It was another fine, fine week of comics. Not as good as last week, but plenty of quality books to choose from once again. Seems to me that for the past little while comics in general have just been better than they were awhile ago: Fear Itself; Marvel rebooting Cap, DD, Thor and Journey into Mystery; Age of X and X-Men: Legacy; Uncanny X-Force; the conclusion to the old DCU, Flashpoint and the new DC; Buffy coming back; Cobra coming back; American Vampire; Criminal. Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths. Sure I could name plenty more. I’m having no problem coming up with nominees lately. Hats off to all the publishers, all the creators and everyone involved on the production side for putting out some quality comics. Nominees!

AVENGERS #17 – The last of the Fear Itself Bendis talkies. So sad. Captain America summed it up perfectly on the last panel: "Are we done? I have a full day ahead of me. Listen, I don’t know what you’re calling this book of yours, but I’d appreciate it if you’d dedicate it to Bucky Barnes. Barnes with a ‘B.’ Thank you." Thank you very much. And what is up with Bucky these days? Dead is dead. Or is there more to the story…

AVENGERS CHILDRENS CRUSADE #7 (OF 9) –  Had it all. The X-Men. The Avengers. The Young Avengers. Doctor Doom. And of course the Scarlet Witch. Was a little disappointed that they took away the Scarlet Witch’s turbo powers (very abruptly I might add), so I guess she’s not going to reverse the “No More Mutants” status but enjoyed nonetheless. Children’s Crusade, Fear Itself, Schism, and I don’t know what else are all supposed to tie together at some point. Good Luck!

BATMAN #1 – If you liked Detective Comics, you need to try out Batman!

CAPTAIN AMERICA #3 – The action scenes were fantastic. Steve McNiven drew it up real nice. Sharon Carter tried to throw Cap’s shield. Don’t laugh. You couldn’t do better. She’s a trained SHIELD agent. You’re not. Okay. You can laugh. It was funny. Loved the ending. "Sorry, Nazi’s don’t get second chances in my world." I would say not.

COBRA ONGOING #5 – Switched it up a little. Chameleon is back! I’ll never be GI Joe! Still Major Bludd. Still Steeler and/or Black-Out depending on what side of the aisle you’re on. Did get another three pages featuring our mysterious plane stealer. He killed the crew, put the plane in a nose dive and parachuted to safety. Where an unsuspecting passerby picks him up in his car. Hey buddy. You need a ride. Wrong question to ask!

DAREDEVIL #4 – Two weeks in a row! Not quite as good as issue #3 but without a doubt another high quality issue for a series that is off to a fantastic start.

DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #1 – Evel Knievel, aka Albert Albertson, was a great opening. And I liked how the book was able to showcase all the various people Deadman has “possessed.” And I liked how Deadman was jumping from person to person to talk to Madame Rose. And I liked the balancing act that Deadman is supposed to walk. And I liked the potential clash between Deadman and his guide Rama. And I just liked it. A lot.

FABLES #109 – Always! Read any issue you want, although I would suggest starting with the first trade paperback, quality through and through.

NIGHTWING #1 – Thought they captured the spirit of “Nightwing.” Think Nightwing fans will be happy. And while I enjoyed Dick Grayson’s stint as Batman, this seems “correct” to me.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #1 – Scott Lobdell! He’s now two for two. Superboy last week. Red Hood this week. Dialogue was great. Pace was great. Roy Harper has two arms. And the Starfire scenes were awesome. She’s from a planet called Tamaran, and is free to do what she wants when she wants. And as an added bonus, if she doesn’t want to remember what happened before, she doesn’t have to!  Sorta sounds like the publishing directive behind the New 52. Ba dum bum!

ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN #1 – Haven’t talked much about the Ultimate Universe relaunch. It’s actually been pretty good. Liked Ultimates #1. Liked Hawkeye #1. And I even thought ULTIMATE COMICS HAWKEYE #2 this week was better than the first issue. Didn’t really like Spider-Man #1 because nothing happened and it was a five-minute read. Did like Ultimate X-Men #1. The last line said it all: "My name is Kitty Pryde and this is the story of how I became the most feared and hated terrorist in the history of the United States." And if that’s the story you want to tell, I will happily read it.

And last but not least, because I just can’t help myself, GOBS #2 by Richard Moore. A bunch of Gobs, Goblins, Annoying-little-bastards-you-just-want-to-trample-on-and-bury-under-a-huge-pile-of-horse-manure go swimming in a pond. Yep. Swimming in a pond. More, please! Back-up story was Night Knight and his buxom sidekick Bosom Buddy. Here’s the last page. The Chip trade comes out soon!

See ya!

Rusty