Week in review (comics released 23/01)

AUTHORITY PRIME #4 (OF 6)
The Authority and Stormwatch Prime do the usual fight each other until something bigger and badder comes along that they both need to fight together. I still live in hope that one day these teams will be written by Ellis again so I'll care what happens.

BLUE BEETLE #23
Blue Beetle is fun. Its like Spider-man when Peter Parker was still in school, just with an ethnic edge. This issue is the build up to the final battle with the Reach, the aliens Jamie knows are trying to take over the world (and who created the scrab he gets his powers from).

COUNTDOWN LORD HAVOK AND THE EXTREMISTS #4 (OF 6)
I still remember the Extremists from JLI as the team that 'killed' the Justice League back then. It was a much more serious story in what was otherwise a light hearted book. In this series there is no humor. It's all on an alternate Earth and Monarch has a grudge with them. It should be relevant to Countdown, but mostly its just confusing with a bunch or heroes and villains (and its impossible to tell which are which) with histories we know nothing about.

COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS 14
The war on Earth 52 continues. The long hinted at return(?) of Red Robin. Superman Prime goes a little more nuts. Donna Troy gets herself an army. No mention has been made of the Fourth World story for a few issues now so I'm guessing Countdown won't finish that. (And I still don't believe the Monarch character to be credible)

COUNTDOWN TO MYSTERY #5 (OF 8)
Spectre, Eclipso in one story, Doctor Fate in the other. This book is really just setup for where the characters are going to sit in the DCU. Another book which could be seen as a set-up for Final Crisis.

CRIME BIBLE THE FIVE LESSONS OF BLOOD #4 (OF 5)
The concept here was interesting. Each story focusing on a less of the crime bible and also serving as a good way of showing off Montoya as the new Question. Unfortunately one story per issue is not enough to tell the story well. In need of a better writer or more pages to tell stories of more substance.

GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #4 (OF 9)
Part Batman, part Salvation Run, part Villains United. Its more a story of how Gotham's villains are dealing with power struggles and being hunted, with the Bat family supporting characters. An interesting read.

JLA CLASSIFIED #51
The Classified series vary in quality from story to story. Mostly just an opportunity to tell stories with characters that may be otherwise unavailable due to current continuity. The current JLA Classified story deals with an alien threat and tells an 'untold' story inside another untold story. Not too bad, not too great, otherwise unlikely to be of any consequence. And John Byrne's art unfortunately isn't what it used to be.

LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #38
Jim Shooter's second LSH issue. Lots of legionnaires and Lightning Lad not coping with leadership. I still preferred the Legion all grown up when Giffen was writing it, but the current run definitely has the feel of what the Legion used to be. Of course, with three different Legions out there until Final Crisis comes along, the future is an uncertain place.

SUPERMAN BATMAN #45
Superman and Batman decide to rid the planet of Kryptonite. Aquaman (the new, younger one) questions them both as to their real reasons for doing so. It's a good way of dealing with the fact that any two bit hood could lay their hands on kryptonite these days.

TEEN TITANS #55
The Aftermath of the Titans Tomorrow storyline. Some Titans leave, some stay, some get jealous, others go a little nuts. Its enjoyable to read but afterwards you can't help but wonder if its not just 90210 with costumes.

UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS #5 (OF 8)
An understated enjoyable read. Palamotti appears to have been given free reign to write the series and does so with a sense of respect tot he characters he's giving voice to. Superheroes that have to deal with the government and who don't always do the right thing. Red Bee goes nuts, wanting to take over the world for her hive.

WONDER WOMAN #16
The latest issue of Gail Simone's new run and the story is starting to fir together. What originally felt as though is was an attempt to twist the character into her own, now feels more like solid storytelling.. though I'm still not sure about giant apes and nazis.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #548
Brand New Day part 3.. and its no better than the previous two parts. This will probably end my purchasing of Spidey for a while. The writing isn't that bad, the story and the events that led to it have destroyed any sense of history for the character though. New bad guys, new support characters, still don't care. See the 'With Great Power' posting tomorrow for more detail.

ASTONISHING X-MEN #24
Part 6 of 6 of the Breakworld saga, or so it's advertised.. pity its actually part 6 of 7, with the last part of the story being told in a giant-sized special next month. It's still great, well written, fantastic art, I just wish I hadn't read it thinking it was going to end. I would have saved this issue to read when the special came out.

IRON MAN #25
Stark finally figures out what's going on with the Mandarin and Leonard Samson tells him why he's going slowly insane (there's a pattern here with stories this month). This story would be better read in a collected edition as its just too spaced out at the moment. The climatic battle is due next month.

MARVEL ZOMBIES 2 #4 (OF 5)
Overdone. The original concept of Marvel Zombies (in Ultimate FF) was clever and an unexpected success. The first series was interesting as an alternate Earth type thing. That's where is should have stopped. Set in the future, the remains of the human race and a few zombies who no longer hunger, try to defend against still hunger, galactic powered ex-super-hero zombies. It's all very silly.

ORDER #7
One of the good things to come out of Civil War. The Order find themselves dealing with a surrendered Namor at the same time as trying to prevent their city from turning into a riot zone. Each issue so far has been interspersed with interview-like conversations with each character in order to introduce them. This one takes the interview model and shows you both sides.

SHE-HULK 2 #25
I can see that Peter David is trying to make the character his own, and that She-Hulk has gone through more than a few tragedies lately. The 'I'm not going to be a hero anymore' line she's using sounds a lot more like a petulant child than seven foot woman able to knock buildings down. With Skrulls (that aren't part of Secret Invasion) and an untold story of why She-Hulk's attitude has changed, its still interesting enough to read to find out what happens next.

ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #50
Ultimate Thanos and the Ultimate Cosmic Cube. The Ultimate version of FF is even more cosmic than the original series lately. Again, this would probably be better as a collected edition if only because so much is going on in each issue its hard to keep track.

ULTIMATE IRON MAN II #2 (OF 4)
Not as 'wow' as the first series but still solid storytelling. Tony Stark as a teenager trying to run his father's company. There's a lot more of the boy-genius here and it will be interesting to see how he becomes the character that is now in the Ultimates.

ULTIMATES 3 #2 (OF 5)
Unfortunately this series feels like you're reading about an entirely different group of people from the first two series. On its own is probably wouldn't be too bad but in comparison to the last two series this feels like WildCATS, not the Avengers.

WORLD WAR HULK AFTERSMASH DAMAGE CONTROL #1 (OF 3)
This looks like it could be fun. Damage Control are contracted by Tony Stark to rebuild New York and they appear to know exactly what's needed. Super-powered contractors and characters that looks at the destruction of a city as part of a normal day's work.

X-MEN #207
The end of Messiah Complex and a stand-out for the week. Messiah Complex changes the mutant universe as much as Civil War did for the rest of the super-human community. Deaths, secrets, new roles and a much darker time lies ahead for any of the teams with an X in their name. Three new series spawn out of this epic and two others are effectively cancelled.

YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS #1 (OF 6)
Patriot, grandson of the 'original' black Captain America, wonders what his place in the world is with Captain America now dead. He tracks down Bucky (a bit of a stretch admittedly) to have a conversation with him about what it means to be a hero and a patriot. Its a nice story to acknowledge the Young Avengers characters are still around, but it does feel like Marvel's really not sure what to do with them yet.

DAN DARE #3 (OF 7)
Dan Dare was an icon of British comics back when you could defend the universe with an ideal and a ray gun. This series is set a couple of decades after Dan and his friends saved the universe from the evil Mekon. Pulled out of retirement when a new threat arrives, its not long before he finds himself on an barren planet, chased by monsters ad trying to protect civilians. Its an indulgence for anyone who's read Dan Dare before, but may not mean much for anyone unfamiliar with the character.