It’s that special time of year–the weather is cooling down, the shopping malls are filling up, families are coming together…and bloggers are rolling out holiday posts meant to tide over their readers for weeks at a time. 

While none of my books blew me away this week, it was a solid pull with Marvel, DC, Image, and even Dark Horse represented. Considering my mainstream, mostly superhero tastes, this is about as cultured and diverse as the weekly dose gets–so give thanks! Meanwhile, I’ll give thanks for a few things, too:

Thank you, Amazing Spider-Man #612, for not sucking. After four lousy issues that had me on the fence about dropping the series from my pull, you were a really good issue, kicking-off to the “Gauntlet” storyline, which promises to reestablish several key crooks in Spider-Man’s rogues gallery. First up is Electro, who gets a genuine recharge by writer Mark Waid and artist Paul Azaceta. Also recharged–my interest in this series. (I could have done without the Black Cat backup feature, though, so no thanks for that.)

Thank you, Dark Avengers #11, for once again teasing the death of The Sentry. I know it won’t stick this time, just like it didn’t stick when Morgan LaFey zapped the golden glitch from existence earlier in the series…but giving me the thrill of watching one of my least favorite characters die over and over in various ways is almost as good as just killing him off for real.

Thank you, Flash: Rebirth #5, for re-introducing an old character name and costume in a way that continues DC’s reliable track record of consideration for female readers, present and future, as it builds out the legacies of its iconic core heroes. No thank you, however, for the convoluted way this impulsive origin came about. (The speedforce does custom tailoring now? Say wha-huh?!)

Thanks to Dr. Horrible #1 for reminding me how good Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog was…because this comic was not.

Thanks to several books I bought this week, for reminding me to not be so naiive about the many tricks of misdirection I should be more aware of as a longtime fanboy: 

I originally skipped Green Lantern Corps #42, thinking it was yet another inconsequential bit of padding on the Blackest Night event; it pretty much was…except for the last two pages, where a major GL character bites it in a way that is sure to resonate in the main miniseries and GL title. Thankfully, I was able to find a copy of the issue one week later, rather than have to track down a marked-up back issue or wait for a second printing. If I had flipped to the end of the issue while scanning the shelves when it first came out, I’d have seen the book’s value and bought it then.

Of course, spoiling the end of a comic is not recommended. It can actually backfire on you in a bigger way than simply ruining story surprises. Thanks to Dark Reign: The List: The Amazing Spider-Man #1 for reminding me of this, by tricking me about the potential relevance of this comic with a two-year-old issue of The Pulse tacked onto this comic as a backup feature. That issue ends with a Daily Bugle cover story of Norman Osborn revealed as the Green Goblin and imprisoned for his assorted crimes and craziness. My quick flip in the comic shop had me thinking I was picking up a major turning point in Dark Reign. I’ll hope for the best that Peter Parker’s leaked viral video of  Norman Osborn being his old crazy self–which is what happens in this comic–does have some significant payoff in the bigger Dark Reign plot.

But if it doesn’t, thanks to another Dark Reign: The List one-shot (Dark Reign: The List: The Incredible Hulk) for actually validating my skepticism about the inconsequentiality of these one-shots and reminding me I should have known better. That book annoyingly invaded the plot of a book I did pick up this week–The Incredible Hulk #604–with a dismissive one-panel explanation from a previously unseen, but suddenly important supporting character. Thank you for reminding me how spin-offs, crossovers, and “event books” always manage to overstay their welcome and overstep their boundaries.

And, finally, thank you to Invincible #68 for reminding me that just because nothing ever seems to happens in a book doesn’t mean it doesn’t have plenty going on.