things i liked this week

X-Men Second Coming one-shot (Marvel)
Craig Kyle/Christopher Yost/David Finch/Matt Banning/Peter Steigerwald/Joe Caramagna (cover: Adi Granov, variant cover: Finch with Jason Keith)

has Finch been around too long that i think of this dirty rough-edged work with old colleague Batt kind of a throwback? is Hope Summers a positive or a negative? also, see X-23 make a point!

Blackest Night #8 (DC)
Geoff Johns/Ivan Reis/Oclair Albert/Joe Prado/Alex Sinclair/Nick Napolitano (variant cover: Doug Mahnke)

did anybody notice that this was released leading up to the Easter weekend? the conclusion, although nothing totally surprising, has mixed results with the fan base. certain characters were brought back for a reason (and the reason being "we can have more events with them!" - they weren't randomly pulled from a bag). and i can certainly agree with Geoff Johns that Ivan Reis is a god - imagine drawing all this craziness for eight straight issues. we need to give him a White Lantern ring. wait, that's totally gay.

X-Factor #203 (Marvel)
Peter David/Val De Landro/Pat Davidson/Jeromy Cox/Cory Petit (cover: David Yardin/Nathan Fairbairn)
Monet goes to rescue her father in South America. probably kidnapped by Nazis hiding there. anyhoo, look who's got a mad-on for her! woooohoooooo!!!


Gotham City Sirens #10 (DC)
Paul Dini/Andres Guinaldo/Raul Fernandez/Ian Hannin/Sal Cipriano (cover: Guillem March)
listen, there's only one Fable that works - its that book by Bill Willingham. anyway, Doctor Aesop? pffffft. also: the girls' relationship with Riddler? pffffft.


Realm of Kings: Inhumans #5 (Marvel)
Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning/Pablo Raimondi/Tim Seeley/Victor Olazaba/Adriano Lucas (cover: Stjepan Sejic)
say what??? this is all a sham? oh, wait till Thanos returns. and the real Maximus comes back.


X-Force #25 (Marvel)
Craig Kyle/Christopher Yost/Clayton Crain/Cory Petit

Attack of the 50-foot giant, blue, goth goddess sexbomb! hey, question: doesn't anybody question why certain mutants show up in Cerebra as Colorado visitors every so often? do the Cuckoos mindwipe those who notice?

Cloak and Dagger #1 (Marvel)
Stuart Moore/Mark Brooks/Walden Wong/Emily Warren/Dave Sharpe
riddle me this, Batman! are Tandy and Ty doing what they do as a woman and a man?

Green Hornet #2 (Dynamite)
Kevin Smith/Phil Hester/Jonathan Lau/Ivan Nunes/Simon Bowland (covers: Alex Ross/John Cassaday/Joe Benitez)
out with the old, in with the new. one thing sure, Southwest Airlines is not a sponsor of this book.


Punisher #15
Rick Remender/Roland Boschi/Dan Brown/Lee Loughridge/Joe Caramagna (cover: Mike McKone/Morry Hollowell)

Frank versus dead Nazis, samurais and Hellsgaard! what more do you want? oh wait, is Frankencastle concept ending?

The Sword #23 (Image)
Joshua Luna/Jonathan Luna

you know that line that goes 'that the greatest trick the devil played was to make everyone believe he never existed' or something like that? well .... kinda something like that.

things i liked this week

in no particular order:

Secret Six #19 (DC)
Gail Simone/Jim Calafiore/Jason Wright/Travis Lanham (cover: Daniel Luvisi)
this series, just like its characters, is downright dangerous and unpredictable. a slam-bang smash every month.


Batman & Robin #10 (DC)
Grant Morrison/Andy Clarke/Scott Hanna/Alex Sinclair/Pat Brosseau
suddenly this title got interesting again. yes, it ties in with the whole return of the one and only Bruce Wayne. Morrison gets the characterization right on the money. and am i the only one who finds Oberon Sexton cool?

Wolverine Weapon X #11 (Marvel)
Jason Aaron/Ron Garney/Jason Keith/Cory Petit
Deathlok! Captain America! Wolverine! and of course, beers! what's not to like?

Punisher Max #5 (Marvel)
Jason Aaron/Steve Dillon/Matt Hollingsworth/Cory Petit (cover: Dave Johnson)
i don't know which is more cringe-inducing: Wilson Fisk's ability to not care about anything, or Frank's final punch-up with The Mooninite Mennonite.


Hellboy: Bride of Hell (Dark Horse)
Mike Mignola/Richard Corben/Dave Stewart/Clem Robins
yeah i know, this is a bit late, but hey, better late than never. Mike Mignola's stories are never boring.


Criminal: The Sinners #5 (Icon//Marvel)
Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips/Val Staples
The Sinners comes to a fitting end - doesn't that remind you a bit of the Boondock Saints? and with all the beating Tracy Lawless got in this issue, i felt as if i got pulped myself.


The Waking #1 (Zenescope)
Raven Gregory/Vic Drujiniu/Mark Roberts/Crank! (cover: David Finch)
its like if the cast of Friends got smarter and became detectives. with snappy dialogue. oh, and dead people wake up. where have we seen that before?


Prelude to Deadpool Corps #2 (Marvel)
Victor Gischler/Whilce Portacio/Jamie Mendoza/Thomas Mason/Clayton Cowles (cover: Dave Johnson)
somebody should explore this alternate dimension more: a topsy-turvy Xavier School featuring the X-teens that spirals into chaos everyday because of Wade Wilson. loads of fun!


Amazing Spider-Man #624 (Marvel)
Mark Waid/Tom Peyer/Paul Azaceta/Javier Rodriguez/Andres Mossa/Joe Caramagna (cover: Michael Lark and Jodi Wynne)
and here we go. with all the complaining Marvel got about Peter's direction in life, well here it is, Spidey fans: the bottom of the barrel. oopps, wait. what's that? it gets even worse?


The Sword #22 (Image)
Luna Brothers
hurtling towards its action-packed finale. not for the squeamish.

Wolverine: Savage (one shot, Marvel)
Ryan Dunlavey/Richard Elson/Veronica Gandini/Dave Sharpe (cover: J. Scott Campbell)
Wolverine preparing sushi! no joke!!


Daytripper #4 (Vertigo/DC)
Fabio Moon/Gabriel Ba/Dave Stewart/Sean Konot
another bittersweet tale from the acclaimed tandem of Moon/Ba. perfect for the rainy weekend.

snaps: The Sword #22

... where it reads like an action-packed Invincible issue, but with talky girls and a lot more drama. really, i thought i was reading some condensed form of the Final Destination movies, except that Dara and Malia won't die that easily.

Dara learns that she's a man - and realizes why she really shouldn't have penis envy.


what's that "one thing"? is it cotton buds? nose hair trimmers? vibrators?


even Wolverine would wince with that one.


don't worry, Dara; there's an ovary sale next weekend at Wal-Mart!


becaus we all know - most fan wrighters h8 schoool.

3 broken American commandments

1. Thou shall not punch a girl



corollary: thou shall not throw rocks at a girl.


exceptions: annoying mindless female quasi-celebrities


2. Thou shall not mess with Texas



3. Thou shall not mess with Texas football.



in one swell foop, the Luna Brothers made history.

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The Sword #17

Knossos gets misogynistic

... because he probably has the female version of penis envy.



whatever. take him down already, Dara.

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The Sword #16

war on drugs

even CNN now knows that Dara Brighton faked her death, but not the whys. in the meantime, on the trail of the supervillain Knossos, who's remade himself into a ruthless Latin American druglord, Dara meets a festive party of bullets.



"first, Nassau, Bahamas. now, Cancun, Mexico. y'know, one day, it'd be nice to visit these places when i'm not a fugitive, or broke, or helping guide people on their killing sprees."
- Justin

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The Sword #13

cliffhanger of the week #4

counting down the best (i.e., the ones i read) cliffhangers of the week.

#6 - Broken Arrow

when will Ollie and Dinah ever get to consummate their marriage? and just when we thought he's hanging up the bow. bad enough that his son got tabula rasa-ed, they have to steal his body too? and who's they??

Green Arrow/Black Canary #5 (DC)
Judd Winick/Andre Coelho/David Baron/Pat Brosseau

#5 - Spectacular Peter Pauper

yep, Pete just can't catch a break. there's a menace called Menace, murders are being blamed on him, the law is after him, he's not liquid, he can't even mend his costume, he's about to be sued, and worst of all - he doesn't even have a MacBook Air!! or even an old Dell, fer crying out loud. is this the Spidey we want or what??

The Amazing Spider-Man #550 (Marvel)
Marc Guggenheim/Salvador Larroca/Stephane Peru/Cory Petit

#4 - Come Mr Taliban, Tally Me Banana

hunting for the Bitch Formally Known As Mystique, Logan has 9 hours (well he gave himself that deadline) to bring her in cold. but that ol' girl ain't going nicely. look who's about to get shot up in Afghanistan. suffice it to say, calling the US Marines may be a little too late.

Wolverine #62 (Marvel)
Jason Aaron/Ron Garney/Jason Keith/Joe Caramagna

#3 - Girl Interrupted

what, a scantily-clad girl about to be devoured by some tentacled monster not enough of a cliffhanger for you??

Jungle Girl #4 (Dynamite)
Frank Cho/Doug Murray/Adriano Batista/Frank Martin/Zachary Metheny

#2 - Is Your Last Name Damocles, By Any Chance?

Dara surrenders to the FBI, only its not the FBI. this secret agency interrogates her, but that doesn't go well either. do you keep maintaining your innocence, or do you take that badass sword (the possession of which has already started this shit) and fight the powers that be? i don't know, i gotta go to the loo.

The Sword #5 (Image)
Luna Brothers

#1 - Force X from Westchester

i thought Wolverine was hunting our faveorite shapeshifter. now he's also hunting religious zealots. said zealots have just rebuilt Nimrod/Bastion, that metrosexy beast of all Sentinels. and they have a gun on Wolfsbane's head. at this rate, Wolverine will be the only remaining character by the time this series is over.

X-Force #1 (Marvel)
Craig Kyle/Christopher Yost/Clayton Crain/Cory Petit

cliffhanger of the week #2

counting down the best (i.e., the ones i read) cliffhangers of the week.
hey, we got six this week! yeah i know, i never learned how to choose.

#6
Wonder Woman #16
Gail Simone/Terry Dodson/Rachel Dodson

is this the real Hippolyta? so we got superNazis overrunning Paradise Island, the Circle planning to kill Wonder Woman, and we have Hippolyta down. we need next month's issue bad, if only because we also need more Dodson art.

#5
Black Adam #6
Peter Tomasi/Doug Mahnke/Christian Alamy/Rodney Ramos

yes, yes, i know this series concludes with this issue. but who wants to find out what happens when Black Adam finds that Faust really one-upped him and stole his girl? be honest, raise your hands. thought so.

#4
Death of the New Gods #5
Jim Starlin/Matt Banning/Art Thibert

so its come to this: the three main characters duking it out (well, that's the cliffhanger ...) and we have Darkseid anxiously awaiting the results. wait, did we find out who was killing the New Gods? oh yeah, that stupid ball of light ...

#3
Mighty Avengers #8
Brian Michael Bendis/Mark Bagley/Danny Miki

this tense exchange aside, Tony finds out the Venom virus that hit NYC originated from Latveria. so i expect him personally to kick Dr. Doom's ass, even just to blow some steam off (he got taken over by Ultron, everyone hates him for Cap's death among other things, he has a new movie coming out, etc). next question: is Doom a Skrull?

#2
The Sword #4
The Luna Brothers

have you ever been in a situation where you had chopped up dead bodies all around you, you're surrounded by cops, and you're holding a huge sword dripping with blood? i'm guessing a having multiple root canal sounds a whole lot better.

#1
Captain America #34
Ed Brubaker/Steve Epting/Butch Guice

well, duh.