DARK AVENGERS #11: Sigh. I just have a soft spot for the Molecule Man, I’m sorry guys. And I really think Bendis has hit his groove with this title, mixing his patented naturalistic dialogue with action, perfectly complemented by Mike Deodato’s moody art. Plus, in this issue, we get some painted pages by Greg Horn, and I don’t know the last time I saw interior art by the guy, but it looks great. This is a great looking comic, lots of fun, and I’m going to be a little sad to see it go (assuming it does, in fact, go after the upcoming Siege event).

DARK REIGN: THE LIST – AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: Adam Kubert draws an amazing Spider-Man (no pun intended), but I guess you wouldn’t expect anything less from the guy. First off, I’ll say its a smart move by Marvel to use Mr. Kubert on specials and short runs, rather than promising he can deliver a monthly book. That’s another win in Mr. Wacker’s column, in my book. And this book looks great. Reading wise, Dan Slott turns in another near perfect Spider-Man script, perfectly melding character moments, old-school fun, and good story. Except, and I’m going to get back on my soapbox now that we’re done with this “List” event… Basically nothing happens. In the grand scheme of things, I mean. The one List book that had a major event was The Punisher, which by all accounts was, I think, a high mark for Rick Remender, The Punisher, and Marvel in general. Not that every issue of The List needed to hold up to that standard, but I wish there was some sort of moving the story forward, that something had happened. There is a minor victory for Peter Parker towards the end of this book, and its a nice moment, but honestly, is Parker leaking a video on the internet really going to show up as a plot point in any other book?

It’s frustrating, because I would really, really like ASM: The List to be the biggest and baddest part of this mini-event, but it just can’t be, because… You can’t have Spider-Man win that big. Spidey can’t actually reveal Norman’s true villainy to the world, because that would mean Spider-Man was revealed as a world-wide hero. There’s ways around that, sure, but Spider-Man works best when everybody hates him. So he can’t win that big, he has to win, but kind of lose. And he can’t kill Norman, because he doesn’t kill. Plus, we got to save that for Siege, right? My point is, as a fan, I still think of Osbourne as Spider-Man’s villain, and I feel like Spidey needs to take him down, but given the character, and the layout of the Universe, that just can’t happen. So instead, I’m frustrated.

Anyway, great looking issue, solid read, if you want some pretty Kubert art, pick it up.

DEADPOOL: MERC WITH A MOUTH #5: This title is growing on me, but veeeery slowly. Not to sound like a broken record, but considering you’ve already got Deadpool and Headpool in the book, it seems unnecessary and repetitive to even include the Deadpool double narration boxes. I’d rather just see those two bicker and be done with it. I also like how The Gisch is filling out the supporting cast with fun riffs on previous DP continuity. I’m curious to see where this goes after this arc, and hopefully, it can forge its own way, and move out of… Way’s… shadow.

INCREDIBLE HULK #604: You know that feeling when you take a deep breath and let it out, and how relaxing and refreshing that is? That’s what having Greg Pak back on the Hulk is like. A breath of fresh air, or at least air you’ve breathed before that feels fresh again. Or something. Anyway. Banner, Skaar, and Warbound vs. The Leader? What’s not to love? Pak keeps adding his own take to the Hulk mythos, and shows why he’s the best writer of the character since Peter David. Love this series, pick it up.

MIGHTY AVENGERS #31: Dan Slott and Christos Gage bring it all together to end out the best arc of this title in a good long while. Classic Avengers action, classic avengers moments, great fun shout outs and good actions pieces. My only caveat is that the art seems a little crowded, but that’s a quibble when its so much fun to just see heroes being heroes, and all working together to save the day. Fun.

NOMAD: GIRL WITHOUT A WORLD #3: As nice as it is to see Sean McKeever back at Marvel, working in high school (where he excels), this just isn’t grabbing me. It ain’t bad, by any means, its a well crafted comic book, but I guess I just don’t care enough about Rikki Barnes yet. Ah well.

PUNISHER #11: Tony Moore and Rick Remender working together is a-okay with me. And this Frankencastle storyline gets to an insane, over the top start, as you might expect. Love it.

REALM OF KINGS: Abnett and Lanning have one of the most complex, yet easy to follow road-maps for their cosmic books I’ve ever seen. And it all kicks off in spectacular fashion in this one shot. I thought they couldn’t take the action and danger to another level. I think I was wrong. Love these books, love the direction of them, and I love the focus that’s happening throughout. Great stuff.

REALM OF KINGS INHUMANS #1: On the other hand… There’s a killer last page to this issue, but otherwise, it’s one of the more snooze-worthy Inhumans mini-series in a while. Granted, the characters are in a place where they’re all miserable, and for the first time in a long time, they have a real status quo that can’t immediately be broken, but it feels like the backbone of this cosmic universe has moved on to Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy.

THUNDERBOLTS #138: Jeff Parker makes his debut on the title, and while I love the Parker, this won’t knock anyone’s socks off. However, he continues the feel of the past few issues well without missing a beat… I’m just looking forward to him maybe blazing his own path. And maybe bringing in a few A-Listers. It feels like this title needs a new mission statement, and soon.

WAR MACHINE #11: The little title that could keeps chugging along, and though I THINK it’s canceled already, Greg Pak has made a fascinating uber story that has done a lot to build up Rhodey’s character, and define his supporting cast. It’s too bad this won’t be around in the long term, because in Year Two, it feels like it could have gotten quite good.

WOLVERINE WEAPON X #7: I’m totally loving this storyline, with Logan caught in the world’s most disturbing lunatic asylum, scared and fighting for his life. Sure, it’s not the most original story of all time (it’s been done in Buffy, for one), but I’m completely caught up in the mystery, and can’t wait to find out how Wolvie ended up there. Kudos to Jason Aaron for turning in another solid arc.

X-MEN LEGACY #229: Speaking of little engines, I still don’t get what this title is about (other than secretly The New Adventures of Rogue and Gambit), but Mike Carey, as always, chugs right along with a solid story that pays tribute to Generation X, one of the much beloved, much forgotten pieces of X-history past.

Invincible #67  continues to test my patience with the series, as two Invincible-free issues in a row have Invincible’s on-again-off-again-villainous father (currently off-again) and hard-to-take-serious Allen the Alien gathering the troops for the final battle with the Viltrumite Empire. While that battle will surely be harrowing and violent like every other big conflict in this series, the lead up has been buddy-movie light. Coupled with Robert Kirkman’s tendency to write overexpository dialogue, the goofiness and lack of action have made the past two issues a bore.

Amazing Spider-Man #609 continues the mostly meh “Catching Up With the Clones” storyline (my name for it, not theirs). Revisiting a lousy storyline to see what has become of the second-rate supporting cast is a bit like watching the deleted scenes on a DVD–good for satisfying curiosities, sure, but you never expected them to be very good. But there is still time for this arc to pick up, and it hasn’t changed the fact that the series as a whole has been really good since the One More Day messphisto. And considering developments in Dark Avengers, we may be getting closer to resolving some of the fan grief over that storyline. Maybe.

And now, in the immortal words of M. Night Shamayalan: The Twists!

The Invincible Iron Man #19, the final chapter in “World’s Most Wanted,” seems to set up the reunion of the core Avengers trio–Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor. The only problem is that Tony Stark is little more than a vegetable after wiping his brain of all it’s secrets about Stark-tech armor and superhero registered identities. This 9-part storyline by Matt Fraction and Sal Larroca helped make this comic the 2009 Eisner award-winner for best new series, and it kept The Invincible Iron Man entrenched in the fallout of the various Marvel events of the past few years: The evil star of Dark Reign, Norman Osborn, enjoying the fruits of his post-Secret Invasion power grab, has been hunting down Tony Stark, as Stark races around the world meticulously eliminating any lingering bits and bytes of data from his armor safe houses and his own brain, all to keep Osborn from getting his hands on the superhero registration data from Civil War. And Civil War is what tore the original Avenging trio apart. So it was nice to see all of the big event ingredients come together in the end, as veggie-brained Stark plays his final hand against Osborn, calling in a favor that gives Doctor Donald Blake–shown in an undisclosed location with the new Bucky Barnes Captain America (who got the shield and suit from Stark and has been romancing regular Iron Man co-star the Black Widow) at his side–power of attorney over Stark. Donald Blake is the secret identity of this guy:

With Bucky Cap leading the New Avengers and the real Cap, Steve Rogers, in the process of a rebirth, look for the Caps , Thor, and Iron Man to work out any past issues, bring the rest of the New Avengers up to speed, and take on Osborn and his Dark Avengers head on.

That is, if the Dark Avengers can make it out of their current plight. The Marvel Heroes mayfind themselves having to save Osborn and company instead!

Dark Avengers #10 saw the other, bigger twist in the Dark Reign saga. Norman Osborn may be the big bad of the Marvel Universe, but that just means his villains have to be that much badder. First, his team had a drawn out battle with Morgan LaFey that saw them teaming with Doctor Doom and travelling through time. Now Normy and his team seem to have stumbled upon a cabal of villains a step above those in Norman’s own evil Illuminati group. Investigating the strange goings on in a small town in Middle America, the entire Dark Avengers team seems to have been neutralized by a super villain who hasn’t been seen for some time, but who played a huge role in the orignal Marvel epic event–Secret Wars. And with all the allusion to that event in the various titles of Dark Reign architect Brian Bendis’s other events that got us to this point (Secret War [singular] kicked off the hero divide that spilled into a Civil War, which unfolded into a Secret Invasion), is it a stretch to think he’s steering us back to where it all began? Rich at Comic by Comic had this all worked out (almost) more than a week ago.

So Molecule Man is back–and he has supernatural villains from various corners of the Marvel Universe at his side. The one that stands out the most to me, and promises a brand new day for a new chapter in Dark Reign (or maybe just the next companywide event) is Mephisto. If he and the others revealed at the end of DA #10 aren’t some sort of illusion, expect everything from Spider-Man’s marriage to the Hood’s powers to the alternaverse army of Doctor Dooms revealed in the recent Fantastic Four  to fold into an event bigger than anything Marvel has done before. The BIGGEST EPIC COMIC EVENT OF ALL TIME!!!

Okay, maybe that’s an overstatement. But it could be cool.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #606: The Black Cat returns! This isn’t a spoiler, because it’s in an ad in every Marvel comic. And, you know, the cover. Anywho. I’m kind of getting repetitious with beating the “Spider-Man is as fun as it has ever been” drum, so here’s one particular aspect of this issue I found surprising in a negative way: it felt like a big step backwards for the Black Cat. Not that I don’t love the her and Spidey romance issues (creepy roof-sex aside), but she’s grown a LOT as a character in the intervening years, and doesn’t really deserve to find herself back with Spidey, yet again. Yeah, weird, I know. Other than that, relatively fun issue, but also a slight step down from the creepiness of Van Lente’s excellent Chameleon arc, and the gang-busters over-sized #605.

ANITA BLAKE, THE LAUGHING CORPSE – NECROMANCER #5: This preview had, without a doubt, the longest file name I’ve ever seen.

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #28: Though this series continues to be good, it’s suffering from what a lot of books get after the main purpose, and the main creative team move on… This used to be the backbone of the Marvel U, and I used to recommend it to anyone who wanted to know what was going on in Marvel comics. It was a great refresher, good character stories, and great art, issue after issue. It still has most of that, but it’s no longer the backbone, it’s more of a, I don’t know, what’s an unimportant bone? The skull? Well, anyway, the series is still reflective of what’s happening in the Universe at large, but it no longer seems to be effecting it. I’m curious to see whether this title will stick around in the long run.

DARK REIGN: THE LIST – X-MEN ONE-SHOT: As a gigantic fan of John Byrne’s work on Alpha Flight and the Fantastic Four, there’s a page in here that absolutely killed me and ripped my heart out like nothing else I’ve read this week. Beyond that, Matt Fraction turns in a reliably solid story directly following off the Utopia cross-over, and though I usually swoon over Alan Davis’ work, this was not my favorite issue he’s ever done. And in the larger view, I’m finding that this List event, while a solid series of comics, is not really delivering the lasting change that was promised. Like most of Norman Osborn’s projects, its all spin.

DARK X-MEN: THE CONFESSION ONE-SHOT: I would contend that this issue goes in the exact opposite direction of what you’d expect to happen. I’d also contend that maybe this is a good thing. And for those of you expecting big action, well… It’s called the Confession, not the Explosion. Nice one, Zalben.

ENDER’S SHADOW: COMMAND SCHOOL #1: All of these series so far are very, very good, but the books about Bean are a step above. I wouldn’t say this issue is necessarily a good jumping on point, but both of the Command School books are far more focused than the Battle School books. Makes me want to read the actual novels, and that’s a compliment.

FANTASTIC FORCE #4: Two points about this: 1) I wonder if, in Hickman’s book, when Ben and Johnny visit Nu-Earth, this series will be referenced at all, and 2) Last page has the most ridiculous, over the top thing Wolverine has ever done in the entire history of published Wolverine comics. This is not hyperbole.

FANTASTIC FOUR #571: The promise of last issue’s final page is fulfilled, if not in full, then at least in satisfying fashion. Plus! Though we’re pretty much focused on Reed(s), everybody else’s dialogue reads far more smoothly than it did last issue. Also! I’m really starting to think this series is not taking place in our main universe. Not going to say why, just my pet theory. Prove me wrong, Hickman. Prove me wrong. Or prove me right, either way is fine.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #18: Every single time I get sent an issue of this, I think Marvel has started publishing Gargamel comics, but that’s probably only weird to me (they abbreviate its title as “GARGAL”). And I know you’re all interested in file names, but on to the review of the issue: this series is darn good and fun. This issue, in particular, reminds me of a certain Bill Murray movie (if you said “Operation: Dumbo Drop,” you would be wrong), and is much lighter than the last issue in tone and execution. And I’m curious, more than anything, to see what the long game here is, and how it will play out. That’s enough to keep me on for the long haul.

IMMORTAL WEAPONS #3: The best thing about this series is that each issue has its own look and feel to it, as each one focuses on a different Immortal Weapon (hence, you know, the title). While this is my least favorite of the three so far, that still means its heads and tails above most comics, and Iron Fist fans should be picking this for Duane Swierczynski’s back-ups alone.

INCREDIBLE HERCULES #135: Every issue of this series is a fabulous adventure that deserves to be collected and read over and over. When people ask what the best comics of the first decade of the century were, they’ll fondly recall Pak and Van Lente’s classic run on Incredible Hercules. If you’re not reading it, you might as well give up reading comics. This is also not hyperbole.

INCREDIBLE HULK #602: People have been saying my critical faculties towards Hulk comics have been compromised since I wrote Hulk Team-Up (still on sale at comic book stores everywhere!). But if that were true, would I say that Incredible Hulk is back, and as good as it’s ever been? That the pairing of a de-powered Banner, and a finally starting to have fun Skaar is enjoyable, high action, smart comics? I mean yeah, I guess I would. But that doesn’t make it any less true.

MS. MARVEL #45: This arc may have gone on about one issue too long (it’s starting to feel a leeeeetle flabby), but damn if Brian Reed hasn’t taken Ms. Marvel to a new level, breaking the character down and making her completely unique and worthwhile.

NEW AVENGERS #57: Okay, remember earlier when I was complaining about things not mattering in Avengers books? This matters, for one character in particular, and the Marvel U at large. One of Bendis’ tightest, punchiest arcs on the book so far, full of fun moments, danger, and great character work.

NOVA #29: This issue is an ever-so-slight comedown from the great War of Kings tie-ins, but if you’re looking for old school comics at their best, look no further. I’ve never been a fan of the cosmic stuff, but I’m a fan of good comics, and Abnett and Lanning have made a believer out of me.

SPIDER-WOMAN #1: That’s weird… This motion comic barely moved at all.

UNCANNY X-MEN #515: A great character issue for Cyclops fans, showing probably the most realistic reaction to a big event I’ve ever read in a comic in a while. Also, a killer last page, but then, we all knew it was coming. Right?

WOLVERINE FIRST CLASS #19: “Wah, wah, wah. Comics are expensive. Wah, wah, wah. I can’t buy comics without having to buy a thousand other comics to understand what’s going on, so I won’t buy comics. Sniff, sniff. Everything is so dark, why aren’t comics fun anymore?” Hey crybaby: Wolverine First Class is an easily accessible, super fun comic book series for readers of comics new or old. This one comes with a fabulous Skottie Young cover, and only cost $2.99. Peter David writes (you like him, right?), and Dennis Calero draws (you DEFINITELY like him, right?). Game, set, and match, a-hole.

WOLVERINE ORIGINS #40: I really, really hope that this Romulus stuff pays off by revealing the mastermind behind everything is Remus, King of the Bird-People. But then, that’s only one of the many reasons I’m not writing Wolverine Origins.

WOLVERINE: OLD MAN LOGAN GIANT-SIZE #1: Goatse cover aside, this is a fun, big action conclusion to Millar and McNiven’s run on the title. And I’m going to reiterate what I’ve been saying all along: this is going to be a fabulous collection. Each individual issue, this one included, is like a light snack, with pretty much one major action beat per comic. But read as a trade, it’ll be a full, satisfying meal. McNiven’s pencils are cinematic, as always, and Millar writes cheeky action scenes like no one else. There’s one totally unnecessary Millar perversion in this issue, which must have seemed very funny at the time, but plays as just plain crass; though that shouldn’t stop you from picking this up. What might stop you is the back half of the issue, which is just a bunch of covers from the series, that, presumably, you already purchased. At $5 for an (albeit, over-sized) story, to throw in 20 pages of bonus material that will most likely appear in the upcoming trade collection is just a wee bit unfortunate.

Intro
Dark Avengers #6 (SPLIT VERDICT)
Thunderbolts #133 (BUY IT)
Dark Wolverine #75 (SPLIT VERDICT)
Last Days of Animal Man #2 (SPLIT VERDICT)
Barack the Barbarian #1 (BUY IT)
Gotham City Sirens #1 (BUY IT)
Detective Comics #854 (BUY IT)
Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-Man #3 (BUY IT)
Dark Reign: The Hood #2 (BUY IT)
Green Lantern #42 (WAIT FOR THE TRADE)
Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1 (SPLIT VERDICT)
Thor #602 (WAIT FOR THE TRADE)
Outro: Corrections & Apologies

Agree? Disagree? Think we don’t know what the heck we’re talking about? Leave your comments below!

Special thanks as always to Comic Smash for providing Diana & Shola’s books for review and Midtown Comics for providing Jon’s.

Read it for laughs, read it for edutainment, but read it. It’s fundamental.

UPDATED: Link to more scripts here. Thanks, Andy!

10 books reviewed:
Amazing Spider-Man #595 (BUY IT)
Amazing Spider-Man: The Short Halloween (BUY IT)
Dark Reign – The Hood #1 (BUY IT)
New Avengers #53 (BUY IT)
Final Crisis Aftermath – Ink #1 (BUY IT)
Ms. Marvel #39 (DON’T BOTHER)
Batman in Barcelona: Dragon’s Knight (SPLIT VERDICT)
Superman #688 (SPLIT VERDICT)
Teen Titans #71 (SPLIT VERDICT)
Justice League of America #33 (DON’T BOTHER)

Agree? Disagree? Think we don’t know what the heck we’re talking about? Leave your comments below!

And if you think we your feedback doesn’t matter, you’re wrong — last time out everyone begged us to stop putting the intro in between every segment and we listened — thank God!

Special thanks to Midtown Comics for providing Jon’s books for review.

Greetings males 18-35,

Sigh. I miss the good old days. Back when being evil didn’t mean sitting at a desk signing papers all afternoon. It’s summer! I want to get outside! I spent all of Memorial day weekend trying to get the smell of apple pucker out of the Iron Patriot armor! (Man, Tony Stark loved him some girly drinks!) Is that any way to spend your free time?

Back in the day, I used to run my company, clock out at five, take a spin on the old Goblin sled, have a cackle over some pumpkin bombs, get sushi, watch Scrubs and then grab some shut-eye. It was great! Now I’m chained to the conference room talking to cabal after cabal. I’ve gained 15 pounds! The evil fifteen!

On top of that, NO ONE is responding to my e-Harmony profile! I got one response from some weird Hydra e-mail but I think it’s a prank…Classic Nick Fury prank.

I’m a good get, right? I think I have a weird laugh… You know who I would be good with? Silver Sable. Remember her? She was hot. I have one of her Marvel Masterpiece card here somewhere…

That’s the girl. What’s she up to now? She used to run a country, you know. Plus, she was pretty tight with Sandman so she’s definitely got a thing for oddly striped hair…

He’s like a rugged me… I’m better looking than him though, right?

Sigh.

-Normo

Wait, Scrubs is cancelled?!

As usual (well, as of last week and this week, usual), we’ve got spoiler-free reviews of tomorrow’s Marvel Comics today! Be sure to check back tomorrow and leave your thoughts, and we’ll have more spoilery looks on the video shows this week.

BLACK PANTHER #4 – Boy, they sure are taking their time with this “Who is the new Black Panther?” thing, huh? I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s competently done, but I think I enjoyed the immense amounts of fun Reginald Hudlin brought to the run before it went to its new numbering. Now it’s all mysticism and gothic intensity, and it’s losing my interest.

DARK REIGN: HAWKEYE #2 – As much as I like the idea of this series, the execution is a little lacking. Whereas last issue had a strong focus on Bullseye wanting to be known as Bullseye, not Hawkeye, this issue jettisons all that in favor of a new psychological take on the mass murdering sai-stealer. Again, it’s not bad, Andy Diggle knows what he’s doing; but I can’t help but think this would have been far better as a one-shot, ala Chris Gage’s Thunderbolts one-shots, which focused on a character, informed the main book, but worked mainly as supplemental material. I also like Tom Raney’s pencils a lot, they’re nice and clean, but he has a bright, almost bubbly flair that doesn’t quite match the realism of Dark Avengers, for example.

DARK REIGN: YOUNG AVENGERS #1 – This should be Young Masters of Evil, right? And it almost is, except for some garbage about, “We’re heroes! No we’re not! Are we? I don’t know!” I love Paul Cornell’s writing dearly, but this is a bit of a mess, mainly because it’s entirely unclear who these young heroes are aspiring to be. The idea is great: young heroes inspired by the Dark Avengers are like the Young Masters of Evil. Except… Nobody knows the Dark Avengers are evil, so it comes off as a fantastic, unexplained coincidence that there’s a baby Enchantress, and Executioner, etc. Hopefully this will clear up a bit next issue, because Cornell (and the idea) deserve better than this first one.

DEADPOOL: SUICIDE KINGS #2 – I feel like I’m coming off as quite the negative nancy this week, so apologies on one more negative review before a few positive ones, but none of this comic makes any sense. Sorry, that’s a little strong, but how hard is it to pit Deadpool against The Punisher? It’s not. You barely need an excuse. Yet this book is bending over backwards to come up with a reason for them to come to blows. Here, I’ll pitch a better comic right now: The Punisher realizes Deadpool is an amoral assassin, and decides to kill him. Done! Goodbye.

GENEXT: UNITED #1 – The first GeneXt series was a nice surprise… Given the complicated premise, that the X-Men had aged in real time in from their first appearance, and now had grandchildren running around with mutant powers, it was surprisingly successful with an old school X-Men feel. Which makes sense, given that Chris Claremont wrote and created it. This issue picks up minutes after the end of the last series, and works just as well. If you want fun, old school X-Men tales set in modern times, this book is well worth a look.

LOCKJAW AND THE PET AVENGERS #1 – It’s embarrassing how excited I was for this book, and boy did it deliver. I’m not going to say much other than you probably know from the title whether you want to read this or not. If it’s “not,” let me correct you and say that yes, you do want to read it. It’s the most fun you’ll have reading an Avengers book all month. No joke. Marvel has been killing it with its pseudo-continuity books like Dr. Doom and the Masters of Evil, the Power Pack books, and X-Men: First Class; Pet Avengers fits in there quite well, thank you. Also, if Speedball’s cat Niles ends up in some sort of S&M armor by the end of the series, I will kiss Chris Eliopoulos square on the mouth.

PUNISHER: FRANK CASTLE MAX #70 – This is the last issue of the arc, and I haven’t read an issue since Ennis’ run, but it sure does seem like a lot of elements from what good old Garth was doing on the title, without the insane intensity. Ah well.

SAVAGE SHE-HULK #2 – I know a lot of people are mad that She-Hulk (aka Jennifer Walters) was cancelled for this title, and is being replaced by a new She-Hulk (Thundra and the Hulk’s daughter). Too bad none of that is true. She-Hulk was cancelled, but not because of this title. That was a happy accident. And the Savage She-Hulk isn’t replacing Jenny… She’s all over this issue, being as awesome as ever. There’s still a lot we don’t know about this character, and it seems like all four issues are going to be the superhero equivalent of 16 Blocks, but I’m officially on board with the new Thrulk. If you’ve been avoiding the title for any of the above reasons, stop it, and pick up this issue. You’re supporting new characters in the Marvel universe if you do, and single handedly destroying comics if you’re not. That may be a little harsh, actually. And untrue. Maybe.

SECRET WARRIORS #4 – I gotta say, four issues in, and I’m still not 100% sure who all of these characters are, or what they’re about. As a team book, it seems like we may have one of those “The team after the first arc isn’t the same as where we started!” things going on, which is starting to make me think, “Maybe I’ll wait until after the first arc, then!” As a Nick Fury book, though, Hickman and Bendis are rocking it. They have a great handle on Fury, where he’s at, and what he’s about. It’s nice that he’s returned to the Marvel Universe proper in style, with his own, f-ing terrifying Rogues Gallery. That’s not even mentioning Stefano Caselli’s gorgeous art, which makes this book worth picking up on its own.

THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ #6 – What can I say that hasn’t previously been said. Every issue is like a work of art. I mean, it is a work of art. Pick it up.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #132 – Goddamn if this isn’t the most consistently great title Marvel has ever published. Bendis is writing this title so well, and so completely owning everything about it, that I can’t imagine anyone else ever writing the title. He’s even writing a great story arc in the face of the monumentally crappy Ultimatum event. And as much as I’m super giddy about David LaFeunte on Ultimate Comics Spider-Man when this relaunches in two issues, I’m going to miss Stuart Immonen’s superb art. I GUESS it’ll be okay that he’s going over to New Avengers. OH WELL. By the way, slight spoiler time, but anyone else think Bendis might (seriously, potential spoilers if I am an incredible genius) kill/get rid of Peter Parker? I could be totally off base here, but I think at least for the first arc or two, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man could probably be titled Ultimate Spider-Woman Comics. Don’t get me wrong, I’m betting Pete’ll come back from the “dead” at some point (and not that he’s dead at the end of this issue, I’m just speculating), but if I’m right, you all owe me cookies.

WAR OF KINGS: ASCENSION #2 – Why is there a comic book about Darkhawk? And why is it so fun? I feel weird.

X-FACTOR #43 – Peter David, as promised, is continuing to do a lovely job of making X-Factor as fun, exciting, and surprising as it has ever been, but there’s one moment in here that totally grossed me out. You’ll know what it is when you see it. In its own way, it’s as shocking a reveal as anything on the last pages of the previous three issues. And that’s not counting this issue’s last page reveal, which is fun and shocking in its own way. In case it isn’t clear, go pick this up.

Plot-wise, the scenario for the Dark Reign one-shot is similar to the Illuminati’s — a peak into the initial meeting of a clandestine group of power players uniting to secretly manipulate the Marvel Universe. Only difference is, the members are a decidedly more villainous mix: Norman Osborn, Doctor Doom, Loki, Emma Frost, The Hood and…

…some overweight, stubbly-faced bum who seems to be hitting ineffectually on Emma Frost?

Is that supposed to be Namor?? I’m sorry, but that is probably the fattest, fugliest Sub-Mariner I’ve ever seen. Panel after panel I kept looking at this chubby-faced bozo and wondering if Bendis decided there was one last one Skrull still running around, and he was impersonating Namor. Also unrecognizable: Norman Osborn on Maleev’s cover. I thought that was Pete Wisdom or John Constantine or somebody there in the middle. How are you gonna draw an Osborn, especially Norman, without the trademark crazy-cornrows-coming-to-a-point-in-the-forehead hair??)

Further adding to Namor’s complete lack of regality was the trademark Bendis-speak coming out of his mouth. Not saying this kind of snappy banter doesn’t work for some characters, but when you have the likes of Namor, Doctor Doom and Loki all sitting in the same room talking in the same “um, exactly” voice — that’s just not working for me. (In fact it really takes me out of the book).

But setting aside the aforementioned absurdities, I do think Bendis gave a believable, and interesting, explanation as to why Norman Osborn called this particular “cabal” together, and what each of them has to offer, and gain. There’s even a fairly cool little exchange between Doom & Namor. So despite the fact that parts of this book were cringe-worthy, I am looking forward to seeing how all Dark Reign stuff this plays out — I’m just glad there’s I don’t have to read any more of it by by Bendis & Maleev.

The Invasion may be over, but the Dark Reign has just begun! As the dust settles and the heroes recuperate, a new power shall rise from the ashes – its name is Norman Osborn! Spinning out of Secret Invasion, Norman Osborn has gathered his secret cabal of villains and now he’s in control! As anticipation builds and fans crave to know the fate of the Marvel’s mightiest heroes, Marvel’s pleased to debut this exciting new trailer! Check it out exclusively, right here, right now, below!

It alls begins in SECRET INVASION: DARK REIGN, from the Eisner Award-winning team of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev. Get the low down on things to come as the stage has been set for the next major era in Marvel Comics! Then, check out DARK REIGN: NEW NATION, featuring the Secret Warriors, the Agents of Atlas, War Machine, Ronin & Mockingbird and the Skrull Kill Crew, and learn the roles they all will play in this dark new world!

In a world where evil now rules, things will never be the same again and Marvel’s greatest heroes will have to find themselves new allies as new threats and enemies arise! It’s the Marvel U. like you’ve never seen it before and it all begins with rise of the Dark Reign!

The following review is excerpted from Comic Book Revolution — click here to read CBR’s full recap & review

Art: 6/10
Story: 3/10
Overall: 4.5/10

The Good

What a fittingly unimpressive finish to an over-hyped, over-blown and unoriginal big event. Having said that, there were several positives to come out of Secret Invasion #8. I am glad that Henry Pym, Dum Dum Dugan, Fontaine and Jarvis are all alive and well. I like each of those characters, in particular Henry Pym, and I was not thrilled when they all turned out to be Skrulls.

I have enjoyed how Bendis has handled Nick Fury’s character throughout Secret Invasion and all of the various tie-in issues. And my enjoyment of Bendis’ handling of Fury continues with Secret Invasion #8. I thought it was a great move by Bendis to have Nick Fury give Dum Dum and Fontaine the cold shoulder and simply teleport away from the scene without a word. It certainly seems that Marvel is making Nick Fury their version of Batman since Nick is the resident trust-nobody dick.

This scene was a great way to establish the fact that Nick Fury is going to assume a position on the fringe and operate independent of every other agency and group in the 616 universe. This scene was a subtle yet proper segue into Nick Fury’s new direction in the Marvel Universe on Secret Warriors where Nick is going to work in the shadows and outside of the law and government in order to combat Norman Osborn’s Thunderbolts and the cabal of villains that we saw at the end of this issue.

Of course, it will come as no surprise to any regular Revolution readers that what I enjoyed the most about Secret Invasion #8 was that Marvel finally removed Tony Stark from overseeing the Initiative and removed him as the Director of SHIELD. Thank God.

I have been not so patiently waiting for this moment since the minute Marvel completely screwed over Tony’s character during Civil War. Hopefully, writers like Bendis can now leave Tony alone and Iron Man fans can get back to enjoying a more entertaining and classic version of Iron Man that is true to his roots and his continuity.

Bendis did a fine job setting Norman Osborn up as the “hero” of the Skrull invasion in the eyes of the media by allowing Osborn to get the dramatic kill shot on the Skrull Queen. I absolutely love that Marvel is sliding everything under the direction of Norman Osborn. It is an excellent decision to place the Avengers, the Fifty-State Initiative and SHIELD’s old jurisdiction and duties under the Thunderbolts Initiative and under Osborn’s singular control.

Osborn is a wonderful classic Marvel villain and is the perfect character to place in charge of an “evil” government agency. And writers can now easily and relentlessly kick around Norman Osborn without having to resort to distorting his character like they have been doing with Tony Stark over the past couple of years.

The ending to Secret Invasion, while anti-climactic, without a doubt serves as a great lead-in to the next big event in Dark Reign. The fact that Norman Osborn has gathered together a cabal of villains is of no surprise at all. However the members were a bit surprising.

Doctor Doom was a predictable choice. The Hood was also painfully predictable since that is one of Bendis’ pet creations. Namor was a bit of a surprise. However, Namor has always straddled that line between hero and villain so I like his insertion into this group. Emma Frost was most definitely a surprise. This cabal of villains is an interesting flipside of the Illuminati.

In the end, the best aspect of Secret Invasion #8 has nothing to do with Secret Invasion itself. Instead, it is the next event in Dark Reign and all the titles that will spin out of the aftermath of Secret Invasion. Dark Reign, while not a terribly novel or surprising concept, most certainly has the potential to be an entertaining event that should spawn plenty of enjoyable stories.

I am certainly excited about several of the titles spinning out of Secret Invasion. I am looking forward to Agents of Atlas. This is an intriguing collection of characters and this title should provide plenty of enjoyable action adventure stories.

I am also looking forward to Secret Warriors covering Nick Fury and his newbie metahuman recruits. I have enjoyed how Bendis has handled Fury’s character up to this point and I have always thought that placing Bendis on a Nick Fury title would be a good idea. And the best part is that Bendis will be co-writing Secret Warriors with Jonathan Hickman. I hope this means that Bendis can help with plotting but leave the actual dialogue to Hickman which should help with Bendis’ obvious weakness with writing team titles.

Bendis will be kicking off a new title called Dark Avengers. While I have little interest in Dark Avengers and I question the need for a third Avengers title, the good news of Dark Avengers is that it means that Bendis will be leaving Mighty Avengers to write Dark Avengers.

And the even better news is that Dan Slott will be taking over Mighty Avengers. I am beyond ecstatic. Finally, we might actually get an Avengers title that focuses on the Avengers. And Slott is a wonderful choice to handle this team title. This title should dramatically improve. Now if we could just get Bendis off of New Avengers then I would be in heaven.

The Bad

Secret Invasion has had a paint-by-numbers feel to it since the beginning and the finale was thin, dull and predictable. It seemed like Bendis had his standard issue checklist that he got from his Big Events 101 class and simply went right down it and checked off each plotline that had to be concluded.

The biggest technical flaw to Secret Invasion #8 was the horrible decision by Bendis to deliver this final “climactic” issue in the past tense via narration from two off panel characters. This passive technique robs the issue of any energy and also removes the reader from the immediacy of the scenes as we know that everything has already been wrapped up and the Skrulls have been defeated. Instead of the reader feeling like they are experiencing the action live and as it is happening, the reader feels like they are watching the events in this issue on television in a documentary done well after the events have concluded.

I was largely unmoved by Janet’s death. It was not particularly interesting, well developed or dramatic. And Janet did not die in a particularly heroic fashion. And the impact of Janet’s threat as a last resort doomsday device was a total failure since Thor was able to dispatch her with relative ease and in short order.

I guess Bendis felt like he had to kill someone in this final issue and that Bendis chose Janet since her death would have “impact” since she is an original Avenger. And also that Janet’s death would not set off a fury of protests from fans since Janet has never been a particularly popular character with your average reader.

The ending to the war with the Skrulls was so rushed and way too easy. And the worst part was that we saw very little fighting at all. Instead, we simply saw the aftermath of the heroes dismantling the Skrull Armada. The vast majority of how the heroes won was simply told to the reader by the two off-panel voices narrating this issue. This was about as unexciting a victory in a war story that I have read.

The revelation that all the heroes and SHIELD agents who had been replaced by Skrulls were alive and well on one of the Skrull ships was another far too convenient ending to that plotline. The excuse that the technology that allowed the Skrulls to perfectly replicate a human required the Skrulls to keep that human alive seemed like a bit of a cheat. Similarly, the resolution to the disaster over at the Baxter Building was also too easy and convenient.

Now, I am a big fan of Hawkeye so I am glad that Mockingbird is not actually dead. I guess that Bendis has felt guilty for mishandling Hawkeye ever since he took over the Avengers that Bendis felt the need to give Clint the gift of having his wife back. But, the fact remains that I could have cared less about Mockingbird coming back to life or not. This had little impact on me. Honestly, has anyone been clamoring for Mockingbird to be brought back to life?

And Mockingbird being brought back makes me wonder just how far back do these Skrull replacements go? Mockingbird died in West Coast Avengers #100 and that was in 1993. So does Marvel now have a get out of death card for any character that died in the Marvel Universe since 1993?

I love how somehow Bendis has Thor blame everything on Tony. Bendis went so overboard with his misrepresentation of Tony Stark’s character and Thor’s condemnation of Tony was so heavy handed that this scene became absolutely laughable and comical.

Tony’s reaction in the scene with Maria Hill during Norman’s press conference was also just silly and out of character. All Tony does is just sit there in the dark in a chair and all he is able to utter is “What?” Please, Tony has never been presented in this fashion. Tony is a ultra-Type A personality with a mind that never stops calculating his next several moves.

(And another problem with this scene is that we have already seen during the Knaufs’ run on Iron Man: Director of SHIELD how much Tony hated running SHIELD and how he often wished that he could leave it all and return to running his own company. Tony also had already been placed under arrest by the government and stripped of his command of SHIELD during the Knaufs run. Tony had been expecting at some point for the government to end up replacing him. So, Tony’s speechless reaction by Bendis simply exposed Bendis for his lack of knowledge of anything going on outside of his own titles and his obvious lack of research before writing this issue.)

In the end, I found Secret Invasion’s ending to be an incredibly small payoff given the amount of hype and the length and scope of this big event. Even though I like the concept of Dark Reign and the possibilities that it presents with the various new titles and the general direction for the Marvel Universe, this was still an incredibly underwhelming payoff for such an overblown and overhyped event like Secret Invasion.

The long and the short of it was that the entire point of Secret Invasion was so Norman Osborne would be put in control of SHIELD’s jurisdiction, the Avengers and the Fifty-State Initiative and then, in turn, Norman would gather his own cabal of villains. Honestly, Marvel did not need to waste time going through all the ridiculously silly machinations of Secret Invasion just to get to this point. It is like using a flamethrower to light your portable barbeque grill.

Dark Reign could have been easily put in place in a much faster and easier fashion. The Knaufs already hinted during their run on Iron Man: Director of SHIELD how tenuous Tony’s position as the Director of SHIELD was. It would have been easy for the President to fire Tony since the Avengers and SHIELD continuously failed and/or refused to bring in unregistered heroes when they clearly had an opportunity to do so.

I would have found Dark Reign much cooler of an idea if it had been brought into place by something not as overly hyped as Secret Invasion. Marvel built up Secret Invasion so much that the pay-off of Osborne being in control of SHIELD’s old jurisdiction and the Initiative and forming a cabal of villains was anti-climactic and nothing particularly surprising in the least bit. Dark Reign is a rather predictable direction that most readers felt Marvel was going to move toward a long time ago.

Lastly, I am simply not a fan of Leinel Yu and Mark Morales style of artwork. All in all, Secret Invasion was not the prettiest looking big event that I have seen. Having said that, many readers love Yu’s style of art and surely they will enjoy the look of Secret Invasion #8 much more than me.

Overall

In the end, Secret Invasion event was shallow, poorly paced, sloppily plotted, often lacked internal logic and at points suffered from poor research. I am sure it will be quickly forgotten.

But, let’s take this opportunity to focus on the positive aspects of this new direction of the Marvel Universe that Dark Reign presents. While not that original or earth-shattering of an idea, it still should provide for some entertaining stories.

I do appreciate that Marvel was able to crank out Secret Invasion without any real delays. The way that Marvel handled the shipping schedule of Secret Invasion and all of the various tie-in issues was impressive. And without a doubt, some of the Secret Invasion tie-in issues were quite compelling reads that overshadowed Secret Invasion itself.

Also, while I might not agree with everything Joey Q does, that Marvel certainly has a clear direction and purpose in mind with each big event and how they lead into the next big event and the way that they impact the Marvel Universe. Marvel carefully plots out their goals and stays focused and committed to their decisions and to the direction that they are headed in. That is something that DC could learn to do.

For more reviews, scans, story recaps and news visit Comic Book Revolution!

SECRET INVASION: REQUIEM
Written by DAN SLOTT
Pencils & Cover by KHOI PHAM
An important stepping stone to the big shake-up in MIGHTY AVENGERS by the new creative team of Dan Slott and Khoi Pham, featuring a new name and identity for one of Marvel’s classic characters! In this 8-page story after the tragic events of SECRET INVASION #8, two of Earth’s mightiest heroes reflect on the life and times of a fallen comrade.
Plus over 40 pages reprinting two classic tales from Marvel’s Silver and Bronze ages: the Wasp’s first appearance (TALES TO ASTONISH #44) and the infamous Hank-hitting-Jan story (AVENGERS #213) – presented with all-new, modern coloring.
64 PGS./Rated T+ · $3.99
FOC – 12/4, On-Sale – 12/24

SECRET INVASION: DARK REIGN
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
Pencils & Cover by ALEX MALEEV
Variant Cover by BRYAN HITCH
The Invasion is over!! There are winners and there are losers and in this major one-shot from the Eisner award-winning team of Bendis and Maleev, (New Avengers: Illuminati, Civil War: The Confession) the stage is set for the next major era in Marvel Comics. Hold onto your beenies, boys, because you have NEVER seen your universe turned upside down like this!!
48 PGS./One-Shot/Rated T+ · $3.99
FOC – 12/4, On-Sale – 12/24

DARK REIGN: NEW NATION
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS, JONATHAN HICKMAN, JEFF PARKER, GREG PAK, JIM MCCANN & ADAM FELBER
Penciled by STEFANO CASELLI, CARLO PAGUYLAN, LEONARDO MANCO, DAVID LOPEZ, & PAULO SIQUEIRA
Cover by DANIEL ACUÑA
The Invasion is over, and the shape of the world has changed, with new and returning players now center stage. Get the lowdown on the SECRET WARRIORS, the AGENTS OF ATLAS, WAR MACHINE, RONIN & MOCKINGBIRD, and the SKRULL KILL KREW, and learn how they fit into this brave new world in all-new stories setting up their upcoming titles.
48 PGS./Rated T+ · $3.99
FOC – 11/27, On-Sale – 12/17

NEW AVENGERS #48
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
Pencils & Cover by BILLY TAN
The Invasion is over! But who are the New Avengers!??! The first major roster change since the very first issue!! See here who the New Avengers are and what their place in the Dark Reign is!
32 PGS./Rated A · $2.99
FOC – 12/4, On-Sale – 12/24

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #8
Written by MATT FRACTION
Art & Cover by SALVADOR LARROCA
Villain Variant by DAVID AJA
In the aftermath of SECRET INVASION, Iron Man is no longer the hero he used to be, and Tony Stark’s entire life is torn apart. We can’t say much now, but…how bad does it get? Here’s a hint: Read WORLD’S MOST WANTED Part One! By the blockbuster INVINCIBLE IRON MAN creative team of Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca, lauded by fans and critics alike!
32 PGS./Rated A · $2.99
FOC – 11/27, On-Sale – 12/17

WAR MACHINE #1
Written by GREG PAK
Pencils & Cover by LEONARDO MANCO
Villian Variant by MIKE DEODATO
From the pages of IRON MAN and AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE, War Machine blasts into his own ongoing solo series! Across the globe, from the killing fields of Santo Marco to the blasted deserts of occupied Aqiria, butchers and tyrants are committing the most horrific atrocities imaginable. The outside world won’t raise a finger to stop them, but now Jim Rhodes is on the job. And forget a finger – he’s raising a couple of ginormous shoulder mounted rocket cannons! From WORLD WAR HULK scribe Greg Pak and DEATHLOK artist Leonardo Manco comes the most shocking incarnation of War Machine you’ve ever seen – along with a surprisingly familiar supporting cast and one of the biggest villains in the Marvel Universe!
32 PGS./Rated T+ · $2.99
FOC – 11/27, On-Sale – 12/17

MS. MARVEL #34
Written by BRIAN REED
Penciled by ADRIANA MELO
& PAULO SIQUEIRA
Cover by DAVID YARDIN
Carol Danvers is fighting a one-woman war against the CIA, and her only ally is… Spider-Man?! Spidey stumbles into Carol’s world of international espionage and may not come out in one piece.
32 PGS./Rated T+ · $2.99
FOC – 12/4, On-Sale – 12/24

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #20
Written by DAN SLOTT
& CHRISTOS N. GAGE
Pencils by STEVE KURTH
Cover by MARK BROOKS
“Acceptable Losses”
The Invasion is over and the Initiative has been rocked to its core. Now that the truth is out, that the program was conceived as part of a Skrull plot, can it survive? Who will leave? Who will stay? And who will lead them? Also: Learn what’s become of the REAL Hank Pym! And when Taskmaster discovers Mutant Zero’s true identity, she gets fightin’ mad! For fans of the Marvel Universe, this issue is one of the most important comics of the year as key members of the Initiative graduate and/or move on to four major Marvel titles!
32 PGS./Rated T+ · $2.99
FOC – 12/4, On-Sale – 12/24

DARK AVENGERS #1
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
Pencils & Cover by MIKE DEODATO
Variant Cover by MARKO DJURDJEVIC
THE DARK REIGN IS HERE! The start of an explosive new era in the Avengers mythos! Who are the Dark Avengers? Who is the Iron Patriot? The answers will shock you! Brought to you by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato Jr.
32 PGS./Rated T+ · $3.99
FOC – 12/18, On-Sale – 1/21
Blank Variant Cover Also Available!

DARK AVENGERS BY MIKE DEODATO POSTER
24×36· $8.99
Final Order Cut-Off 12/11, (On-Sale 1/7/09)

MIGHTY AVENGERS #21
Written by DAN SLOTT
Pencils & Cover by KHOI PHAM
“Earth’s Mightiest Part 1 of 3″
“The Smartest Man in the Room”
IT ALL STARTS HERE! A new roster! One of the team’s most powerful foes! And one of the most popular and requested Avengers returns to the fold! When darkness reigns and chaos falls, there’s no room for compromise, no time to run and hide. The world needs EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROES! But after the events of Secret Invasion, is HANK PYM ready to rejoin their ranks? And what is the secret that haunts him, a secret dating back to the earliest days of the original team? Join Dan Slott and Khoi Pham for a new age of ALL OUT AVENGERS ACTION! Special giant-sized issue! 36 pages of all-new story and art! Guest starring: NEW AVENGERS, DARK AVENGERS, YOUNG AVENGERS, and CLASSIC AVENGERS!
48 PGS./Rated A · $3.99
FOC – 12/18, On-Sale – 1/14

NEW AVENGERS #49
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
Pencils & Cover by BILLY TAN
Luke Cage must find his child and he will do anything he has to to bring her home safely… including teaming up with the one
person he has sworn vengeance against. Building to the bombastic 50th anniversary issue. Brought to you by Brian Michael Bendis and Billy Tan!
32 PGS./Rated A · $3.99
FOC – 1/8, On-Sale – 1/28

PUNISHER #1
Written by RICK REMENDER
Penciled by JEROME OPEÑA
50/50 Covers by MIKE MCKONE
LIVING IN DARKNESS,” PART 1
The fight against the “Dark Reign” begins as the duty of chronicling Frank Castle’s war journal is passed to new regular team of writer Rick Remender (End League, Fear Agent) and Jerome Opeña (Wolverine, Fear Agent). One man with one bullet, in the right place, at the right time, can change the world. That’s why the Punisher is perched atop a building on the Jersey shore with a high-powered Skrull rifle, his crosshairs trained on a target in Midtown Manhattan. But who is his target — and why? One thing’s for sure: They’re anything but helpless. Someone is watching their back. Someone big. Enter: The Sentry!
48 PGS./Rated T+ · $3.99
FOC – 12/18, On-Sale – 1/7

WAR MACHINE #2
Written by GREG PAK
Penciled by LEONARDO MANCO
Cover by FRANCESCO
“MATT” MATTINA
In the blasted heart of occupied Aqiria, the mercenaries of Eaglestar International literally write the laws, committing heinous atrocities with no repercussions. But today, the loopholes are closing — around their necks! Who will pay the final price when the skies explode with the arrival of
the world’s only eight foot tall, hundred-gun-equipped,
shoulder-rocket-mounted, titanium-vibranium-alloy-armored, kill-number-counting, one-man-army for truth, justice, and good old-fashioned payback? And what does last issue’s mind-blowing ending mean for Jim Rhodes, the shattered man inside this shocking new War Machine?
32 PGS./Rated T+ · $2.99
FOC – 12/18, On-Sale – 1/21

THUNDERBOLTS #128
Written by ANDY DIGGLE
Penciled by ROBERTO
DE LA TORRE
Cover by FRANCESCO
“MATT” MATTINA
Variant Cover by CLINT LANGLEY
From the ashes of Secret Invasion, an all-new era for the Thunderbolts erupts, with repercussions felt right across the Marvel Universe! Yelena Belova (a.k.a. Black Widow II) leads the irredeemable Ant-Man and the sinister Ghost in a daring mission to take down the U.S. President aboard Air Force One! But even as Norman Osborn tightens his grip on power, he must battle toe-to-toe against his deadliest foe: the Green Goblin! Wait, what…? Be there as writer Andy Diggle (The Losers) and artist Roberto De La Torre (INVINCIBLE IRON MAN) flip everyone’s favorite team of villains upside down!
32 PGS./Rated T+ · $2.99
FOC – 12/18, On-Sale – 1/21

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #9
Written by MATT FRACTION
Art & Cover by
SALVADOR LARROCA
It’s a fierce, fearful new world, and in the wake of the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., Iron Man is the WORLD’S MOST WANTED! Tony Stark and Maria Hill go on the run from Norman Osborn and H.A.M.M.E.R., while Pepper holds down the fort at the struggling Stark Industries. Iron Man is public enemy number one, but how far will Tony go to do the right thing?! You better believe all the way, baby. It’s Part 2 of WORLD’S MOST WANTED, by the blockbuster team of Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca!
32 PGS./Rated A · $2.99
FOC – 12/18, On-Sale – 1/7

MS. MARVEL #35
Written by BRIAN REED
Penciled by PATRICK OLLIFFE
Cover by ED MCGUINESS
A mass suicide by a branch of the Church of Hala has claimed the lives of twenty families. With Captain Marvel gone, Carol Danvers investigates this tragedy performed in his name, putting her directly in the path of would be Captain Marvel replacement: Noh Varr.
32 PGS./Rated T+ · $2.99
FOC – 1/8, On-Sale – 1/28

DEADPOOL #6
Written by DANIEL WAY
Penciled by PACO MEDINA
Cover by JASON PEARSON
“HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?” PART 1 OF 2
Remember when Deadpool saved the Earth from those pesky Skrulls? Well, the guy who stole the intel Deadpool worked so hard to acquire — and positioned himself as Earth’s Number One War Hero — wants to make sure you don’t. The last thing this guy needs is a certain “Merc with a Mouth” letting everyone know the truth of how he saved the day, and he’s hired a certain maniacal man-eater to make sure Deadpool never does. Here comes Tiger-Shark! Plus, a surprise appearance by a certain palindromic pal!
32 PGS./Parental Advisory · $2.99
FOC – 12/18, On-Sale – 1/7

UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #2
Written by MATT FRACTION
Pencils by MITCH BREITWEISER
& DANIEL ACUÑA
Cover by YANICK PAQUETTE
Emma Frost has never been a simple person, nor has
she had a simple past. The Hellfire Club. The Hellions.
Generation X. Genosha. But you haven’t seen it all. Did you know about her history with Namor? With Tony Stark? With Norman Osborn? The X-Men have often operated on the outside of the Marvel Universe; that stops now and in this annual. Do not miss it.
48 PGS./Rated T+ · $3.99
FOC – 12/18, On-Sale – 1/21

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT: DARK REIGN
Written by JOHN RHETT THOMAS
Cover by YANICK PAQUETTE
For those of you who have embraced change, it is time for the DARK REIGN. In the aftermath of the Skrull’s SECRET INVASION, the Avengers-verse has been rocked to its core. The New Avengers, Mighty Avengers and Initiative have been broken and battered, and now stand to be renewed. But which heroes will remain standing? Who are these Dark Avengers? With insider accounts from your favorite writers and artists, plus previews of new titles, this special issue of SPOTLIGHT gets you ready for DARK REIGN, the storytelling event for the comics industry in 2009!
48 PGS./Rated T+ · $3.99
FOC – 12/18, On-Sale – 1/7

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #21
Written by CHRISTOS N. GAGE
Pencils & Cover by
HUMBERTO RAMOS
THE INITIATIVE DISASSEMBLED begins here! The Fifty State Initiative stands revealed as a Skrull plot. Key personnel have left Camp Hammond, never to return. And that’s the least of the shocking fallout from Secret Invasion. Is there a future for our heroes? It could be a moot question when the mad clone of Thor, last seen in CIVIL WAR, is revived and turned loose on Stamford! This is no idle hype, True Believer–after this story, the Initiative will never be the same!
32 PGS./Rated T+ · $2.99
FOC – 1/8, On-Sale – 1/28

DARK AVENGERS #2
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
Pencils & Cover by MIKE DEODATO
Variant Cover by MIKE CHOI
The Dark Avengers have made themselves known to the world and as the world takes them in, Morgana le Fey comes looking for blood!! Once you learn who the Dark Avengers are you’ll see why this is the buzz book of the year!! The Dark Reign is here!!
32 PGS./Rated T+ · $3.99
FOC – 1/29, On-Sale – 2/18

NEW AVENGERS #50
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
Pencils & Wraparound Cover by BILLY TAN
Celebrate this very special milestone issue as the new roster of New Avengers deal with the shocking news of the existence
of the Dark Avengers the only way they can… by taking them head on. But what is waiting for them is the stuff the DARK REIGN is made of.
48 PGS./Rated A · $4.99
FOC – 2/5, On-Sale – 2/25

BLACK PANTHER #1
Written by REGINALD HUDLIN
Penciled by KEN LASHLEY
Cover by J. SCOTT CAMPBELL
50/50 Cover by KEN LASHLEY
70TH Anniversary Variant Cover by MARKO DJURDJEVIC
“DEADLIEST OF THE SPECIES, PART 1
The Black Panther is back…and she’s badder than ever. That’s right — she! What happened to T’Challa? Who is the new Black Panther? Find out why the female is the deadliest of the species.
40 PGS./Rated T+ · $3.99
FOC – 1/15, On-Sale – 2/4

MIGHTY AVENGERS #22
Written by DAN SLOTT
Pencils & Cover by KHOI PHAM
“Earth’s Mightiest Part 2 of 3″
“The Writing on the Wall”
Avengers Assemble! Scarlet Witch! Hank Pym! Hercules! The Vision! Stature! Hulk! Jocasta! U.S. Agent! Iron Man! On the last patch of Earth, they’re the only heroes left standing. And the enemy they must defeat…was once one of their own. It’s Avenger versus Avenger! And at stake is nothing less than the fabric of reality itself! Join Dan Slott and Khoi Pham for the next part in this all-new chapter of MARVEL’S MIGHTIEST SUPER HERO TEAM!
32 PGS./Rated A · $2.99
FOC – 1/29, On-Sale – 2/18

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #10
Written by MATT FRACTION
Art & Cover by
SALVADOR LARROCA
In the world-shaking wake of SECRET INVASION, everything has changed. Now a fugitive, Tony Stark initiates the deletion sequence that could save the world, but end his life…while Norman Osborn assumes the reins of power and brings the H.A.M.M.E.R. down. How much trouble are Tony, Pepper, and Maria in? Things go from bad to worse as WORLD’S MOST WANTED continues here! By Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca!
32 PGS./Rated A · $2.99
FOC – 1/15, On-Sale – 2/4

PUNISHER #2
Written by RICK REMENDER
Penciled by JEROME OPEÑA
50/50 Covers by MIKE MCKONE
“LIVING IN DARKNESS,” PART 2
Frank Castle is losing the war. Organized crime has New York City in a death grip that, thanks to the powerful propaganda machine of the corrupt new government, is being swept under the rug. To stem this dark tide, Frank Castle must embrace new tactics, embarking on a bloody public campaign that will expose the dark underbelly of the supposedly squeaky-clean regime to the world, and a new sidekick, who’ll help him get out the message. Who would be stupid enough to team up with the Punisher now that his rifle is pointed squarely at the biggest villains in the Marvel Universe? The answer will turn the Punisher into the most proficient villain killer in town!
32 PGS./Parental Advisory · $2.99
FOC – 1/15, On-Sale – 2/4

DEADPOOL #7
Written by DANIEL WAY
Penciled by PACO MEDINA
Cover by JASON PEARSON
“HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?” PART 2 OF 2
Bob: Agent of HYDRA is back! But his not-so-tearful reunion with Deadpool is cut short by Tiger Shark who, for some reason, just won’t get over wanting to cut off Wade’s head! What’s the deal with that? Perhaps there’s
something Bob’s not telling Deadpool? The hottest new
title on the stands swerves into a new and bigger direction this issue, heading right toward the dark heart of the
Marvel Universe! Don’t miss out!
32 PGS./Rated T+ · $2.99
FOC – 1/15, On-Sale – 2/4

SECRET WARRIORS #1
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS & JONATHAN HICKMAN
Penciled by STEFANO CASELLI
Cover by JIM CHEUNG
Exploding out of the pages of Secret Invasion and Mighty Avengers!!
Nick Fury and his new band of young heroes uncover the darkest secret in the history of the Marvel Universe!! A secret that will crack the internet into tiny little pieces!! A secret that sends the Secret Warriors tumbling into an underworld of rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, super-powered spies, and global criminal organizations. This is the Nick Fury book you’ve been waiting for! Be there for the Marvel debut of award winning Nightly News creator Jonathan Hickman as he teams up with Secret Warriors co-creator Brian Bendis to unveil a new era in Marvel mania!!
48 PGS./Rated T+ · $3.99
FOC – 1/15, On-Sale – 2/4

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #22
Written by CHRISTOS N .GAGE
Pencils & Cover by
HUMBERTO RAMOS
“The Initiative Disassembled” continues as Counter-Force–the original New Warriors–return to join the battle against Ragnarok! But will they save Camp Hammond–or destroy it? Be here as events set in motion in our very first issue rocket towards their devastating conclusion…we’re not kidding when we say the Initiative will never be the same!
32 PGS./Rated T+ · $2.99
FOC – 2/5, On-Sale – 2/25

WOLVERINE: ORIGINS #33
Written by DANIEL WAY
Pencils & Cover by
DOUG BRAITHWAITE
“WEAPON XI,” Part 1
With Daken showing up in public for the first time, Nick Fury approaches Wolverine with a proposition: Tell me what you know about your son and I’ll tell you what I know about Romulus. What follows is an exploration of one of the darkest corners of the Marvel Universe, the mysterious program that produced both Daken and his father before him: WEAPON X!
32 PGS./Parental Advisory · $2.99
FOC – 1/29, On-Sale – 2/18

THUNDERBOLTS #129
Written by ANDY DIGGLE
Penciled by ROBERTO
DE LA TORRE
Cover by FRANCESCO
“MATT” MATTINA
Variant Cover by CLINT LANGLEY
The Green Goblin vs. the President of the United States! It’s terror at 10,000 feet when Spider-Man’s fearsome foe hurls pumpkin bombs at a special target: the new President! Just what is Norman Osborn up to…and who in the world are the new Thunderbolts? A Dark Reign is falling…be there as the new team of Andy Diggle and Roberto De La Torre present “Hammer Down” Part II!
32 PGS./Rated T+ · $2.99
FOC – 1/29, On-Sale – 2/18

WAR MACHINE #3
Written by GREG PAK
Penciled by LEONARDO MANCO
Cover by FRANCESCO
“MATT” MATTINA
Rhodey versus Ares! Man versus Immortal! War Machine versus God of War! With the life of one of his oldest friends in the balance, Marvel’s one man army must face the only warrior who can outdo his thirst for battle! Be there as armor meets axe, James Rhodes makes enemies in the highest places, and Dark Reign falls!
32 PGS./Rated T+ · $2.99
FOC – 1/29, On-Sale – 2/18

DARK REIGN FILES
Written by MICHAEL HOSKIN
Bring on the bad guys! It’s the latest mighty Marvel handbook, straight from the files of Norman Osborn! The Dark Reign’s chief power broker assembles a case study of professional criminals on the superhuman grid – scrutinizing threat, loyalty, influence, power and expendability. In the words of the Green Goblin himself: “Our purpose is to know our enemies – and our enemies’ enemies – as we do ourselves.”
64 PGS./Rated T+ · $4.99
FOC – 2/5, On-Sale – 2/25

MS. MARVEL #36
Written by BRIAN REED
Penciled by PATRICK OLLIFFE
Cover by PHIL JIMENEZ
Norman Osborn has handed the world’s most dangerous genetic weapon to a madman, and it is up to Carol Danvers to retrieve it. But Carol is keeping secrets from everyone –secrets that could spell the end of Ms. Marvel as we
know her.
32 PGS./Rated T+ · $2.99
FOC – 2/5, On-Sale – 2/25

AGENTS OF ATLAS #1
Written by JEFF PARKER
Penciled by CARLO PAGULAYAN & BENTON JEW
Cover by ART ADAMS
Variant Cover by ED MCGUINNESS
The heroes of the 1950s are back with big plans for the 21st Century! When Federal enforcers under the hand of NORMAN OSBORN burst into an armory under control of the Atlas Foundation, Jimmy Woo’s Agents go head-to-head with the new powers that be. How it all goes down will make the playing field of the modern Marvel Universe more volatile than ever! PLUS: A 12-page 1950s flashback to the Agents of Atlas’ first savage encounter with the man known as Wolverine!
48 PGS./Rated T+ · $3.99
FOC – 1/15, On-Sale – 2/4