Iann Robinson Comic Reviews

The best part of all of this, the cherry on the parfait, is that it took three writers to fuck this story up this badly. One of them is hack Matt Fraction, the other is Cullen Bunn who I don’t know that well but am so far unimpressed with. Finally, we have Chris Yost, from whom I expected more. The art is cool, but who cares? Battle Scars #6 might as well be empty pages with a pass to see the Avengers movie at the very end.

While not anything to get excited about, A+X is an enjoyable read and probably the closest we'll get to Marvel Team Up.

Andy Diggle and Tony Daniel will only be on Action Comics for three or four issues. I don't know if that's because DC felt the Diggle/Daniel route was lackluster or if it became lackluster because DC's editing team can't stop screwing with every story. Whatever the reason, Action Comics #19 is not the high-octane reboot I was hoping for.

Artist Daniel Brown makes the Cyborg look awesome. The new robotic arm is all kinds of demonic, as is the half skeleton mouth and new body design. The rest of issue #23.1 isn't quite as effective. When Brown is penciling the Cyborg story, the art comes together beautifully, Nicely detailed, great backgrounds and shadowing. The Krypton work is a little too stagnant. Brown never gets the textures going there that he does in the Cyborg work. Overall, the work is solid, and the Cyborg Superman is kick ass.

With Pak and Kuder at the helm, the world of Superman just got that much stronger.

The art is abysmal. It looks like bad watercolors done by a first year art student. Another part of what made The Crow so good was the simple romantic beauty in the art. This Crow is trying so hard to be technological and futuristic that, again, the humanity is lost. All the characters tend to run the same facially and by the end of the story my head hurt with all the washed colors. The original Crow is a true artistic statement, one that has stood the test of time and will remain iconic even against garbage like this.

Afterlife With Archie is not just the most exciting comic on the shelves right now; it’s also one of the most important. Sacasa and Francavilla have redefined how we look at the world of Archie. I cannot stress enough how special this book is.

Age Of Ultron #1 has hooked me in. Lets hope I'm still feeling this way by issue #10.

Age of Ultron, quite simply, shows us all how event stories should be handled.

Age Of Ultron #5 is a decent issue made better by the emotions Bendis writes into an otherwise uneventful script.

Age of Ultron is exciting, emotional and best of all fun. Bendis has created a blueprint that maps the best of what an event series can offer.

The shark hasn't consumed Age of Ultron yet, but there's blood in the water and fins abound.

Age of Ultron started strong, but Bendis' need to go right off the reservation has cost it dearly. What started as dark and exciting has now become convoluted and tedious.

Age of Ultron has become a cleverly disguised re-launch of Hank Pym via Brian Michael Bendis. While I have no problem with that, it's disappointing that the powerful story started early on will never be fully fleshed out.

Much like Avengers vs. X-Men, Age of Ultron wasn’t so much a story, as it was a ten issue catalyst for more Marvel product. Smart business. Not much artistic integrity to it.

Tradd Moore handles the art, which is perfect for what Felipe Smith is doing. The work has a modern feel, blending parts of anime and underground comic book art sensibilities, with an urban graffiti feel. Moore's work has an original hook to it, as well as an interesting way of communicating movement. His dynamics are really odd, as is his line work and sense of anatomy. Mixed with the vibrant colors from Nelson Daniel and Val Staples, Ghost Rider looks great. It's too bad the story is so unappealing.

All New Invaders #1 opens up some interesting doors for the long-standing team. Let’s just hope a more pronounced artist is handed the reigns.

All-New X-Men #2 is already one the most exciting mutant books on shelves.

All-New X-Men is still a top-notch book with great art. I just hope Bendis doesn’t crush his new creation under the unbearable load of time travel.

Stuart Immonen, whose art I usually adore, is off his game in this issue as well. All the art feels rushed, as if the deadlines got the best of him. Part of it isn’t Immonen’s fault. Bendis has crammed so much exposition in this issue that the artist has entirely too much to draw for one issue. Still, the visceral excitement and strong characters are lacking here. All in all, All-New X-Men #5 is a misstep for Bendis’ new series.

As far as the art goes, I hate it. I hate every last pencil slapped across the page by Moritat. His lines are too thick, and his use of background is so off that it seems as though he drew the foreground characters, cut them out and stuck them on a pre-drawn backdrop. Imagine a comic done in Colorforms and you start to get the idea. I despise how Hex is drawn and everybody else looks unfinished or rushed. All Star Western #1 is a poor artistic start to a classic character's reboot.

Giuseppe Camuncoli's art is passable, not great. Granted, my love for Humberto Ramos is well documented, but that's not the case here. When Camuncoli draws Spider-Man, Anti-Venom or Mr. Negative they look great, everybody else looks rushed and thin. There's no definition to the lines, no weight to it. That really becomes an issue during the action panels, where the three heroes look great, the main villain looks solid, and everybody else hangs there like so much nothing. Even with the so-so art and the holes in the plot, issue 664 is still a win. I'm excited for Spider Island mainly because Dan Slott is writing it and Humberto Ramos is handling the art. I don't think that team up can produce a bad issue of Spider-Man; they know the character too damn well.

I don’t think Dan Slott is so into entropy that he’ll completely destroy Spider-Man’s life, but I like how he’s taken elements of the past and shown how they effect Spidey’s present. I’m also enjoying the mystery here. An entire island full of spider-powered people is a power keg waiting to explode, but how and why the explosion happens isn’t easy to predict. Stefano Caselli’s art is some of the strongest he’s pulled off in a while. I’m still not a fan of his human faces, they tend to look too harsh and pointy, but his movement is wonderful. He really captures the action and joy of Spider-Man swinging through New York being a hero. It’s not Humberto Ramos, but it’s still an awesome job. Spider-Man 666 is the beginning of something big and in Dan Slott’s hands that can only mean good things.

Back in full swing on issue #667 is Humberto Ramos, and he’s having just as much fun as Slott. Nobody captures the visual fun and excitement of a comic book like Ramos does. His pencils take a modern style and merge it with a time when comics popped off the panel, bigger than life. There’s a real sense of being a comic book to what Ramos does and it’s exciting to watch unfold. Every panel is a bold statement with something happening, even if it’s not action. When the action does drop in, Ramos takes it all to another level. The marriage between his art and Slott’s words is the perfect storytelling device. I miss when comics were this much fun and I’m really intrigued to see where Spider Island goes next.

Humberto Ramos does more stellar work here. The man knows how to give us action; he knows how to make comics seem bigger than life without it getting ridiculous. His childlike excitement in drawing a city full of web slingers is palpable. This is the kind of comic book art I love, the stuff that is beautifully produced but never lets us forget these are comics. It’s heightened reality that leans more towards an animated vision. Even though the faces are rather basic, they convey emotion perfectly. Ramos is an artist that, with each passing issue, I love more and more. Amazing Spider Man #668 and Spider Island are textbook examples of what makes the medium of comic books so extraordinary.

On a side note, Ramos outdoes himself with the cover. As sad and pathetic of a nerd as this makes me sound, the cover of Mary Jane Watson is really hot. I know that my fellow geeks that have girlfriends will be attempting to get those girlfriends to wear Mary Jane's outfit.

I enjoyed the art from Stefano Caselli and I give him full props for the cover and its nod to one of the most recognized Spider-Man issues ever. The work is fairly straight ahead comic book art, nothing too flashy. Caselli has a nice touch with faces and figures, plus he is great with the dynamics of a panel, laying them out like camera angles. I think the restrained vibe of the issue is better served with Caselli’s humanistic art than Humberto Ramos’ more over the top work. I prefer Ramos to Caselli, but I do think the somber tone of the book is suited to Caselli’s art.

The art from Giuseppe Camuncoli is the only problem with issue 674. The work isn’t bad; it’s just really hit or miss. Camuncoli’s Vulture is amazing; the splash page reveal makes him look positively badass. Then there’s his Kingpin, who just looks goofy. The Hobgoblin looks great but the Vulture children look like Goth posers, which is never good. The most damaging part of the artwork is the faces. Camuncoli’s eyes are always popping out and more often than not the expressions on the faces are ridiculous overdone. It’s especially harsh with the Chief Prachett the Vulture children and the Kingpin. I hope Camuncoli gets that under control, I’d hate for tepid art to hurt what is setting up to be another awesome Dan Slott tale.

Want to know the best part? HUMBERTO RAMOS IS BACK!!! I love me some Humberto and he rocks this issue to the core. His bizarre over-the-top style works perfectly with Slott’s story. I love how he pencils Doc Ock and M.O.D.O.K. plus nobody can ramp up an action scene like Ramos. The Sinister Six is a bigger than life team and Ramos’ drawing style is exactly the same way. With Ramos back and Slott at the helm, 2012 could be another year of the spider!

What you get is a seriously fun book that never feels off or out of sorts from what Slott has done. Granted, Waid is only here for one book, but a lot of the younger scribes could use a lesson on this even when they take over a series. You don’t need to destroy to move ahead. The art from Emma Rios is really interesting, it almost has a look of old French advertising pencils in fashion magazines of the sixties. Thin line, a refined sense of style that never gives up the action. The scene where Daredevil and Spider-Man enjoy some high-flying fun atop the Chrysler building is wonderful to look at. Rios has a lot in common with Spider-Man artist Humberto Ramos only she’s a little subtler and less angular. I wouldn’t want Dan Slott to walk away from Amazing Spider-Man, but this little break with Mark Waid is a nice treat.

Humberto Ramos is still in top form here. I know many find Ramos’s art off putting but for me it’s exactly how comics should be, slightly over the top, a little bigger than life and one hundred percent fun. Even with the so-so storyline, Ramos manages to make the issue fun. If anything, Amazing Spider-Man #679 got me excited for the start of Ends Of The Earth storyline and the return of the Dan Slott we all know and love.

Giuseppe Camuncoli’s art is the only Achilles' heel. Camuncoli isn’t bad, but his art isn’t great. The main problem are human heads, which have the same square jaw, flat head look to them. J. Jonah Jameson constantly looks like the top of a constipated totem pole. Camuncoli has a nice sense of action and definite strong lines in his work. The faces are just hard to get past as are some of the sloppier background pencils. Nothing here is offensive, I just wanted better art for such a tremendous story line.

Amazing Spider-Man #690 is not Dan Slott’s best work but hey, everybody has an off day.

Before we get into Amazing Spider-Man #694, I have to give major props to whoever chose the cover art. This cover hearkens back to one of my favorite comic book events ever. In 1976, DC and Marvel teamed up for the first time to bring us Superman Vs. The Amazing Spider-Man, which found the two heroes joining forces to try and stop the nefarious plot hatched by Lex Luthor and Doc Ock. I owned this comic; read it thousands of times until it literally fell apart. It was an awesome surprise to see artist Humberto Ramos’ homage to the book.

I hope Dan Slott doesn’t shit the bed with Amazing Spider-Man #700. I love Dan Slott and I want to keep on loving him.

The history of Spider-Man takes a serious twist in #698. All we can do is hope the story is something we cherish instead of another blow to the already battered Spider-Man hopefuls.

I will say this, the art is something different. Punisher artist Mark Checchetto steps in for the first two pages involving the prison break (spinning out of issue #699) and, while his work is still great, it loses some of the Punisher edge once colors get involved. The big story here is Valentine Delandro, who pencils the rest of the book. Delandro has been using is noir style over in X-Factor to great success. Now the artist for Morbius, Delandro takes that noir and filters it through a Silver Age look that I’m impressed with. If Morbius sucks writing wise, we now know it’ll be pretty to look at.

On the lighter side, artist Humberto Ramos once again nails the art across the board. There are those who love Ramos and those who hate. The haters won’t be won over here. The work is still bigger than life and very much comic book art. Ramos loves to play with dimension and body scale but he also brings action like nobody else. If I have to endure rapid-fire panels, why not love how they look?

Even Ed McGuinness, who is usually so dependable for quality art, falls short of the mark. I don’t think it’s McGuinness’ fault – I think he was trying to draw in the same vein Aaron was writing. Everyone involved has overly exaggerated reactions, especially Hank McCoy, who spends most of the issue looking like He-Man’s battle cat standing on two legs. The art here is so over-the-top, it’s borderline obnoxious, which matches perfectly with Aaron’s writing.

The art from Rafael Albuquerque is really wonderful. Until I read this series I was unfamiliar with his work but I’m now a fan. Albuquerque knows how to draw the human form, he knows how to give faces the right reactions and emotional impact. Taking that knowledge he stylizes the art to give it a look the combines early EC horror and modern superhero books. He’s also great with action and clearly has a love of penciling violence. Albuquerque gets Scott Snyder’s vision and draws accordingly. Between the story and the art, American Vampire is another notch in the belt of a writer who seems to be unstoppable.

Knocking the visuals out of the park is artist Rafael Albuquerque. From the opening scene, this guy nails every panel. It's not easy to replicate a car chase for 22 pages but Albuquerque makes it look easy. His ability to represent motion and real danger in a drag race within a two dimensional medium is nothing short of staggering. It feels like the race is whizzing by you, you sense the peril in every single page. I also love his eye for details and his ability with the human form, especially faces. Snyder in the story and Albuquerque behind the visuals is the reason American Vampire is the full-on blast that it is.

Rafael Albuquerque. Really? Fuck this guy. What gives him the right to be so incredibly good at what he does? The art in American Vampire #24 is flawless. Rafael delivers, from panel to panel, a visceral feeling of speed. The secret is how he injects movement into everything going on, not just the obvious. Close up shots of character’s faces have motion, cut away shots of cars have motion. Everything in this issue is flying past you at top speed. There’s a centerfold in American Vampire #24 that forced me to drop comic and walk around the block for a minute. It’s that good. Once again, the unstoppable punch of Scott Snyder’s writing and Rafael Albuquerque’s art raises the bar by which all other comics should be measured.

One thing Albuquerque doesn’t do is spend a lot of time on huge splash pages. Every panel he draws is linked to the next; they all build off each other, so to throw in some random splashes would kill the vibe. When the last page comes and Albuquerque wants to makes a statement on what is to come, then he gives us a glorious full page of Skinner and Pearl ready to fight. These images are laid out more like a film than a comic book and it’s very effective. American Vampire #28 is just another notch in the belt of a team that is one of the best around.

American Vampire is one of those series that rises above comic books and becomes great literature.

It’s sad to see American Vampire go, but incredibly exciting to think of the future.

American Vampire: Lord Of Nightmares is not only incredibly entertaining, it also expands the already massive scope of the entire series.

American Vampire returns the same way it left, with its hand clutched firmly around readers' throats.

Albuquerque also handles art duties. His work is glorious as always. Stylized, eccentric, and always beautiful. What makes his work so perfect for American Vampire is how romantic it is. Though dealing with violence and horror, there is a underlying humanity, romance and love to the stories. Albuquerque brings that out in his pencils. His human characters all have great emotion in their faces and eyes. It's rare when you can't see any other artist being part of a series. With American Vampire, it's definitely true.

Probably the best reason to pick this up, outside of being a collector, is Timothy Green II’s pencils. This isn’t Travel Forman level art, but I like what Green does more so than the artist that’s currently on Animal Man. Green’s faces are a little rough but his action jumps off the page and his sense of pacing is spot on. Overall, with the delicate and detailed pencils, Animal Man Annual #1 is more fun to look at than read.

Foreman uses almost no backgrounds outside of color and he wields the power of shading in a gifted way. He sneaks everything up on you. When his human forms, violent creatures, and plain backgrounds come together you see how the rest of the world is fuzzy compared to this one. It's really a major achievement for a comic book. I also enjoy how Foreman uses colors in the background to help elevate the emotion of scene. The only book that compares to this one right now is Swamp Thing and I'm hoping the red monster there is connected to the Red of Animal Man. These two books coming together would be a real triumph for comic fans. The combination of art, literature and comic book ideals doesn't come together any better than this.

Bringing all of this together is the art from Travel Foreman. I can’t think of a more visually appealing book on shelves right now. Foreman isn’t drawing comics here; he’s creating other-wordly expressions that bring life to a bizarre story. This is part horror comic, part creepy children’s book drawings and part acid trip. There’s a flow to the art here that is organic, which works perfectly with the themes and subtext of the story. Each drawing is something you can stare at for several minutes before moving on. Foreman doesn’t just help tell the story; he is as much a part of Animal Man as Lemire is. It’s one of the best examples of symbiotic harmony I’ve seen in comic books ever. Animal Man is becoming one of those comics that raise the bar for the entire medium.

Travel Foreman. What the hell can I even say about the art from Travel Foreman? The man is absolute genius with a pencil. The art is constantly moving and I don’t mean with action. Each form that Foreman draws seems to vibrate with a living energy. Part of it is how fluid the art is, part of it is Foreman’s panel placement and part is how big the sandbox is that Foreman has to play in. Lemire’s story is so well crafted that it leaves a real open ended arena for the art. Foreman can put anything on the page and it will work to tell the tale. It’s true synergy. Animal Man #4 continues the series’ impressive streak and sets it apart from the rest of the DC Universe.

Another massive problem is the art. For some reason issue #7 has split penciling duties between Travel Foreman and Steve Pugh. I have nothing against Pugh, I'm sure in his own book his work would be tremendous. Here, it absolutely kills the issue. Foreman's work is so central to what makes Animal Man work that Pugh's work stands out like a sore thumb. With such a tedious storyline, Animal Man needed the Foreman genius to see it through. Lacking both plot development and any consistency in the art, Animal Man #7 is, well, a bum out.

I'm getting used to new artist Steve Pugh. While still not a fan of how Pugh draws human forms, his fantasy stuff is cool as is the horror work. He has a sense of what's disturbing and bizarre and when he nails it, it's amazing. The inside out whale, The Red's talisman, even a lot of the background work is exceptional here. Pugh had some big shoes to fill and while he will never be Travel Forman, he does a solid job on his own merit.

Colorist Lovern Kindzierski does what he can with the colors, but Pugh's inks make it hard. The shadowing is inconsistent, so the colors look like they're fighting the pencils. There's also a drab look to the color scheme, as if we were seeing the story through a thin film. None of the art is awful " it just betrays the emotional charge of Jeff Lemire's writing.

Steve Pugh’s art is solid, even if it does look like less-developed Travel Foreman pencils. Pugh’s work has that same creepy elegance to it, but it feels restrained, like Pugh is holding back. The best of what he does leans towards the weirder elements of the story. The multi-animal humanoid monster, the dying animals, the scenes within The Red, that all looks great. His normal human interactions are sullied with badly drawn faces and dull backgrounds. Hopefully Lemire will return to the more bizarre elements of Animal Man, which will allow Pugh to really open up.

Animal Man was one of the strongest series in the DC arsenal. It's a shame to see it end.

SWAMP THING #12

Ivan Reis’ art is top notch, of course. I absolutely loved his vision for the humanoid sea creatures and the story being light on action gives Reis a chance to really flesh out how Aquaman should look in this new light. The last Aquaman series started strong and turned to crap. Let’s hope this time the man from the sea gets the respect he deserves.

Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman may be the shining stars of the DC Universe but with this reboot, Aquaman is becoming the hero to watch.

As always, the art from Ivan Reis is totally on point. His strong lines and eye for detail really brings out the depth of where Aquaman and Mera are. He creates darkness and fear. He also keeps those damn humanoid creatures looking as fucked up as possible. The pages involving the battle is some of the most beautiful work that Reis has ever done. Nobody kicks out an action scene like Reis. Everything just pops off the page. With Johns taking it to the mat and Reis serving up delicious art, Aquaman could be the book to watch in 2012.

Joe Prado’s art is good, solid, workingman’s comic book art. Nothing here is flashy, nothing particularly dazzling, but the lines are strong and it tells the story. Prado is particularly good at movement, especially when dealing with Mera’s control of water. He gets across the point of just how powerful Mera’s abilities are and how dangerous she can be. This kind of work is rare because it doesn’t come with any pomp or pretention. It may not make a statement, but Prado’s pencils illustrate Johns’ thoughts in a visually appealing way.

The art from Ivan Reis is glorious. It's especially wonderful during the opening section with Black Manta. Reis just lets go in these panels and the violence and action are above reproach. I was also impressed with the storm scenes, Reis does a great job of capturing the power of the sea. With Reis on art and Johns using his full creative juices, Aquaman is constantly setting the bar higher and higher.

The art from Ivan Reis is exceptional as always. I love the way he draws Black Manta. Just as Johns does with his story, Reis makes Black Manta look threatening. This isn't a goofball in a diving suit; this is a badass who is out to kill Aquaman. Reis also does exception splash pages as well great detail work. Look at the panels when Mera is using her power to control water, tell me that doesn't look amazing. Aquaman #9 is another huge leap forward not just for the hero but also for the New 52.

I particularly loved how he showed the flashbacks. The use of saturated red really gives the tale of Aquaman slaying Manta’s dad a feeling of blind rage. The art is so visceral it almost dictates that Aquaman have killed out of anger not accident. Aquaman #10 isn’t a bad issue; in fact it’s quite good. I just hope that in trying to upgrade Aquaman, Johns doesn’t improve him into a failure.

Aquaman #11 is another huge step in redefining the iconic character.

Still a leader in the New 52, Aquaman’s story quality dips a bit with issue #13.

I think Johns is so excited by the big crossover that he's forgetting how the slower unfolding plots and dark themes of Aquaman really helped to make the book so wonderful. He's bringing the bright pop of Justice League to the harder edge of the Aquaman book and it doesn't work.

This series is a key step in proving to the world that Aquaman is relevant and necessary and kicks a lot of ass.

Aquaman is one of the most consistently well-written series that DC has to offer. Let's hope that, once Geoff Johns leaves, it remains that way.

Geraldo Borges' art is decent, though he really excels at the water scenes. The opening splash page, involving OM and his crew ready to slap out at the surface dwellers, is amazing. The on-land pencils are a little lackluster. They lack the punch of the aquatic art. Borges has a nice handle on pacing. Very little happens here action wise, but the story never drags. I wouldn't consider the work in Ocean Master exceptional, but it does have its merits.

Claude St. Aubin's art is solid, but a bit hit-or-miss. When it is on, like with the suited up Black Manta or the underwater scenes, the work is wonderful. Aubin has solid lines and colors, though he could stand to shade things a bit more. When his work is off, it is pretty off. Superwoman looks like a bad pinup model, and some of the panels are lazy with the detail work. Overall, St. Aubin is a solid performer, he just needs more consistency.

Paul Pelletier’s art is inconsistent, but in a really odd way. Whole panels never suffer, but items within them will. It’s not each page, just a few strewn throughout the entire issue. Sometimes one character looks fine and the other is off. Pelletier excels in the battle between Aquaman and the Karaqan, but some of the more intimate moments suffer from weird expressions on faces or uneven form. Nothing happening here is bad, it’s just uneven to a point you can’t help but notice.

Archie Archives Volumes 4 and 5 are a continued triumph that celebrates an American icon in comic books.

Chris Bachalo's art doesn't do much to save the situation. The documentary film stuff looks way too much like Bachalo attempting to do John Romita Jr. (the earlier Avengers artist) and the battle work with the Hulk is way too muddled to be effective. I was confused why Bachalo's Hulk looked, for lack of a better term, goofy. The Hulk looked like a bad cross between the Maxx and Evil Ernie, which just didn't work at all. Avengers #15 isn't a bad issue, it just isn't what should be. Something that's plagued the entire Fear Itself story arc thus far.

The art from Daniel Acuña is good, a more fine art approach to the book than John Romita Jr. Acuña’s art works particularly well here because Avengers #18 is a stagnant issue. There isn’t much movement or action, so you’re really stuck focusing on the art itself, which is quite beautiful. If Avengers becomes more action oriented, which I hope, I’m thinking Romita Jr. would be a better choice. Though it has a lot of positive elements to it, Avengers #18 is another issue in the continuing decline of the individuality of the Avengers.

Marvel can whip out all the sales figures they want, Brian Michael Bendis writing the lion’s share of the Avengers books stinks. With Bendis at the helm, we now get both Avengers and New Avengers dueling Norman Osborn as well as having to follow the Bendis way of making a book incredibly average to read. I also hate Daniel Acuña’s art. If I’m going to buy this swill then I should at least get John Romita Jr. art. Acuña’s dentist office art style just weighs everything down. Avengers #19 is the last issue of the series I will buy until Marvel gives me at least one choice without Brian Michael Bendis.

The opening splash page is all you need to see why Simonson is one of the all time greats of the medium. His art jumps off the page, it’s brimming with movement and excitement. Every single detail works for the greater image, something not all artists understand. Simonson is also killer for detail, just look at the panel when Thor first arrives back; it’s brilliant work by an absolute master. While Avengers #25 is a toss away story wise, it’s a statement to how great art can make any issue a masterpiece. Hopefully this signals a return on a semi-constant basis for Walter Simonson and his genius.

The one reason to rejoice over Avengers #29 is that Walt Simonson does the art. Like John Romita Jr. and Frank Quitely and a few others, Simonson really just inherently gets comic books. The way he approaches the art is so perfect, this spectacular blend of larger than life and yet easily acceptable. Simonson’s pencils are so fluid, but carry so much weight. Each action shot is so detailed that you can spend five minutes on each panel. I still buy Avengers simply because Simonson’s art is some of my favorite in the world.

The art is by comic legend Walt Simonson. It is above reproach. The man is a God and we should all tend to bowing down before his greatness. It’s just too bad he’s being wasted on filler issues.

Regardless of the lackluster art, Avengers #33 shines.

Helping keep this Annual jolly is Dave Lafuente. I’ll be honest, in a standard comic, I wouldn’t be a fan of what Lafuente does, but it is perfect for this story. The pencils are cartoonish, almost over the top in their attempt to be animated. Tony Stark is a bit angular, and Banner looks like Shaggy from Scooby Doo. Interestingly, Lafuente brings his over-the-top style down a few notches during the conversation between Cap and military vet. The art fits each aspect of the story perfectly.

Hickman is a writer of unmatched ability and Opeña’s art is staying with him every step of the way. Avengers #1 is bold, exciting and instantly addicting. Jonathan Hickman is taking The Avengers down a whole new path.

The new age of The Avengers raises the game higher than we ever though possible.

While the story of Avengers #3 has great depth, the art really doesn’t. Jerome Opeña’s work is so hit and miss that the visuals never get a good rhythm going. Some of his work with faces is great, others are much too cartoonish to blend with the rest of the art. I enjoy how he renders the Hulk and Captain America, but his Tony Stark and Thor are sloppy. Where Opeña shines is delivering action, when Hulk punches Hyperion, you feel it. It isn’t that Opeña is untalented, it’s more that some pages are glorious and others extremely average. It might not be so noticeable with a lesser story, but here the art failings are painfully obvious.

The art from Adam Kubert is gorgeous. With so much story to tell, a misstep in the art could prove disastrous. Kubert doesn’t flinch. He lets you see what you need to see and allows your imagination to fill in the blanks. When Kubert does put pencil to paper, the whole book raises to another level. Kubert can easily switch between light pencil strokes in certain areas and more powerful lines in others. He never loses his ability to draw emotive faces nor does his unique style cause him to ruin the action. When Kubert opens up, it’s pretty amazing work.

Helping this epic story unfold is the art from Adam Kubert. Really, what more is there to say besides this is art by Adam Kubert? Yes, Kubert’s lines are strong, his inks heavy and his ability to dictate action unquestionable, but what makes Kubert so good is his ability to bring in and release the work. When heavy detail is needed, Kubert is right there, when a simpler panel is required, Kubert backs off. This creates a more cinematic look to the art, which fits in perfectly with the transcendent Hickman’s story is.

AIM is coming for the Avengers. I can’t wait.

Helping bring this Shakespearean level story to life is Leinil Francis Yu, who pencils with the same eye towards complexity as Hickman writes. Yu's work is just as massive, straddling the line between comic book fare and fine art. His line work is delicate and he has a real affinity for shading. His creatures are all wonderful, each with their own visual personality. The panel placement is exciting and layered like Hickman's writing. Only a true master could equal with drawings what Hickman has accomplished here with story.

Leinil Francis Yu continues to be an unstoppable force on this series. I’ve heard whines that his pencils are too dark, his line work too detailed, but to me those are the keys to what makes his art work. Hickman’s text is so rich, so densely packed, that light-hearted art would tear it down. Yu matches Hickman’s intensity with every tightly packed panel. It’s a perfect marriage of images and words.

Regardless of the art hiccup, Jonathan Hickman as done it again. Just as he finishes raising the bar, he jumps it, leaving us stoked on an entire year of Hickman-driven Avengers stories.

The art from Mark Bagley is pretty standard comic book fare. Nothing happening within these pages is bad, but it's also not art to get excited about. Bagley's pencils tell the story, that's it. His work doesn't heighten the book, which would be more acceptable if the story was a little more interesting. I doubt I'll keep buying Avengers Assemble but, if you are dying to learn about one of the best superhero teams ever before the movie comes out, I guess you could do worse.

The art from Kev Walker is an interesting choice. While the spine of this story is dark, Walker’s visuals are bright, even over the top in some panels. The pencils themselves are nothing special, a factory-like comic art style mixed with a dash of manga and a smidge of indie work like Ghost World. The art tells the story, but little else. I also found Walker’s human faces to either be overloaded with expression, or else dead eyed. Overall, it wasn’t awful, but nothing to be excited over.

Frank Cho's art is solid, but I don't think it's special enough for this event series. While Cho's lines are strong, his lack of shading and hit-or-miss ability with faces hurts the overall effect. His action is stilted as well. The pencils on their own are fine, but together lack any real movement. An artist with a bit more flair should handle a series as big as Avengers Vs. X-Men. One that can combine realistic characters with over-the-top action. Cho's so-so art aside, Avengers Vs. X-Men #0 has me more interested in this story than I was in Dark Reign and Civil War combined.

Well done gentlemen. Very well done.

John Romita Jr.’s art is, as always, absolutely beautiful. I could describe it but I gush so. Great sense of timing, amazing penciling skills, great figures and faces and all within the confines of how much fun comic books should be. As for AVX #3, it’s not a great issue but I’m not giving up on the series just yet.

AvX #5 does have art from John Romita Jr. which always kicks ass. I am an endless sucker for his pencils and how they capture the larger than life idea of a comic book without becoming silly. Everything Romita does is unique, you always know it is his work you’re looking at the same way you always know it’s Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko. Avengers vs. X-Men hasn’t crossed the line into failure yet, but Marvel better get a move on with the story.

On the downside of the art, Coipel’s human features are way too small. Everybody ends up having this same blank look on his or her faces. I enjoyed the panel placement but thought he could jazz it up a bit, especially for a big series like this. I’m still interested in what the end brings for AvX; I just wish I didn’t need a GPS to get there.

Avengers Vs. X-Men #8 is a welcome directional shift to the series.

The art from Olivier Coipel is solid, though a few things bug me. Why does Hulk have a hipster haircut? Why does Professor X look like Doctor Strange’s buddy Wong? I like the action here and Coipel has a real way with drawing fire. Truth be told, if Jack Kirby himself had returned from the grave to draw this issue, it wouldn’t have mattered. AVX #11 is exactly the kind of bloated event series we’ve come to expect from Marvel.

In five years, when comics are back in an early '90s sensibility where the writer takes a distant backseat to the artist, people will point to AvX and say "Yep, that's really when it all started".

Avengers World is another check in the win column. Hickman and Spencer do more with one issue than most can do in an entire run.

Spider-Man/Juggernaut: (4 story, 4 art)

Axe Cop: President Of The World not only gives me hope for comics, but for humanity as well.

Ethan Nicolle’s art is just cool to look at. Everything he pencils, I want a toy of it. Ethan understands the types of stories his brother is writing and really tries to present the art that way. Quiet backgrounds, all the action up front in each panel. Axe Cop has a children’s cartoon vibe to it, but that doesn’t make the art any less impressive. I love Axe Cop and I can’t wait to see what Malachai comes up with next.

Art wise Ardian Syaf’s stuff is rock solid. The action work is impeccable as are the gorgeous splash pages. I love how Syaf changes his art style for different aspects of the story. The work is light and airy during the day with Barbara Gordon. It becomes darker, more steeped in shadow and dark colors when she’s Batgirl and, for the flashbacks, Syaf actually draws the work grainy, like an old movie camera playing. Syaf’s light touch works very well with Simone’s word play. Batgirl #1 proves once again how good Gail Simone is and, having read a lions share of the new 52’s this week, there’s a lot these folks can learn from a storyteller like her.

Ardian Syaf does some solid work here. I don’t know whether writer or artist decided to set the actual Batgirl sections in the rain, but it works perfectly. Syaf really communicates the numbing effect a constant rain can have on you. Things are darker, sadder; it allows the natural world to mimic how Barbara is feeling. My only critique is that Syaf’s action can be very stilted. Panels that should be bursting with movement seem frozen, even in small scenes. At times they come off like paintings. That lack of movement becomes distracting as the issue goes on. Overall, Batgirl #2 is a great read. One that brings me even closer to being excited about Barbara Gordon as Batgirl again.

Again, the art from Ardian Syaf is first rate. I love that this man can draw human forms and face correctly. I also love his panel placement and use of the whole page to dictate the story. Syaf uses the entire space of a page and it helps the movement and action immeasurably. Simone writes with a forward motion style and it dictates a need for this kind of art. The opening dream sequence is a perfect marriage of art and word. It creates a powerful series of images that leap off the page. Syaf is also good at solid old-fashioned knock-down drag-out fight panels as well. Batgirl #4 is awesome and belongs amongst the current stellar line of Bat Books.

Some will say that issue #8 sets up a coming conflict between Batgirl and her brother James, the serial killer. While that might seem like a dark and interesting idea, to me it’s a cop out. Scott Snyder already gave us a brilliant story featuring James Gordon in Detective Comics before the big reboot. This feels like somebody taking table scraps and trying to make dinner out of it. The art for Batgirl is cool, but apparently it took three artists to put it together. It just feels like Batgirl is becoming a mess, one that I just don’t care about anymore.

I find it curious that Jason Aaron fucked up both Wolverine and Incredible Hulk, Grant Morrison has shit-canned Action Comics, Tony Daniel couldn’t find a real voice for Detective Comics and David Finch nearly derailed Batman The Dark Knight, but none of them are fired. Even if they’re moved to different books, it’s handled with a lot more respect than Simone received here. A more cynical man, like myself, might believe it’s because she’s a woman writing strong female characters instead of victims. Regardless, DC have screwed the pooch hard this time and once Gail Simone leaves I will not pick up another copy of Batgirl.

Ed Benes’ art is a very odd duck. In the smaller panels, the pencils are a little too basic to keep up with the pace of the book. However, the larger panels and the splash pages really pop. The back and forth begins to take you out of the story, which is never a good sign. I also don’t care much for Benes' rendition of the Joker. It lacks the menace and deformity of Greg Capullo’s original concept.

Daniel Sampere’s artwork is better than Fawkes' writing, but it’s nothing to get too excited about. Sampere does very standard, factory-like pencils. His lines are bold, his work shaded nicely, but it does little more than tell the story. There’s no flair, no excitement behind his work and his movement leaves much to be desired. The fire scenes with Batgirl are nicely done, but overall this is just average work that any decently trained artist could pull off.

Batgirl deserves better than this. Hurry back, Gail.

Batgirl #27 and Gothtopia could assuring in either another multi-verse story, or it could be setting readers up for DC’s own Ultimates type run. Only time will tell.

Batman #711 is sliding down a slippery slope. I was so happy with how Daniel's re-invigorated Two-Face in the last issue, that I wasn't expecting the disappointment I had with this one. Hopefully the return of Two-Face will climax with real excellence and Tony Daniel will start doing his own art again. If Two-Face doesn't make it through the big reboot, I'd hate his last story to end with a whimper and not a bang.

On the art side, Steve Scott does a great job. I like his strong lines and his ability to convey motion. I say that a lot, the ability to convey motion, and not just to say it. What makes comics work is the ability to bring 3D realism into a two dimensional medium. So many artists can’t do that so I always applaud those who can. Scott’s art, as good as it is, just isn’t Tony Daniel, which is strongly missed. Want to know how much of difference there is? Tony Daniel did the cover for Batman #712. Compare it to the inside work and tell me who you’d rather see pencil an issue. This isn’t a bad issue, just a rather clunky end to a story that seemed to give Two-Face some new life.

CRAVE ONLINE RATING 5/10

Batman ’66 may not hold up over the long haul, but issue #1 is a lot of fun.

Some of the best work here happens within the makeshift batcave. I really dig Capullo’s instinct on the type of outfits and tech that Bruce would originally gone with. The scene doesn’t point out anything particular, it just gives multiple hints as to where things like the Batmobile the Batplane and so forth got started. The only thing I didn’t like about Batman #0 is that it sets the tone for a story we won’t see until 2013.

Jason Fabok’s art is nicely done, with the exception of the flashback to Wayne and Freeze’s first meeting. The lion’s share of this book is solid comic book fare. Strong lines, a nice sense of pacing and action, and Fabok’s talent with the faces of the character. I enjoyed how he used brighter tones to show the flashback of Freeze as a child and then left the rest of the story dark, almost noir. The scene where Wayne and Freeze first meet steps outside all of that and attempts a painted fine-art feel, which just hangs there with no punch to it. Batman Annual #1 is a great story, but this new origin for Mr. Freeze sets the character down a road fraught with boredom.

The only let down is Rob Capullo’s art, which is very hit or miss with this issue. The opening battle is gorgeous, with strong movement and some wonderful detail work, especially on Two-Face. However the scene with Commissioner Gordon doesn’t work at all, mainly because Capullo draws Gordon to look like Groucho Marx-meets-The Triplets Of Belleville. At one point, Dick Grayson looks like he’s about twelve, but then the murder scene Batman investigates is wonderful. Capullo really captures the dilapidated nature of the apartment and the brutality of the kill. I’m not giving up on Capullo because there is more good than bad, it’s just the bad really sticks out. Regardless, Batman #1 is cause to celebrate not only the return of a singular Dark Knight, but also that he rests in the capable hands of Scott Snyder.

Greg Capullo’s art is another highlight to the issue. I love how he splits his work between fluid action and almost portrait work. When the story calls for action, Capullo’s work jumps off the page, but in the quieter moments, when characters are talking or relating to each other, everything freezes. Capullo allows your focus to fall on everything within the panel and it helps create real atmosphere for Snyder’s story. Batman #2 is another top-notch entry from one of the only writer’s that keeps me constantly guessing and constantly excited to see what happens next.

Greg Capullo’s art is beautiful in this issue. I was especially impressed with how he handles the opening mob action. It’s so violent and so brutal but keeps the darker fine art edge that Capullo is known for. The fact that his line work is so thin but translates with such weight is a testament to how good the work is. Especially with Batman, who looks truly menacing here, a dark spirit of vengeance out to stop a killer. Batman #3 isn’t the most visceral issue and there are a few kinks in it, but having followed Snyder’s work for this long. I trust there’s a reason for everything.

Greg Capullo's pencils, for the first time, really hit me as wonderful. I've always liked the work, but with Batman #5 Capullo and Snyder are in perfect harmony. Every panel depicting Batman's slow descent into madness is a true representation of Snyder's idea. It's not just a visual representation of what Snyder wrote; the art also gets into the nooks and crannies of the ideas behind the writing. Batman's face reflecting the insanity, his shredded costume, the various ways he sees himself, it's all stunning work. If this level of kinsmanship continues, we could be looking at the best thing to happen to Batman since Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams.

Like Snyder, Capullo is at the top of his game. Batman #6 is not just a beautiful book to look at, it moves effortlessly with high-octane action. The battle between Batman and the Talon soldier is epic and brutal. Capullo has a style reminiscent of the work Frank Miller did on The Dark Knight Returns. I’m impressed with his representation of Snyder’s ideas. The way he made Batman look and see the rest of the world, it was dark and primal. Capullo’s art doesn’t leap off the page as much as it slowly draws you in and holds onto you. Batman #6 might not be the most original story ever told, but Snyder and Capullo are still head shoulders above their competition.

Batman #7 takes the already iconic Scott Snyder and solidifies him as one of the truly great storytellers in comics.

Helping Scott Snyder’s genius is art from Greg Capullo. I’ve been iffy with Capullo’s work in the past, but issue #8 is stellar across the board. Outside of Capullo’s original style with his pencils, he absolutely nails the motion of Batman #8. Snyder’s story never stops moving and Capullo does the same with the art. He also does some great work with tension by laying out the panels evenly and then blows the page up with a great splash page or action shot. With so many others of the reboot series failing by issue 8, Batman remains flawless.

When all is said and done with Batman #9, the identity of at least three major members of the Court Of Owls is revealed, though only to Batman. Scott Snyder smartly keeps the names from us and allows Batman’s reaction to dictate how serious it all is. The nonstop action ends on a dime in the last pages this book, but it doesn’t feel awkward, it completely works. The death at the end of Mr. March gives the scene emotional gravitas, which in turn stops the action cold without feeling off. Who are the names on the list? How does this affect Batman and the whole Batman Universe? I am waiting on pins and needles to see how all of this works out.

Most will say I’m just a Scott Snyder fan boy and I give him carte blanche to do whatever he wants. To that, I say check out my review of Batman Annual #1. The reality is that Snyder has shaken up the Batman world in a way it needs to be shaken up. I can only sit back and wait to see what he has in store for the Dark Knight next.

The end of the Court Of Owls story arc is not without controversy but things that really expand a medium usually are. Snyder has, once again, blown open the dark corners of the Batman mythos and added depth to a world that was already incredibly rich. Snyder and Capullo prove that they not only understand Batman, but also storytelling, sequential art and comic books as a whole.

Don’t get me wrong, Cloonan can draw. It just doesn’t thrill me, and I find it doesn’t work for Batman. Even worse are Andy Clarke’s back-end pages. While Cloonan has her stumbles, she at least can express movement. Clarke’s work just sits there, a harrowing mess of cross-stitching that is best served in kids books like Harold and The Purple Crayon. Regardless of my nitpicks, Batman #12 is a nice breather from the epic struggles the Dark Knight has recently undergone, and the sudden interest in Harper Row piques my interest in her future.

Batman #13 only has 22 pages but within them writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo have redefined an icon and returned the grandeur and terror that rightfully belongs to the greatest villain in the history of the sequential art medium.

Batman continues to be extraordinary. This incarnation of the Joker is one of the best in years.

"Death Of The Family" is one of the greatest Joker stories ever told. It belongs up there with The Killing Joke, Arkham Asylum, The Man Who Laughs, The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge or Death In The Family. An absolute classic.

With the end of Death Of The Family approaching, Snyder and Capullo will cement themselves as the best creative team behind Batman since O’Neil and Adams.

"Death Of The Family" will go down as one of the best Joker stories in history. Snyder and Capullo should be thanked by anyone who loves Batman.

Batman #18 is a strong issue, despite it being more a necessity of Grant Morrison's ego than anything involving Scott Snyder's epic run.

Batman #19 may not be an epic story arc, but it process Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo can tell any Batman story, in any style, and make it sing.

The art from Greg Capullo remains astonishing. Capullo pencils with the same eye towards movement that Frank Quitely does. The thin lines and sketched characters makes the art move like cinema. Having that style, Capullo does some wonderful things with Clayface. When the villain morphs, it comes across like a living, breathing transformation. Capullo also makes Clayface disturbing, which can be hard to do. Danny Miki’s inks go a long way in solidifying Capullo’s work. FCO Plascencia’s colors are used sparingly, but effectively.

Batman: Zero Year is well on its way to establishing itself as the new origin gospel in the new DC Universe.

Greg Capullo continues to bring first rate work to Batman. His unique style of drawing human characters takes center stage in issue #22. Edward Nygma looks like an Irish thug with his mutton chops and angular face. Bruce is always angry, even when he’s being contemplative, and this rage boils beneath the surface. While the backgrounds and colors are wonderful, there is no center piece, no Batman to focus on. This gives Capullo a harder task. He needs to generate visual interest in a book where the central character doesn’t even exist. As usual, he executes it perfectly.

Though the art betrayed the darkness of the story, Killer Croc's one-shot remains a favorite among the Villains Month releases.

To put it simply, Joker deserves better.

Batman #23 is a solid, if flawed, installment for Zero Year, and Snyder continues to etch his place alongside Dennis O’Neal, Frank Miller and Chuck Dixon, as one of the most important Batman writers in the character's  history.

Snyder and Capullo continue to redefine Batman. Strengthening the mythos, adding to the legacy, and allowing Batman to grow in new directions without sacrificing what we hold dear about the character. This era of Batman is something very, very special.

The meeting of story and art on this level is rare in comic books. Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo are, quite simply, the Lennon/McCartney of Batman.

Snyder and Capullo are inextricably tied to Batman for all time. Your children’s children reading Batman will marvel at them, the way fans do now at Kirby & Lee.

Greg Capullo continues his tour de force with Batman. I’m not only a fan of Capullo’s work, his signature style and interesting, complex pencils, but I also love his scope. He presents his work with the eye of a cinematographer, which really helps Batman pop. Hats off to inker Danny Miki, too. Inking the type of detail-oriented work that Capullo does is not easy. Too little and the pages seem unfinished, too much and they become muddy. Miki hits the nail on the head. Same with FCO Plascencia’s colors, which are muted, but still exciting.

If the entirety of Batman Eternal is the same caliber of this preview issue, then the bat-fans out there have yet another reason to rejoice.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Snyder and Capullo, the Lennon/McCartney of Batman.

Great writing, gorgeous art, Batman/Superman #1 is everything you want in comic book.

Smart, exciting, gorgeous. Batman/Superman is something very special, presented by two talents at the absolute peak of their game.

Without the art of Jae Lee, Pak's ideas would be nothing. There is a shadowy darkness to how Lee draws. The edges are soft, the expressions slightly off, as though the characters are sensing something elusive happening just behind what they can see. Lee's work flows in a way I haven't seen in many artists. Each panel is a soft work of art, something tiny and exceptional to be marveled at. It matches perfectly to what Pak is writing.

Brett Booth’s art is glorious in both scope and execution. I don’t know if this guy could pencil a quiet independent book, but man, can he kick the ass of an action epic. DC has chosen to use a sideways vantage for this story. In other words, the pages are set up horizontally like a calendar. Booth takes full advantage of each page, cramming as much action into every panel as will fit, and then hitting us with explosive splash pages. Booth’s work is a gut punch of constant action.

The art from Greg Tocchini and Andy Smith is decent enough; nothing that knocked me out of my chair or even really made me take notice. The best artwork of the entire book was Guillem March’s cover. Batman and Robin #25 is a testament to just how done this series is. When the big Subway sandwich inserts are more exciting than the rest of the book, it’s time to call it a day.

I did enjoy the art, which I didn’t expect. Usually the fine art of side of comics doesn’t do much for me, but here it works. Greg Tocchini who brings a soft hand to the art handles the first fourteen pages. There are no hard lines, no rough edges that give definition, everything is subtle and easy. While I know this isn’t the medium Tocchini probably works in, the art in Batman & Robin #26 comes off like it was handled with magic markers. The final five pages are the work of Andrei Bressen, who combines a more typical comic book style with a flair for the dramatic. Visually this issue is a real joy, it’s very pretty and fun to look at. If the story had been up to par with the art, this final adventure of Dick & Damien could have been something that rose above the banality of the series itself.

Patrick Gleason’s art is stellar. Following Frank Quietly is no easy task, but Gleason absolutely kills it. He takes his masterful execution and technique and combines it with an eye for the story. Gleason can see what Tomasi sees and he brings that to the page. The work is dark and barren, leaving us always focusing on the main characters until it’s time for action. Gleason has a serious knack for creating movement. Big props also to Mick Gray for some killer inks and John Kalisz who uses his color palette to gel together all the elements of the book. Batman & Robin #1 is, so far, one of the best of the New 52 releases.

The other heroes in this book are colorist John Kalisz and inker Mick Gray. Gray’s work gives definition to Gleason’s pencils and Kalisz’s colors are impeccable. The dark overtones that are given depth by the flashes of color help push the movement Gleason creates into another zone. It’s breathtaking work. Between Tomasi’s Batman & Robin and Scott Snyder’s Batman, the Dark Knight is once again the most interesting character DC comics has to offer.

Helping tell this tale is artist Patrick Gleason. Not everything Gleason does is perfect - I don’t particularly care for his faces, they look a little too "manga meets Hellboy" for me. However, what he does do well is so good it makes up for it. He has a true sense of action and movement. Between his bold lines and backgrounds, each panel has life to it. Mix this with how he places them and Batman & Robin moves like a motion picture. I also have to give props to Mick Gray for his insane inking work and the rich color designs of John Kalisz. These three visual artists bring into focus Peter J. Tomasi’s opus towards fathers and sons and heroes and villains.

The art from Patrick Gleason is first rate. I enjoy how each panel is stark and set deeply in a noir sensibility. Everything is centered, the attention of completely put on the foreground. Gleason’s strong lines and use of basic colors gives everything a great composition. The final pages of the story are a statement of how good Gleason is at movement. The final splash page leaps out of the comic book with a visceral power that is undeniable. Batman & Robin #6 is a nicely penciled decent book that, with a little editing, could have been amazing.

Patrick Gleason's art is, as always, stellar. This issue is a symphony of violence that never stops moving forward. Panel to panel, the action is incredible and the intensity of the battle keeps growing. There's an early splash page, where Batman has just entered Ducard's lair that is stunning. It could be one of the best shots of the Dark Knight this year. Gleason makes every single scene count and by the end, you're as worn out as the participants. While many of the New 52 series have found themselves faltering with issue 7, Batman and Robin #7 has given the series a new lease to continue kicking ass.

Patrick Gleason’s art is, as always, mind numbing. This guy walks right to the edge of over-drawing each panel and then kicks some dust off that edge. His ability to maintain control gives us some gloriously detailed work, and some of the best human forms in comics today. There are some times when the faces look a little off, but Gleason has really grown into his role for Batman and Robin. Look at his first close up of Maximums or the cross etching he does on Damian’s Robin during the four-Robin confrontation. It all adds so much to the story. Tomasi may be kicking Damian Wayne back a few notches psychologically, but he’s really finding his voice for this series.

Batman and Robin is a trip, a venture into uncharted sections of Batman’s world. Moving through uncharted waters can lead to disaster and genius. It’s always fun to see which Peter J. Tomasi will bring to us.

Batman and Robin #18 s a powerful issue; I just hope this requiem isn't for both Damian Wayne and the series itself.

While not visually stunning to look at, the stories in Batman Beyond Universe #1 are both solid, enjoyable reads.

The art from Chris Burnham is a pretty crappy attempt at being Frank Quitely. Batman is drawn like a bad caricature of himself, almost like somebody used a cheap action figure as the basis. Robin looks like a Campbell’s Soup kid and overall the art is just lacking. If you want to know how ridiculously bad Batman Incorporated is, just flip to the panel where Robin introduces Batcow. You can’t make this crap up folks.

Tying the entire issue together is the wonderful art by Jason Shawn Alexander. There is a darkness to what Alexander does, a gritty and tripped out style that’s just slightly unnerving. The Joker looks twisted and evil, Batman is brooding and every inch the “Dark” Knight. Alexander’s fine art mixed with dark grittiness reminds me of the bastard child of Dave McKean, Sam Keith and Mike Mignola. As relentless as the script is for Batman Arkham City: End Game, the art is just as in your face.

Batman: Black & White continues to impress, dazzle, and tell captivating stories in small spaces.

The final piece of the puzzle is the fantastic art from Eduardo Risso. It’s clear that Risso has a cinematic view of comic books. Each panel is put together like a scene from a classic noir crime drama. The backgrounds are stark, the figures usually hidden by shadow and the muted colors make give the scenes a documentary style reality. Risso is all about the moment and with every stroke of the pen he makes you believe in the horror of it all. Imagine the cinematography of Apocalypse Now pushed through a noir filter and emptied onto a comic book page. That’s how powerful Risso’s art is in this issue. No matter how bad Flashpoint ends, it will be the event series responsible for giving us Knight Of Vengeance and that makes the entire endeavor worthwhile.

Eduardo Risso’s art is again so gorgeous that it almost steals the spotlight. I love his use of minimalism in the backgrounds, his Batman: Year One style of penciling characters, all of it. What he does gels so well with the writing that it saddens me Risso won’t be involved with Azzarello’s Wonder Woman. It’s going to be hard staring at Cliff Chiang’s rather unappealing work when you know Russo would have sent Wonder Woman right over the top. As the Flashpoint tie ins wind down, Knight Of Vengeance stands out as one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dull and predictable line of books.

The pencils from both Mico Suayan and Juan Jose Ryp are very inconsistent. Some of the work is gorgeous, lush scenery and dense backgrounds really give the impression of Gotham closing in around Bruce. Some of the characters are well done, particularly young Bruce Wayne. Other characters look too much like Mad Magazine cartoons. At times the detail work is really excellent and at others really overbearing. None of the art in Batman: The Dark Knight #0 is bad, it’s just so inconsistent it takes you out of the story.

I suppose The Dark Knight could become an important part of the Batman legacy, but I doubt it. The series had its chance and David Finch blew it. He only really returns here for the art, which is glorious. Finch can draw and has a hell of a sense of movement and action. His style is uncluttered, so every panel has something specific to focus on. I love how Finch draws Batman and I would love for him to be drawing one of the other titles. Here, it seems like a waste of time. DC would have been smarter to add another Superman book or a new title altogether. Batman: The Dark Knight feels like an afterthought. If DC is hell bent on keeping it, then perhaps it can function like Legends Of The Dark Knight and tell Batman tales of old.

There are some great subtle moments here to. The exchange between Batman and the kidnapped girl is very effective and most of it is the art. The panel where the little girl gently grabs Batman’s finger is crushing. It shows how lost Batman is to help her, even with all his power and resources. Finch also blazes with the art once Gordon is drugged and kidnapped. His hallucinations of failure and horror are stunning, some of Finch’s bets work. I think Dark Knight has finally found balance with a team made up of two of the best at their craft.

I understand this is a first issue, but to me, that’s when the comic should grab you and hold your attention. Bedlam, thus far, is banal and boring.

Jones also falters on human faces. His versions of the Kennedy’s look more like a caricature, something you’d see being drawn at a street fair. The cover for Comedian #1 is spectacular but it doesn’t translate to the interior of the book at all. Before Watchmen rages on and leaves the trampled corpse of Alan Moore’s genius book behind it.

Cooke’s art is gorgeous. It helps that I love Golden Age work, so Cooke’s ability to marry that era with the modern world is always exciting for me. Even if you don’t love the era, Cooke’s work is still exciting. His pacing is good, his action jumps right off the page the same way Will Eisner or Jack Kirby’s work did. I’m happy Minutemen came out simply because I love Darwyn Cooke and he’s done a great job. That being said, this isn’t going to become part of the Watchmen lore because nothing outside of what Moore wrote ever will.

While a fun story, the lackluster art and indifference towards Alan Moore’s original work makes Rorschach #1 little more than a money shill.

However, say you’re not much of a reader. That’s cool, because the art in this comic is ridiculous. Don’t get overly despondent, but Powell isn’t the artist. Kyle Holtz is, and he kicks huge amounts of ass. There is a wisp of what Powell does in Holtz’s work on this book, but Holtz also adds the flavor of old time EC Comics like The Haunt Of Fear, Tales From The Crypt or Vault Of Horror. Holtz’ thick lines and serious love of inks has that same in-your-face presence as the EC stuff, plus the art is always moving - every panel feels like it’ll jump off the page. Powell and Holtz have created words, plot and art that is as hateful as it is excellent and I am all on board for it.

Billy The Kid's Old Timey Oddities and The Orm Of Loch Ness is one of the best horror comics to come out this year.

Ron Wimberly’s pencils don’t really help matters. Granted, a comic like this is supposed to be over the top, but Wimberly falls victim to the same thing Ash does. It’s too much; each panel is trying too hard to make sure we know that it is parody. By the final page, the pictures are inconsequential and become little more than background noise. Comic stalwart Sal Buscema gives some decent inkwork, but JM Ringuet’s colors are drab, hitting another nail into the coffin of indifference for Black Dynamite.

Black Science is a winner. Any sci-fi fan will be hooked.

Black Science is a good time with a lot of oddity to it. Remender seems to understand that he's dealing with some well-worn sci-fi clichs, and he's allowing his imagination to fill in those blanks. Part of what works is the visual scope of the story. Artist Matteo Scalera, who worked with Remender on Secret Avengers, goes for broke here. Everything is bigger than life, from the landscape to the aliens and even to the reactions of the characters. The evil businessman is so gloriously sinister, and the disgraced mercenary so begrudgingly serious. Scalera ramps up the clichs, and at the same time, he manages to keep an original slant on the story. Only time will tell how Black Science ends up, but for right now, it's a great read.

While the blurred focus of Black Science is unnerving, Remender and Scalera are executing a very challenging brew of ideas.

The art from Graham Nolan and Ken Lashley is the real star of Blackhawks #1, but I’m not sure who to thank, since Nolan is given credit as layouts and Lashley as finisher and cover. Regardless, the pencils are detailed but not clean. The combination gives the art a bizarre sense of life, as if each character or machine is moving independently of the other. The work allows for considerable action to happen within a two dimensional medium. Outside of the art, there isn’t much to rave about here. In other words, Blackhawks down.

However Season 9 ends up, I can’t help but feel the concept and idea of Buffy The Vampire Slayer is faltering. For one, the dialog and whole vibe of the series is extremely 90s; it doesn’t feel as if Buffy ever moved forward. One the flipside the story arcs have gone completely over the deep end. The freedom of being in print has opened up Buffy and her gang to things that are new and exciting but often lose the quiet and cool nature of the original idea. I’m sure many are just in love with the idea that Buffy lives and for them Season 9-1 will be a good time.

Again, the art here works to split the stories up. Butch Guice, Stefano Gaudiano, Mitch Breitweiser and Chris Samnee work the art giving the book ends stories a sixties Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D. feel, while the middle story with Bucky has a gritty and violent look to it. All the work here helps to raise Brubaker's plot as each panel is a tribute to how important movement and tone is to any issue. Though this run of Captain America seems to be coming to end, at least Brubaker will remain through the re-launch. I'm glad for that, because Brubaker has given a new life to Captain America, one that stays true to what Jack Kirby and Joe Simon created but also adds layers to it that make the hero a more well rounded human being.

Steve McNiven does some outstanding work here. It’s not perfect, such as how 1944 era Nick Fury looks like Wolverine, but for the most part it’s a win. McNiven’s art naturally has motion to it. Nothing he pencils are controlled by the dimensions of the panel, the action literally leaps off the page. He’s also great at human faces, something so many working artists seem to suck at. Captain America #1 isn’t a gangbusters all-out slam dunk, but it is a solid launching pad for the star spangled hero. I also know to trust in Brubaker, he always manages to take things to new levels of greatness and I expect nothing less here.

The art from Steve McNiven is a real stand out. McNiven understands that he’s drawing for words from Brubaker, so he has no qualms with restraint. When dialog is going on he draws each panel as if it were a stand-alone picture. It allows you to focus on the words as much as what’s happening visually. When the action comes, McNiven opens up full tilt with great effect. That marriage of restraint, technical ability and a natural way of bringing motion to action sequences makes McNiven’s work here so wonderful. With Captain America #2, Ed Brubaker proves again that he’s just about the best comic book writer in the business today.

Captain America never truly goes away, and in November, Marvel are starting over with issue #1. At the helm is writer Rick Remender along with artist John Romita Jr. I’m fans of both men but, sadly, they have already failed. Nobody in the foreseeable future will be able to touch what Ed Brubaker has done here. It’s a staggering run from a man of staggering talent.

Eventually, the Remender/Romita Jr. collaboration will find it’s own voice. Let’s just hope that it happens before too many people get turned off.

Captain America is the failure to communicate. The failure is how Rick Remender has chosen to communicate his desire to step outside the Ed Brubaker shadow.

Captain America, the Remender tales, is so bad that I can’t even enjoy the art from John Romita Jr. As one of my favorite artists, this should be a no brainer, but instead, all I can see is great talent being wasted on a bad story. On its face, Romita’s work is still above reproach, I just wish it wasn’t bringing to life a story as awful as this one.

Captain America should be a great series. I usually love Remender and I always love Romita Jr. Sadly, this time their contribution to an icon's history is a complete bust.

Oddly enough, Carlos Pacheco picks up where John Romita Jr. left off. This is odd to me because each man should have been doing the other work. Pacheco’s darker shadowing and more realistic pencils would have helped the Dimension Z story. John Romita Jr., one of my personal favorites, would have been perfect for the return of Cap to his own time. Though I love Romita Jr., his blockish characters never fit the dire nature of the Dimension Z arc. Pacheco’s work here is strong, his shadowing nicely executed. The softer pencils of the flashbacks work well against the stronger, heavier inks of the current timeline.

Pascal Alixe artwork is bizarrely inconsistent. His line work is thin, and he tends to pencil characters in small, far-off shots, which makes them look either disfigured or unfinished. What's odd is that the Jet Black scenes, when she's jumping buildings, are wonderful. Alixe has an exceptional ability to communicating movement. The problem is that what's moving often looks like blobs of color. Even faces look off, which is never a good thing for a book that already lacks clarity.

While some will rejoice, I find myself put off by Adi Granov’s art. The talent is there, and his ability to create fine-art landscapes rich with characters is undeniable. That being said, this Norman Rockwell approach to comic book art is stiff. Movement is so stifled that this book ultimately becomes a list of small paintings. These paintings are gorgeous, but they have no life. They elicit no excitement, so as comic book pages they fail.

Captain Marvel is a stumbled start but I’m hoping that the talent DeConnick showed in Avenging Spider-Man ultimately shows through. There should also be an immediate artist change.

The art from David Lopez is solid, though I don’t know if it works for the series. Lopez’s line work here is thin, without much in the way of background detail. Lopez’s use of shading and blacks gives the visuals a certain narrative heart that goes hand and hand with the storytelling. While it works with this issue, I’m not sure how it will play out once Captain Marvel gets intergalactic. Lopez’s work is great for more interpersonal stories, but might not translate into big action.

My only reservation, and I realize it’s a personal taste matter, is the art. I don’t like Clayton Crain’s style, I never have. I don’t like the dentist office “fine art” way of doing comic books. It looks like a bad watercolor project and it completely doesn’t work for this book. Crain is obviously a master artist, but his style keeps taking you out of the story, which is annoying. I’m sure Carnage USA will have Crain’s art throughout, which is too bad. That being said, don’t let the misguided artist choice allow you to pass by one of the best kick off issues I’ve read in a long time.

Cataclysm: Ultimate Comics Ultimates #1 ushers in the end of the Ultimates, and succeeds on a story level. The failure here is with Carmine Di Giandomenico's art. There is zero consistency to what he's doing. Some points look great, as though time and effort were put into it, but others look rushed. Several of the Fury panels give the character an oblong skull. Giandomenico's proportions are off, and his faces look too inconsistent to be interesting. The end of the Ultimates deserves better than slapped-together art like this.

hange has its moments and may find it's voice in the upcoming issues. That being said, issue #1 fails to do what first issues must do, and that is generate interest in what is going on

Takeshi Miyazawa, who has worked on Runaways for Brian K. Vaughn as well as helping Pak create the Marvel character Amadeus Cho, handles art. Miyazawa’s art has a very specific look to it. There’s a bit of computer animation to the style, but also underground work like Dan Clowes or Peter Bagge. The work is hyper-exaggerated, more focused on broad character looks as opposed to any fine detail. Personally, I’m not a fan of this type of art – it lacks personality and intimacy for me. There is a generation of kids who love this style, though, so for them, Code Monkey should be a visual thrill.

Constantine #1 is not just bad, it is a puppy killing moment of absolute failure.

Andy Kubert is a tremendous artist, just not a very good writer.

Pablo Rivera’s art is a bizarre misstep. I say bizarre because his work on the opening battle with Daredevil and The Spot is perfect, as is his ending with Daredevil on patrol. Everything else, the little scenes in-between, is where Rivera loses me. There’s no life to those scenes, they just lay there looking more like basic colored pencils than a finished product. I must also come clean that I so wanted Neal Adams, John Romita Jr. or some other icon to be handling the art. If Rivera is going to continue as the main artist for Daredevil, he needs to raise his game just a bit. I haven’t forgiven everything Marvel did to Daredevil, and I still have the sour taste of Andy Diggle’s abysmal work in my mouth. That being said, Daredevil, however cautiously, is exciting me for the first time in a while.

Paolo Rivera’s art screams of another era in comic books. It’s not that the art is basic, but it’s focused more on the here and now instead of trying to cram too much into each panel. During the fight with Captain America, Rivera uses sold colors for the backgrounds, which works to give the section movement. When your eye is focused only on the characters and not the backgrounds, the mind is quicker to animate what’s happening. When Rivera needs to give us background detail he does it wonderfully, but his real power is how well he captures the characters and uses the details within them to move the story. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Marcos Martin’s art is a real conundrum here. There isn’t much in the way of intricate detail, the lines are bold and the shadowing very economical. Panels are laid out straightforward for most of the book and the whole thing has a very '60s noir style to it. This work should just sit there, like tiny little pictures that have no connection. Instead, the movement is incredible, the action leaps off the page even if it’s just the sweating face of a scared victim. That kind of kinetic energy is rare in comics, especially ones where the whole kitchen sink isn’t tossed into every panel. Martin’s style is the epitome of less is more and it adds to the refreshing nature of the whole story.

On that note, the art in Daredevil #6 is once again stellar. Marcos Martin not only knows how to draw these kinds of stories, he also understands how to pace them. Martin’s art is light, lots of big areas, and strong lines. His minimalism on detail allows for maximum movement, not just panel to panel but also within them. He’s one of the few artists that can block out a page in a pretty standard way; box panels right next to each other, and keep it interesting. The best example of his ability is on page five, fourth and fifth panels. Two henchmen are talking about how Bruiser beat Daredevil and suddenly Daredevil is there. You don’t see what happens, but your imagination fills in the blanks nicely. Waid and Martin are an awesome team that have brought the world’s most melancholy and depressed superhero back into the light!

Paolo Rivera really steps it up here. Either that or I’m just a sucker for a really well done snow scene. I enjoyed how Rivera turns the weather from tranquil to violent slowly over several panels. There were also specific panels that I felt really pushed the story along. Page four, third panel from the left. It’s a simple pencil of Matt Murdock looking at his prize from the earlier battle. The last panel on page 10, a shot of Daredevil trying to use his radar is another gem. Rivera uses his bold lines and colors against the details of weather, which gives the entire issue serious depth. Daredevil #7 is a filler issue, no doubt, but the talents of Waid and Rivera help to keep it above the standard fare.

The art from Kano is solid enough. It’s reminiscent of Paolo Rivera’s work in earlier issues where the lines were thinner and the shading bolder. Kano keeps things very neat and centrally focused in his panels. When he opens that focus up, it feeds into the motion of the scene, which ramps up the action. As good as the art is, it just can’t save Daredevil #8, a thoroughly disappointing end to a story that started with great promise.

I know I’ll get hell for this, but I think Daredevil could use a change in the art. No matter who’s been helming the pencil the art for the series has had a very open, colorful and old comic book throwback look to it. It’s worked thus far and I’ve been a huge fan of it. Now, however, the art feels wrong for the story. If things are going to get dark and violent, the open and colorful look won’t work. Daredevil needs a grittier look from here on out. Don’t get me wrong, the art on Daredevil 10.1 from Khoi Pham is solid, it just isn’t right for the upcoming arc.

Daredevil #15 is another solid entry into the already impeccable work of Mark Waid’s run on the iconic character.

Michael Allred’s pencils help keep this from being a total failure. The work here is bold, big and rich in color. The minute details are sacrificed for large, open panels that often bleed into each other. Allred uses the Silver Age style of action in Daredevil #17. Each panel is an action snapshot, there’s not much flow from panel to panel. Regardless of the snapshot effect, the action is still exciting to look at. If I had to offer up a problem with Allred’s pencils, it would be that Foggy looks more like Peter Lorre than himself. Outside of that, it’s Allred’s artwork that keeps this unnecessary issue of Daredevil afloat.

The art from Chris Samnee is solid as ever. I love how he puts a modern spin on the Silver Age style of art. He maintains the heavy inks of the era but his strokes are thinner, the detail work a little more refined. Samnee never allows his panels to become too complex, even his characters are made up of only what they need to define them. The broad art gives characters weight and draws the focus to who is in the foreground of the panel rather than the entire panel. It’s a strong story telling device. I hope Waid pulls a cool trick out of his hat to explain the sudden dip in writing. I have faith.

I know Waid is a legend, and I’ve always been a big fan of his. That aside, Daredevil is failing on an epic level.

Daredevil has survived a weak storyline over the past few issues. Lets hope that clears up quickly.

Daredevil #24 levels the playing field for new readers, but with so much going on, let's hope the Man Without Fear doesn't collapse under his own weight.

Mark Waid and Chris Samnee’s Daredevil continues to prove that there are always great stories to tell, even with our most aged characters.

Daredevil is awesome. A series that reminds all of us why we started reading comic books in the first place.

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear is currently in a series without equal.

Making sure Waid’s upbeat lyrics remain visually fun is Chris Samnee. Once again, he knocks it out of the ballpark. Samnee pencils Silver Surfer in a very uncomplicated manner. Most artists try to make Surfer this deep, slightly melancholy character, which he is. Samnee, however, is confident enough to let Surfer be a comic book character, a flying bad ass with the power cosmic. Those darker portrayals of Surfer are cool, but it is nice to ease up on them every so often. Samnee’s Silver Age love shines right through the Silver Surfer.

Daredevil is the man without fear and the book without equal.

Waid and Samnee are a smashing team. Their Daredevil brings a life to the story we haven’t seen since Brubaker and Miller.

Chris Samnee’s art is amazing as always. Just flipping through the issue you can see how well his pencils blended with Waid’s ideas. Past Daredevil books, as brilliantly drawn as they were, often remained dark and menacing. Samnee’s unique style let Daredevil breathe, and gave it an upbeat feel without the series becoming goofy. Samnee was also able to turn it all on a dime, and suddenly, those menacing shadows would return. Samnee understands the character, and always nails the panels.

I seriously hope Chris Samnee stays on Daredevil for as long as Waid does. They work perfectly together. Samnee has the same light touch to his art that Waid does to his writing. While not the same style, Samnee has the same appeal that Steve Ditko or Jack Kirby had " that ability to make the work leap right off the page. The bold lines and heavy inks give everything a strong presence, while the slim details in the background give pop to the foreground art. Waid and Samnee are a winning team, one that I hope stays with the red-horned hero for years to come.

Daredevil: Dark Nights is a punch right to the chest. A charged narrative of emotion and wonderful storytelling.

Daredevil: End Of Days is about as good as comic books get.

Daredevil: End Of Days is a powerful story that rattles the emotional core of the superhero world.

The art is in interesting brew of images. Klaus Janson handles the pencils, while Bill Sienkiewicz does the full color painted splash pages. Both artists ping pong off each other well. Janson tells the lion’s share of the story with his inspired noir style. The saturated rain, the heavy feeling of melancholy, it all works beneath the foundation of masterfully well done human forms and action scenes. It’s beautiful work for a story that never ceases to gripping and exciting.

While the final curtain for End Of Days may be disappointing, the art continues to impress. The combined style of comic icon Bill Sienkiewicz and Klaus Janson, have kept End Of Days visually exciting since page one. Co-writer David Mack, who uses a fine art paint style to give the scenes a dreamlike quality, handles the flashback sequences of Daredevil lecturing Urich’s kid. Sienkiewicz angular style, combined with Janson’s modern day noir edge, is perfect for the story being told here. I wish the story had been as dedicated to originality as the art.

I’d get into all the rest of the stories but none of them are worth writing about. I particularly loathed Richard Corben’s contribution because I can’t stand his art and he tells the same reject-from-Heavy-Metal-Magazine type story over and over. While I can’t recommend Dark Horse Presents #3 I will say that if you dig Steranko, it’ll be worth the wasted cash just to have his story and interview. Outside of that this is a definite pass for your pull folder.

Wes Craig’s art is the best thing about Deadly Class. It’s a visceral style, one that captures movement in every panel. The line work is thin, but Craig’s pencils bring it all together into something consistently interesting. He also varies his approach depending on the scene. The way he illustrates the death of Arguello’s parents is like a children’s book turned into a horror film, which is very different than his straight pencils. Lee Loughridge is there for the assist with really great color work. Urban sprawl can tend to look drab, but Loughride manages to keep the melancholy aspect of it, without losing a solid palette.

Not helping matters is the art from Terry Dodson, which comes across like bad animation cells from some eighties Saturday morning cartoon. There’s zero depth to anything that Dodson does and his panel placement keeps the excitement at zero. For some reason he draws the Hulk like a big green baby and Iron Fist looks like he’s either always going fast or constantly surprised. Perhaps Dodson read the script and decided to phone in his art the way Fraction did the story. Whatever the reasoning, The Defenders #1 is an embarrassment and Marvel should be ashamed of themselves.

The art from Diogenes Neves is the real star of the issue. He does a lot with very little story, managing to take insignificant little scenes and make them pop to life with his art. There’s a definite John Romita Jr. vibe to what Neves does and it works for this kind of story. Fantasy work should have a straight comic book art feel to it and that’s what Neves nails here. I just wish he’d had more to work with as far as the story goes. At some point I might be eating crow, I might be crawling through Liger manure in order to make amends towards Demon Knights. However, based on issue #1, it’s doubtful.

So the issue is lame, but it is also beautiful Jock's art has slowly become some of my favorite in the medium. I love how he draws the human form; I love his Batman in particular. It has grit to it, a Vertigo series sense of noir and violence that I love. For lack of a better term, Jock draws in a very sinister style. I'm not writing Scott Snyder off, he's way too good to do that. I'm just sad that one of the coolest story arcs in recent Batman history ended with a thud.

My only issue is the art from Francesco Francavilla. It's not even that Francavilla's work is bad, he just isn't Jock and this issue screams for Jock. The pages involving Joker are where Francavilla really shines but still, it isn't Jock and the rest of the book lacks the punch visually that the writing has. I'm sure Francavilla fans will disagree and I can understand that. What he's doing isn't bad; it's just that Scott Snyder and Jock are a perfect team. Detective Comics #879 is full on kick ass. This is a bowl of crow I will shovel down happily.

The hands down capper of the issue, the thing that just makes every page sing is Jock's artwork. For me, in issue 880, Jock delivers the best cover in comics thus far in 2011. The Joker on this cover will go on to be a tattoo staple for any Batman fan, I guarantee it. Inside, Jock just goes off, creating one memorable panel after another. The splash page when Commissioner Gordon finds his ex-wife is stunning. Jock brings back the physical grotesqueness of the Joker. The scars are deep and wide and for the first time in a while, The Joker is hard to look at. The sense of noir, the rain work, everything is absolutely perfect and when it marries to Scott Snyder's words, the results are breathtaking. Detective Comics #880 is a major marker in Snyder's journey to become mentioned in the same breath as names like Miller, Moore, Waid, Byrne, O'Neil, Wein and all the others who have changed the face of comic books.

Actual nuts and bolts of what happens in issue 881 are irrelevant; the true depth here is in the character study. One particularly stellar section has Jim and Dick facing off in a battle of words as Dick searches for them. Jim makes a distinction between Dick and Bruce (he has long since figured out the Batman identity scenario), which is so telling and so true that it snaps everything Snyder has been doing into place. Since he's taking over for Batman after the reboot, I hope those elements stay in place. While I'm not sold on DC ending the era I grew up with, I can think of no more perfect finale than Scott Snyder's brilliant run.

Tony Daniel's art is, of course, above reproach. He even managed to make me like the Batman "armor" suit by giving it a bit more fluidity than previous incarnations. The action scenes are visceral and alive, the depth of shadow and use of powerful lines to give the characters weight is on point. It's everything we expect from Daniel. Visually, Detective Comics #1 is stunning, but as far as story goes, it's only fair. It may just take some getting used to, so I'm not denying the New 52 yet. However by the end of Detective Comics #1, I was really missing Batman the way he used to be.

I’m supposing the rush to write this debacle left Daniel’s no room to make the art count. For some reason, Bruce Wayne always looks like an Asian man who just went swimming and Commissioner Gordon looks like Boner Rex, The Seventies Porn Star. I was especially mystified as to why Harvey Bullock now looks like seventies TV cop Baretta had a kid with Claude Akins. Detective Comics #2 is not only an embarrassment to Dark Knight fans, but to comic fans in general.

If Daniel wanted DC #9 to be about Dr. Arkham, then he should have made it all about him. How he uses his deception and trickery to beat the Talon assassins at their own game. Instead, he tried to combine the doc and Batman, with tepid results. On the flipside, Tony Daniel’s art is first rate. I absolutely love how he draws the Black Mask. If Daniel could bring the kind of vision and passion to his writing that he does to his art, he’d be unstoppable. Sadly that’s not the case, and Detective Comics #9 does more to dull the edge of the Talon’s claws than sharpen them.

If I have one complaint with Detective #23.3, it is the art. Szymon Kudranski tries so hard to show the darkness of the new world that he ends up muddying his own work. The lines here aren't very strong; Kudranski prefers thinner, sketchier lines. When those lines meet his over zealous use of shading, the result is a hair too shadowy to be enjoyable. I appreciate what Kudranski is trying to do, he just needed to either use stronger inks in the outlines or ease up on the shading.

Detective Comics #27 pays homage to the greatest superhero of all time (yeah, I said it). Sure, the price tag is a little goofy, but with so much talent, DC gets a slide. Most importantly, Detective Comics #27 shows that even after three quarters of a century, the Dark Knight’s adventures or just beginning.

Doctor Who #1 is a win for Andy Diggle, but he needs to get a new artist fast.

Frustration builds because of the art. Simon Fraser’s work looks rushed, as if he was handed the project a few hours before deadline. The faces have little expression to them, often the bodies look bulbous, and there is no real detail or clever panel layout at all. Why would a story so clever, one that is celebrating fifty years of Doctor Who, be passed on to an artist who looks as though he doesn’t care about the material? It’s maddening to enjoy a story so much, but with each page epic failure comes with great success. I hope Simon Fraser is not the chosen artist for all the issues.

Prisoners Of Time #2 is a great story and gives me a lot of hope for the rest of this series.

Doctor Who: Prisoners Of Time #4 does not set a good stage for the next seven issues.

The art from Philip Bond is passable, better than some issues, no better than others. IDW never seems particularly focused on great art. It’s odd for a comic book publishing company to consistently give readers boring artists, but it must be working for them. Bond’s pencils are clean, his lines strong, but no one here has any character. The Fifth Doctor looks almost goofy, as do his companions. I would almost rather this story arc had been a book than a comic if the art is going to be this dull.

Sadly, the art from Matthew Dow Smith is little more than a means to an end. Every comic book must have a visual element, but it doesn’t always mean said element leaps from the page, nor does it mean the element elevates the issue into something special. Smith’s art flat lines, it tells the story but does nothing else. Character faces are much too similar, the panels are awkward and clumsy, and it just has no visual appeal. It’s a shame, because issue #11 was the first example of Prisoners of Time really knocking it out of the park since the first few issues.

Issue #12 of Prisoners of Time, even with its dull art from Kelly Yates, shines in its story. The rest of the series was a far too uneven game of hit and miss.

Artist Henry Flint brings Judge Dredd and his world to life. His work is rough around the ages, but has a visceral charm that works with Dredd. The lines are thick, as are the inks, which helps give each panel a weighty definition. Flint's action is right on, as is the tension of the panels. I do wish the violence had been more in your face, something I've come to expect in Judge Dredd comics.

Earth 2 #0 makes an already amazing series even better

Robinson Rocha handles art duties, and while he’s a competent artist, he’s not Nicola Scott. Her work is singularly unique, and a defining part of Earth 2. Rocha’s style is well suited for comics, but nothing spectacular. The line work is thin, and the faces tend to run together. I did enjoy some of his panel placements, and a few perspectives he took the visuals from, but overall I couldn’t help missing Nicola Scott. The colors from Scott Hanna are okay during the darker aspects of the story, but anything in the daylight comes across blown out.

The art from Nicola Scott is hit or miss. Her faces are a little too one dimensional for me, they all seem to be making the same face or have the same structure. Where Scott shines is action. It’s tough to bring the illusion of movement to a character like The Flash, but Scott does it with great style. Her lines are thinner, so it helps make The Flash feel as though he’s real moving at the speed of light and beyond. If the story continues to be this good, Earth 2 could become a premiere DC book faster than you can say The Flash.

The problem comes with the Green Lantern pencils. Scott mostly drops the ball here, especially with Alan Scott’s face. Look at the exchange between Alan Scott and the “power of the green” on page eleven. In one panel, Alan Scott looks normal, in another, he has a chin you could kill a puma with. The face is always just a little off, which makes it hard to get into what’s happening. I do like Green Lantern’s Earth 2 suit, so it has that going for it, which is nice. Earth 2 #3 may rush the GL origin a little bit and the art may be lackluster on pages, but overall I’m still excited to see where this series goes.

Anyone looking for the absolute best in comics should look no further than Earth 2.

Earth 2 continues to astound. It's easily one of the best New 52 titles going.

Earth 2, like Green Arrow, Animal Man and JLD, is a hidden jewel in the DC crown, a title more people should be paying attention to.

Robinson is a master storyteller, and Nicola Scott executes perfectly what is in his mind’s eye. Earth 2 is really spectacular stuff.

Solomon Grundy's issue wasn't bad, it just didn't measure to what it could have and should have been.

While not a badly written story, Desaad's Earth 2 one-shot is terrifyingly unnecessary.

Nicola Scott’s art continues to work in perfect harmony with Robinson’s words. Scott’s work is very heavy. Her lines are thick, the inks over them deep, and even the detail work has a certain gravitas to it. The shading is also key; it gives each hero a certain level of definition and power. Flash is lean, Green Lantern bulky, Steppenwolf’s main dog huge and overpowering. Add to all of this how she uses huge panels to allow plenty of room for the action, and you get another visceral shot in the arm from Nicola Scott.

Earth 2 continues to be the hidden gem in the New 52 treasure chest. A visceral, smart and exciting series for sure. Worst part of all of this, though? Earth 2 #16 is James Robinson's last issue. **shudder**

Earth 2 is an incredibly entertaining ride. The freedom to create a world from the ground up has allowed it to be one of the most exciting, diverse, and entertaining titles DC puts out.

Tom Taylor and Nicola Scott continue to make Earth 2 a hidden jewel in the DC Crown by constantly shifting reality and playing with the icons we love. Amazing stuff.

Earth 2 slaps the mouth of any other book out there. Taylor’s ideas and Scott’s art are a two-fisted knock out that you don’t get up from. This is one of those books you salivate for each month. If you’re not reading Earth 2, you should be.

Thankfully, the most beautiful woman in comics has returned with her stunning artwork. Nicola Scott plays with the big boys and leaves many of them in the dust. Her pencils have the same main event vibe as Jim Lee or David Finch, but with more character, and a real devotion to facial expressions. Scott is bold in the action, but never sacrifices mood or backgrounds. She renders a complete image in each panel, which gives the entire story a feeling of immediate danger.

East of West is astonishing. Something that may reset the bar by which all other comics are tested.

While East of West is still in its infancy, so far it is one of the best series of 2013.

Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta have hit upon something very special with East Of West. Rarely are text and art married in such perfect harmony.

While I'm still a fan of East of West, issue #5 fell short of expectations.

Nick Dragotta's art continues to be one of the strongest things about the series. Dragotta has a keen eye for creating surreal surroundings that are alien, but not unfamiliar. His line work is solid, and the use of solid colors in the background allows for a nice sense of unease. Dragotta also has a great imagination for machines, and for creating a hybrid of nature and technology. While Hickman's work in East of West is starting to unravel, Draggota's art remains tight as ever.

East of West, with its combination of excellent script and wonderful visuals, would be an unstoppable force if readers were afforded one protagonist to get behind.

East of West is a complicated story that forces you to think. It’s also visually stunning.

Evil Ernie #1 isn’t evil, it’s just dull.

It's too bad Facebeast doesn’t live up to the title.

At the end of Fear Itself #4, we learn that The Serpent is really Odin’s pissed off brother that nobody knew about. The final panel is Thor attacking the possessed Hulk and Thing. That’s it, it ends there and readers will be left with a feeling that somebody over in the Marvel offices owes them money. Stuart Immonen does some really nice work here. He manages to translate, through his art, the fear that Fraction can’t translate through the written word. Immonen can get great scenes done within small panels and really goes for the gold in the bigger work. If Fraction understood scale and tension the way Immonen does, Fear Itself may not be the unbelievable mess it is. At this point, I don’t care what happens to the Marvel Universe, I just want Fear Itself to be over.

So is Iron Man drinking again? If he is, how can he build weapons? Captain America thinks we’ll lose so he packs it in? Why? If Thor can take Hulk and Thing out, wouldn’t he be a formidable foe to the God Of Fear? Fraction seems so in love with his scenes that he doesn’t care about telling a story. Fear Itself is an empty shell of a tale told in a shock and awe style that wouldn’t entertain a five year old.

The final epilogue goes back to the Hulk, who’s seeking the help of Doctor Strange in order to battle the evil spirit that possessed him during Fear Itself. That launches The Defenders. So that’s it. Fear Itself ends in the same messy, drawn out and unsatisfying way it began. What’s worse is how Marvel takes a final issue that is already too long and adds these tacky epilogues. Fear Itself could have been something really special, instead it’s a lesson on all the things writers and comic book companies should avoid.

Bland art aside, The Rogues are such an interesting group I might start picking up the Flash books again.

Chris Batista's pencils are nicely done. Like Ethan Van Sciver or Doug Mahnke, Batista has an easy professionalism to his work. These are the kinds of pencils you go to when you're looking for a big comic book feel. Solid line work, great action, multiple splash pages " Batista is tremendous with shock and awe. Gorilla Grodd looks terrifying here, and that's not easy to do with an angry gorilla.

The only real star of this attraction is Andy Kubert, whose art is glorious to behold. Every single panel is a vision of what this man can do with a pencil. Few have been able to really capture the movement of the Flash or put across how fast he moves like Kubert. The action scenes rage, the tiny moments are drawn with deep lines to the face, which put across the emotions. In fact, the only scene in this mess that carries any weight is when Bruce Wayne reads a note brought to him by the Flash from his Flashpoint Universe father. It's a touching scene and one completely devoid of speech; it's all Kubert's incredible artwork. Flashpoint has failed as a story to do more than usher in the era of the DC reboot. It's a shame such wonderful art should be wasted on such drivel.

Ben Oliver's art is really inconsistent here. Some pages are beautiful, while some look like he had no time to finish them. The tennis match between quality and matchbook-art-school-average continues throughout the issue. Hopefully, Oliver will get his act together by the second book. Thus far the individual issues of Flashpointless have been better than the main series. As of right now Flashpoint Hal Jordan is the first misstep. That may change by the end of the third book. Let's hope it does.

The art from Scott Clark is pretty average. Nothing he does is awful, but its also nothing to help lift this boring story out its contrived hole. Clark seems to prefer lots of tiny details as opposed to strong lines. You can see Aquaman's long, luxurious locks blowing in the wind but the character himself has no weight. With so much rich psychological material that could have been born of Aquaman and Wonder Woman going to war, DC has opted to punk out and make sure neither of the iconic characters have any real blood on their hands. It takes the gravitas not only out of Wonder Woman And The Furies but out of Flashpoint as well.

Forever Evil allows a bright future for the darkest times the New 52 have seen yet.

Forever Evil is a stomp-foot good time. Geoff and Finch have decided to throw a comic book party and we’re all invited.

David “Big Fight” Finch brings his penciling A-game to the proceedings. Pretty much anything Finch touches looks great, even incidental panels pop off the page. Battle wise, the art is exceptional. Violent, filled with great action, and insane detail. Finch brings a bit of his darker side to the Sinestro/Green Ring battle, even giving Sinestro a bit more of a monstrous look. Bringing more excitement to Finch’s line work is inker Richard Friend, and the wonderful color decisions from Sonia Oback. Visually Forever Evil #5 is another check in the David Finch win column.

As always, David Finch’s art is excellent. Like Jim Lee or Doug Mahnke, Finch is a main event artist. When your book needs to be huge, when it’s got to be smash mouth, thick lines and heavy inks, you call Finch. Everything is executed with razor precision and laid out with an eye towards cinematic action. Finch is like Hitchcock – he’s so good that, even in the factory-like nature of these tent-pole books, his personality and mastery of the craft shines through.

Scot Eaton’s artwork is passable, but nothing spectacular. He pencils comics in a very factory-like way.  Nothing jumps off the page, the panel layout is pretty standard, but it tells the story. Eaton has solid line work, and some decent shading. His Bane is a little too ridiculous, but other than that, it’s an acceptable job for what the issue is.

The artwork is surprising in how weak it is, especially with both Patrick Zircher and Scott Hepburn working together. Two artists should render something near perfection with Rogues Rebellion. Instead, the work feels rushed and uninteresting. The panel placement is dull, the character largely repetitive. Even at the end, when a more pop-art style takes over, Rogues Rebellion suffers visually. The book isn’t awful, but it isn’t great. I expect more when such a classic team is on the line.

While not as thrilling or bizarre as the standard series, Frankenstein Agent Of SHADE #0 is a really entertaining reboot of a classic character that solidifies his existence in the DC Universe.

The art from Alberto Ponticelli does a lot to bring Lemire’s story to life. You can tell he’s having fun coming up with all these Rot creatures as well putting some real psychopathic faces onto Frankenstein. Ponticelli has a great eye for action and movement as well some nice panel layouts. Sadly, #9 is Jeff Lemire’s end run as he has jumped over to Justice League Dark. Let’s hope the future scribe manages to keep the joy, humanity and general weirdness of the series alive.

Alberto Ponticelli’s art is first rate. This guy blends his own modern style with that of the old Creepy comics and horror books. Everything is surreal, just off center enough to be sure we know it’s not of this world. Ponticelli’s eye for movement really comes through with issue 10. So much of the issue is fighting or falling or fighting while you’re falling. Without an ability to bring that action off the page, Frankenstein Agent of SHADE just would not work. Thus far, this is one of my favorite DC titles. Lets hope that Matt Kindt keeps up his flair for good writing.

Goran Sudzuka’s art is run-of-the-mill comic book art. His panels tell the story, but that’s about it. Nothing Sudzuka pencils is bad, it’s just not anything eye popping. This is work-horse art, the kind of drawings that turn the words into images, but never transcend the nuts-and-bolts of that. Facially, Sudzuka draws a bit too consistently. Each character shares a “look” that makes them blend together, and the backgrounds are largely uninteresting.

The Godzilla lore comes fully equipped with all the ingredients needed to make an awesome comic book. Turning out this dreck is shameful.

Green Arrow is a smart, funny and surprisingly human adventure. Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino have done some amazing work here.

Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino hit the bullseye perfectly with Green Arrow. Sharply written and featuring beautiful artwork, this is another hidden gem in the New 52 crown.

Green Arrow has taken an old character and made it all kinds of new badass.

Andrea Sorrentino's art continues to dazzle. His creativity is especially peaked here during the flashbacks. Instead of keeping with his standard art, Sorrentino pencils the scenes almost like hieroglyphics. It adds a nice dimension to what is otherwise just easy exposition. The rest of the art is just as formidable. Sorrentino's pencils with light strokes, but still manages to give his characters weight. He's also selective about her details, giving the characters center stage.

Green Arrow is book that continues to get better with every issue. Lemire and Sorrentino are in top form here.

Wonderfully written, exquisitely drawn and gorgeously colored. Green Arrow is a dark, compelling and thoroughly wonderful rebirth of a classic character that is also visually stunning.

None of what happened at the end of Green Lantern #67 would bug me if it made a lick of sense. Nobody involved acts anything like themselves in this one issue, and the Guardians freakout smells badly of pushing the plot for the reboot. It’s pathetic that after the greatness of Blackest Night and the massively entertaining War Of The Green Lanterns, that DC would allow such an ending just to drive their misguided reboot.

Doug Mahnke’s art, while always exceptional, is a little phoned in this time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still good work, but it doesn’t have the flair the usual Mahnke work does. I like his ideas behind Simon Baz. He’s strong, and has much the same presence that John Stewart has. While not dazzled by Mahnke’s performance here, I am excited to see where he goes with Baz and his uniform and how he uses his powers.

The title "Rise Of The T,hird Army" would be better suited paying homage to the Beastie Boys album and calling itself Some Old Bullshit.

Even Doug Mahnke is phoning this one in. The art here is boring, so drab and uninteresting I couldn’t believe he drew it. There’s one panel, where Jordan is smiling, that looks like Jordan slipped in Sling Blade teeth. It’s as if Mahnke realized how bad this all was and decided to pencil the story as basically as he could. If you’re new to the Green Lantern mythos, maybe this junk will fly, but anybody who is a long time fan will be bored and more than a little disappointed.

The new Green Lantern team is exactly what this universe needed. Exciting, refreshing, and amazingly fun to read. I’m so excited for the future of the GLU!

All is not lost here. Johns does a great job of nailing the relationship between Sinestro and Jordan. The dialog between them is perfect, crisp and filled with what makes the characters so enduring. Jordan’s bravado goes toe to toe with Sinestro’s ego. It’s one of the only entertaining things in the whole issue. Doug Mahnke’s art is, as always, awesome. His lines aren’t just solid but also bold. There’s great detail and movement in each panel. It makes the lackluster story at least beautiful to look at.

The art in Green Lantern #6 is atrocious. Mike Choi needs to stop with comics and look for work in the dentist office painting industry. Why does Hal Jordan look like an Asian teenager? Why does Sinestro look like Vinnie The Butcher from some bad gangster movie? I understand the whole hand-painted fine art thing, but this is just bad. Green Lantern needs a better artist and writers who are interested in telling great stories, not dragging bad stories out.

Doug Mahnke’s art is the only reason to seriously pick up Green Lantern. As always, Mahnke brings his A game to the pencils. Strong lines, sick detail and a flow that makes the action leap off the page. It’s exciting when Mahnke is behind the art, he can draw faces and figures easily but also uses the panels like lenses of a camera. Different shots make for different emotional reactions. With writing so sub-par, it’s really nice to have something to look at.

Does Green Lantern #11 make up entirely for the last 10 issues? No, not by a long shot, but it is a step in the right direction.

The second half of the art is taken care of by Jim Calafiore, who does a similarly wonderful job. Both artists have a solid love for detail, but Calafiore’s work is a little more fine-art inspired, especially his rendition of Black Hand. The combination of the two never feels off, it blends seamlessly. I also have to acknowledge colorist Alex Sinclair, whose work is exceptional here.

Green Lantern sits at a crossroads. The series can either come back from it’s lackluster year swinging or it can start becoming a bloated, convoluted mess of lame plots and too many characters. In other words, Green Lantern is dangerously close to becoming DC’s X-Men.

Over the last ten years, I have had ups and downs with Geoff Johns and his Green Lantern run. To this day, I find Rebirth boring, but I love the Sinestro Corps War, Blackest Night and even War of the Green Lanterns. Everything past the New 52 reboots, in my opinion, has been garbage. Still, Johns has stuck with a series that, when he took it over, nobody cared about. In his time, he has given us some amazing work, expanded Sinestro, brought new colors to the corps and even managed to shake up the Guardians idea. Green Lantern #20 may be an overblown finale, but if anybody deserves it, Geoff Johns does.

Villains Month is starting to strain not just the wallet, but also the patience.

While the story from Charles Soule is unremarkable, the art from Alberto Ponticelli is very well done. Ponticelli's slightly surreal pencils add a subtle horror book touch to GL #23.3. While not as directly horror oriented as Creepy, Ponticelli definitely calls on those textures to create the art. Shading, odd color choices for skin, all the details and cityscapes have a certain "rot" to them. It's all very effective. As good as the art is, it can't save another unnecessary story from Villains Month.

Rags Morales pencils are solid, but very bare bones. Green Lantern #23.1 is all about creating the idea of a universe bigger than ours, and Morales takes that to heart. Lots of splash pages, larger than normal panels filled to the parameters with figures. The scale Morales works with creates a perfect landscape for the story. Outside of a few pages, he is relaxed with backgrounds and high detail work. Like the light energy, most of this work is to generate a feeling or connection.

I'm still very positive on the new Green Lantern direction, and the attempt to tear down Hal Jordan, I just feel DC needs to pump the brakes a bit.

Green Lantern Corps 63 puts an open-ended cap on the 63 issue series by leaving some questions for the next volume. Will the tensions between human and alien Lantern become and issue? How does Boodikka work into the future of the team and will they be attacked while weak from so many quitting? Granted, I’m not sure how all of that will work within the “five year” reboot timeline. That entire timeline idea resets the reality of the DCU, so how the Green Lantern story just continues on the same is a mystery to me. Regardless, for those who loved this volume of the Green Lantern Corps, #63 is a decent end for it.

If GL rings can bring anything into existence, I’d like to will them to force the creative team behind all the books to raise their game a great deal.

Fernando Pasarin makes a solid return with GLC #8. His work really helps to save the issue, at least aesthetically. His layouts are killer, his art always highly detailed and fun to look at. I dug his work showing the scope of the Sinestro Corps battery and while the bar fight was unnecessary plot wise, Pasarin made it look cool. I know others find this whole run with GLC to be “fun” and filled with levity. To me, the entire universe feels like it has no direction and if it does, it’s the wrong one.

The art from Fernando Pasarin is acceptable but that's about it. Pasarin's panels feel rushed. The details on the human faces change every few pages and there's not much detail to what's going on. He also appreciates the far off shot of multiple characters way too much. The work in those panels is sketchwork at best; it doesn't look like finished art. Green Lantern Corps #9 features no war, no plot development and nothing that would push a reader to buy the next issue.

With everything firing on all pistons, Green Lantern: New Guardians is becoming the series for fans to pay attention to. Not as heavy-handed as Green Lantern or as simplistic as Green Lantern Corps, New Guardians #3 is one of those issues when art and story come together perfectly.

Part of the bigger picture is how issue #4 of Green Lantern: New Guardians feeds into this complete lack of direction within the Lantern Universe. None of the books seem to be able to gel or find their voice. Green Lantern Corps has the most fun and New Guardians is the most consistently well written, but still aren’t anything great. All of the Green Lantern titles feel jumbled, like a giant mess nobody at DC wants to clean up. I’m hoping the creative forces get their act together and align to get the entire Green Lantern Universe on track. As always, Tyler Kirkham’s art is stellar and the colors from Nei Ruffino make the issue worth checking out. Story wise though, there’s just nothing to see here.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #22 is a solid issue, but it seems to be setting us up for a story the GLU has examined to death – the power of the ring. Instead lets focus on the minds of the people, the fall from grace of the Corps. Try making the GL titles human again, instead of just another gigantic space adventure.

Brad Walker. His pencils are insane. He uses every single inch of every single panel. He clutters the pages without allowing the page to feel cluttered. His line work is strong, as are his faces and forms, but his detail work is the real gut punch. Walker uses the panels and their placement very cinematically. The book sweeps with motion and excitement. It’s a seriously visceral slice of comic book art. Walker is to be commended.

John Dell's inks assist McNiven excellently. Dell touches on the cross-hatching, but doesn't get overbearing with it. His outline inks are strong, but he lightens up with hair and facial features. Bad inks could ruin the nuances of McNiven's faces but Dell nails it. Justin Ponsor's colors are wonderful. He uses soft tones to bring the coziness of the farm and the romance to life. Then he abruptly switches, using harsher blue tones beneath everything when the aliens attack. Colorists don't just fill in the pencils, they create mood, and Ponsor does a great job.

Guardians of the Galaxy #1 is a strong first step in the rebooted world of a beloved team.

Guardians of the Galaxy is an exciting book. There’s something in here for geeks across the board.

Solid issue, with good action. The next arc of Guardians of the Galaxy may not start until issue #11, but as transitional issues go, this is worthwhile read.

The art is boring. Brian Stelfreeze basically regurgitates the mix of animation and computer graphics. The type of easy work that Image and other companies use to get a book off the ground. For me, Hardcore #1 is a boring disappointment, but it might get better. I won’t know because I have no interest in reading it, but it might evolve into something better than the forgotten Saturday afternoon drive-in flick it is now.

I know the Harley Quinn book won’t be this odd, but issue #0 has hooked me into reading what comes next.

I have high hopes for Harley Quinn, but it’ll need a real story and a better artist before it clicks.

Hawkeye is brilliant. Touching, heartbreaking and completely engrossing. There is not a better book on the stands right now.

Hawkeye doesn’t just entertain, it inspires. Fraction and Aja have raised the bar by completely rethinking the narrative and visuals in comics.

Whether Burton or Bishop, Hawkeye continues to be one of the best titles Marvel cranks out. Fraction, Wu, Aja and Hollingsworth are a revolution.

Some will take issue with how Hellboy manages to defeat an ultra-dimensional god-like being with his giant fist and a flashy knife and I think they’ll miss the point. Mignola tells a story the way he sees fit but he also knows this is a comic book. No matter what really happens the good guys always win, even if that win comes at a high price. That’s Hellboy in a nutshell, and I’m not sure what the naysayers are expecting.

Leonard Kirk’s art is very uneven. Just looking through the book, you can tell Kirk is less interested in some panels than others. The entire beginning, set in a burger joint, is sloppy, even lazy – several panels where background characters have no faces, a lack of any detail work, etc. When the story shifts to outer space, Kirk comes alive. The pencils are crisp, the line work solid, and the action intense. If he’s going to draw this book from now on, Kirk needs to keep his A-game in all his panels.

With all the positive things happening in Incredible Hulk #1, it’s hard to ignore how the new story arc dismisses a lot of the themes Greg Pak brought into the history. In order to enjoy the series you have to separate it from what Pak has done, which is a shame since he had the greatest run on the strongest one there is in recent memory. That aside, The Incredible Hulk #1 was an excellent kick off to the next stage of the character.

Art wise, Incredible Hulk #4 is Whilce Portacio trying to be Mark Silvestri and failing. I like Portacio’s work, but not here. It appears Silvestri’s recent medical issues have taken him off the book so Marvel would do better to find one artist with an original style as a opposed to a string of artists doing Mark Silvestri impressions.. I’ve been reading The Incredible Hulk consistently for two decades or more. Now, four issues into the reboot, I’m done with the series until Jason Aaron steps down.

The only thing that could have saved the Hulk was art from Marc Silvestri, alas that is not to be. For whatever reason, Silvestri isn’t on the Hulk anymore and now we’re stuck with Whilce Portacio trying to be Marc Silvestri. It’s not that the art isn’t solid, but nobody is Silvestri so Portacio trying to be him doesn’t work. I was really appalled by Portacio’s Banner. Why he decided Banner needed to look like a skinny emo kid with a giant head is beyond me. The rest of the stuff is hit or miss. All the pencils during Doctor Doom’s scenes are wonderful, the rest just seem like a bad copy of a better artist. If Marvel is going to keep this travesty of a series going, they should at least find one great artist with a style completely outside of Marc Silvestri and allow him/her to take over. Granted, it’s a band-aid on a bullet wound, but at least the miserable slop of the current Incredible Hulk would be fun to look at.

The art is still a mess. Whilce Portacio still draws Banner like a skinny hipster and he's still trying to mimic original artist Marc Silvestri. Some of the panel layouts are cool, but overall the art is incredibly underwhelming, even sloppy. Where does Hulk go from here and is Banner really dead? I should be driven to find these answers but the way Jason Aaron writes, I just don't care. Still, Incredible Hulk #6 is, thus far, is the dog with the least amount of fleas.

Marvel, House Of Ideas, whatever you're calling yourself these days, I implore you to put this madness to an end. The new Hulk reboot is a complete and total failure. The promise of Marc Silvestri's art has fallen through; Jason Aaron has managed to derail the series in just seven issues, and the art post-Silvestri has ranged from bad to laughable to unacceptable. Bring Greg Pak back, give Ed Brubaker the series or Zeb Wells or Greg Rucka or Mark Waid or Dan Slott or even hand it over to Bendis. Do something before you do some damage that we all, finally, walk away from.

Indestructible Hulk #1 is a solid effort but I remain very, very, cautious in my optimism.

Leinil Yu’s art is an entirely different deal. I hate it. All the faces are drawn as though they’re dirty and most often the faces shine as if partially made of metal. Yu’s Hulk is just bad. In an attempt to make him look like Banner, the Hulk loses that monster effect and ends up looking like ‘roided out weight lifter. I’m also not sure why Yu has such a thing for Hulk’s teeth, but he does. In almost every panel that features the Hulk, he’s open mouthed and bearing his teeth. It’s off-putting to look at, as is most of Yu’s art.

Walt Simonson and Mark Waid are a perfect combination for Indestructible Hulk. This is what comic books are all about.

Simonson and Waid. Waid and Simonson. Together the two are creating a Hulk story that demands you read it.

Indestructible Hulk is a winning book. Simonson and Waid a winning team. The best there is drawing and writing the strongest there is. What’s not to love?

Matteo Scalera’s art is really hit or miss in issue #10, mainly due to the mouths of the characters. They are over-pronounced, to the point that they often make their owners look like monkeys. It might be Scalera’s obvious manga influences, or just that he has an issue with scale. Whatever the case, the mouths tend to give the whole issue a comedic vibe it doesn’t need. Scalera needs to step up his game.

The Indestructible Hulk continues to smash its way into Hulk glory. An awesome spectacle.

The art from Mahmud Asrar is atrocious. It fails on every single level. Proportions, character faces, shading, backgrounds, action, everything. Imagine a badly drawn episode of Pokemon, and you might get close to the horror show here.

The art here is a mess. Clay & Seth Mann handle pages one through ten, and twelve through thirteen. Their style is flimsy, with thin, weak lines, and character faces that brush very close to parody. Banner’s face is particularly ridiculous. When Miguel Sepulveda takes over, the work is much better, but the contrast of the pages is so obvious that it takes you out of the story. Three people should be able to offer up better art for an iconic character.

Now you can get the slings and arrows ready, because one of my big problems with the story is the art. I realize Kevin Nowlan is considered the “artists artist,” but I can’t stand his work. It all comes across like soulless watercolors from a dentist’s office. Perhaps on huge canvas this type of work would be stunning, but confined to comic book panels, it looks, well, goofy. I hate the way Nowlan does human faces, especially the woman Brian Lazarus meets in a coffee shop. She always looks almost like the Joker. Again, I wanted to like the art as much as I wanted to like the story, but I ended up enjoying neither.

Infinity #1 is packed and gorgeous to look at. However, I must agree with Iron Man’s statement towards the end of the story.  “I’m getting tired of end of the world scenarios”.

Infinity is a work of staggering excellence. Jonathan Hickman is absolutely one of the best writers in comics, not just now, but ever.

Hickman has raised the bar with Infinity. This is a game changer, a story that will have fans in awe and fellow creators inspired. Nothing short of brilliant.

Saving the day visually is Oliver Coipel’s nicely done art. He has a real playground here. Fraction’s story pans decades, races, aliens, everything. Coipel takes full advantage of that. His pencils are creative, always shifting perspectives and dynamics. The end result is art as grand as the story, but not as dull.

Iron Man #1. An obvious attempt to jump-start interest in the third film but handled with enough integrity and talent to read like any other Iron Man tale.

Garry Brown's art seems like an odd choice for this series, but it works. When you crack open a book involving superhero armor, you expect something bombastic. Brown relies more on subtlety. His line work is thin, but exquisitely detailed. Brown also has a great sense of shading and movement. There is a darkness to the work, something that breathes a level of maturity into the story. Brown is one of those rare talents who can draw the quiet conversation between a father and son as well as a smash-mouth superhero fight.

JinnRise is an acceptable and fun first issue that suffers from poor art.

If you’re hardcore into MMA fighting then pick up Joe Palooka. If not, approach it as you would a pissed off UFC fighter. With extreme caution.

Despite some great art, Jupiter's Legacy is further proof that Mark Millar is not nearly as solid a writer as he thinks he is.

Writer Geoff Johns seems to know the story he wants to tell, but he's in too much of a rush to tell it. I'm also not thrilled with his writing for Justice League. Clearly, he has no idea how to write for Batman. Nothing Batman says sounds or feels like the Dark Knight. It's as if Johns feels the Justice League Batman should be much different than the caped crusader from the pages of Batman or Detective Comics. I haven't read the mess that is New 52 Superman or the new take on Wonder Woman, but both characters have identical voices to them in Justice League, and both come off with dialogue that "sounds" clunky.

Helping with all this chaos is the art from Ivan Reis. It’s not easy to pencil water, nor is it a simple task to give a storm the kind of visceral feeling that Reis gives the Ocean Master. Reis has such an easy perfection with the human form, he can focus on creating multiple levels of detail. The two-page fold out of Ocean Master unleashing his troops is a wonderful example of this. Reis’s ability to communicate emotion and action is perfectly framed in the panel where Superman loses his temper. Johns’ story thus far is a great one, but it wouldn’t be half as effective without Reis’s art.

Ben Oliver and Cliff Richards deliver pretty standard sci-fi art. There’s some whimsy to the pencils, the kind that would grace the cover of pulp sci-fi books. Nothing here is spectacular, but it does the job. A bit more imagination in the aliens would have helped; they’re pretty by-the-numbers. It’s clear the focus here is the new Lobo, but attention to the rest of the characters would have been a bonus.

Ivan Reis' art remains superior as always. There are some artists that inherently understand comic books. Reis is one of them. His line work is always top notch, his details excellent, and his use of movement inspired. Issue #23 holds a lot of information and Reis helps disseminate it through his visuals. Two-page splash pages, off-panel placement " he makes all of it tie together. Strong work for an artist who never lets up.

Justice League #24 gives us more meat to chew on with Crime Syndicate, and makes their story fresh enough to belong in the New 52.

On the lighter side, Doug Mahnke’s art is gorgeous to look at. Mahnke is a big fight type of artist. His lines are thick, his perspective gloriously huge. If Mahnke was a cameraman, he’d be hired for all the huge action adventure films. The massive splash page with Owlman is killer. Mahnke doesn’t really do subtle, but that’s okay, because he doesn’t have to.

Too bad, because Ivan Reis’s art is big fun to look at. Reis gets that this is a big deal for DC, and he pencils Justice League in such a way. Everything is bigger than life, each panel is the money shot. At times, Reis’ strong ability to bring action to life saves issue #26 from being completely boring. Reis always brings his A-game – it’s just largely wasted on Justice League.

I’m not sure who to give art credit to. Layouts have been done by Ivan Reis, but finishes were handed over to Joe Prado, Jesus Merino and Vincent Cifuentes. Overall, the work is nicely executed. I’m assuming Reis didn’t do the line work for the individual characters, as it’s not quite as thick or heavily inked as his usual work. This kind of art is like quality special effects in a blockbuster movie. They look great, but are to be expected. As solid as all of this is, nothing jumps off the page as wholly original.

Justice League Dark is easily one of the brightest jewels in the DC crown.

Justice League Dark continues to be one of the brightest spots in the new DC Universe.

Justice League Dark continues to impress, remaining a hidden gem in the DC Universe.

Mikel Janin’s art is nicely done, even if it is a little too close to Frank Quitely for comfort. They both have a soft light way of drawing characters. There’s a stiffness to Superman, a rugged reality to Batman, a supermodel vibe to Wonder Woman, all penciled with something that crosses between cartoon and comic book art. With styles so similar, Janin needs to find something that takes his in another direction from Quitely, outside of the fact that he’s not quite as good.

Trinity War is a mess. I’m looking forward to the return of JLD pre-event status.

Justice League Dark continues to create compelling stories by coloring outside the DCU lines. It’s some of the most daring work being done in the New 52.

Trinity War is a superhero mosh pit. A crackling adventure on an epic scale.

(For the first opinion on Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, read Blair Marnell's review here)

Bumps aside, Lazarus #1 is a promising first issue.

Lazarus is a competently told story, but needs to find its own voice quickly.

The art from Michael Lark jumps off the page in issue #4 unlike it has before. The detail work is still there, the thin lines and sketching are still solid, along with the shading. However, Lark brings the movement of the story to new heights. Forever’s battle against the soldiers coming to kill her is epic. Panel after panel the violence is extreme, and swift. It really helps to bring home the power that Forever wields.

Francis Portela's art is wonderful. His ability to keep the work clean and bold allows for maximum detail, which is necessary for a comic like Legion. Portela also knows how to add subtle nuances to the faces and expressions of the Legionnaires in order to keep them different and interesting. Overall, the art has the same frenetic pace as the writing and together the synergy is quite refreshing.

Jerry Gaylord's art doesn't fair any better. He is so preoccupied with making every panel over the top that they just become goofy. I appreciate the attempt at frenetic energy, but it fails here because it is empty. A bad story with art that tries too hard does nothing but give you a headache. Much like the clich characters, Gaylord's illustrations of them, especially in the club, are laughable creations of somebody who must have never set foot in a nightclub in his life. Girls with names like "Impurity"? Give me a break.