Short Reviews  

Amazing Spider-Man #590 - I really enjoyed this one. It is a lot lighter in feel than what we've been getting from Spidey lately. Don't get me wrong I have been enjoying the other darker more character driven stuff but a little change of pace never hurt. This is as I said a fairly light fun jaunt with the FF. The art was great and the writing was fun. The conversation is especially crisp between Johnny and Pete. This is a title that most disagreed with when the new direction took place, me included, but this has proven a lot of people wrong and has continually been worth my money three times a month. Although I must say that the end unless changed by the end of last issue will have some people screaming foul when this even is coupled with the latest issue of New Avengers. To soon? I think maybe so. Still great stuff though! A

Flash: Rebirth #1 - The cover on this baby is pure fire! The interior art is just as great. The story is not. For as much hype as this has received and given the fact that this is the return of a character that many thought would stay dead this just seemed kinda flat to me. This was by no means a bad issue but it wasn't amazing like it should have been. Perhaps it was over hyped? Did I expect to much? I just figured return of an epic long dead character with the team who single handedly brought back Hal Jordan and made the Green Lantern characters a huge part of DC would have nailed this. Not quite. C

Captain America Comics - This was a fun little one shot that reminds us that Steve Rogers was the man. That he was a patriot and a hardass even before he was all HGH'd...I mean Super Soldiered up. The art by Marcos Martin especially was fantastic. The art was clean and crisp but included plenty o detail. The splash pages in this thing were phenomenal. A-

Invincible Iron Man #12 - In this issue Pepper Pots the Iron Maiden! Catching planes and doing damage with all her protective/defensive armor. Then quickly without a fight or use of any of these "superior" defensive technologies surrenders to H.A.M.M.E.R. agents. Wait what?! Also Maria Hill is turned into a Super Sexy Shield Zombie! Or is that Super Sexy Hydra Zombie?! Who can keep the affairs of SHIELD straight these days. Ok well anyway certain plot holes aside this was a decent read. B-

Justice Society of America #25 - So we see Johns starting to wrap up his run on JSA here. The end is nigh Johns JSA fans. It' sad to see but it was a great ride. In the end of this we have Marvel's no more and Shazam pissed as hell. Oh and also Shazam gets Black Adam and Isis stoned. Well of sorts that is. ;) Overall a wrap up issue that doesn't represent what Johns has done for this title for so long. Worth your money just not the best. B-

War of Kings #2 - So unlike the two previous Marvel space epics this series has yet to give that WOW moment. In the others there was some big reveal that sent us spinning Annhilius, Galactus imprisoned, Phalanx controlled by Ultron and so on. Here we get nothing of the sort. While it is still a good story it isn't what had hoped for. Granted this is not called Annihilation 3 so I shouldn't have expected anything like the other two. If anything my high expectations go to show that the team of DnA have established themselves as amazing writers when it comes to Marvel's space characters and people expect big things when they see their names on a space event comic. C+

Cable #13 - This like War of Kings was disappointing. Messiah Complex was an awesome ride from start to finish that really shook things up. Messiah War has not been anything of the sort. I have found it so far to be boring and a slow ride that I almost wish I had never gotten on. There are still more issues so maybe it will get better but so far the future is indeed bleak. Well, for this crossover anyway. D+

Secret Warriors #3 - This is a title with some heat. It really has had some excellent moments. Fury's dinner date where he gets put in his place is one of those moments. While this issue hasn't been like the other two issues with a crazy reveal or return of a character it does provide strong storytelling and compelling characters. B+

Astonishing Tales #3 - Now this is how you do an Anthology. Short entertaining stories with different flavors in each of them. Hopefully in the future we will see stories with longer and short parts. Marvel Comics Presents' mistake was that its parts were just too long. With some shorter stories that rotate through you can easily reintroduce old characters with a new fresh twist or just plain tell great stories with existing characters when they wont fit anywhere else. B

Umbrella Academy #4 & #5 - This has been some wackiness. This thing is loony tunes and enjoyable as shit. The two issues here provided a wide breadth of substance. We have Vietnam and sugared up killers as well as time travel. This has been a fun ride like its predecessor and I or one hope Way and Ba come back to do another of the sort. B+ and A respectively.