Everyone may know by now that I am a big fan of virtually all the Bat Books. Batman, Batman & Robin, Nightwing, Red Hood, etc. Lots of you are too. We sell tons. They’re good. And they might be getting even  better. Courtesy of DETECTIVE COMICS #12 this week. Here’s the last page of the issue. Sounds good to me. Here’s the last page of the back-up story. Sounds good to me. And we already know that John Laymen takes over the writing chores of Detective with issue #13. Sounds good to me!

Ten and only ten nominations this week. Andy’s on vacation!

AVENGERS VS X-MEN #9 (OF 12) – Was great. The Phoenix Four are going crazy! Except for Cyclops. He’s the sane one! Thor got dropped in a volcano. Black Panther annulled his own wedding. And that punch would have killed Spider-man! 

CAPE 1969 #2 (OF 4) – Takes place in a POW camp. Vietnam. Captured GI has to fight crazy mystic shaman. It’s really good. And we got a cape. 

DAREDEVIL #16 – Does what it does. It will probably not be a top twenty single issue book again this month although it was excellent. It will continue to be a highly rated (currently #12) rated series. Heck, it should be in the top ten. Plot always moves forward. Pace is great. It’s always interesting. This issue had two stories in one. Daredevil gets his powers back care of Antman, Tony Stark and Dr. Strange. And Foggy boots Matt out of the law firm! Which I did think was a little harsh. He was only gone nine days. And it was official Daredevil business. Andy will be gone 17 days and he ain’t doing anything official.

EARTH 2 #4 – I really liked! The Atom was fantastic. As was Solomon Grundy. I like Hawkgirl. I like Flash. Thought Green Lantern was better. And I thought the dialogue was better. I totally enjoyed it.

HARVEST #1 (OF 5) – Easily earns a spot. Real good first issue. A.J. (Cowboy Ninja Viking) Lieberman tells a good story. Bad guys are making a buck off harvesting organs. Illegally. They need down and out doctors to do their dirty work. We meet one. That ends badly. We meet another one. He’s down and out. He needs a job. Have to see how that ends. And then there’s this odd little boy… 

HAWKEYE #1 – Totally not what I expected! Thought Hawkeye would be running around shooting arrows at evil villains allowing us all to see the beautiful and dramatic artwork of David Aja. Ah. No. We got community activist Hawkeye rolling around in a wheelchair standing up to the local street hood. Now, bro, correct me if I’m wrong, bro, but was Hawkeye channeling some Daredevil? Or, bro, how about some Gambit? Or, even Bullseye, bro? Sure was a weird little book. Not sure who this Hawkeye is. Still thought it was great! Bro! 

PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN #156.1 – The 50th anniversary Spider-man celebration begins! Set in the present day. Norah Winters plays a large role. Present day events tied into Peter past. Lots of flashbacks. It’s all about Uncle Ben. One of the complaints I heard about the movie was how the classic line, "with great power comes great responsibility", was handled. It was handled beautifully here. I thought it was great. And I think Spider-man fans will like it even more than I did. 

THIEF OF THIEVES #7 – Cemented itself a place in our TPB spotlight section with a great ending. Never knew how it would all play out until the end. Plenty of twists and turns along the way. It all made sense. And was just really good. Last issue for Nick Spencer. Job well done. See if James Asmus can keep the ball rolling with the next arc.

X-FACTOR #241 – Cover is awesome. Almost included it yesterday. Stop it Superboy! You’re punching the wrong TV screen! Titled Breaking Points Day 1. Subtitled Five Days that will change X-Factor forever. Featured Dread Dorammu and Captain America Deathlok. And possibly the best page of the night. Polaris struts her stuff. Explosive Hand Cannon to the Face! You forget that she is the daughter of Magneto and then ever so often something happens to remind you.  

X-MEN #33 – So ends Brian Wood’s first arc. Loved it. The action sequences once again reminded me of Warren Ellis and his recent Secret Avengers issues. Although this has an ongoing plot. Loved the beginning. Ready. So Ready. Here we go! Colossus jumped out of the plane and did a cannonball through a fortress all the way to the basement! Liked the end. What the evil genius did. Keeps the mystery/mission rolling. Liked the natural epilogue/segue to the next arc. Liked the phone call. Liked it all.

Best Book of the Week is a little difficult for me this week. Liked a lot. But nothing jumped out as head and shoulders above the rest. Which always makes for an interesting poll. Think I will be defaulting to Avengers vs X-Men #9. It doesn’t get enough publicity and needs all the help it can get!

See ya!

Rusty