino is sent to find out if he's for realz, but he's actually Deadpool.

Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire #3 of 6 – Jason Aaron + Roland Boschi. Lots of crazy action – featuring Big Wheel, Trull the Mighty, and a bunch of well armed nuns.

Official Index to the Marvel Universe #10 – Amazing Spider-Man #402-435, Iron Man vol 2 #8-13, Iron Man vol 3 #1-35, and Uncanny X-Men #376-412.

Strange Tales #2 of 3 – The Iron Man story by Tony Millionaire is just freaking bizarre, but most of the issue is highly enjoyable. I'd love to see more of Ben Grimm and him moss mustache by Jacob Chabot. Jonathan Hickman does some great recruitment posters for Galactus. And then, of course, there is The Incorrigible Hulk by Peter Bagge.

X-Babies #1 of 4 – Gregg Schigiel + Jacob Chabot. Mojo is dethroned, and the X-Babies are replaced by even babier versions that feature a sickening amount of moral wholesomeness. And the real X-Babies aren't going to put up with that. I'd almost think it was a commentary upon the brilliant Mini-Marvels being forced out by the insipidly commercial Marvel Super Hero Squad, but Marvel isn't that self-aware. Also features the Chris Claremont + Arthur Adams story from Uncanny X-Men Annual #12 that was the first appearance of the X-Babies.

ARCHAIA
Days Missing #2 of 5 – David Hine + Chris Burnham. The time bending immortal reveals the real origin of the Frankenstein story.

DC COMICS
Doom Patrol #3 – Keith Giffen + Matthew Clark. I still haven't come to a decision on this series, but that's not that surprising – Doom Patrol isn't an easy thing to get a grip on. It's followed up by another enjoyable Metal Men tale by Giffen/DeMatteis + Kevin Maguire.

WILDSTORM
Authority vol. 5 #15 – Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning + Drew Johnson/Simon Coleby. The mix of art styles is a little disjointing, but the story is still fantastic. I'm really sad that DnA's run is almost over.

Planetary #27 – Warren Ellis + John Cassaday. Speaking of over... the final issue of Planetary finally came out. It only took three years. And it's not even the conclusion, #26 was. This is nothing but an epilogue that really only ties up a single item. Still, it was an enjoyable couple minutes with some old friends that is making me itch to re-read the entire series to spend time with them again.

A guy in Cleveland has created two free-standing Transformers stautes in front of his house as part of a Halloween display.















They are made of wood, foam, and other pieces. I may not be the biggest fan of the movie TFs, but the amount of work and skill involved here is astounding.

In the effort to find things in the world that don't suck... I give you Star Wars Zombies.

Some are stronger than others, but all are pretty damn amusing.

Wow, I mean, awesomely wow. This isn't a character I ever expected seeing someone cosplay, but she's done an excellent job. Sure, the character's first appearance has caused permanent mental scarring to some people I know, but she's still a significantly obscure character.

Then again, how often do you get to go around showing off your nut sack?

MARVEL
Dark Reign: The Hood #5 of 5 - Jeff Parker + Kyle Hotz. It's another good chapter in the story of The Hood, but its ending was hurt because what happened next has already been shown in the New Avengers. Still, it's an excellent sequel to the original Hood miniseries that keeps what is unique to the character at the forefront.

Dark X-Men: The Confession one-shot - Craig Kyle/Chris Yost + Bing Cansino. Cyclops and Emma Frost have a long chat revealing the things they have or thought that they have kept hidden from the other. The Kyle/Yost writing team isn't exactly known for its depth of characterization, and this won't be winning many points. The writing is pretty melodramatic, but that sort of thing is par for the course with the X-Men. Most remarkable was the portrayal of an open relationship, something that's rarely explicitly shown or condoned in mainstream media.

Fantastic Four #571 - Jonathan Hickman + Dale Eaglesham. Still good, it has the potential to be something that explores the deepest corners of Reed Richards' character. I'll wait and see.

Halo: Helljumper #3 of 5 - Peter David + Eric Nguyen. More enjoyable than the first two since I'm finally starting to get familiar with the characters. And two of the main characters are from the Halo 3: ODST game.

Hulk #15 - Jeph Loeb + Ian Churchill. There's less and less that makes sense, but it's starting to look like Jeph might eventually explain some of it.

Immortal Weapons #3 of 5 - Rick Spears + Tim Green II. The tale of Dog Brother #1 is pretty rough, but very well done. The Iron Fist back-up by Swierczynski+Diaz is finally getting engaging, and now I'm as interested in it as I am the rest of the main stories.

Incredible Hulk #602 - Greg Pak + Ariel Olivetti. Skaar's training begins with fighting the Juggernaut. That tells you right there that fun was had. The Savage She-Hulk back-up by Fred Van Lente + Michael Ryan is decent, but not too inspired yet.

Marvel Divas #3 of 4- Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa + Tonci Zonjic. Firestar's chemotherapy begins, but that doesn't mean the plots for the others are ignored. With a cameo by the Son of Satan.

Marvel Zombies Return #4 of 5 - Seth Grahame-Smith + Richard Elson. It's World War Hulk, with zombies! The story reads way too quickly, consisting primarily of a single protracted battle. Meanwhile, the art is a little too super-heroic for zombies. Still overall enjoyable.

Marvel Zombies Return #5 of 5 - Fred Van Lente + Wellington Alves. A very satisfying close to the series with a perfectly zombie-appropriate ending. I'm impressed with Alves art here, he did a much better job with the horror, gore, and destruction than I expected from his bright & shiny work on Nova.

New Mutants #5 - Zeb Wells + Zachary Baldus. The hyped return of Warlock only constitutes a cameo, but the issue was still enjoyable. It is an epilogue to both the first arc as well as to Exodus, and does an excellent job of following up on open items from both. I'm hoping to see more art from Baldus in the future. The texture of the work, looking almost like colored pencils, is something rarely seen in comics.

Punisher Annual #1 - Rick Remender + Jason Pearson. Lots of violent fun with Frank, peppered with some swingin' helpings of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Thor #603 - J. Michael Straczynski + Marko Djurdjevic. Thor and Sif get some quality time, the Warriors Three get a job, and the evil machinations of Dr. Doom and Loki get revealed to... Bill.

Uncanny X-Men #515 - Matt Fraction + Greg Land. The fallout from the mutant Exodus lands squarely in Cyclops' lap with a heavy thud. It's fun to watch.

Wolverine: First Class #19 - Peter David + Dennis Calero. Another fun issue, this time featuring those dastardly Skrulls. Making Kitty the focus of this Wolverine series was a brilliant choice to keep it different from all the other comics under the Wolvie banner.


Wolverine: Old Man Logan Giant-Size #1 - Mark Millar + Steve McNiven. The much-anticipated (by people other than me) conclusion to the "Old Man Logan" storyline is beautiful to behold but lacks any narrative substance. But if you've been paying attention, then you know I wasn't really expecting much from the story. Hell, it's hard to actually refer to this issue as a story and not just a series of grisly images.

Wolverine: Origins #40 - Daniel Way + Scot Eaton. Wolverine and Romulus, round one, turns out to be just what I expected, considering the history of this series - another chance to show that Wolverine is an idiotic tool (pun intended). Does this writer even like him?

Wolverine: Weapon X #5 - Jason Aaron + Ron Garney. An overall satisfying conclusion to the first arc. Color me surprised. 

X-Factor #49 - Peter David + Valentine De Landro. The various plots continued forward, inexorably drawing together. It's great to watch, and even more fun to read.

X-Force #19 - Craig Kyle/Chris Yost + Mike Choi. I'm still mostly enjoying it, though many elements have me asking "Really?" a lot. But I can't really describe it. I guess it should be a good sign that there is so much going on I can't condense it into a brief review, I've been getting more and more annoyed with the decompression seen in other comics that make individual issues completely unsatisfying.

BOOM
Muppet Show Comic Book: The Treasure of Peg Leg Wilson #3 of 4 - Roger Langridge. Not the best issue of the series, but still highly enjoyable.

BROADSWORD COMICS
Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose #58 - Jim Balent. The "Shades of Magick" story finally gets interesting with its final chapter as Tarot confronts Raven in the Library of Magick, and Raven's goals are revealed.

DARK HORSE COMICS
Aliens #3 of 4 - John Arcudi + Zach Howard. The mysteries continue, and our protagonist starts to realize that he may not be able to trust himself either.

DC
Batman: The Widening Gyre #2 of 6 - Kevin Smith + Walter Flanagan. Another good comic, but the inclusion of a love interest feels forced. Then again, it does in any Batman story with a love interest.

Blackest Night: Superman #2 of 3 - James Robinson + Eddy Barrows. The history of the Superman family of characters is coming back to haunt them. Porbably thrilling to a Superman fan, but only OK to me.

Gotham City Sirens #4 - Paul Dini + Guillem March. Another enjoyable issue, that immediately made me want to watch some Joker & Harley episodes of Batman: The Animated Series. I could hear the characters' voices in my head. In my head!

Green Lantern #46 - Geoff Johns + Doug Mahnke. The long-awaited battle between Sinestro and Mongul for control of the Sinestro Corps is only one of the events featured in this issue. 

Power Girl #5 - Jimmy Palmiotti/Justin Gray + Amanda Conner. Another fun issue. (Is it that I have less to say on DC comics, or am I just getting tired of writing? I don't know.)

Wednesday Comics #12 of 12 - Most of the stories here are follow-ups to climaxes that took place in the previous issue, but it was still well worth the read. I wouldn't want this to be an on-going thing, but if they did another limited series like this I would pick it up.

IDW PRESS
G.I.Joe #9 - Chuck Dixon + S. L. Gallant. Snake Eyes and Mainframe check into COBRA central, while the rest of the Joes are still ineffectually chasing their own tails.

small haul, funds low

MARVEL
Dark Reign: The List - X-Men one-shot - Matt Fraction + Alan Davis. I have to admit to being disappointed. I'm a big fun of Alan Davis's art, but he wasn't very inspired here. There are some good panels, but most are pretty boring. I'm also disappointed in the story. I've liked everything I've read by Matt Fraction so far, and while not every issue of Uncanny X-Men has been a winner, they have been consistently enjoyable. This one leaves me overwhelmingly "meh." Hell, it's worse than that with yet another stand-off between Namor and Norman that, based on his character, should have ended with Namor punching a hole through Normie's chest. And of course, it didn't end that way.

Guardians of the Galaxy #18 - Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning + Wesley Craig. With another fantastic issue of GotG, DnA continue to put the lie to the adage of being careful what you wish for. I was waiting for this series to be relaunched, and I've been thrilled every step of the way. This issue features another alternate version of the original 31st Guardians that again demonstrates the attention the writers have paid to what has come before as they continue to forge steadily ahead.

Incredible Hercules #135 - Fred Van Lente/Greg Pak + Rodney Buchemi. This issue starring Amadeus Cho is brilliantly laugh out loud fantastic. No other comic has so well melded role-playing games, quantum physics, and The Hero With a Thousand Faces. It moves the plot along while also being as meta as can be. I just want to give the writers a big old hug.

Nova #29 - Abnett/Lanning + Kevin Sharpe. Not the greatest issue of the run, but still pretty good. The main downfall of the issue is what they are hyping about it, the re-introduction of Monark Starstalker. Don't worry if you don't recognize the name, he's so obscure he not only doesn't have a page on Wikipedia, he doesn't even have a bio on Marvel.com. He's also not very interesting so far - he's a greedy, underhanded opportunist that wants to be a dashing, bad-ass cross between Errol Flynn and Boba Fett, but instead is nothing but a pompously annoying cheater. At least all the scenes with the Nova Corps members are excellent.

Awesome.

I played the game for a couple of hours last night, and it quickly blew me away. One of the first things you do is drop to the city from orbit (ODST stands for Orbital Drop Shock Troppers) and it's a gorgeous thing to behold. There was no filling in of details in layers like you typically see in a video game as you approach something from a great distance. It just looked like you were approaching, like a real drop. Gorgeous.

The new HUD is fantastic. The light amplification and the outlines around objects not only makes the darkness clear and readily identifiable in a logical way, but also looks beautiful.

The story structure is also readily engaging. The previous games have all told the story in a very linear fashion. In Halo 2 you played as two different characters that were sometimes on their separate missions at the same time, but it was still straightforward. The complexity of the stories came into play with what they didn't show, the events between the missions that that the player was left to imagine for themselves, or read about in the books and comics.

The missions in the previous games were also very straightforward. You might have an objective or two, but overall the mission can be distilled down to "kill the enemy."

But ODST is a different animal. I've already played as three different characters in two distinct times. The main character you play, the Rookie, is operating at night, exploring the carnage strewn city for his teammates and the true nature of the mission. When you find a clue on what happened to one of the guys, you then play a level as that teammate and go through what they did during the day. The events in the daytime levels are nicely reflected in the carnage seen during the nighttime levels.

It's also got an increased level of character specific humor that builds upon their personalities and histories. But it only makes sense to do that when you have guys like Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin.

Like I said, awesome.

And I haven't even tried the new multiplayer game, Firefight. First person shooters have classically had only two types of games for multiple players, either going through the solo campaign with another player (cooperative play), or playing against other players (multiplayer). Now, there are many different types of multiplayer games, and there are ones where players can be grouped into teams, but a player can often get away with doing their own thing even when playing on a team.

Firefight is essentially playing king of the hill with other people. Not against them, not beside them, with them. The team of live players has a zone they are defending against wave after wave of AI controlled alien forces. The team has a set number fo respawns. Not each player, the number of lives is divided amongst the team. The amount of teamwork needed to coordinate an effective defense is extraordinary. There's no hot dogging it here, do your job right or the whole team suffers.

And that's why I haven't played it yet, and I'm not sure when I will. I'm not very good. I was impressed with how long I lasted in the ODST campaign before I died the first time, but I know I suck. And as such I'd rather play with friends that know it and don't mind. I think a lot of online folks are a lot more dedicated than I am, and I don't won't to do a random match and end up with people that will get pissed off at my noobness.

Last week was annoying. A lot of things came out that I wanted to buy but haven't the money for right now.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Got to get the 2-disc version, has interviews and featurettes. Woot!

X-Men The Animated Series (I like to call it X-Tas) volumes 3 and 4. I'm pretty sure these finish the series, and even though I know there is more cool stuff in the single XO:W movie than there is in the combined 30-some half hour episodes here, I still want them. They don't call me an X-Fan for nothing. Well, actually, nobody calls me an X-Fan except myself.

Big Bang Theory Season Two. I only got to see a handful of episodes fromt eh second season, but they seemed to be at least as good as the first season, which I love.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 for the Xbox 360. This one only barely makes the list. Yes, I want it. Yes, I'm excited to play it. Yes, I'm really looing forward to finding out what kind of combo moves Cable and Deadpool can perform. Hell, I'm just thrilled to be able to play as Cable because he's awesome. You need proof? Here -- super powers + heavy artillery = awesome. Scientific proof. But since I still haven't completed the first one the urge for this one can be ignored for a while.

I'm taking my car in for exhaust work this Friday. I'm expecting to have to pay a couple hundred, because I haven't had anything done on the exhaust since I got the car in 2000. Ugh.

I may stop by the comic shop this Wednesday, but only to make sure they didn't miss putting anything in my file and to pick up a few essential items - Dark Reign: The List - X-Men (Alan Davis art!), Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova (Abnett & Lanning), and Incredible Hercules (Van Lente & Pak).

But today I'm picking up Halo 3: ODST. Why? Cuz it's freakin' Halo 3: ODST!

And yes, that is Captain Tightpance, Nathan Fillion himself, giving orders.



And for some live-action awesomeness, check this out. Yes again, I did say live action.

MARVEL
Agents of Atlas #11 - Jeff Parker + Dan Panosian/Gabriel Hardman. The war of the evil empires comes to a surprising end in the series finale. No, don't worry, I'm not about to dish out the stream of curses that anyone not reading this deserves... because next month begins a two part X-Men vs. The Agents of Atlas series, after which it starts up as a second feature in another fantastic series, Incredible Hercules.

Dark Reign: The List - Daredevil one-shot - Andy Diggle + Billy Tan. Diggle begins his run here, with a great DD vs. Bullseye fight, and the expansion of the Kinpin's plans. Could be good, but could also go downhill fast. The dialog in the Daredevil #501 preview pages is pretty overwrought, and is just on the edge of being laughable.

Deadpool: Merc With a Mouth #3 - Victor Gischler + Bong Dazo. Wild Savage Land action with Hydra, AIM, and legions of cannibals.

Marvel Spotlight: Marvel Zombies Return - Interviews with Fred Van Lente, Kev Walker, Mark Millar, Seth Grahame-Smith, and more. Also includes a write up on the upcoming Atlas Era Menace Masterworks as well as Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan's Tomb of Dracula Omnibus collections.

Marvel Zombies Return #3 of 5 - Jonathan Maberry + Jason Shawn Alexander. Zombie Spider-Man recruits Kitty Pryde to help him stop Zombie Wolverine, and the real Wolverine gets in on the action. It's eighties era mayhem with Kent Williams-esque artwork. Gorgeous to look at and fun to read, while being disgustingly over the top all the way through.

Mighty Avengers #29 - Dan Slott/Christos N Gage + Khoi Pham. The Unspoken One makes his move while the Young Avengers and remaining Mighty Avengers battle the "Scarlet Witch."

M.O.D.O.K.: Reign Delay one-shot - Ryan Dunlavey. Dude! It's awesome! Ryan "Action Philosophers" Dunlavey delivers a cover-to-cover hilarious comic, the likes of which hasn't been produced by Marvel in years.

Punisher #9 - Rick Remender + Tan Eng Huat. Henry's past is revealed, the Hood's crew moves in on Frank, and somebody made a very, very bad decision. It's all good.

Punisher: Noir #2 of 4 - Frank Tieri + Paul Azaceta. It's the Noir version of the Russian as the Noir Punisher's origin continues.

Thor Annual #1 - Peter Milligan + Mico Suayan/Tom Grindberg. Thor tries to deal with his exile by camping out in the middle of nowhere. Of course, this momentary display of weakness is immediately jumped upon by the Egyptian god Seth and his servants.

Uncanny X-Men: First Class #3 of 8 - Scott Gray + Roger Cruz. Banshee takes center stage, and it serves to show that he deserved it more often than he got it.

X-Factor #48 - Peter David + Valentine De Landro. Great, great stuff.

X-Men: Legacy Annual #1 - Mike Carey + Daniel Acuna. In the aftermath of the Exodus, Emplate returns to attack the X-Men, and eat them. Rogue takes center stage as counselor to the young mutants, a role for which she doesn't feel ready. The Gambit back-up by Carey + Mirco Pierfederici acts as an afterward to the Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men crossover, as well as a beginning for something new with the ragin' Cajun. 

BOOM
28 Days Later #2 - Michael Alan Nelson + Declan Shalvey. As enjoyably tense as it should be.

DARK HORSE COMICS
Beasts of Burden #1 of 4 - The Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson short stories graduate to a miniseries, and it's so wonderful I want to find all of the previous tales. It may feature talking animals investigating supernatural occurrences, but it's not for little kids, or those with weak stomachs. Ewwww.

DC
Blackest Night #3 of 8 - Geoff Johns + Ivan Reis. Things get worse for the heroes, even with the arrival of the Indigo Tribe and their all-important power of exposition. Johns is doing his best to make even the most casual DC reader care about the heroes as they are put through hell, and he does a pretty decent job of it.

Wednesday Comics #11 of 12 - Still good.

IDW PRESS
G.I.Joe: Origins #7 - Chuck Dixon + Alex Cal. This spotlight issue on Mainframe has more plot in it than all of the previous issues of G.I.Joe published by IDW combined. It moves swiftly and compellingly from his discovery of Cobra through his eventual desertion in order to learn the full truth. If only more of the issues were this packed with story, I'd feel I was getting my money's worth and then some.

Transformers: All Hail Megatron #15 of 12 - The dark truth behind Kup's recuperation is revealed by Nick Roche, while Denton J Tipton + Casey Coller detail Perceptor's change from nerdy scientist to stone cold sniper. It all serves to add complexity to the various characters while making "Just doin' my job" the mantra that leads heroes to hell.

MARVEL
Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus one-shot - Matt Fraction + Mike Deodato/Terry Dodson. In part six of the six part crossover, Norman assumes that Cyclops has done all he planned, and sends his Dark Avengers and Dark X-Men in to do what they do. But Cyclops' plans continue to unfold in an effort to put Cyke on the map as a strategist to respect. Jumping back and forth between the two artists is a little weird, though used to good effect at a couple of well planned points. And while this isn't the best Avengers/X-Men crossover in history, it is far from the worst.

Dark Reign: The List - Avengers one-shot - Brian Michael Bendis + Marko Djurdjevic. In the first of the series of one-shots detailing Norman's more pro-active approach, Ronin (Clint Barton) decides that he's had enough and goes to take Norman down once and for all. Of course, you know it's not going to end how'd I'd like it to since this is just the beginning of the "Iron Patriot Acts." Also includes the same preview pages of the Daredevil special that were in Daredevil #500, and some pre-dialog pages of the upcoming special illustrated by legendary artist Alan Davis.

Dark Reign: Young Avengers #4 of 5 - Cornell + Brooks. The "Dark" Young Avengers make their move. I still haven't made a decision either way on this series yet.

Hulk Team-Up one-shot - Marc Sumerak + Sanford Greene deliver a decent Hulk, Angel, and Iceman team-up that acts as a sequel to the classic Hulk Annual #7. But the real delight is the Hulk & Dazzler piece by Alex Zalben + Joyce Chin. It's short, but suitably poignant and appropriate for both characters.

Incredible Hercules #134 - Greg Pak/Fred Van Lente + Reilly Brown. Hercules' impersonation of Thor continues to amusing effect, and inspires some Asgardians to retaliate. 

Marvel Zombies Return #2 of 5 - David Wellington + Andrea Mutti. It's Iron Man in the midst of a drunken bender having to deal with Zombie Giant Man attacking his plant. Great art, great pacing, and great dialog make for a great issue.

Models, Inc. #1 of 4 - Paul Tobin + Vicenz Villagrasa. I usually love Paul Tobin, but this leaves me pretty flat. I'm not going to go so far as to say it's bad, just that it isn't me. The Tim Gunn story by Marc Sumerak + Jorge Molina is so ludicrously absurd that it's almost worth the price of the comic. Almost. I'm not sure I'll be picking up the rest.

War of Kings: Who Will Rule? one-shot - Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning + Paul Pelletier. The epilogue to War of Kings features both the funeral of Lilandra and the choosing of her successor. And it's 100% made of awesome.

DC
Adventure Comics #2 - Geoff Johns + Francis Manapul. Superboy and Wonder Girl go on a date, and considering I cared very little about the characters before reading it, the story was enjoyable. The Legion of Super-Heroes back-up by Johns/Michael Shoemaker + Clayton Henry is a pretty full piece for its ten pages, but I want more.

Booster Gold #24 - Dan Jurgens. The closing of the Death of the Titans arc reveals the Black Beetle's goal, but not much more about him. Booster uses a play he's already used before, and I hope Jurgens isn't running out of tricks. The Blue Beetle back-up by Sturges + Norton was more interesting than the previous entries since it features the Black Beetle himself.

Doom Patrol #2 - Keith Giffen + Matthew Clark. I'm still not entirely sold on the new series yet, though it features some bizarrely Doom Patrol appropriate situations. I'm going to give it through the upcoming Blackest Nights crossover issues at the least. Meanwhile, the Metal Men back-up by Giffen/DeMatteis + Maguire is simply brilliant.

Gotham City Sirens #3 - Scott Lobdell + Guillem March. Kind of interesting that an issue of a series called "Gotham City Sirens" actually stars the new Batman and the former Riddler. I'd missed the change to his character, and really loved seeing Edward Nigma as a private investigator.

Green Lantern Corps #40 - Peter J tomasi + Patrick Gleason. Have I mentioned how much I love this series? Cuz I do. And because of that, it's making this my favorite part of the whole Blackest Night event.

Wednesday Comics #10 of 12 - Still moving along and highly enjoyable.

back-issue buys
MARVEL
Journey Into Mystery #520 & 521 (May & June 1998) - Marv Wolfman + Karl Kerschl. This two-part Hannibal King story served as the end-cap of Marvel's longest running title at the time. I wasn't too sure what to expect, I haven't read too many stories featuring the character. Most recently was the Marc Guggenheim Blade series where King was a man hiding his pain with humor. There's some of that here, but also the elements of a man out of his time and alone in a world of people unlike him. Unfortunately, some of the most dramatic pieces of the story lost their impact due to having been used elsewhere.  

MARVEL
Agents of Atlas #10 - Parker + Hardman. The war of the evil empires escalates in this great issue of a great series.

Cable #18 - Swierczynski + Gabriel Guzman. Space action and evil aliens.

Deadpool #15 - Daniel Way + Paco Medina. DP tries to find something interesting to live for, and ends up talking to the voices in his head a lot. Not much plot movement other than some teasing, but it's funny and ties into Dark Avengers #8 and the Utopia crossover.

Exiles #6 - Parker + Salva Espin. Crap, this is the series finale. Another great series choked out by the glut of other series out there. Or maybe it never recovered from the stench of Claremont's run on the previous issue. I don't know. But I highly recommend picking up the trade when it comes out as a fantastic bit of reality shuffling full of wonderful dialog and interesting characters. There was so much this series could have done if it had been given time, but Parker did a nice job of providing a satisfying resolution on short notice.

Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire #2 of 6 - Aaron + Boschi. It's a great supernatural ride. Followed up by the second half of the original Ghost Rider #1.

Immortal Weapons #2 of 5 - The Bride of Nine Spiders tale by Cullen Bunn and Dan Brereton doesn't offer an origin, but does deliver a classically creepy horror story. The continuing Iron Fist back-up by Swierczynski + Foreman is decent, but hasn't done anything that really shines yet.

Marvel Zombies Return #1 of 5 - Fred Van Lente + Nick Dragotta. This issue starring the Zombie Spider-Man marks the return of the big name Marvel Zombies not seen since the finale of the second MZ series. I usually love everything Fred Van Lente does, but the over-the-top 60s style narration was a bit much. Sure, its appropriate since the story features Zombie Spider-Man ending up in a 60s Spider-Man comic setting, but it's stomach churning when set against the copious amounts of gore.

Official Index of the Marvel Universe #9 - Covers Amazing Spider-Man #367-401, Iron Man #300-332, vol.2 #1-7, and Uncanny X-Men #338-375.

Oz: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz hardcover - Eric Shanower + Skottie Young. A nicely faithful adaptation of the original L. Frank Baum novel with wonderfully original character designs. It shows its fairly tale roots a little too strongly for my tastes in some scenes, but it's overall delightful and I'm looking forward to the next volume. That's right, they are going to adapt more of the novels.

Strange Tales #1 of 3 - This anthology is a bizarre mix of independent artist playing with Marvel mainstays. Creators include Paul Pope, Molly Crabapple, Junke Mizuno, James Kochalka, Peter Bagge, Nick Bertozzi, and the Perry Bible Fellowship. My favorite was the Dr. Strange piece by Dash Shaw that was the most surreal that the good doctor has been since Ditko drew him. 

DC
Wednesday Comics #9 of 12 - Still fun.

WILDSTORM
Authority vol.5 #14 - Abnett/Lanning + Drew Johnson/Simon Coleby. I'm not overly thrilled with Drew Johnson's art on this series, it's far too bright and clean for this post-apocalyptic series. Still, the story and writing continue to be top notch. 

The Weekly Haul for 8/26/09 has been completed. Click here to read it.