Sean Ian Mills Comic Reviews

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I like Bucky Barnes as a character just fine, but Marvel has always struggled to figure out what to do with him. This new Winter Soldier by Kot and Ruby looks to be about the worst possible option. It's just an ugly, stifling comic.

Civil War could be one of the more disposable tie-ins.

Shang-Chi has been slowly growing into a bigger player with his role in the Avengers recently, so he definitely deserves a chance at a solo series or mini. But if you want legitimate and interesting Shang-Chi action, stick with Avengers. This mini-series has nothing for you.

The first issue of Marvel's 'Latest Epic' " as promised on the cover " stumbles out of the gate. Marvel has been hyping this comic and their new Inhuman status quo for months, but the event has been burdened by a series of delays. It definitely doesn't help that Black Bolt unleashed the Terrigen Bomb sometime late last year, and this issue was delayed when original writer Matt Fraction bowed out. That's never a good sign. Charles Soule is a fine writer, and I like his work, but just knowing he's scrambling to fill in and fulfill Marvel's wishes " when Fraction wouldn't " is a bad omen.

In my opinion, Marvel has bit off more than they can chew. They really want these new Inhumans to be the start of something grand. But based on Inhuman #1, they don't seem to have any idea how to get there. Throwing new superheroes and super-villains at the reader, without any pertinent reason why we need them, is a weak way to kick off this new franchise. If I want to read about a group of disenfranchised supers with random powers, I'll read Uncanny X-Men. If I want to read about a young person discovering what it means to suddenly have super-powers, I'll read Ms. Marvel.

The Inhumans used to be unique in the Marvel Universe. They used to have style, personality and class. Now Marvel is just turning them into a weak, clearly failed attempt at Mutants 2.

This comic just doesn't have much to offer, especially with a character that's going to be as tough to sell as Scream.

Wasted potential all around. Terrible art and boring characters and story make me wonder if Marvel ever even wanted to make this comic.

This was an ugly issue, both art and story, with essentially no redeeming qualities.

Squadron Sinister #1 is about a bunch of characters we don't really know being generally jerks to one another in a context that we don't really know. The characters aren't from any beloved Marvel history, so there's no real reason to connect with them. This is the most generic Secret Wars tie-in I've read so far, with no promise of anything more interesting around the corner.

The new Exiles kicks off with a whole heck of a lot of unnecessary exposition, overshadowing both the new characters and the tried and true premise.

This comic has no heart. It's all long, drawn-out exposition about a cast of characters that mean nothing to each other or to the reader.

This is such a badly written comic. The characters are only skin deep, the story rockets ahead so fast that nobody has any time to react to anything and the dialogue is just stilted exposition.

This first issue is perfectly mediocre, treading ground that other comics already have several times over.

This comic is terrible. It's poorly written, poorly plotted, poorly developed, and entirely unimaginative.

This much-ballyhooed Spider-Man comic continues to be a huge let down. The creative team apparently can't even go three issues before pushing their new characters into the background so they can play with Tony Stark.

This series is barely more than a teenager's bad Spider-Man fan fiction. This issue trades any attempt at drama or character exploration for a bunch of boring, nothing action scenes.

And the worst part of this issue is Deapdool himself. He is nothing but bad jokes. He has no depth of character beyond those jokes, and that's just not entertaining. Deadpool is capable of being witty. He is capable of cleverness. But you won't find that in this issue. On a personal note, I think Deadpool is better in smaller doses. I think he works best when he's the only funny guy in a room full of straight men. If the entire world around Deadpool is just as wacky as he is, then Deadpool automatically becomes less wacky. And that's not what anybody wants - but it's the only thing you'll find in this new relaunch.

Deadpool #29Writers: Brian Posehn and Gerry DugganArtist: John LucasColorist: Val StaplesLetterer: VC's Joe Sabino

This big, new cosmic event just doesn't seem to have a lot to work with to build tension and excitement, and therefore falls a little flat.

No part of Imperial is compelling enough to warrant this comic existing.

It turns out that Inhumanity #1 isn't the start of a new series or event. This comic is essentially a well-drawn promotional hype book. Marvel has this big idea for the Inhumans, and this comic is all about preparing readers for that idea. There's no action and no plot, just one character explaining to the Avengers, and the readers, how everything we know is going to change.

Whose responsible this?! Where is the man or woman in the larger DC/Warner Bros. company who thought this generic, boring, 'kewl' Lobo was in any way even a fraction better than the old bastich that everybody already loved? They need to be fired.

Three issues in and I'm still not sure what this comic is trying to say. It's clearly trying to tell me something, but a seemingly random blend of themes, characters and plot threads doesn't make for a solid foundation.

This is as generic a team comic as one could get. Ewing just throws a bunch of random superheroes onto a team, comes up with a randomly generic threat, and then just fills in the margins with some new ideas, like this Avengers Idea Mechanics thing. Maybe he'll start fleshing everybody and everything out as time goes on, but new comics these days don't get much room to really grow. Ewing needed to hit the ground running to make this series stand out, and he fails. Sandoval's beefy, superheroic art doesn't help much either.

Roberts does an acceptable job, but there was no heart or soul in the work. It was like he was drawing characters for trading cards and then just putting them together to make a scene. And all of the action was just generic mayhem, with little to no creativity in the mission.

Phantom Lady and Doll Man are not Wonder Woman and Superman. They do not have millions of fans and a fairly rigid origin/status quo. Gray and Palmiotti had complete blank slates to work with here, they could have done anything. These two characters could have been whatever they wanted, the entire Freedom Fighters team they appear to be building could be anything. Instead they chose the most basic, boring origins imaginable for everybody. They said in early interviews that they wanted to go 'pulp' with these two characters. They did not succeed. Instead they went 'pathetic'.

Count me out. No thank you. Mark Waid was right when he took to Twitter and called Futures End "the New52est 'New52" comic E-V-E-R." I think this comic is everything I hate in comics right now, especially at DC. It's mindless, gritty, ugly fluff, starring Batman Beyond, who I just don't like.

At least both stories have good art.

The first proper issue of the new X-Men relaunch tries way too hard with the classic tropes, while doing nothing to indicate new ideas or directions. Lackluster main characters, an odd array of weird story choices and subpar art bring the whole relaunch down.

And with that, my interest in this issue ends. Frenzy starts a fight, Rogue and the students join in, and the issue ends with a promise of more fight next issue. Bland and blander. And not nearly enough Mimic. We can only hope for more next issue!

But if we do, if Mimic actually makes a cameo appearance in Avengers vs. X-Men " and not just as dead cannon fodder " the very Internet will break in half due to sheer awesomeness. Even if I have to break it myself!

Damn you, comics. Damn you all to hell.

It doesn't help that the Larfleeze backup stories aren't recapped, so I have no idea how the Orange Power Battery was destroyed. That sounds like a major development, one I'm not particularly interested in reading about. His origin story was fine, and an acceptable way to spend the first issue, but what's the point when Larfleeze readily admits that up to half of it is made up? Did he just spend the first issue of the series lying to us? Then why should we care? Actually, that's a good question for this series as a whole.

I can see how Giffen and DeMatteis might think that's funny. The idea of all the henchmen and lackeys just chillaxing and talking among themselves while their masters have the traditional superhero fight is kind of funny. But nothing really comes of their chats. Stargrave is hardly an interesting character, so he can't carry a story. His sudden desire to free Larfleeze comes out of nowhere, considering he's always whining about being stuck as Larfleeze's butler. The eloquent hound is mildly entertaining, but that's about it. If this was a workplace comedy series about henchmen, Giffen and DeMatteis might have something. But it's not. It's a silly, stupid book that's trying desperately to bank on a character's popularity, even though the writers clearly don't know what to do with him.

I don't find this version of Larfleeze funny at all, and Stargrave is more of an annoyance than anything else, especially since he gets far more attention than Larfleeze.

It's a well-written story about the young Nova hanging around the Watcher's bachelor pad. And Cheung is one of the best comic book artists in the business, so it looks damn good too.

So far, Original Sin is just a murder mystery starring a bunch of random superheroes. As far as Big Events, go, I've seen worse. I hope this one isn't as gimmicky as Fear Itself. Took me a moment to remember the name of that one"

Welp, Original Sin is still going and they produced a second issue. That's really all there is to say.

Original Sin is turning out to be a pretty terrible story. It's a well-made comic, I suppose. Aaron and Deodato are both pros. But this is one crummy Big Event. Original Sin is turning out to be exactly what I feared: set dressing for a bunch of 'surprise retcons' that Marvel wanted to use to shock readers " surprises, by the way, that are apparently all being saved for tie-ins and spin-offs.

It seems clear to me that the idea for Original Sin started with the twists. "Someone kills the Watcher". "Nick Fury is actually very old". And then it was up to Aaron to string a story along to reveal these twists, and he just isn't doing a very good job. I'm not sold on Original Sin as any sort of legitimate story.

Behold, the most worthless comic imaginable! Deep in the heart of the mysteries of Original Sin, let's waste a whole issue on a flashback that accomplishes nothing!

The best days of the Big Event comic are behind us. If you thought Original Sin was its own story, possibly about the assassination of the Watcher, or everybody's darkest secrets coming to light, boy were you wrong. This entire 8-issue mini-series is set dressing for a lot of minor changes across the Marvel Universe, like the reveal that Angela is the sister of Thor and Loki, or that Tony Stark had something to do with the Hulk's origin. Original Sin itself, with its dark, murky art, isn't much of a story, it isn't much of a murder mystery, and it isn't much of anything, really.

Welp, looks like Original Sin is going to limp to the ending, dragging out this non-story for every issue it damn well can. Sheesh. Just end it, already!

Finally, it's over. Original Sin was one of the worst Big Event comics in a long time. And much like the rest of the series, Aaron and Deodato make the exit just as painful to read as every other issue. They drag out their story as awkwardly as humanly possible.

I doubt I'll be picking up another issue of Arkham Manor. The premise is a little too insane for my tastes. I'm all for change, but something about Arkham invading the sanctity of Wayne Manor just rubs me the wrong way. And like I said, based on the first issue, there doesn't seem to be anything unique about this comic. It's sister title, Gotham Academy, introduced a whole new cast and premise to play with. Arkham Manor is just about Batman, and I've got plenty of other great Batman comics to read.

This second issue doesn't win me over anymore than the first, but I can at least say that Duggan and his art team are good at what they do. I don't really believe this could support an ongoing, but more power to them, I suppose.

This comic is all over the place in terms of tone, plot and just general action. It's also incredibly hokey, whether it's Barry Allen's really terrible sense of humor or the uncertainty of what Barry's job actually entails.

This issue was a little too complicated to get a higher grade, and the art wasn't that great. But the concept and the characters are very strong.

The new debut Ghost Rider issue seems to have its priorities completely out of whack. The far more interesting Ghost Rider story is relegated to a back-up feature, while the main comic seems far more focused on random guest stars. Not off to a great start.

As it stands, this is just another issue with a mildly entertaining story about the Hulk, and a largely uncomfortable subplot about Ghost Rider. Don't tell me Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is doing a better job with Ghost Rider than the actual comics!

If you like superheroes punching super-villians, then the new Justice League of America is for you. But if you want any sort of original idea or theme or plot, then Justice League of America falls very short.

Justice League of America is a team comic far more interested in the villains and the laborious plot, neither of which is particularly interesting to begin with. Despite putting so much focus on the team roster in the build up, this comic does nothing with any of them.

I am a big fan of Bizarro, and I love the look of him on that cover. I think this issue, with the promised New 52 origin of Bizarro, was the Villains Month comic I was most looking forward to. I wanted to see the new origin of Bizarro. But that cover is a horrible lie! It's a wicked bait and switch! Bizarro does sort of appear, in that final page cliffhanger, but that's it! Instead, the issue is just Lex Luthor plotting about the science experiment that will eventually lead to Bizarro. It's an uninteresting story that doesn't tell us anything new about Lex Luthor and doens't do anything with the guy who volunteers for the experiment. At best, this is a very weak prologue to Bizarro's eventual introduction. At worst, it's a waste of everyone's time. Especially mine.

It's just the story that's not very interesting. So we've got a new mysterious alien-like guy who shows up out of nowhere to encounter Superman. How many millions of times has that happened? I don't think it's too much to expect great things from Geoff Johns, but as for his first issue, it seems like the generic, boring, New 52 Superman isn't going anywhere.

I'm going to keep giving Geoff Johns' Superman a try. I'm a big Geoff Johns fan, and while I'm not very impressed so far, maybe he's going somewhere with this. We shall see. At the very least, he has almost immediately undone Scott Lobdell's silly 'Clark quits the Daily Planet to start a blog' storyline.

I want to read a comic about Superman, not about Geoff Johns' bland neworiginal character. At least the art remains as legendary as its artist.

Well, a whole year after DC launched this New 52, I'm finally ready to say this: fuck the reboot.

Teen Titans in the New 52 has always just been a facsimile of the pre-reboot Titans. DC and Lobdell have taken basically recognizable characters and run them through one action adventure after another. The characters never learn anything. They never grow. They never change. They just exist in a comic book. The main Teen Titans are no more fleshed out than the Future Teen Titans we met in that one splash page.

I'm happy to say"no, 'happy' isn't the right word. I'm"comfortable saying that Teen Titans Annual #3 isn't the train wreck I thought it was going to be.

But yeah, if you ignore all of the faults, the Culling turned out to be a fairly cool action story. It's got big fights, solid teamwork, and tense action. And for that it's an exciting read. I wish there was a lot more depth to it, and more time was spent fleshing out the characters, but that has been a problem with Teen Titans since the beginning. I doubt it's going to be fixed anytime soon.

So there we have it. The issue I've been demanding all this time, and it only maybe, kind of, I guess lives up to its potential. On a second read through, the issue isn't that bad. Yes they're on an island full of dinosaurs. And yes they're still dressed like they just stepped out of Tron. But the Teen Titans are finally taking a moment to talk with one another like people. But Lobdell needs to do more. Give them an issue where they're not superheroes at all. Where they're just kids being kids and enjoying life. Put the superheroics on hold, please! All of the flashy colors and superhero action doesn't mean squat if we don't care about the characters. Surely a writer of Lobdell's experience realizes that. I can only hope.

The trio cause some trouble before fleeing, and Kid Flash shows up at the end to hear all the witnesses and cops talking about the trio. And that's about it. We're told this story will continue in Teen Titans #12 and DC Comics Presents #12. I'm not reading that series, and I'm not about to start for these guys. Sorry.

The character growth of the past few issues of Teen Titans is stopped. We're back to the mindless, 'x-treme' superhero action.

Consider this the start of my campaign to make Niciezathe new permanent Teen Titans writer!

And what the hell was up with all those editor notes? Jeez Louise! Why even bother using Lance if he's going to be pulled away to some other series almost immediately? I want to read a Teen Titans story. I don't want to have to run all over comicdom to get the full story!

But in hindsight, I felt Tim Drake's narration was strong, as was the feeling of teamwork between the Titans. I would like to see them take their place in the greater DC Universe. Maybe a team up with the Justice League? Perhaps they're saving that for a better moment. Or when Teen Titans isn't terrible. And Brett Booth's art was pretty good this issue. So there's that. But otherwise, it's a terrible tie-in to Death of the Family, with some quality Teen Titans segments. Which is probably the most we can hope for with this series.

But yeah, DC, get on that hiring of Nicieza thing right away.

I'm just so disappointed in how badly the twist at the end ruins what was turning out to be a great comic.

Teen Titans doesn't know what it wants to do with itself, and we all suffer for it. Also, whoever decided to put Eddie Barrows on art was just plain wrong. The guy is a fine artist, but on serious books. He can't draw Kid Flash, Bunker or Solstice for crap, and his Red Robin just has terrible, terrible hair.

Ugh, this comic is terrible. The characters are skin-deep and they spend the issue bumbling around playing at superhero. Red Robin bounces from evil douchebag to concerned hero at the drop of a hat, and remains unlikable in both roles. Beast Boy comes out of nowhere and is randomly, pointlessly teamed up with Raven, who likewise blows all of the mystery she's had so far. Trigon is just a big, giant evil demon, acting like every other big, giant evil demon that has ever come before him. The dialogue is weak. The exposition is clunky. Almost everything about this comic is terrible.

Your enjoyment of this issue probably depends entirely on your feelings about Raven. Are you a big fan? And love her origin? Then you'd probably enjoy this issue more than me. I don't have any opinion about Raven one way or another. She was never one of my favorite Titans, and I never openly disliked her in any way. I just don't care about Raven. So in my mind, this was Scott Lobdell's chance to make me care. He could have created a new, unique, awesome Raven. He could have come up with something fresh and stream-lined, or come up with some great new twist on her classic origin. But instead, he just redoes the old thing and crams it all into a single complicated issue.

This isn't a family. This is a cast of characters in a comic book. They say their lines. They punch the bad guys. They try to be funny. They don't care what new characters pop onto the scene. There is nothing unique, special or interesting about Teen Titans. It's as generic and boring as a comic book gets.

This comic has gone off the rails, and I fear that there is no repairing the damage. How could the series recover from this? Someone would have to just wipe this team clean and start fresh. There is still potential to this series, I think. These characters, at their most basic, could still be used for something good. But Lobdell is not the man to do it.

Don't waste your time or life on Deathstroke #1. Nothing new is introduced about the character. Nothing ties into Teen Titans or Villains Month. Nothing good occurs in this issue or could possibly come from it. I have no idea why DC even included Deathstroke in Villains Month. It doesn't make sense, nor does the story.

I didn't know what to expect from Trigon's chapter of Villains Month, but it was definitely not this. Not page after page of horrifying, stomach-churning rape. Just because they're all alien women does not make it OK. There are drawings of impregnated rape victims killing themselves in this comic. This Teen Titans comic

Just when I think Teen Titans has done everything in its power to mess with my head, here comes Teen Titans #23. On the one hand, it's everything I've ever wanted from the comic. Here is an issue dedicated to the various members sitting down and talking to one another about themselves and their lives. Some of them even sound kind of like teenagers; you know, when they're not utterly the most base, awkward expositional dialogue ever written. Oh yes, oh yes. The one thing I've been complaining about most since the start of the DCnU Titans, and Teen Titans #23 delivers in spades.

I never thought I'd be happy to see the regular Teen Titans again. But after the horrors of the Teen Titans Villain Month comics, I say bring on the regularly scheduled programming, as awful as it may be! And Teen Titans #24 is pretty awful. Not terribly awful, I suppose, but pretty darn awful, nonetheless. This week, Teen Titans focuses on its horrible, stilted expositional dialogue, with an overabundance of thought balloons, because writer Scott Lobdell isn't aware that those went out of style with fanny packs and the word 'radical'.

Teen Titans is a comic book without heart. There is no real teamwork or camaraderie. There's no sense of love or friendship between these characters. It's just a bunch of superheroes going through the motions. This time, they're in space in the future bumping into guys like Rain and organizations like the Echo Chronal Authority, names and things that mean absolutely nothing. Who are these people and how do they matter? Who knows. But thankfully, the Titans are free to think the answers through as stiffly as possible. At least we've got that.

This is a cobbled together story that's supposed to be the new, defining origin for a very popular character. And it doesn't just undo the first origin, the one that made him popular in the first place; it replaces it with something worse.

Teen Titans is an embarrassment. It's a comic book for idiots. Teen Titans is for readers who don't care about characters, consistency or common sense, and love it when writers poke fun at their audience.

If I'm being completely honest, I don't think writer Scott Lobdell did such a bad job creating pathos in Bar Torr's rebellion against the Functionary. There is real emotion in his fight to free his people from a corrupt and evil government. So it's a shame this comic is actually about a club of colorful, teenage heroes who wouldn't know real emotion if it was beat into them with a crowbar. The Teen Titans are caught in the middle of a war that doesn't belong to them, and they're stuck flailing around in an embarrassingly desperate attempt to be useful.

There's no saving Teen Titans at this point. It's going to crash head-on into cancellation and remain a blight on DC's New 52. I'm not even sure what they can do to revive the name and team if they ever decide to relaunch. But at the very least, this issue wasn't so bad. There are still inexplicable moments, like the completely off-hand dismissal of Superboy, the Titans' continued partnership with the Evil Empire, and Lobdell's continued inability to understand the vacuum of space.

Strap in, friends. We've got a bumpy ride ahead of us. Teen Titans #30 is the worst issue of the entire series. Scott Lobdell has been cancelled, and it's clear from this issue that he isn't going down without a war. He's going to bury his volume of Teen Titans! In horrible dialogue, in ridiculous callbacks, in desperate attempts to wrap-up dangling plot threads; whatever he can cram into this ending, he's gonna do it.

If this is indeed the future of the Teen Titans, then I should have abandoned ship a long time ago. This was the last thing writer Will Pfeifer needed two issues into his relaunch.

If Marvel's plan was to bury us in mediocrity this summer to make their Fall relaunch feel stronger by comparison, then they get top marks for that. But House of M #1 is middling at best.

House of M #2, like the previous issue, is an example of excess. Secret Wars already has way too many tie-ins for anybody to care about them all, but House of M might take the cake as the most pointless one. Hopeless, Bunn and Failla give it the old college try, but I would be hard-pressed to find a reason why anybody should care.

Unfortunately, the Annual issue is hampered by some pretty terrible art. So I finally get what I want, the Teen Titans are the actual star of their own comic, but I still can't appreciate it because this is one ugly comic.

Teen Titans #1 could just as easily have been Teen Titans #31. It picks up exactly where Lobdell left off and brings absolutely nothing new or interesting to the table.

It's a random enjoyable issue floating in a see of general malaise. Rebirth is still coming, so it's not like this issue will make any sort of difference in the series. It's just an island of comic book OKness, an acceptable purchase that lets writer Scott Lobdell go out on a high note. Which I guess is fine. Nice of DC to give him the opportunity.

Honestly, Titans fans should just go watch Teen Titans Go!

This issue of Teen Titans had so much going for it, but I'll be damned if I cared one little bit. I still think I want this book to be good. I think I want it to be filled with fun, enjoyable characters who go on worthwhile adventures. But there's still such a bad taste in my mouth from the previous volume, and there are still so many hang-ups with this new volume, that Teen Titans is just not gelling.

Mostly I'm just disappointed with this issue of Teen Titans. Pfeifer is headed in some weird directions.

Teen Titans is content to be just a dumb superhero comic where the characters are only really concerned about being superheroes. Not even an art change or the promise of a new character can save Teen Titans #5 from just being generally dull.

Every opportunity he has in this issue to explore the Titans and their lives is interrupted. He's constantly cutting himself off instead of staying with a scene or a moment. Pfefier actually starts several conversations exploring the Titans' living situations and motivations, but then he cuts himself off to move on, usually towards Manchester Black. What he does write is actually pretty good, and I was prepared to give this issue a higher score, but then Pfeifer just flatlines in the entire second half of the issue.

The Teen Titans are no longer the stars of their own comic. They're set pieces. They're action figures to be moved around at the whim of other characters.

Teen Titans #8 was an improvement in the general direction of the series, but a few of Will Pfeifer's plots and subplots just aren't connecting with me as much as I would like.

Teen Titans #9 is just an uncomfortable, unwelcoming comic book. It's not bad, I suppose, but it's not somewhere I want to be.

I am still in awe at how terrible Teen Titans is as a comic. It's always been terrible in the New 52, and the change in creative team brought absolutely nothing new or different or better to the table. This is DC's forgotten step-child of a comic, beaten until it's black and blue and then left to just meander along without even the slightest bit of care.

Teen Titans is not a good comic. It hasn't been in a very long time, and I don't know if it can or will ever be saved. To an extent, it's marginally readable. But these are not interesting, relatable heroes, and these are not airtight, interesting stories.

Forget everything you've been reading for the past year, apparently. Teen Titans has finally, and without warning, lost its mind.

I have no idea how DC Comics can justify keeping this series alive. The only recourse is to slash and burn and start again.

This comic is still just action figures being smashed together. At least I kind of liked the art in this issue. It's a wild sort of style, but it's also ill-defined and just wouldn't look very good as an ongoing art team.

Teen Titans has a lot of problems. But those problems have a lot of easy solutions, and writers Will Pfeifer and Scott Lobdell do a lot of things almost right in this new issue.

Every other series has changed hands, bucked expectations, shaken things up. Only Teen Titans continues to drag this one, horrendous status quo like a yolk around it's neck.

Pak doesn't fix everything with his first issue, but he starts to address some of the problems I've had with Teen Titans, and the book is a lot more fun because of it. Of course, all of this could be for naught when Rebirth comes around in a few months.

This was a fine, enjoyable issue of Teen Titans, but I would have loved it if Pak had delved deeper into the team up. I've always liked the idea of Wonder Woman teaming up with Tim Drake, at least since some of their pre-reboot encounters. But this time it blows by without any real oomph, which is a shame. But hopefully next issue will have the good character work I desperately want, and which Pak has expertly set up.

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The New 52 Teen Titans only have a few issues left. I kind of wish they'd get really weird with it. There should be nothing holding a pinch-hitter like Bedard back. But maybe editorially told him to just keep it light and don't do anything to rock the boat. If so, missing accomplished.

As an issue of Teen Titans, it's harmless. There's nothing more to say or do with this team. We already know what happens next, and we've already seen that Tim Drake alone moves on to something bigger and better. So there's no tension in what Bedard does to the team or the characters. We get a really pointless cliffhanger at the end of this issue, and I kind of want to roll my eyes.

Teen Titans #22 is the worst kind of filler material.

There has been no build-up to the end. No story to justify the past several issues. From all appearances, Teen Titans is going to go out with a whimper. But rather than just a regular whimper, this one has been dragged out for issue after issue of mediocrity.

But even as we try to say goodbye to Teen Titans, I still get to hang my head and sigh one last time. Because this isn't really the finale of Teen Titans, it's an epilogue/tie-in to this week's Detective Comics #940. So despite everything this comic has done for itself after all these years, despite keeping the core team and concept together all this time, Teen Titans doesn't actually get to end on its own merits. The finale is just a follow up to another, much better comic. How embarrassing.

Overall, this seems like a hastily thrown together first issue, one that's really only concerned with getting Gordon in hand-cuffs, logic, plot, story and characterization be damned. A weekly Batman comic is an ambitious idea, but I don't think it's off to a good start. Of course, if you ignore all those logical points I brought up, it's probably a fine issue.

I still think Batman Eternal is a little sloppy. If the idea is that Carmine Falcone has returned at long last to reclaim his city, I feel a lot more could have been done to build up the menace. He's apparently crafty enough to set up this huge plot against Gordon. Couldn't Falcone have stayed in the shadows a bit longer? Couldn't he have come up with even more tricks and traps for Gotham's Dark Knights? As it stands, Batman Eternal is just another Batman comic. That's usually always entertaining enough, but it really needs to come up with something to make it stand out.

Fortunately, if you can ignore the insane logical stupidity, the rest of the issue is pretty cool. Watching Batman struggle to catch up to whatever Falcone is putting into motion is pretty cool. The Penguin is always a hoot. And the stuff with Stephanie Brown promises to be interesting. So Snyder and Tynion are telling an engaging story, it's just that some parts of it are ludicrously forced.

There is a lot of ambition behind Batman Eternal. Clearly this creative team has plotted out some big bad mystery that threatens all of Gotham. But I don't think they've really put much thought into making this the best Batman comic it can be. The plot and characters just feel like they're rolling along in the service of whatever big mystery the writers have planned. None of the storytelling and scene-setting skill that Snyder has injected into his Batman run is evident in Batman Eternal. This is a mediocre Batman comic trying desperately to make us care about the plot and the mysteries.

The rest of the issue was fine, and I always like more from Harper Row, even if she's not going to be the new Robin. A Tim/Harper subplot over the course of the series would be absolutely delightful. They bring with them this weird, sci-fi nanobot subplot, which is more out there than the gang war from the previous issues. Personally, a nanobot swarm is not as interesting as Carmine Falcone, but there are probably going to be a lot of juggling balls in the air over the course of this series.

Meh. All of a sudden, Batman Eternal is all over the place. I know they've got a whole year to fill, but now we've got Batwing, Spectre, Joker's Daughter and Gentleman Ghost all doing something weird on the side? Does anybody even really read Batwing? I'm amazed it has lasted this long in the New 52. This is just a forgettable issue that doesn't really seem to have anything to do with the larger, more interesting narrative, and instead just adds another, uninteresting subplot to the larger tapestry. One assumes this might all connect somehow in the end, but this issue " despite being solidly made " fails to get me hooked. At least I really like the art of Ray Fawkes.

In a weekly series like this, I don't want the writers to desperately fight for my attention span with explosions and 'kewl' moments every issue. I want them to take their time and build a truly powerful, memorable Batman story. But I'm pretty sure Batman Eternal is just going to be about the former.

This is getting out of hand. I wanted to like Batman Eternal, I really did! I wanted to have faith! You have to believe me! A massive Batman conspiracy story that stretches across all corners of Gotham City, written by Scott Snyder and his band of merry men? It sounds too good to be true! And it is, it truly is too good to be true. Because instead, we get Batman Eternal and its utter dearth of logic.

I know a few weeks ago that I said I was determined to read each issue and chronicle the whole adventure in these Hench-Sized Reviews, but man oh man, that task just gets tougher and tougher with each passing issue. I legitimately dislike this comic. It's just a poor representation of Batman.

Batman Eternal is a bad comic. The story is all over the place with absolutely no pacing. The writers just fling whatever they want at the reader, regardless of tone, plot or character. It's all just a big pile of half-twists and madness. And the art has just gotten progressively worse issue after issue.

Insane. That is the only word to describe the latest issue of Batman Eternal. It's like something snapped off in the minds of the creative team and they decided to put out the craziest possible chapter imaginable. And they hired the craziest possible artist to draw it. You've got to see it to believe it, and I'll post some pictures in a moment. But jeez"this one is just"so weird!

Holy unexpected, Batman! I actually liked this issue of Batman Eternal! It progressed the plot to a nice degree. It features characters who make smart decisions (for the most part). It provides an answer to my ongoing complaint about the GCPD (with one tiny exception). And the art is great! Not Ian Bertram great, but it's good, solid Batman art! Who'da thunk this was ever possible! Batman Eternal might actually have legs!

Big picture, this series still isn't very interesting. Little picture, this issue was somewhat enjoyable. And further team up between Red Robin and Harper Row is definitely how the creative team can win me over.

There are bits and pieces of Batman Eternal that have potential, and maybe the series will be much more stream-lined and focused from now on. One can only hope.

I think that horrible GCPD storyline was like a thorn in my paw, and I couldn't enjoy Batman Eternal while that was in place. I find myself not hating this series as much now that Commissioner McCrookedCop has been taken care of. This issue focuses on the Spectre and Batwing, my second least favorite storyline, but it's not half bad.

Batman Eternal's overall quality has picked up considerably after ditching that stupid GCPD storyline. That thing was like a stone in my shoe, grinding into my foot with each passing step. With that gone, and with a better understanding of what this series will be about (random insanity), the comic is just better. It's still not a must-read, but it's not so bad anymore.

All I know is that two characters I don't particularly care about are in over their heads against a villain I don't particularly care about, and neither one of them is Batman or Robin. This whole storyline is an example of Batman Eternal giving itself far too many plots.

Batman Eternal continues to hum along at a relatively solid pace. I like some of the plots and I dislike others, but none of them rise to the level of truly enjoyable or especially deep.

Batman Eternal doesn't seem to have anything to say about Batman, Gotham City or anything else, for that matter. It's just cruising along with a bunch of random different storylines, failing to come off as a cohesive whole. Why does this comic exist? And why does it exist as a weekly?

Overall, the issue was entertaining, and that gives it a higher grade than just being mediocre. I still don't think the stories are all that great, and the writing isn't anything special, but it's a relatively entertaining Batman comic. I liked Batman teaming up with Killer Croc. I liked the reveal of Rex Calabrese. But Batman Eternal still isn't living up to its potential, not by a long shot.

Here's the thing about Batman Eternal #21: the twists are pretty cool, and I did not see a lot of them coming, but I'm not entirely sure they actually fit with everything we've seen so far.

It's a big mess of a comic, with so many twists and plots and characters that it has lost itself in its ambition. The comic remains professionally made, but the story has no heart.

I never feel likeBatman Eternal knows what it's doing. Instead of using 52 weekly issues to build this big tapestry of a Batman story, they seem to be making it up as they go along. I know they're not, but that's what it feels like. Nothing from the current issue feels like it flows from the previous issues. This all just comes off as a bunch of different mediocre Batman stories cobbled together.

That Stephanie Brown issue we've all been waiting for is finally here! She's been teased for months, especially in the pages of Batman Eternal, and it's high time she got an issue all to herself. Mostly to herself, I guess, because there's a scene featuring Batman in this issue that makes absolutely no sense. Even when Batman Eternal has a clear focus, it can't help but glance around wildly at shiny things.

Batman Eternal #25 is hideous! Characters look like misshapen monsters, especially in the face. And everything is some jagged, ugly, off-model mess. Art on Batman Eternal has usually been pretty solid, but this issue is an abomination. I hope Guera doesn't stick around.

Batman Eternal has descended into madness, but not the madness the creative team is expecting. The comic is just a mess. None of the plot threads tie together, no time is being spent on the characters, and the art has just gone off the rails. This is a series that wishes it was some big, grand Bat-tapestry, but really it's just a failure at basic storytelling.

Batman Eternal is a mess. The stories could and do change with the flip of the page, with zero connection to anything that has come before. The art is hit or miss, since the artist changes with almost every issue. And while I would agree that perhaps every issue has the same story tone, the stories themselves are too insane to connect in a larger work. There is no through line, no anchor for the audience to hold onto. Every new issue just sort of throws up whatever it wants, even though the same writers keep working on it. I just don't understand what could have gone wrong.

When Batman Eternal focuses on only one or two stories, when it actually seems to have some focus, it's not half bad. The overall landscape is still a mess, and very little of any of this has to do with Batman, but I can give credit where credit is due when the creative team produces an OK issue.

There doesn't seem to be much logic to the story progression in Batman Eternal. It's being pulled in so many different directions, and possibly for so many different reasons, that this whole adventure remains a big mess.

Batman Eternal #30 is one of the lightest issues of the series so far, providing very little in the way of plot development or characterization. Though the art is kind of neat.

Now we'll switch gears a bit, because this might just be the coolest issue of Batman Eternal yet! It helps, once again, that the writers have focus, narrowing down the story to a couple of pretty awesome moments that actually come from the characters themselves.

Eh. Batman Eternal returns to lameness this week with a subpar issue that once again starts veering into strange, unfocused territory. It makes me ashamed to have actually liked the last issue, but I was distracted by the sheer awesomeness of Alfred teaming up with Bane. I guess I'm just easily distracted by shiny things.

I think the writers are just stalling for time at this point. While this issue has the focus that I love so much, it also doesn't accomplish a whole heck of a lot. This might be the lightest issue of Batman Eternal yet.

We've spent so little time with Batman in this series that nothing in this issue lands with any kind of emotional impact. Not him losing his company, not his boring fight with Hush. This is all just 'Paint By Numbers Batman', and it's just so boring.

I think the big problem with Batman Eternal is that the creative team is more focused on their big, labyrinthian plot than they are on Batman. They've concocted this multi-tiered plan to tear down Batman and all of Gotham, and Batman himself is secondary to this criminal plan. They use Batman like a dull hammer to hit the next nail in their plan. But because they had to fill 52 issues, this plan is a scattershot mess spread out over so many weeks and so many different writers. It's just a big, unyielding story that only makes sense in their heads, and Batman has been stripped away of all his intrigue in order to make the plan work.

I'm telling you, the Batman in this comic is just a big idiot and a slave to the plot.

Batman Eternal is a mediocre 6-issue Batman story stretched out for a whole year because the gimmick was more important than the actual story.

This whole experience was dull. And honestly, what does any of this have to do with Batman Eternal?! How does chasing down these villains tie into the bigger picture? This two-part storyline has just been a pathetic diversion.

By all accounts, I should have given up on Batman Eternal a long time ago. I don't like it, it doesn't live up to the hopes I had for the series, and it's just a bargain basement Batman comic.

Batman Eternal whips off another transitional issue this week, moving various storylines along at random intervals. The issue lacks focus, stretching itself so thin, but then focus hasn't exactly helped the previous issues.

Batman Eternal #41 also highlights another weird fact about this series: it has so many seemingly pointless and minor plot threads.

The general storytelling in Batman Eternal still isn't very good, at least as far as I'm concerned, and I wish Bluebird had been given a cooler first assignment, but this was an acceptable issue. Though Batman was kind of an asshole to everyone. Why even have him show up for a single page just to be grumpy and barely acknowledge Harper?

Forget all the junk with Batman, ignore the grand super-villain plot; Batman Eternal #43 is pure character development staring two amazing characters. That's going to make for good comics no matter what other mess surrounds it.

And just like that, Batman Eternal sucks again. Sigh. The fun team-up between Bluebird and Spoiler was short-lived, and now we're back to this comic making little sense about dumb topics. Say goodbye to strong personalities and interesting characters, say hello to another random plot line from out of left field " actually, make that at least two random plot lines from out of left field.

Batman Eternal is all over the place, sometimes within the same issue.

I think we've finally hit the low point of Batman Eternal " and as you'll see, I mean that literally. In what should be a heart-wrenching scene of Batman hitting rock bottom, is actually a painfully awkward and pathetic rock bottom for Batman Eternal as a whole. It's time to close up shop, folks.

And the art is just fantastic this issue. Ferreyra has this stiff, almost painted style that has a lot of detail and emotion in it. He's does good landscapes as well. There's one really great double-page spread of Julia, in costume, jumping over the rooftops of Gotham, with the panels placed into the sides of the buildings. Just a fantastic look for this comic. So at least the art is nice.

I will say that Batman Eternal #48 is a tighter book than usual. Some of the wilder tangents are contained or absent, keeping everything in a tight lock step towards the end. I just wish these events actually made some kind of logical, interesting sense instead of the writers just forcing their agenda on everyone involved.

As we near the end of the terrible Batman Eternal, either the series has settled into a certain level of mediocrity or I have just become numb to its horribleness.

Is it awesome? No, not at all. I'm actually very underwhelmed. But James Tynion IV has been this comic's best writer, and at least he keeps things tight and mildly entertaining.

The pacing is probably what makes this issue work so well. The comic never slows down, and when it jumps to other scenes, they keep everything moving. Everybody is focused on this one problem, and that's a huge help.

Batman Eternal was not a good comic. It was made by some very talented people, who had a couple good ideas floating around, but the execution was an atrocious mess. At the very least, this final issue is mildly entertaining, with some cool moments here and there, but I'm probably just being polite.

The first issue of the new Secret Six rests almost entirely on the laurels of the previous series. DC and Simone hope that our love of Catman and the name will be enough to support this new title, and they've got a point. If I wasn't a huge fan of both, I would have given this a lower score and never picked up another issue. I have the utmost faith in Simone to pull this off, so I'm going to stick with it. But she can't just skate by on goodwill. These characters have potential, this title will always have potential, she just needs to find a way to making lightning strike twice.

The new Secret Six is not a good comic so far. It's an ugly, overly-gritty attempt to replace the magic of the original series with something new. But that something new is just dreary violence and a desperate wish for lightning to strike twice.

It's a pale imitation of the original, trying to use the same 'shocking' behavior of the first to win fans over without any of the in-depth character growth. We already know that everyone involved in this project can do way, way better.

This is the Secret Six I want to see. The characters are strong, their bonds are growing, and the bad guy is finally defined enough to actually matter. Plus Lashley has hopefully been kicked to the curb. His art was good when he actually got it done, but Secret Six will hopefully flourish with another, more confident and stable artist on board.

Somewhere in this comic is the same enjoyable Secret Six. But right now, it's suffering the same fate as Horrible Bosses 2.

Gail Simone really flubbed the launch of the new Secret Six. The art has been all over the place, and her opening storyline is embarrassing. But there are hints of the joy from the first volume, and I hope she focuses on that going forward.

Just because you can start a comic about Aquaman and the Others doesn't mean you should. But once you've got it going, you can definitely make it great. Unless, of course, this is just going to be some crummy tie-in to Future's End.

The Others still feel kind of new, but they don't feel as vibrant as they once did when they were first introduced. And Aquaman being a member is really more of a fluke than a fixture.

Abnett doesn't seem to have anything new or interesting yet to say about Aquaman. Everything in this issue is par for the course. Aquaman struggles to unite the surface world and Atlantis. Aquaman fights off some random, generic sea terrorists. Aquaman and Mera are a team. Black Manta is the villain. He even repeats Johns' original New 52 commentary about Aquaman being a joke to the surface world because he "talks to fish". There's nothing particularly bad with the issue, it's just not very interesting. This would be textbook Aquaman, if anybody ever cared enough to write a text book about Aquaman.

The basics of the story are all fine. I like Bendis as a writer, and Marquez is a god of an artist. So the dialogue is fun and the art is fantastic. But even their best efforts can't overcome how forced and tired this all feels. There are no stakes anymore. Deaths are meaningless. Big Events are meaningless. Bendis and Marquez do their very best to present all of this material honestly and down-to-Earth, and that part works fine. I like how real these characters feel. But this feels like it's going to be such a slog.

The art is out of this world, sure. But the story leaves a lot to be desired. I'm not even sure what everybody is 'civil warring' about.

This is the moment, my friends, where I stop caring. I can't promise it's permanent. I'm still going to keep reading Civil War II, if only to see where Bendis is going with this. And Marvel could do any number of things to get me back on board. But this issue, right here, is where I roll my eyes, hang my head and stop caring about any stunt Marvel tries to pull. I'm not angry. I'm not bitter. I'm"exhausted.

I appreciate Marvel having some fun with a cool, classic character, but a revival attempt needs a good hook. It needs a reason to exist. And all this issue does is exhaustively review all the crap that Darkhawk has been through for the past 20 years, then promise more of the same.

This isn't a book that pushes Deadpool to the extreme or really digs deep into what makes him so popular. This is all kind of by-the-numbers.

Everyone involved made a perfectly adequate comic, but the story is all over the place and has very little to do with Ironheart as a character. This is generic superhero comics when it could be so much more unique and special.

Answers are finally given in this third issue of Naomi, but those answers are as boring as the series has been as a whole.

And he's still wearing those red, pointy pajamas. Maybe that's good enough for some people.

There are no stakes, no tension, no real plot to speak of; it's just Kurt going with whatever flow comes along. I imagine some people might like this kind of comic, but not me. It's just not my cup of tea. It's well made, to be sure. And the art is great for what it is. But I dunno, I just prefer my comics to have a little depth and intrigue. Kurt Wagner has a lot of potential in today's marketplace. I just don't think Claremont has any interest in Kurt beyond surface level hijinks.

This was a fine, solid issue, but a little too light on plot for what I expected. It's not often that Marvel gets to write about Wolverine's early years, when he was a teenager or a young man. But the reason is because he apparently spent a lot of those years living as a wild man in the woods. And as poetic and beautifully drawn as that can be, it doesn't make for much of a story

So far, Origin II isn't saying anything new or interesting about Wolverine or his early years, so what's the point?

Scarlet Witch is a perfectly fine character to get her own ongoing series, but the creative team needs to find something actually worth writing about.

I'm not overly interested in seeing Straczynski create a sidekick character just to mock him and make his life hell. Straczynski even said he hated sidekicks growing up. So I guess if you also hate sidekicks, you might enjoy this series more.

Sideways is off to an OK start. It's a standard opening issue for a brand new character, complete with setting everything up. But there's nothing particularly exciting to really hook new readers beyond the usual superhero fare.

There's just not much to grab the reader in this first issue. The characters are very strongly defined, but they just didn't grab me.

Whereas this issue had Spider-Man wearing a jacket over his uniform as if he was playing 'pretend teacher'.

Spider-Man 2099 #1 just doesn't care. It's got nothing interesting to say about the character. It doesn't come up with anything new to show the reader. PAD and Sliney deliver a comic that may as well have come off an assembly line. It's solidly written, and Sliney's pencils are fine, though I would say he isn't very good at drawing characters in motion, which is kind of important for a Spider-Man comic. If you love the character, perhaps you'll love this comic regardless of its lack of creativity. But for everybody else, maybe Spider-Man should have stayed in 2099. At least then he'd have something to talk about.

The new Spider-Man 2099 series is just Scarlet Spider redux. When Chris Yost's attempts to turn Scarlet Spider into a second ongoing Spider-Man comic failed, Marvel apparently just turned around and asked Peter David to do the exact same thing! Peter David is great, of course, but he's phoning it in with Spider-Man 2099. This is an unimaginative, boring comic.

Overall, this is a solid enough attempt to set up Rebirth Superman going forward. Superman seems like a nice guy, at least. The creative team gives it their all, and I wish them the best. But I won't be following along.

Abnett does a fine job with the writing, but I think he should have bypassed the set-up to get right into the heart of the action. Though personally, I think it's a little silly to try and retcon the original Titans back into existence. Why not just bring them together for the 'first' time on a new adventure?

The story is plodding and going nowhere fast, and the art is pretty crummy on Titans Hunt. Abnett really needs to pick up the pace and lay off the artful prose.

This feels more like a quickie spin-off to bank on the brand name than an actual, well-thought-out sister series to Power Rangers Prime.

The characters are diverse and unique, though Costa doesn't give them anything particularly unique to do yet. The art is wild and kinda fun, and it definitely fits the comic. I guess you've just got to really like the characters and the premise.

Latour needs to find his own voice and his own style for this series. Focusing on a watered down Quentin Quire isn't going to help.

This first issue is just a solid, foundation-laying start to what could be a bigger, more exciting adventure. I have hope. And new comic books are built on hope!

The Wild Storm is starting small and slow, while throwing names and vague exposition at us to try and distinguish between about a dozen seemingly identical characters. It's fine, but itdon't impress me much.

A healthy dose of well-scripted action makes for an exciting read, and is cool enough to make me forget the more indifferent parts of The Wild Storm.

The Wild Storm spends its fourth issue recapping the first three. It feels like it was supposed to be meaningful, but Ellis has done such a shoddy job of world-building that I feel mostly lost whenever he name-drops some other entity in this world.

There's still a ton of world-building going on, but the story and characters have failed to really capture my interest at this point.

The Wild Storm has way too many balls in the air for a juggle where nothing is really happening. This issue takes the time to try and explain some things, and that's helpful, but the explanation doesn't fulfill the need for an interesting and entertaining story.

The Wild Storm is severely lacking in in any sort of organization. As someone with zero knowledge of the previous Wildstorm Universe, all of these secret agents and secret agencies are swirling together into a big mess of nothing interesting.

While this is the solid start to a story, I don't think it really nails into any core aspects of the Green Lantern mythos in this first issue, which is what I've come to expect from Absolute so far.

The new Absolute Green Lantern series is not giving us enough information to glom onto to really start getting invested in the series. The spooky mystery is the main focus so far.

The new issue meanders in directions I don't particularly care about and hasn't done nearly enough to fully redefine or capitalize on what Absolute Green Lantern even means.

I didn't care for it. Mostly because it's just a generic superhero story, and those just don't do it for me anymore. Maybe there's an audience out there for a comic where a bunch of colorful superheroes show up, team up and fight evil, but I need more in my comics. I want drama and romance and meaningful themes"but New Warriors #1 doesn't have any of them.

If you're going to recreate a superhero team for a new comic, please come up with stories that actually have something to do with that team. From a company producing nearly a dozen different Avengers titles, and character-prominent books like Hawkeye and Moon Knight, they can't just sit back and produce generic superhero mush.

Seriously, there is probably no superhero more boring in the Marvel Universe than Justice. And having him as the lead character says a lot about New Warriors.

This issue, and this whole mini-series tie-in, are probably going to be pretty superfluous. While I'm loving Dan Slott's Spider-Verse so far, these tie-ins don't seem like they'll be a big deal. But like I said, I love the characters, so I'm definitely on board! The problem is that, by removing these characters from their natural habitats, they cease being those characters. Ultimate Spider-Woman is an amazing character in the Ultimate Universe. She's cool, she's smart, she's well-trained and she's got a fascinating history. But in this Scarlet Spiders mini-series, she's just another random spider character.

Basically, there's little reason for this comic to exist other than to make a few more bucks on this whole Spider-Verse thing. This comic doesn't have very much to say about its main characters, and its tie-in potential is minimal at best.

The final chapter of Scarlet Spiders is full of action, but it mostly comes through as a whimper. The Spider-Verse tie-in accomplishes everything it needs to accomplish and sets the stage for the rest of Spider-Verse, but as a stand alone adventure, it's pretty light.

The art is obviously amazing on Superman, but Bendis has yet to really capture me with his ongoing storyline for the Man of Steel.

The new issue of Superman leans too hard into the generic monologuing, both from the hero and the already overly generic new villain.

Superman continues to fail to impress. The story is basic, the characters are simplistic, and only the occasional insightful bit or amazing art keeps the series above water.

Despite the hub-bub of bringing Jean Grey all the way back from the dead and giving her a brand new color of X-Team, the first issue of X-Men Red looks to be just business as usual.

The second issue of this new series disappoints in its bland story choices, despite doing everything else right.

Three issues in and X-Men Red seems content to just be another standard X-Men comic with standard characters and a standard plot.

Excalibur #1 is fine and has a lot to offer, but I don't think much of any of it is all that interesting.

Excalibur is written well, with great art, but the story is already off the rails and the characters just don't fit all that well.

The third issue of Excalibur tells a nice tale, but it's still hampered by some weird choices overall.

Barely an issue of X of Swords and too impenetrable an issue of Excalibur for non-readers to understand. This is not a review. This is just me trying to read every issue of X of Swords.

The sword fights commence and they can't even get that part right. This is a pleasant issue to read on its own, but it really throws X of Swords for a weird loop.

Half of this issue carries us nicely into the climax X of Swords. The other half is more Excalibur nonsense that is impenetrable to those of us who haven't been reading Excalibur.

The Hellfire Gala stuff is really nice in this issue. Everybody is so warm and supportive of one another.

It's a well-made effort, and everyone is at the top of their game, to be sure, but it just didn't strike any chords with me. Corson seems to be going more for the 'wacky' than the 'wacky with a point'.

Man, I really wanted to like Bizarro. I thought it might be DC's answer to Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. But it's definitely not. It's fine, by all means. I'm sure there are people loving these two issues. But the humor is definitely not my cup of tea.

Black Cat #1 is a competent comic made by people with a general idea of how to make a comic. Rote and lacking any real hook or selling point.

This new series is off to a rough start, with bargain basement art and too much story crammed into a single issue.

The story and the writing are a noticeable improvement over previous issues, delivering a pretty fun issue. But the art is still a huge drawback.

The Black Cat comic improves by leaps and bounds with a great lead character and a great story…it's just everything else about the comic that stinks, from subpar art to a poor supporting cast.

This is a well-made first issue with a good enough plot, but there's nothing particularly enticing or unique about it to warrant a whole comic on its own.

This is not an interesting team, they do not have an interesting mission, but there is a nugget or two of an interesting idea here or there.

This new series is off to a good, if slightly shaky start. Character work is strong and the new story has simple potential, but the issue is not as tight as it could be.

The lackluster mysteries are not enough to sustain this series, the bland character relationships are not enough to sustain this series, and the mysterious (and likely uninteresting) secret villains are not enough to sustain this series.

The JLA has been together for all of 6 issues, I think, and none of those 6 issues were spent building up the teamwork or camaraderie of the group, so why would any of them listen to Waller when the chips came down? But at the same time, why would anybody do anything for any real deeply held motivation? The DCnU just doesn't have enough history for the stakes to be raised this high, and that robs something important from the story. Right now, it's just familiar looking characters bouncing around in service of the plot. No one is particularly more interesting than the others, and no one is all that bad. Everyone is just kind of there, doing whatever the story requires them to do. And while entertaining, it lacks any sort of heart.

So basically Trinity War is just the three Justice Leagues fighting over a plot device until Forever Evil happens. And that's disappointing.

I liked this issue, but I fear that the overall concept is a little weak. Lemire is a great writer, and he handles the characters and their interactions like a pro " even if his Green Arrow here is a lot different and a lot more cocky than what Lemire is writing in GA's solo series. But that's a minor point of contention. Basically we've got a bunch of random superheroes who randomly wind up working together on a crazy mission involving aliens. It's a pretty weak reason to put a whole new Justice League together. And there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason why this team would ever become permanent. But the issue was written and drawn well, so perhaps that's all some people need. I know I'll keep reading for now, if just for the heck of it.

And why the hell did they start the story with a #0? What purpose did that serve?

The art by Cinaris nice. It's well done and very detailed and clear, but I feel like Superior Iron Man could have been given a bigger push. I like the new direction for Tony Stark, but I just think Taylor makes a few odd choices for his first issue and opening story arc.

There's just something kind of boring and generic about this comic so far, something that just doesn't reach the heights of what 'evil Tony Stark' should be.

And like I said earlier, I don't need the promise of the female cast members making out to get me to buy this series. If Bunn had wanted to create a romance between Dr. Riggs and Valkyrie, or at least some sexual tension, there are a lot better ways to approach such a story element than by having them share a spontaneous, passionate and utterly pointless kiss in the first issue.

Everyone is solidly written, and I'm sure fans of these characters would be happy, but I can't imagine those fans are nearly enough to drive sales. I firmly believe that any character can be fun to read if handled properly " just look at Gail Simone's Secret Six " but Bunn has got nothing interesting to say about this team.

There is nothing special or interesting about Fearless Defenders, I'm sorry to say. It's well-written and very well-drawn, but there isn't anything else I feel I can latch onto in order to keep reading. The characters are fine, but none of them are among my personal favorites. The all-female cast is a good move, but not much is done with it. I've never cared for the Brood and there's nothing overly interesting about this issue's adventure. This is just a generic superhero adventure starring a few C and D-list superheroes who just happen to be ladies. If I was a Misty Knight or Valkyrie fan, I'm sure I'd be loving it. But I'm just not connecting with Fearless Defenders, and considering how broke I am these days, that is not good for the series.

I hope Marvel learns from Fearless Defenders. Just because you make a comic starring an all-girl team of superheroes does not automatically mean it's going to sell. We still have to care about them as characters. I've said it before and I'll say it again: we want our characters to be people first, superheroes second.

I wanted to like this issue, and it's fine for what it is, but it's nothing special. I don't think Superman and Wonder Woman even share a single kiss. There's no chemistry between them. They are Superman and Wonder Woman, and they tell each other they are in a relationship because that's what marketing decided. Soule does a fine job handling the characters themselves, and Daniel draws a great comic, but this series is missing the most important part. There's no intimacy, no chemistry, no nuance or romance. I appreciate the focus on the two heroes as human beings, but Soule has a lot of work ahead of him to convince me that this romance has heart.

I don't think this series is going to become a regular purchase for me, but I wanted to give it another issue or two to win me over. I could complain until I'm blue in the face about how forced the Superman/Wonder Woman relationship is, and this issue doesn't help in the least. There's no chemistry between the two main characters. They are still the same Superman and Wonder Woman they have always been, more like friendly siblings than anything romantic.

Still, not even a helpful appearance by Batman can save this comic. The central relationship is just so bland and uninteresting. And if DC can't even get that right (which they haven't, and probably never will), then what's the point of reading this comic? Stick to Brian Azzarello's Wonder Woman.

Whatever Superman/Wonder Woman was supposed to be about, this is not it. Issue #4 is Superman vs. Zod, and a poorly written, uninteresting Zod at that. So unless Zod is your favorite, I couldn't possibly recommend this comic.

Soule can definitely write a great action scene. And the art by Daniel was as strong as it's ever been. But man, oh man, does this series not want to celebrate this relationship. It's maddening.

Even if Soule isn't winning me over with the relationship in this comic, he's at least got a strong handle on action and excitement. The stakes get pushed pretty darn high in this issue, both romantically and"actionly. But Soule and DC have only actually earned one of those.

Having a bunch of vague scientists track Doomsday as he hangs out at the bottom of the ocean just isn't very interesting. But I remain a little hopeful that these writers have something fun planned.

It's like everyone involved in Captain Britain and the Mighty Defendersrealizes that this is a throwaway mini-series with no reason for existing, but they might as well have some fun with it while they're here. I'm as tickled pink as the next guy to see some of my favorite characters get used, but Faiza and Spider Hero can only entertain for so long.

Waid and Ramos turn in a solid team-building comic for the first issue of Champions. The cast seems like they'll be fun together, and I hope Waid finds a good way to emphasis the teenage nature of the team. He's got the chance to do something unique at Marvel right now, and I hope he can pull it off.

Waid and Ramos are doing an OK job with this comic so far, and they seem to be heading in the right direction. But they haven't captured me yet. The dialogue isn't as strong as it could be, and the basic premise only seems half-thought-through.These are probably the same reasons why I never stuck with any of Waid'sAvengers comics either.

I get it. A brave woman standing up to the idiocy of religious extremists is truly inspiring. And this heroism exists in the real world and should be championed. But Champions doesn't feel likethe place to deal with it, especially not in only the third issue. If Marvel superheroes are going to start tackling some of these serious, real world issues, there has to be a better way than just throwing the Flavor of the Week teen team at the problem so they can slap a quippy Band Aid on it.

Empyre starts off big and crazy and full of superhero space battles, but there's nothing meatier beyond the action.

Not a whole lot happens to justify the very existence of this Big Event comic. Great art and solid writing, for sure, but the plot and characters leave a lot to be desired.

I hope you like event framework, because that's all you're getting with the main Empyre series.

I'm all for adding people like Riri to the Marvel Universe, but I would hope that Bendis and Marvel have something interesting planned for her. Right now, in her debut issue, they don't have a whole heckuva lot.

The origin of Riri Williams continues unabated, but so far I don't see anything worth sticking around for. This is a well-made, well-written and well-drawn comic, but it lacks any sort of heart or hook to really make the new character shine.

As much as I enjoy Bendis dialogue (and I know not everybody does), he still hasn't sold me on why Ironheart is worth following. Marvel invents and reinvents a million new superheroes a day. Ironheart as a character, and Invincible Iron Man as a comic, need some better reasons for why I should care. I think this whole thing is being held together by pure curiosity and amazing art.

This is a dull comic starring a fake version of one of my all-time favorite comic book characters. Call me a typical comic book geek if you want for caring so much about the details, but this is comics, and the proof is always in the details.

Whatever plans Ryan has for the Prowler, and I hope he has some good ones, they're being wasted while the series tags along behind the Clone Conspiracy. Cool art is not going to save this ho-hum comic.

While it still rubs me the wrong way that Hobie Brown is dead and a clone has taken his place in this ongoing series, I'm starting to warm to the whole concept, I guess. At the very least, this is a strong issue with solid character work as Clone Hobie outsmarts and takes down his rival, the new Electro. Ryan easily gets into the character's head as he thinks through the problem and the solution, with a nice ticking clock as his clone body degenerates. Solid character writing and solid artwork make for a solid comic.

I dunno. This series hasn't done a whole lot with this character or its tie-in status to Clone Conspiracy. The plot with Julia Carpenter makes Hobie to be the bad guy, which is never good. He's actually pretty pathetic this issue. So enamored with the Jackal that he falsely accuses Julia of sabotaging NewU, then he attacks her, then he gets his butt whooped. I really do hope the real Prowler takes over, because Pod Person Prowler kind of sucks.

The Prowler comic ends its Clone Conspiracy tie-in by revealing that none of this has mattered and there was no point in buying the comic so far. It's a perfectly adequate single issue, but the bigger picture is insane.

The Prowler comic comes to an end with a final issue that serves more to showcase the solid artwork than to really do anything worthwhile with the character. So the finale is pretty much like the series itself.

Cloonan's Punisher is off to an OK start. But so far she's given us a generic conflict and an unnecessarily removed protagonist. I would like more to sink my teeth into.

Becky Cloonan is writing the kind of Punisher story that probably occurs on some idle Tuesday, the sort of drug ring that Frank Castle takes out in his down time, between the bigger, more interesting adventures.

I've dropped Black Panther because it flew way over my head, but I think I might have to give up on Punisher because it's way too simple. Three issues in and Cloonan is still just telling a story about the Punisher killin' a bunch of dudes.

I fully support DC trying to get their act together regarding Superman, but it boggles the mind why they're doing it this way.

Superman Unchained is fine so far. But it should be better. It should be bigger and more imaginative. Based on the creative team, it has no excuse to just be another mediocre Superman comic.

I expected more from this creative team. I expected good, meaningful stories about Superman, not uncreative retcons. And I don't think Superman has even looked at a chain in three issues, let alone broken free of them. This is false advertising!

This was a fine start to Mark Waid's Avengers, though it was a little light on anything noteworthy. Sam Wilson, Tony Stark and Miles Morales just kind of crash into each other fighting a pretty boring bad guy

Waid repeatedly mentions the fact that they're not technically an Avengers team, but we have no idea why there isn't an official Avengers team in the first place thanks to that 8 month jump thing. I dunno. This title just isn't grabbing me. Waid seems to be going through the motions, without anything new or interesting to say about the characters or the Avengers. And Kubert's art already starts to get messy here in the second issue. The only real interesting aspect to this series is the butting heads between Nova and Ms. Marvel, but even that feels a little rushed.

I love Ms. Marvel as much as the next geek, and a semi-awkward teen rivalry with Nova sounds like an amazing idea. But even Waid's Iron Manis kind of just shrugging his shoulders about this team. There's no hook, no clear direction. No apparent reason why this group of superheroes is going to be the Avengers. Their solo books are on fire and are some of my favorites from Marvel, but I guess I don't care much for them as a makeshift team.

The Vision seems like an easy choice for an evil team member, but I've never cared for the character, so that's fine by me. I am far more interested in the relationships between the younger and older Avengers, and this issue finally makes that feel real and pivotal, rather than just a random collection of superheroes.

But the fight against Red Onslaught is not the overall point of Axis, so maybe Remender just wanted to get this part out-of-the-way with a big action scene. That I can understand. But he bit off more than we readers could properly chew with Axis #1.

There's still very little depth to any of the characters involved, but for a big fight scene of hero vs. villain, it's entertaining enough.

Avengers may be full of drama and character depth, but if you prefer mindless action, then Axis is the book for you!

But really, this is one of those stories where you just need to put your pre-conceived notions aside and let Remender do his thing. This is a big story where the villains start acting like heroes and the heroes start acting like villains. Embrace that idea and just run with it, and you've got a pretty cool (if fairly obvious) story. The Avengers are acting like jerks, and guys like Jarvis and the Hulk are struggling to accept it. Tony Stark and Carnage are on the loose, and those who weren't effected by the Inversion Spell are starting to figure out that something weird is going on. It's a simple concept, and hopefully it'll have an entertaining resolution.

The new Teen Titans is off to an OK start, with a strong character focus and a uniquely interesting main character. There's nobody like Damian Wayne. While I personally don't think this version of the Teen Titans represent a Damian-led team, this book could definitely succeed as a Teen Titans book that just happens to have Damian out front.

The new Teen Titans series shines in art and character development, and the plot could be interesting, but it's in the execution where everything feels utterly generic.

Teen Titans feels like a story where Damian is haphazardly lashing out after some kind of fight with his dad, and somehow his tantrum has embroiled a couple other young superheroes who are too dopey to do anything but assume that the Robin would know what he's doing. But none of that feels intentional. The constant rotation of artists also isn't helping.

The Rebirth Teen Titans are good enough as a comic, with incredible art, so I can definitely consider this a well-made comic. But for me, personally,the team is too forced and the storyline leaves a lot to be desired.

The first issue of the hugely hyped Uncanny X-Men relaunch doesn't do nearly enough to make me think this isn't just business as usual. It's more focused on being cryptic than it is on getting us into the new story.

Uncanny X-Men seems to confuse throwing crazy crap at the reader with legitimate mystery. It's somewhat entertaining crazy crap, but the lack of even a hint of answers is more detriment than excitement.

The plot finally gets going in some actually enjoyable ways, so Uncanny X-Men is getting better.

Uncanny X-Men continues to barrel ahead with business as usual, which is fine, but nothing to warrant claims of a big, important relaunch.

This weekly Uncanny X-Men run feels more like superheroic busywork to explain the far more important Age of X-Man stuff coming up.

More stuff actually happens in this issue, so it's a good read. But a lot of really inexplicable stuff also happens.

The new issue totally wastes a trip to the Age of Apocalypse, derailing everything that had been ongoing up until this issue.

Uncanny X-Men is a whirling, swirling mess of characters and plot lines and madness.

The quality of Uncanny X-Men remains wildly inconsistent, with this issue devolving into a wild, senseless fight scene.

The new issue of Uncanny X-Men is a big, ugly mess, capping off a big, ugly mess of a story.

The new X-Men direction is a little hard to swallow, and the art is low tier, but at least the characters are pretty strong going forward.

The darkness and death in the new Uncanny X-Men direction is wearing thin very quickly.

All-New X-Factor #1 was a huge disappointment on every level. As you can see from my rant, I don't think there was one aspect I liked about the comic. It's a subpar outing from one of my favorite comic book writers. PAD had every opportunity to come up with something new and exciting, with a real focus on some interesting characters. But he delivers a generic, boring superhero story, like a million others being churned out of Marvel these days. All-New X-Factor #1 has no heart. And that's going to cost it in the long run.

All-New X-Factor is competently written and drawn, but it has absolutely nothing unique or interesting going for it. It's a comic that doesn't appear to have anything worthwhile to say. It feels like PAD and Marvel are comfortable with just phoning it in. They could have called the book 'X-Treme X-Force' and nobody would know the difference.

All-New X-Factor just isn't doing anything for me yet. PAD isn't saying anything new or interesting about the random characters he's chosen, and he's just not doing a very good job of building up the relationships between them. The plots of each issue have yet to grab me as anything more than generic superhero fare. And PAD simply isn't doing anything with Serval Industries or what it would be like to be a superhero team owned by a corporation. The characters might as well be getting their missions from anybody. It's clear that PAD's probably having fun writing this comic, but All-New X-Factor is lacking in anything that would make it truly special.

I will keep reading and writing these reviews, so I hope you stick with me. But I just don't see anything to like yet with All-New X-Factor. Of course, if PAD brings back Multiple Man, that will probably change.

I've been pretty hard on the series so far, but I really felt that Peter David's writing and characters were finally starting to gel in this issue.

There was a time when PAD's previous volume of X-Factor was the best X-book on the stands. It stood out as new and interesting, with a fun focus on character and team. But the comic book landscape has changed since then. A lot of comics focus on the characters these days, giving them heart and soul. I don't see that in All-New X-Factor. All I see is a generally well-made superhero comic, where the superheroes are just going through the motions.

Without Multiple Man as a guiding light, X-Factor just isn't as good as it once was, and I admit that that might be entirely subjective. Multiple Man is my most favorite comic book character of all time, so sue me. I will admit to liking this comic a bit more since I panned the debut, but All-New X-Factor is still just a mediocre book, at best.

I still don't think PAD has the team dynamic down as strongly in this series as he did in the last one, but they're mildly entertaining so far.

PAD is doing little with the concept of 'corporate heroes', his characters are still just a random assortment of mutants and everything feels like a generic superhero comic book.

At this point, I'm kind of just reading All-New X-Factor out of habit. I still think Peter David is just doing a serviceable job on this series. He's got his characters, he's got a general direction, and he's pretty much just cruising along with a generally jovial superhero comic. I suppose that's fine, but these days, I want more from my comics.

Angela: Asgard's Assassin #1 is an enjoyable start to this odd character's first Marvel solo series. Gillen knows these waters well, and he uses the epic scope of the Ten Realms to make his title character really stand out as an interesting person. If Marvel really does hope to make Angela work, Gillen and this new comic might be their best bet!

Angela is an interesting enough character, and she's on a pretty insane adventure. The art is also pretty fantastic. It's gritty, but bombastic. I just hope Gillen has gotten this out of his system. Angela's rich backstory should be sprinkled throughout the comic, with each revelation adding to the overall story. It shouldn't just be a big, painful info-dump in only the second issue.

We're three issues deep into Angela's solo comic, and I'm still not entirely sure I know the character. The book is really confident in its main character, and it does a heck of a job talking her up. But despite a new flashback every issue, I don't really think I know Angela as a person. She's kind of just a glittering icon who cuts her way through the action while other characters actually carry the story.

Angela: Asgard's Assassin has the makings of a good book, but certain style and writing choices keep it from truly embracing its main character and the sorts of adventures she could have. The art is getting a little muddy too, in my opinion. The action is fine, and there's more than enough intrigue going on, but I just don't care about it when I can't care about the characters.

I'm all for introducing a new Chinese national superhero at Marvel, but the execution of this first issue feels a little juvenile.

This issue was pretty good. Hopeless has a nice handle on the characters, and they all seem pretty happy. With Bagley's art, this definitely isn't a grim and gritty comic. It's light, cheerful, and could have a nice team dynamic going for it. Plus the general idea of seeing these kids take to the open road could be fine. It's a nifty idea for this title, as is adding Evan and Idie to the team. All-New X-Men could be a good series going forward, and I might give it another shot, but I am supremely disappointed in what Marvel has done to Cyclops. And that's on me.

It's an interesting story idea, but I think Snyder poked himself in the foot a little by jumping around too much with the flashbacks. I got a little lost and wasn't sure what was going on at first.

Strong start with great art nonetheless is a bit all over the place on storytelling.

Speaking of the story and plot, I'm just not impressed. This is supposed to be the first ever meeting of Batman and Superman in the new continuity, but it's just so dull and flat. So the two bump into each other on a park bench? Big whoop. And the first time they meet in costume, it's in some random, crowded apartment in the middle of a fight. Not only that, but apparently their first adventure together is going to be some insane time travel jaunt that involves future versions of themselves. Seriously? That's the continuity precedent that DC wants to set? This is the first ever meeting between Batman and Superman in your new continuity, and instead of as tory that has any kind of gravitas, it's a spooky, mind-bending, complex trip through time.I'm sure a lot of people will be happy with this issue, and Pak and Lee are very talented, but I don't think this series will be for me. This is not a Batman or Superman I want to read about.

All the building blocks are here for a good comic, but there are just some tonal issues I'm finding a bit off with the new Black Cat series.

This first issue does a good job in setting up what the series is likely going to be. I think we get a good handle on Black Manta and his personality and style. Some of the story and plot elements feel a bit out of place, but I've no doubt they will all make sense as we move forward.

Black Manta is cool as hell in this villain mini-series and I think he could easily lead an ongoing about his pirate adventures. The problem is that the rest of the comic " mostly the subplots and the art " doesn't live up to his standards.

Really embarrassing art is all it takes to crater this formerly fun comic. Bad art just shines a light on all of the myriad of story elements that just don't work anymore.

Given the high profile nature of this relaunch, Coates and Marvel should have taken a different path. They should have focused on moving forward with new stories rather than mire the first issue in the past. The art is great, and Coates does a fine job writing T'Challa, but the disjointed narrative keeps the issue from being worthy of the hype.

Black Panther just isn't settling for me. It's still a fine comic, and I hope it goes far, but it might not be for me.

Perfectly adequate continuation of X of Swords.

Like I said up above, this issue fails because it just doesn't have anything that really captures the reader. There's nothing to make this issue stand out as something new and different in the X-Men family. I like that idea that Cable and his team are fugitives, but all we get of that is the short prologue at the beginning, which then doesn't connect to anything later in the book. The rest of it is just everybody kind of coming together around Cable, and then a tease of the Phalanx. Yawn. This book just doesn't have anything going for it. The team members look like a good group, and I dig their color scheme, and I'm very slightly interested to see where it goes from here. But Hopeless should have given us a lot more than he did. The threat of the Phalanx or any other super-villain is not enough of a hook. Every single superhero comic deals with the threat of some sort of villain. What makes Cable and X-Force different from every other book? Absolutely nothing.

A bunch of mutants team up together to fight bad guys. Yawn. I will say that Hopeless is doing a fine job with the characters, but that just means the only reason to buy this book is for the characters. The plot, the story and the potential are all squandered.

The rest of the issue was more weird than anything else. Monsters, an elaborate ambush by Arnim Zola, and then kind of a generic fight scene as Cap predictably just wills his way to fight through his foes and escape to safety. There's nothing particularly exciting about the action or the foes. And this whole Dimension Z nonsense just doesn't excite me. Nor does the idea of Captain America and a baby in the wilderness. So yeah, basically just a lot of generic Captain America action. Perhaps if I liked Captain America more, I'd enjoy the comic more, but this wasn't anything special.

Just know that the Sam Wilson stuff is really good, and I think Remender could do a good job with him going forward.

The new Captain America series starts off small with a fluff story that is good enough to be entertaining, but nothing to really sink our teeth into. Fine stuff all around.

An OK Cap story doesn't have much meat on its bones, quickly burning through some jungle tropes instead of anything stronger.

The first issue of this new Captain America series delivers a lot of controversy, but a fairly by-the-numbers story.

Why go to all this trouble to make Captain America think he's a HYDRA agent if you're not going to actually do something with him as a HYDRA agent? I guess that comes next issue?

I'm really excited about what Spencer and Marvel might be building here, and the idea of an evil Captain America is quite thrilling, but this issue is a little too stuffed. Each and every plot looks like it could be important and interesting, but all of them jumbled together is a little too much, man.

Spencer and Marvel have gone to great lengths to set up an evil Steve Rogers, and while I love the idea and can't see what happens with it, this issue continues to just spin its wheels without going anywhere. Story has taken a back seat to exposition and explanation.

Spencer is telling a really fascinating story, and I'm excited to see where it's all going, but the individual issues are focused too much on the big picture instead of delivery the meaningful character work that would really make this story shine.

It's a solid little story, but surely Marvel could have come up with something more exciting.

I liked this comic well enough. It didn't blow me away or have me at the edge of my seat or anything. I recognized the characters and some of the context. It was fine. It's a nice start to a good Batman story. I didn't particularly get any 'Dark Knight' vibes from reading the book. Miller's classic art, of course, is nowhere to be found now. And word has it that Azzarello wrote most of this. But it's a fine, solid start to a Batman comic. And the idea of bringing the bottled City of Kandor to the Atom sounds like a perfectly fine catalyst for adventure. I think I'll keep reading, if only to see where we go from here. But I'm getting a big 'Before Watchmen' vibe from this whole project.

I'm just not very impressed so far. The bad guys are as routine as they come, and if Bruce Wayne is alive, Carrie Kelley's rampage is just weird in hindsight. Hopefully Azzarello and Miller have a reason for her to do what she did. Hopefully it's a compelling reason. And hopefully this is a compelling comic. But the benefit of the doubt only goes so far, even for a big project like this one.

It was mostly just a bunch of fan-pleasing vignettes, but none of them really starred any of my favorite characters, so the fan in me wasn't piqued. I'm definitely going to pick up a bunch of the new Rebirth comics, but only because I'm always eager to find fun, enjoyable new comics, not because I think DC is doing the right thing.

So why shy away from TV's Deathlok? It doesn't make a whole heck of a lot of sense. But in the end, it's just a minor gripe. Marvel and Edmondson can do whatever they want with the character. I just hope theydo something better with him. Because based on this first issue, it doesn't look like anybody particularly cares.

The new Defenders series is off to a solid start, if you can look past all the forced changes to make it as identical as possible to the upcoming TV show of the same name.

The Defenders may be the most corporately-mandated comic I have ever read. This is the sort of fluff comic that Brian Michael Bendis could write in his sleep. It might as well say "Officially licensed from Netflix" on the cover.

The Defenders continues to come across as an editorially-mandated tie-in with the Netflix shows. It's something Bendis could write in his sleep, so it's still written well, but it's a total waste of David Marquez and his creative team's phenomenal talents.

Doomsday Clock, the Watchmen sequel, is off to a fine start, but this first issue fails to do anything particularly exciting or gripping. Top notch work, but in service of a low key introductory issue.

Doomsday Clock is a little too slow and a little too hung up on itself and its concept to really hook me just yet.

The latest issue of Doomsday Clock wastes every opportunity it gives itself to tell an interesting and compelling story. Just having Watchmen characters and DC characters in the same room together is not good enough.

The last thing the sluggish Doomsday Clock needs to do is spend an entire issue on an unnecessary flashback, but here we are.

This is a perfectly enjoyable comic, but since I'm not under the spell of DC Rebirth, the magic of seeing all this continuity reshuffling means nothing to me.

I've never heard of Brian Buccellato before, but he wrote a nice comic. The voices of the Rogues are strong, and one really understands their predicament. They are not evil men, but they aren't good guys either. They are men who live by a code, and now they have been pushed up against that code. The fight with the random assortment of super-villains is just a showcase of the various Rogues and their powers, but it's nothing special. The real draw of this series is in the Rogues themselves, and that part of the issue shines.

If you're a fan of Gamora, this issue would probably be more exciting. But if you're just checking it out for the sake of reading the new Gamora comic, this is just a mildly cool and entertaining comic with some solid action and the building of some potentially good characters. Off to a pretty good start.

This first issue is a very strong start in character and art, but doesn't have any strong hooks for the story or plot.

Despite strong writing and art, the stories are all over the place with alternate dimensions, non-linear storytelling and now cliffhangers into completely different comics after only two issues of this one.

I was ready to dislike Guardians 3000 based on its concept alone, but Abnett's story really comes together by the end, creating a better comic than I expected.

All in all, this was a pretty good start to this little mini-series. If you're a big fan of Harley, especially her solo comic, this could be a fun side project to read if you want even more Harley Quinn.

It's a little light on content, with Millar really only introducing the idea behind his main character, but that's fine. We get a good sense of who Huck is and what he does. We get a solid idea about his town and his neighbors. And I suppose that's enough to get us started on the story. I didn't personally find any really strong hooks in the first issue. It's pretty straight forward and fairly simple.