Goblin's books ...
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Secret Invasion #2

Marvel's summer event continues on as we get some serious 70s fever. I'll go spoiler-lite in this review and just tell you that we do get an answer on just who some of those crash-landed heroes are. However, there is a sub-plot brewing that I am greatly in love in with. Bobbi Barton, otherwise known as ex-Avenger and ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Mockingbird, seems to know more than a Skrull should. She admits to a pretty crushing memory from her and ex-husband Hawkeye's past that only they could possibly know. The question now becomes is this Mockingbird a Skrull and their surveillance goes a lot deeper than we thought or was the Mockingbird that died in Avengers West Coast #100 really a Skrull which means the Invasion started a lot longer than we thought? I don't know about you, but either way I am greatly intrigued. Plus, as one of the few people who own the complete run of AWC, I am reveling in all this history from the bygone book.

No big reveals like last issue (or the recent Mighty and New Avengers books), but there is plot momentum. Just what the hell was up with Vision, exactly? How much do the Skrulls know about the heroes? The last page certainly changes the original impetus behind Secret Invasion and moves us into a new arena. An excellent idea in this day and age of decompression, but I'm just hoping that Bendis has enough juice to keep the momentum up given that we're only on the second issue. My only grievance is that it's changing too fast and that's not a terrible thing at all, really.

BUY IT

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X-Factor: The Quick and the Dead (One-Shot)

Do you read X-Factor? Well, why not? It's a great action noir title that not only ties into Marvel's ongoing stories (House of M, Messiah Complex, Civil War) but uses them to its advantage. The only problem with being tied into the tapestry of the Marvel universe is that sometimes the X-Factor specific and more personal stories can get caught up. Then when you have a side character on the periphery like Quicksilver, his story can get sidelined so much that they need to publish a separate one-shot to get him caught up. But good for us because we get even more Pietro-ness!

After being severely screwed up both mentally and physically by the Terrigen Mists being embedded in his body, Pietro had his ass handed to him but the currently temporally lost Layla Miller. Ending up in a New York jail, Pietro starts talking to ghosts and hallucinations before spotting a woman being thrown off an apartment building. As his father, sister, wife, daughter and Layla Miller demean, encourage, love and prod Pietro he finally just breaks out of his funk and regains his speed powers. After a quick jump off of Mt. Everest and a landing in the north Pacific, it seems we have a fully regained Quicksilver back. He's now not so crazy and a lot less evil. While I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline with a darker Pietro, I'm happy to see him back to his former self. If you've read X-Factor at all in the past year and half, this is definitely a must buy book as it closes the chapter on an important chapter of Quicksilver. If you haven't bought X-Factor before and don't plan on it (which you certainly should), this book is going to be very confusing to you, even if it does start a new status quo for a classic Marvel character. Averaging the two, let's give the book a rating of ...

READ IT

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Cable #3

And with this I am done. I am officially dropping Cable as an ongoing. The book has no real purpose since it's been removed from the timeline and we know the whole "Divided We Stand" storyline ends when the X-Men regroup in Uncanny X-Men #500. But instead we get to watch Cable and Bishop fight over an infant in the future. First of all, just how big is Cable or how small is that child? It's not a Barbie doll. You shouldn't be able to palm an entire infant in one hand. And why is this dystopian future so clean? Olivetti is a good artist, but he needs to work on a book like Iron Man where there's a lot of clean, cool futuretech, not a wasteland motif. Then there's some stuff about the rich running the slums, some vigilante police force, yadda yadda, nothing we haven't see a dozen times. This book started out with promise, but as it's been neutered by upcoming solicitations and is hamstrung by a slow plot and the wrong artist there's little left to enjoy anymore. If you're still getting this book, please tell me why. I realize ti sells well but I'm betting that's a hand off from the better than expected "Messiah Complex" storyline. As it progress I see it falling down the charts until it hits cancellation inside of two years, if that.

On a happier note, I realized when I got home I had snagged the Skrull variant cover. The wee infant is all green and bumpy-chinned. I'm sure it won't be firing up the back market charts, but it's kind of cute.

SKIP IT

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The Invincible Iron Man #1

While it seems obvious at first why Marvel would want to launch a second ongoing Iron Man title right now, there are a few questions to ask first. Iron Man's main title isn't firing up the Diamond 300 list, but that may be because of the excellent but decidedly low key storyline the Knauf's are writing right now. There is not much action as it's become almost an espionage book focusing on Stark's title of Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. It' a great read, but not what some people want from an Iron Man book. Int hat sense, a new ongoing tying Stark into the Marvel universe proper and ramping up the action makes sense. But if the main book doesn't sell well enough, can a second survive let alone flourish?

Matt Fraction and Salvador Larrocca do make an interesting opening gambit here. They bridge the gap between comics and movies and move Tony into a hero again. He isn't fighting a giant robot (yet), but the villains are definitely tech based and War machine thinks a baddie has created an Iron Man-esque armor. Tony concurs when he sees what the "suicide bombers" really did. The art is duly techy and I'd basically follow Larrocca just about anywhere. being a first issue, most of this is set-up (such as reintroducing Pepper Potts) but it's fairly seamless. If you've been reading Iron Man for years some of it will be obvious, but it's designed to hook new readers from the movie. Compared to other outreach books, Fraction does a hell of a job making it unobtrusive. And I am in love with how Fraction calls it "The Iron Man." It makes it a distinct presence apart from Stark.

The only real problem here is I'm afraid to make an investment if the book will be dead in a year or two. I don't know if sales can support it (comic movies rarely make any sort of real spike in monthly sales and only a moderate one in graphic novels and trade paperbacks) and I don't want to spend my money on a book that acts like an ongoing but gets canceled with issue #13. It's a promising start, but let's see if it goes somewhere.

I got the cover with the Robert Downey Jr. photo wraparound. If anyone else got the issue, which of the six covers did you get?

READ IT

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Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas #1 (of 4)

It's an Iron Man two-fer!

This Marvel Knights limited series (MK being a prestige imprint for big name creators and set outside the bounds of standard Marvel continuity) is written by Iron Man movie director Jon Favreau and current Iron Man designer Adi Granov. We know Granov can do some mean interiors so long as it isn't a monthly book (see the "Extremis" storyline in the latest Iron Man reboot), so his work is as gorgeous as ever. The unproven aspect comes in Favreau who has written for film before, but never comics. So far he's prven that he can do both.

Since Marvel Knights can be a world unto itself, we get an amalgam of different Tony Starks into this one. Best description I can give is movie Tony Stark before the last scene (before the credits). Iron Man is not known to be Stark and he likes it that way. After an interesting ride on Stark Air (and an interesting spin on a now-common idea which I wonder if it will pay off), Tony is in Vegas and acting his playboy self. Mining obscure continuity, Elsa Bloodstone has sent in a giant golden dragon she uncovered in Asia that is being set up as both a corporate icon akin to the MGM Grand lion and evil (huh, corporate icons being evil? That's crazy!). This may seem like a slim plotline (though there is this business with a whle bunch of lizards swarming the Strip), it is actually worth it to pick this up. The characterization is spot on and it's the little moments that really propel the book. You know those tattoos mean something, but what? And just what the hell is up with that dragon?

This was sort of a question mark for me, until I read it. Favreau must love this character because he's got his number to a T. If I wasn't enjoying the Knauf's story so much I would say that Favreau deserves a spot on the main book. It's also interesting to note that this book shipped days after the movie opened and we've not seen page one of the supposed Ultimate X-Men storyline written by Bryan Singer. Guess it'll come out after the Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk / Young Avengers vol. 2 crossover.

The best part may be the house ad for the main Iron Man book with the tagline, "The world's toughest job needs more than a ma of steel - Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D." Fantastic, I love it.

BUY IT

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Nova #13

This was going to be an interesting issue regardless of what actually happened in it. This is the first issue since the end of "Annhilation: Conquest" and also the first where it isn't leading into or out of an event book. While the issue obviously spins out of "A:C," it very much is its own story here. You don't need to have read anything else to fully understand what's going on here and it actually makes the issue a great jumping on point for people to try this book out. So if you've had any interest in Nova, #13 would be a good place to start.

As for what goes down, Richard is trying to save an alien planet from destrction at the hands of Galactus. Boring, right? Well, not really. Abnett and Lanning spin the concept some and do not have Nova try to stop Galactus. He knows the Big G is way too powerful for him, so instead he focuses his efforts on simply saving the people on the planet. This may not be such a revelatory idea as "Civil War" or the original "Thunderbolts" book, but it's a tweak on the standard Galactus story. From the get-go, Nova admits he can't hope to stop the World Devourer so why should he bother? He'd much rather save lives by getting people off planet so they can make a new home. It's a great idea and while it wouldn't make for a full story arc, things change enough in the end to keep the story going. Plus, next month - Nova vs. Silver Surfer! The Worldmind and Nova Force vs. The Power Cosmic! Should be a fun ride.

READ IT

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Thunderbolts: Reason in Madness (One-Shot)

Thunderbolts is an incredibly frustrating book. On the one hand, it's an excellent concept (both the original and this new Initiative version), but it's prone to too many pitfalls.The latest being the fact that it never comes out. I don't know if Warren Ellis hasn't written scripts or if Mike Deodato is behind on pencils, but the book never comes out. It's unfortunate because Marvel hyped it up pretty high. But instead of letting it fall to the wayside, we do get several one-shots written by CHristos Gage and that's not something to complain about.

The newest one focuses on Venom and Norman Osborn. Now, given my chosen moniker, it's a safe bet that I'm a Norman fan. But this new Venom never really got under my skin. I didn't like Mark Millar's story in MK Spider-Man where Mac Gargan got the symbiote and I never warmed to him in Thunderbolts either ... until now. This book has made me interested in Venom because he's no loner a one-trick villain. It's not just about killing and eating like he has been in other books (Namor, I'm looking at you). We started to see some of the dichotomy in the last few Ellis penned books and I assume he was moving into exploring him more, but God knows when that'll happen. At least Ellis neer wasted time on Penance.

This book has some old Masters of Evil (though I'm loathe to call Boomerang master of anything besides goofy costumes) trying to recruit their old friend mac to double-cross Norman. Gargan plays it smarter than I would have given him credit for and actually comes out ahead in the end. Seeing his internal struggle against the symbiote and the fear that he's going to lose soon makes him infinitely more interesting. Add to this the fact that he actually played the Masters of Evil AND Norman Osborn - and won! - and we have a character on the rise here. Norman gets his time to shine as well and I loved seeing his bloodlust come out without the Goblin persona. Don't get me wrong, I love the Goblin (duh), but Norman works well without that as well. And it's very obviously Norman at work here and not the Green Goblin. I loved it. Of course, if you're not a Thunderbolts reader than you would be so lost in this it isn't even funny. Gage does his best to describe the situation, but he has a story to tell and no "To Be Continued ..." available at the end. If you read the main T-Bolts book and don't automatically get all of the one-shots, this is one you should pick up. It will be worth your while.

READ IT

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Logan #3

Brian K. Vaughn and Eduardo Risso's three part Marvel Knights book comes to a close as Logan comes to terms with his past in Hiroshima of 1945. This was a odd book, it almost feels like ti was supposed to be an arc in Wolverine: Origins. It's self-contained and touches on none of Logan's prior history other than the fact that he was alive and in 1945. And I suppose his fetish for Japanese women.

After a great first issue and a lackluster second, this third and final one rounds out somewhere in the middle. It's certainly better than the second issue, but doesn't have as much sentiment as the first. Yes, Lt. Warren is fleshed out some more (no pun intended) and I don't dislike him as much as before, but I really don't care about what happens to him. I did like how BKV just admits that Warren doesn't know how or why he turned back after (he assumes) killing Logan. Of course, then we go into the whole dream sequence when Logan wants to die and wants to leave with Atsuko which seemed a little too much like when he was dying after "Fatal Attractions." It was more forceful when the ghost was Illyana because Logan had failed to keep her alive. Atsuko we only met two issues ago and would have died regardless given that she lived in Hiroshima.

And maybe I'm a little bit too dense for it, but what the hell did Logan choose at the end of issue? Does he remember Atsuko or did she erase the entire episode from his memory? I've scanned the pages looking for a hint of her, but came up with nothing. It seems odd that he would choose to take memories away from himself given that he just got all of his memories back after "House of M."

BROWSE IT

Sgt. Sausagepants' books ...

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Secret Invasion #2

I swear the writers of secret invasion were told, " Here's what is going on in the page, make something even wackier happen." Issue #2 of the stunning series doesn't let up on the insanity provided by the first. Skrulls revealed! Dinosaurs roar! Lovers re-unite! Plus we get a special appears of the Young Avengers, further cementing me in my theory that Wiccan and his brother will save the Marvel Universe.

BUY IT

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Mighty Avengers #13

This Secret Invasion tie-in continues telling the story of what Nick Fury did while the Skrulls were building up their invasion plans, in what looks like it will lead to a huge reveal and ass-kicking (I hope) towards the end of Secret Invasion.

BUY IT

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Nova #13

Well, the war against the Phalanx seems to have moved over to the pages of Annihilation: Conquest, but that doesn't mean Richard Rider is any less busy. This issue he has to deal with the results of Galactus feeding and a strange entity known as Harrow. Promises of an awesome fight in the next issue.

BUY IT

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X-Factor: The Quick and the Dead (One-shot)

Quicksilver comes to terms with his recent, well, craziness, and has a fascinating discussion with his own subconcious (I think that's what's happening here). It's a really neat look at the mental processes of someone going through hell in the Marvel Universe, in the aftermath of M-Day.

BROWSE IT

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Midnighter #19

Honestly I'm not sure the team at Midnighter is even trying anymore. We finally get to the big showdown between Midnighter and his mystery assailant, and what we get is a book full of mediocre action and an unresolved ending. I guess it's senior-itis with only a few more issues to go until the book is done. Or maybe I was just expecting too much, that the action stay as insane and jam-packed as it's been in the past. This book definitely doesn't have any hugely cool 'Midnighter-moments' like we've seen before in this book and especially The Authority. I REALLY hate to say it for a character I love so dearly, but the book is breaking my heart. Go ahead and skip this one.

BURN IT

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The Boys #18

We get just a little bit of action in this issue and a lot of character development. Blarney Cock, or what's left of him, comes back for his hamster and has a showdown of sorts with Hughie. Annie seems to be planning something, but starts standing up for herself against the Seven, only after reminding herself not to sink to their level. She is rapidly becoming my favorite character in the series, and I'm really starting to hope she has a happy end in all of this (no sex puns intended).

READ IT

Oraclechele's books ...

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Buffy #14

With the exception of a giant Dawn storming the streets of Japan this issue, and for that matter this entire arc, felt more like the tv series than any other so far. That's not to say the first thirteen issues haven't been fantastic but Buffy Season Eight is beginning to feel like it's hit what they call in TV - November Sweeps. Plenty of planning, misdirects, death, blossoming romances, humor, and angst sprinkle the pages of Wolves At the Gate part three. Drew Goddard and Georges Jeanty should be commended for bringing the story to life in ways that any Buffy fan can't help but appreciate. With only one issue left in this arc I can't wait.

BUY IT

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Angel After the Fall #7

Special guests are a thing of beauty in comics, especially when the secret stays a secret, but despite loving the re-introduction of an old Angel favorite issue #7 fell a little flat. Perhaps a TV series like Lost is helped along by flashbacks and forwards but in the midst of all the action of issue #6 I found the stop and re-direct to be frustrating. That isn't to say that the three stories that make up issue #7 aren't worth the read because they are worth it.

Not only was the direction of issue #7 a little bit of a bummer but so is the fact that the Whedon Buffy verses are living with two different publishers. Not that Angel needs the Buffy cast to have compelling stories but considering the mythos that is hinted at in this issue it couldn't hurt to have that option.

READ IT

Jonostarsmore's books ...

Secret Invasion #2

The difference between DC and Marvel is that Marvel has a good idea as to how to make even the most insane, unrealistic events relatable. In a pivotal scene, Hawkeye and Mockingbird share a powerful moment that is grounded in as much reality as the medium allows. In other words, it makes the invasion much more human. DC has struggled with this in the past, but this is the topic of a discussion to be had elsewhere. Secret Invasion continues to build on the first issue's momentum as more Skrulls are revealed and new characters are brought into the war. So far, the main series and all of its tie-ins are delivering the goods!

BUY IT