Action Comics Annual #10: An anthology annual, with a variety of fun stories. The ones that stick out are the first one with Lex Luthor (currently behind everything evil in the DCU) narrating all the ways Superman can die. It also presents Luthor with the motivation that I like that was used to great effectiveness in Red Son: he views himself as the savoir of humanity, and thus must conquer it (and get rid of Superman.) Another one that stood out, but because it was so short and non-sensical, involves a Thangarian war party discovering Bizarro World. Overall, an issue worthwhile for Superman fans, even for those who don’t pick up his regular books, but not a must have.
All-New Atom #8: The Atom runs around through time with a guy who’s cut in half and talks about Frougart. More random weirdness, with some nods to Atom continuity, and a future where cities based on Superheroes fight each other. Oh, and a poster that says “Little Brother Is Watching You.”
52 #40: Steel versus Super-Luthor. A good action issue of 52. Hopefully the last twelve all pay off storylines in big ways.
Fantastic Four The End #5: Still confusing, and pales when compared to Annihilation. The art is nice, though.
Fell #7: If you want a smart, gritty police comic in a wacked-out setting, you can’t get better than Fell. This issue is the interrogation of a burglary and murder suspect, and Detective Fell ends up being too smart for his own good for once.
Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman #17: Ah, Peter David, even when told that certain things have to be worked into a storyline by editorial mandate, you still make it work seamlessly. This is the first issue that I’ve seen where Spiderman is “Back in Black” but it offers no explanation of why he is. My guess is that it happens in Civil War #7.
Helmet of Fate: Sargon the Sorcerer: Oh look, another DC magic hero given his magic stuff to a new generation to take up the mantle. Ho hum. What’s even sillier is that the Helmet of Fate SHOWS UP FOR NO REASON, does something, then isn’t there anymore. Did we really need a new Sargon and a new Ibis when we have the Shadowpact running around, filled with much more interesting characters?
Shazam and the Monster Society of Evil #1: I’ve been looking forward to this book for a few months, and it does not dissapoint. The art is great, Billy Batson really looks like a young kid, and even though he tweaks everything about the Captain Marvel origin, all the changes help the book tell a solid story, with interesting pieces to foreshadow if you’re familiar with Captain Marvel.
Spider-man/Power Pack #4: So, explain to me why the all-ages kids comics are a lot better these days than the more adult ones?
Squadron Supreme Hyperion vs. Nighthawk #2: The events of #1 replay themselves from the point of view of Nighthawk, and it’s a lot more interesting because he’s hardcore. From repeatedly fracturing his own fingers to realizing that he can’t just spend money to “fix” Darfur and instead drives a jeep around killing off militia members. Still, I can’t help but think “Batman would have done better.”
Supergirl #14: Batgirl with double red sun swords was awesome, but Supergirl beats her by… having spikes in her back. And Powerboy is a stalker. Do any of these writers talk to each other? Or “what happens in Supergirl stays in Supergirl”?
Ultimate Spiderman #106: Yeah, so, Bendis really is obsessed with Spider-woman, isn’t he? At least this clone saga made a little more sense than the mainstream Marvel one…
Uncanny X-Men #483: Vulcan is cured of his vengence… with love! Pretty lame if you ask me. And he killed a whole lotta people just to give it up like that.
Ms. Marvel #12: Yep, still don’t care about Ms. Marvel, even when you throw zombie robots at her. The letters page talks about a much better idea: Ms. Marvel vs. Santa Claws. A shame no one has never thought of anything like that before…
Bullet Points #4: Tony Stark is denied being Iron Man, but Bucky Barnes gets to be the new Iron Man, Bruce Banner becomes Spiderman… and Doctor Strange becomes Wolverine. Next issue: the climatic battle against Galactus where all the random shifts presumably will add up to something.
Considerng 90% of comics fans got into comics when they were kids, don’t you think its bizzare that most comics are “adult” in nature? I mean, getting washed up fanboys excited is great, but aren’t comic companies just intent on cannibalizing the same finite market?
Seems to me that Vertigo as a mature imprint makes sense, but having Spiderman and Batman be nearly inaccessible to children under 10 is pure lunacy.
There are TONS of Spiderman imprints designed for children. TONS. Batman I’m not so sure of, but I definitely enjoy the mature themed stuff that they do for him, so I’m not complaining there. TAS should just be run non-stop for kids to get into Batman.
They’re running the far inferior “The Batman” on tv along with an all-ages comic based on it.
My complaint is not the lack of stuff for each age group, it’s that the all-ages stuff seems to be much better written than the more mature stuff…
Really? what are some more examples of that which you can think of?
Shazam and the Monster Society of Evil, reviewed above, is much better written than anything Shazam has appeared in in a long, long time.
The consistently praised as best Spiderman book by critics is “Spiderman Loves Mary Jane”
Owly is one of the best examples of text-less sequential storytelling EVER.
All the Power Pack comics are better than Civil War. All the Franklin Richards comics are better than the Fantastic Four comics!
There are plenty of exceptions, of course, but it’s staggering that there are so many big characters that cannot be written well when they’re “realistic” and “gritty”