AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #615: Javier Pulido’s gorgeous art and Javier Rodriguez’s muted colors perfectly match Fred “Javier” Van Lente’s haunting lullaby of a story. The events of the previous issue are poignantly followed up on, as Spidey’s cast of characters try to move on in the wake of the destruction of the Daily Bugle. We get new status quos, some great character moments, and a deadly new Sandman. The best part of this issue is the amount of invention Van Lente and Pulido bring to Sandman’s moves (hey, he’s not just making hammers with his fists!), and more importantly, they explain how Spidey swings from the city to the center of the East River. That’s been a long time coming. Possibly my favorite issue of this title since Dan Slott and Marcos Martin’s Paper Doll arc.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PRESENTS: ANTI-VENOM – NEW WAYS TO LIVE #3: I’m not 100% sure we needed a return of “Venom: Lethal Protector,” but it’s also not like Zeb Wells did a bad job with this series. There’s a nice underscoring of the theme on the last page, and the art is solid enough, I’m just still suffering from a bad case of the Venom over-exposure I caught during the ’90s.

ASTONISHING X-MEN #33: I’m not saying this isn’t fun. The splash pages and giant panels in particular are totally insane and poster worthy, and Warren Ellis has his usual “I read a science article this morning and now it is a comic book” ethic going on. But it’s also like Ellis spent the day watching a bunch of sitcoms, and then aped the speech rhythms of said sitcoms. There’s a lot of banter in here, and pacing that almost demands a laugh track. We’re not really getting anything except broad character strokes, so if you’re thinking about picking this up, do so knowing you’re in for a silly, big budget ride of a comic.

CABLE #21: I swear to god, if Hope ISN’T Jean Grey, I will eat my hat. I don’t own or wear hats, but I will go out, buy a hat, and put it on my head until the X-Men Second Coming event starts next year, just to prove a point. However, that hat will be made out of cheeseburgers. FYI. Anyway, this issue is great, as usual. Bishop and Cable are the super serious, time-traveling versions of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner I never knew I wanted to read about on a monthly basis, until I did. If this series ends when Cable and Hope get back to “our” time, I’m going to be very sad; though, I don’t know how the mission statement of the book couldn’t completely change. Ah well.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN #5: Well, that just went crazy-pants. And in my book, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. Bryan Hitch and Butch Guice get to draw some insane, over the top battle sequences, including the intro of one character that, if it doesn’t fill you with abject glee, you’re not a Marvel fan. Unfortunately, given all the build-up (I’m including the entirety of Brubaker’s run on cap, because let’s be honest, this is what it’s all been building up to), the Red Skull’s plan comes off a little half baked. And generic. Which is too bad, because otherwise it has the action fans have been craving for most of the series. This is going to collect very well, and I think there the pacing will feel a little more classically three-act, but as is, it hasn’t quite been working in the issue format.

DAREDEVIL #503: I’m not a big fan of characters telling me, “things are going to get real bad…” or “There’s a storm coming…” or just generally letting me know things are getting bad, without actually showing me that. And, as is, it’s not like Daredevil doesn’t know he’s in over his head, we don’t need to keep telling him that. Still, Andy Diggle does a solid job solidifying the status quo in this issue, thoough I wonder how long it can hold for. We shall see…

DARK AVENGERS #12: Last issue I said I’m a sucker for a good Molecule Man story, loved what Bendis, Deodato, and Horn did with the look and pacing of the issue, and was curious to find out more about Victoria Hand. I wouldn’t abjectly say those fizzled out with this issue, but it definitely feels like, to use a television metaphor, the last five minutes after the last commercial break. The issue looks fantastic, and there’s at least two big plot points here (one I’m not crazy about, the other, at the end, is blindingly obvious once you think about it, but also incredibly satisfying), but as an issue, it’s a light one.

DARK WOLVERINE #81: When Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu completely avoid action, and instead focus on making Daken a diabolical mastermind, this series soars. Reason it works is, most monologuing bad guys don’t have frickin’ bone claws and assassin skills to back up their smarts, just a few bombs and some henchmen. Daken, in case you haven’t guessed, has bone claws. And, in this issue, is completely terrifying. A quiet character piece using Ms. Marvel (Sofen-style) as a window, this is a great one-shot to get on board the title, and another illuminating piece of the puzzle for Daken, who is quickly coming out of the shadow of his father.

DEADPOOL: MERC WITH A MOUTH #6: Last issue, I felt like Victor Gischler was really finding his stride with this title, making Deadpool his own; and I think that’s solidified with this issue, especially in light of Daniel Way’s take on DP in the… Main, I guess? Title, which is far more anti-hero-ish, than goofy. This is goofy. Almost shticky. It’s weird to say, but this is the comedy counterpart to Deadpool. Where there’s almost zero character development, and everything is to set up far more ridiculous situations for Deadpool and his talking zombie head to get into. Far be it from me to criticize someone else for being shticky, so I’ll just stop there.

DOCTOR VOODOO: AVENGER OF THE SUPERNATURAL #3: I’ve really enjoyed the first two issues of this, but this third one just devolves into the supernatural mumbo-jumbo speak people pick on when they talk about not liking magic comics. Arts still good, though.

HULK #18: Jeph Loeb continues his streak of solid character pieces about Hulk characters with this issue’s smartly written focus on Leonard Samson. Seriously? Did I just write that sentence? And it’s true? Everything I know and love is wrong.

MIGHTY AVENGERS #32: After the last, excellent arc, this title is finally firing on all cylinders, giving us the old school Avengers action we (well, I) wanted. Dan Slott takes solo scripting duties this issue, and as usual, he gives nicely textured character moments, big action, and at the end, a threat so big it needs two Avengers teams to take it on. For now, at least, this title has replaced Avengers: The Initiative as the best title to get a sense of what’s going on in the Marvel Universe right now.

MS. MARVEL #48: If Brian Reed is going to wrap up his run on Ms. Marvel in two issues, he’s definitely going in style. Great second page, great last page, a fun romp throughout that plays on elements seen throughout Reed’s run on the series. I’ll miss it when it’s gone.

REALM OF KINGS INHUMANS #2: As usual, a solid and enjoyable effort from Abnett and Lanning, but I’m going to repeat my slight, unfair dismay from the previous issue. In my mind, the Inhumans work best when you can radically change their status quo in a mini-series, allowing them to completely change over the course of four or five issues. As, you know, their whole thing is change. Previous Inhumans mini and maxi series have been some of my favorites put out by Marvel in the past two decades. Here, though, for the first time, DnA have given them a solid, interesting status quo. And I like it. However, I don’t think it really lends itself to a series, so much as having them now be supporting character in the back-drop. Also, I don’t think matters are helped by strangely crossing over the second issue of a mini-series with an ongoing series (Mighty Avengers). Again, I like both titles, Inhumans fans should definitely pick this up, but the whole endeavor is striking me as a little off.

THE MARVELOUS LAND OF OZ #2: Easily the must absurd issue of this series (as well as the previous one), it’s far more dialogue based than the previous issue, so more on writer Eric Shanower’s shoulders than Skottie Young’s. But… It’s still great. Every issue of this is great, and like I say pretty much every time, if you want to get a kid you know hooked on comics, give them one of the Marvel Oz books.

THUNDERBOLTS #139: It’ll probably take a few issues before Jeff Parker finds his footing and makes his mark with this title… Right now, it feels like it’s skimming on the surface of the water set up by Warren Ellis, then Andy Diggle. It helps, though, with this issue that Parker lands himself in comfortable waters by having the T-Bolts go up against his pet project, Agents of Atlas. And it’s a fun, creative fight in this issue, well worth picking up; though at this point, I’d love to skip forward five months and see where this title will be after Dark Reign finishes.

ULTIMATE COMICS ARMOR WARS #3: Okay, so after three and a half issues of Tony Stark boozing it up, havin’ da sex, and kicking arse without a care, we finally get a challenge worthy of the name Armor Wars. But again, he just kind of kicks arse, and I imagine the next issue he’ll again, easily solve his problems. Warren Ellis always knows how to make cool, fun tech, and write big battle scenes with quippy dialogue, but this, like most of his Marvel work, is characterized by far less interest and care than his creator owned work. Which is too bad, because he could make an insane Ultimate Armor Wars, if he put his mind to it.

VENGEANCE OF THE MOON KNIGHT #4: I’m just going to keep reiterating the same thing every issue: Jerome Opena’s art is spectacular and cinematic; I still don’t know why I should be caring about Moon Knight.

WHAT IF? DAREDEVIL VS. ELEKTRA: Of these new batch of What Ifs, this comes the closest to telling an actual story. There’s a review for you!

X-FACTOR #200: Ah… That’s more like it. After a cramped last issue, X-Factor is back with a super-sized spectacular, and as good as ever. This is a great jumping on point for new readers, as Peter David expertly introduces each character, as well as the new, central mystery. In a certain way, after the massive amounts of continuity and crossover-itis in the past few arcs, it’s bringing the title back to basics. And I like it. Plus, a killer last page, as usual.

X-FORCE #22: This is very much a middle chapter of the Necrosha cross-over, and while there are some big moments involving Rahne’s condition, and a great little moment with Blink and Eli Bard, for the most part, not too much changes; we’ve got far too many parts of this cross-over to go. If you’re picking this title up, keep picking it up, but this may not be the best time to jump right in.

X-MEN LEGACY #230: More like, “X-men leg you see,” because they all have legs, and you can see them, am I right? No, I’m not. Anywho, another solid issue by Mike Carey, wrapping up his Emplate arc in a big way. But again, broken record time… What’s this series about, really? what’s the mission statement? Because I don’t think we’re going to find out for another few issues, until the Necrosha cross-over is done, and I’m missing a compelling reason to pick up this title.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #597 – Is this the best Spider-Man has ever been? I’m going to go out on a limb and say, “possibly.” Spidey goes up against the Dark Avengers, and it ain’t pretty. Joe Kelly knows how to ratchet up the danger to Pete, which he does quite well in this issue. And Marco Chechetto’s art is great, reminiscent of Phil Jimenez without feeling derivative. Plus, we get a clue about what’s going to go down in ASM #600, and it’s both blindingly obvious, and a completely fun idea. Can’t wait.

BETA RAY BILL: GODHUNTER #1 – I want to ruin absolutely nothing about this book, because it came as a total surprise to me. It’s well written, well drawn, and you get a bonus “origin of Beta Ray Bill” reprint. Pick this up.

ENDER’S GAME: RECRUITING VALENTINE ONE-SHOT – I’m still having a hard time getting a handle on the Ender’s Universe, having never read the books, but holy crap, Timothy Green II’s use of light in the art in this issue is stunning. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite so cinematic in a comic book before. Whatever I think about the story and plot elements of these Enders books, Marvel is putting an incredible amount of talent on them.

FANTASTIC FOUR #567 – Why? Why must this book be so pretty, and yet so dumb. So unrelenting dumb? So incredibly dumb, it hurts my brain to think about. I love Mark Millar. I love his big, silly over the top action set pieces. And Bryan Hitch’s art is classic. But I wish it wasn’t tied to stories so stunningly un-original, they feel like something I came up with at age ten after reading comics, then playing with my action figures in the yard. “No, Doctor Doom isn’t the bad guy! This He-Man action figure is the real bad guy! And the only one that can stop him is… Rodimus Prime!” Sigh.

GENEXT: UNITED #2 – While reading this issue, I was thinking about the differences between Claremont’s approach to this, ostensibly the future of the X-Men, and X-Men Forever, which you could easily call the past of the X-Men. And he’s taking entirely opposite approaches to the two titles. Where X-Men Forever (and granted, this is based on one issue) feels like it’s purposely going against what would have ACTUALLY happened in issue #4 of X-Men back in the 90s (and will only go further against it from there), GeneXt is almost stubbornly not pushing the idea of the X-Men forward. And just in case it isn’t clear, I’m totally cool with that. This was a review of X-Men Forever, right?

LOCKJAW AND THE PET AVENGERS #2 – Ms. Lion is the most important new character in the Marvel Universe. I’m glad I said what we were all thinking.

PUNISHER: FRANK CASTLE MAX #71 – There’s nothing terribly wrong with this issue in particular, other than the fact that it’s a Punisher MAX comic not written by Garth Ennis. Oh, and the Punisher spends the entire issue doing absolutely nothing except squinting his eyes and wondering if anything is wrong. Which is what we all want out of a Punisher comic, right? Frank Castle thinking real hard like?

UNCANNY X-MEN #511 – Love this comic, love what Matt Fraction is doing with it, love some of the plot twists, do NOT like the rushed, ambiguous conclusion. YOu should pick it up anyway, though. It’s original, fun X-Men stories, and how long has it been since we had those. Forever. X-Men Forever.

WAR OF KINGS: SAVAGE WORLD OF SKAAR ONE-SHOT – If you like War of Kings, and also like Skaar, you are one of the ten people in the very small Venn Diagram of comic book readers who will by this book. Congratulations, I hope you like continuity headaches.

WOLVERINE #74 – I can take or leave the first story in this book, which plays exactly like each of the fifteen thousand Wolverine one shots that have come out over the past month. But the second story continues to be one of the best Wolverine stories… Ever. No joke. And the Wolverine/Spidey relationship continues to be totally delightful, even if it smacks of “hey, let’s take the two most marketable characters at Marvel, and put them together to make money I MEAN GOOD STORIES.” Anyway, it should be a law somewhere that only Jason Aaron is allowed to write Wolverine comics.

X-FACTOR #44 – Layla and Madrox together totally creeps me out. That’s all I’ve got.

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.

This week gave us two issues of Peter David’s rather fan-beloved X-Factor, and what’s interesting is that they basically serve as a seminar on what works and doesn’t work in this series.

The former issue, a oneshot about everyone’s favorite nigh-omniscient Layla Miller, revisits perhaps the second largest dangling plot thread from Messiah CompleX and provides welcome answers to longtime fans of this series. It’s a great issue, justifying its extra length and significantly moving forward Layla’s storyline, dealing with the sort of mutant vs. government issues that have always been the major subject material of this series. As a matter of fact, it’s almost a textbook lesson on shared-universe writing regarding the deftness with which David balances the plotting demands of the X-franchise and the narrative demands of the main character. Valentine De Landro is a perfect fit for the material, providing just the right amount of noir and just the right amount of superhero bombast.

This is why I was rather glad I read this special after X-Factor #34, which manages to almost as skillfully distill everything unappealing about David’s X-Factor – ill-conceived and frustrating action sequences (even to the characters! – do we need ANOTHER team-up misunderstanding? It’s not any funnier if all the characters are going “Wow, this sure is a stereotypical team-up misunderstanding!”), tie-in material that rolls in and out without fanfare or major effect, interesting ideas (Darwin as a human-Skrull link) thrown out and never touched on, and a distinct lack of servicing the book’s needs and plots in favor of servicing the Marvel Universe, Secret Invasion and David’s own She-Hulk, with which this X-Factor arc was crossing over. All it really needed were some Star Trek jokes to complete this bizarre shrine to David’s worst excesses.

However, all of this would be passable without Larry Stroman’s astonishingly regressed art style. I remember when he was with this same writer, on this same property, in the ’90s; it was a very visually appealing sort of Mignola/Jae Lee-esque style with imaginative panel layouts. I don’t know if it’s the inking here or what, but Stroman’s art here is a disaster – anatomy that should have been exaggerated instead becoming impossibly distorted, unrecognizable characters (I *still* can only tell that’s Darwin from the dialogue) and overall poor storytelling sense all contribute to the rushed feeling. Maybe Stroman just needs more time to get his groove back. I hope so; I really, really liked early ’90s Stroman. But this is not him.

It’s really interesting how both of these books – branched off of the same narrative trunk, but so completely different – hit this week to provide such a blatant contrast. (It’s also confusing as to why Marvel would schedule things this way, but oh well.) However, while X-Factor #34 is simply a bizarre misstep in a usually consistent series, the Layla Miller Special is a great character piece and an incredibly fun chapter in the same story. The latter outweighs the former.

Layla Miller Special:

X-Factor #34: