New Avengers #31; Worl War Hulk # 1; The Sub-Mariner # 1

New Avengers # 31
Brian Michael Bendis-Leinil Yu

Okay, it's been a week so I'm sure it's okay to complain about this now. I usually don't do spoilers, but the whole point of this issue is what happens at the end of it. Which is SKRULLS. IT'S ALL SKRULLS TONTO. Who is a skrull? Are you a skrull? Is she a skrull? Maybe I'm a skrull? How can we know?

I initially felt really angry about this but did eventually settle down once Bendis came out and assured everyone that this wouldn't retcon Civil War or any of the other major events of the past year.

Pretty much if you want to have any foothold in the marvel world these days, you have to be reading Bendis' Avengers books. Because that's where everything is happening. Sure X-men are all off in their own world, so you could just stay there with them. But if you want to have any notion or clue as to what is going on in the 616, you have to read Avengers. Fortunately neither book is offensively bad. And of the two, my favorite poison is New Avengers.

But yeah. You pretty much know where this story is heading. So if you're into a whole doppleganger, body snatcher type tale which has been done before many times--then get on the bus and buckle up. I KNOW I WILL....sigh.

World War Hulk # 1
Greg Pak-John Romita Jr.

This was for me the real event of last week in Marvel. After waiting for about a year to see someone lay the smack down on Tony Starks, Hulk is here to satiate all your smashing desires. He roars. He smashes. He crashes. He makes Tony Stark look like a fool. It really is quite lovely.

And it looks fantastic. JRJR really knows how to draw action. And that's great for a book that hits the ground running at a hundred miles per hour. In one issue we get not one but two Illuminati smack downs by the Hulk--now that's what I call a satisfying chunk of comic!

Make now mistake though, Greg Pak does do the small things necessary to keep this story interesting and keep you caring about the Hulks plight. He does an excellent job of summarizing Planet Hulk for people who want to just jump right in.

This is pretty much this years Marvel big Event, so you need to be reading at least the core book here. Lots of must reads over at Marvel right now. Though it can be kind of exhausting to have event after event. It certainly is exciting though.

That said, this is the perfect book to cleanse the palate post-Civil War. If you're tired of registration/anti-registration. And don't want to think about Skrulls right now, then this is the book.

Sub-Mariner # 1
Matt Cherniss Peter Johnson-Phil Briones

I'm not sure why, but while I think Aquaman is a total putz, I kind of dig Namor. And Marvel has been kind of hinting at a larger Namor narrative down the line. So this book seems like it will end up being important. The set up is basically that all is not well in the house of Namor. Atlantis is in ruin, sleeper cells are attacking the USA with or without Namor's okay. Things are bad okay. Bad.

And now Namor has had enough. On the brink of all out war with the US, he goes to take matters into his own hands and get to the bottom of things.

What this book really does a good job of capturing is Namor's anger, pride, and defiance--and since we are reading the book from his perspective it's very compelling. Once again it's another Marvel book where Tony Stark is basically the duplicitous villain. So if you want to see another hero defy Tony, look no further.

The art pretty much comes across as standard fair. It's what every book looks like right now in comics. So nothing to complain about or rave about there. Though if you want to bring Aquaman back into the equation, I like the art of his book a lot better.

But yeah. Undersea intrigue. You know you want it. Namor is going to kick some butt soon. Not a must read or anything, but if you bought it, I don't think you'd be disappointed with your purchase. Solid story, with some potential. See how it goes.

Black Summer # 0, Uncanny X-men # 487, Omega Flight # 3

Black Summer # 0
Warren Ellis-Jose Van Ryp

Well if Civil War wasn't direct enough for you, you now have what could shape into a new Warren Ellis opus in Black Summer. Black Summer begins with one of our main heroes John Horus brutally murdering the entire white house with his bare hands then holding a press conference afterwards to announce new elections.

John Horus who is a part of something called the Guns, which is I guess something akin to maybe the Justice League of America in terms of being like America's super team, has decided that it would be right hypocritical of himself to stand by while the current administration commits grave injustice after grave injustice with complete impunity. And so he takes action. And now we have the setup for what looks to be a completely brilliant book.

This book looks to be a meditation on just how strong the so called American ideals really are. If after being given a chance to remake our government over completely fairly, will we turn it all into a police state, devolve into Civil War, or I don't know...actually elect a government that somewhat upholds the ideas and notions the country was supposedly founded upon.

The book is less political in the terms of Liberal and Conservative, and more ideological in terms of it's about the marketplace of ideas. So I think regardless of your political leanings there is food for thought here. You figure Bush's approval raiting is crawling around in the upper 20's or so, and there really can't be that many people for whom his brutal murder in a work of fiction is that upsetting. But we'll see.

The art by Jose Van Ryp is very good, and highly detailed. I enjoyed the look of the book as much as the ideas presented in it.

This is definitely one of those books where Warren Ellis appears to be writing unchained, so it's a very easy recommendation. As with any great Ellis project my only criticism is more like a concern, I worry about him finishing this before he gets bored. He's notorious for starting fast and furious then letting his books fizzle while he goes onto his next big thing. Focus Warren focus. Please. This could be a huge book. Could be Ellis' Preacher if he lets it be.

Uncanny X-men # 487
Ed Brubaker-Salvador Larocca

Everyone has their dislikes. Things that no matter how well done, how well prepared, you just plain won't like it just because of it's basic premise. For me some of my dislikes are broccoli, Ron Howard movies, and X-men in space stories. So here you have this great team of Brubaker and Larocca, who are just fantastic--Brubaker may be the top story teller AT marvel right now, and Larocca makes very pretty pictures--and they decide they are going to tell a huge year long space opera starring the freaking X-men.

I mean don't get me wrong, I love comic book space operas. I loved Annihilation. But I've always in my head considered the X-men a disorganized earth bound team, that when they get into space, it just gets really silly. So I was really sad that I basically could not enjoy or read Uncanny for the longest time. Until now. Because the Uncanny X-men ARE BACK ON EARTH!!! Wooo! Yeah! Party time! Time to really put the rubber to the road and get going with these stories.

The art is of course amazing and fantastic. Storm makes an appearence and is....amazing and fantastic(which brings up another point, Spider-man in space bad, Fantastic Four in space Great!). The story is kind of a setup for the next big X-event involving the Marauders, which we'll see how that goes.

But yeah. X-men are back on earth. It's the start of a whole new arc. Now is the time to jump aboard this book. So get going!

Omega Flight # 3
Michael Avon Oeming-Scott Kolins

All I will say about this book is HURRY IT UP. Jesus Christ. It's issue 3 of 5, and apparently that's pretty much going to be the whole series--and we are STILL setting up the team. Even my English majoring ass can figure out that means we're over half way through the entire story, and we still don't have the team set up.

I know someone else who made this mistake and screwed up what could have been a good story. His name is Neil Gaiman, and the book was The Eternals. This is a book, that anyone at Marvel who is actually reading it's content needs to extent by another five issues. Because we're still going to have to be doing setup in issue four. At this rate, all I can say is issue 5 better be one heck of a conclusion.

I mean. It's a good book, okay. But there are a TON of superhero team books coming out of Marvel right now, and when you know this one is only going to be here for a short time, and it really hasn't even begun to start--you wonder why you're wasting your time.

Get with it guys! Time is running out. I loved this book. Please don't let it be another Eternals.

The Boys # 7, Silver Surfer: Requiem # 1, Silent War # 5

The Boys # 7
Garth Ennis-Darick Robertson

The Boys are BACK! After a long hiatus, after proving to dangerous for DC to carry, the Boys are back on Dynamite. Issue seven is the start of a new arc, so it's not too late to jump in. Plus I believe the trade collecting the entire DC run of six issues is out there also to buy, so there's really no excuse not to be in on the ground floor here.

What in god's name is The Boys? It's a book about a group of good for nothing arse-kickers, who blackmail and beat up a bunch of good for nothing pervert superheroes. At least that's what we've got so far. But here we are in issue seven, and we're still really setting the cast and setting. Given that Ennis has said this is going to be a long project like the Preacher series, the setup of this series is building to something epic. But it appears patience is what is needed right now.

This issue gives us further development of Hughie, who is pretty much the focus of the book to this point. As well as shading a little bit towards bigger things with the Frenchmen and the Female. All of this is given around more spewed Ennis venom towards the superhero genre, it's fans, and it's creators. I'm not nearly smart enough to know what all the references mean, but either way, this book is chock full of them. It's a very biting and angry book to this point, and I think what a lot of people including myself are waiting for now, is the other shoe to drop, and Ennis to start putting in some of his romanticism that has won so many of our hearts over the years. I have faith that it's coming. Just looking logically at the plot threads he's laying out, it would appear almost certain it's coming. This is just taking a long time to really get there. Lots of subtle buildup in a book that is very loud on the surface.

I'm just saying, you need to be reading this now, even though I'm not giving it the most stirring recommendation, because I'm almost certain this is going to end up in a book that you are going to want to buy all the trades of, and you don't want to wait until you're like five trades behind. We're talking simple economics here. Spread out the burden of this book on your wallet. It will be worth it.

Silver Surfer: Requiem # 1
J. Michael Straczynski-Esad Ribic

Okay. So this book actually made me cry reading it. Twice. And whether I am bitter at JMS about Spider-man or not, I pretty much have to review a comic that moves me to tears. Especially since I don't actually like any of the characters involved.

No this book isn't perfect. JMS is overly wordy in a lot of it. His language overly flowery to the point of embarrassment in more than a few places. But I guess if you chuck enough pretty words over the just beautiful paintings of Esad Ribic, you're bound to knock one out of the park. And that's what happens here. There is a scene here with The Silver Surfer and Sue Storm of the Fantastic Four, that almost had me bawling it was so sad. The way JMS chose to have it related with the painting, but narration by Johnny Storm, who like a child doesn't get the weight of what he's actually describing, is just completely beautiful.

The other part that made me tear up was to do with the way JMS described the Surfer's outlook to his impending situation. Which again, succeeded because of it's child-like innocence in dealing with a very heavy subject.

This book doesn't take place in continuity, so it's not imperative to read to get some portion of a major event. But it is a beautiful reminder of the power of the medium, even when it involves silver guys on surfboards who can travel through space and shoot things with beams that come out of their hands. Or does it sound silly when I say it that way? Either way. Good read. Worth it if nothing else for Ribic's paintings.

Silent War # 5
David Hine-Frazier Irving

Yeah so I am in on this really late. Issue five of six. I sort of wish I had kept up with it. Though I'm not a huge fan of the Inhumans. But the premise is basically that the Inhumans, who are this race of people who live on the other side of the moon, are really made at the american government for stealing this sacred thing of theirs which gives them their powers. So they declare war against the US. But it's nothing as overt as Civil War really. And yada yada, fruition, explosions, fun times.

The story itself is alright. I came in so late, there wasn't a ton of hope that I'd be really engaged into that aspect of it. But Frazier Irving...WOW. I've never seen a book that looks like this. It's really amazing and remarkable. The cover doesn't do the art inside any justice. It's just some of the coolest stuff you'll see. That's the reason to pick up this book. Probably I'll even get it in trade. This is definitely an artist to keep track of and buy books of solely because he's working on them.