Gemini
Well-Known Member
Title: Giant Size Astonishing X-Men #1
Writer: Joss Whedon
Artist: John Cassaday
Well, the wait is over, it's here and it's pretty damn good, everyone knew who was going to kick the bucket for months but Whedon managed to use a pretty decent twist to deliver something unexpected, Cassaday's art is phenomenal as usual, but there is a bunch of happenings in this book that seems unnecessary, like Spider-man's appearence, actually almost all of the non-x-characters were unnecesary. But it was a great cap off to a great run
Rating: 3.5/5
Title: Daredevil #107
Writer: Ed Brubaker, and Greg Rucka
Artist: Michael Lark
Hmmmmm, this was an interesting set-up issue, a neat guest appearence set's up an arc that lets the level of self-loathing going on this book go away for awhile, Lark's art was very good again, this is very much the best DD issue in awhile, and it just may give this title the shot in the arm it needs.
Rating: 4/5
Title: Fantastic Four #557
Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: Bryan Hitch
HitLar's first FF arc comes to a close, though it's nowhere near as good as Ultimates was, it's still a decent story, with great art, and this book is clearly a different beast than Ultimates was. well The Anti-Galactus thing reeked of Dues Ex, and how CAP was defeated has been done so many times, it's practically a cliche.
Rating: 3/5
Title: Ghost Rider #23
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Roland Boschi
More people need to give this book a chance, Aaron's new direction is really interesting, he's made Ghost Rider interesting, that alone is a feat unto itself, Boschi's art was good once again, it really get's across the visceral action in this book, and the cliffhanger is cool, and something anyone who was a fan of the 90's series will be intrigued by.
Rating: 4/5
Title: The Immortal Iron Fist #15
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Khari Evans
Bei Beng Wen is cool,like wicked cool, the application's of the Iron Fist in this book were just great, and putting the dragon tattoo on Bei's head was a stroke of genius. Evan's art fit the tone of this book perfectly, it's a sham Fraction is leaving this book next issue (seriously the guy stays on Punisher War Journal for 20+ issues but leaves Iron Fist at 16? wtf?) and there was a nice nod to the Wu Ao Shi if you were sly enough to catch it.
Rating: 4.5/5
Title: Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #29
Writer: Stuart Moore
Artist: Roberto De La Torre, and Carlo Pagulayan
I was wary of this arc because, i've really been liking what the Knauf's have been doing, and since I had no idea if i've read anything by Stuart Moore (looking back apparently he wrote the Stardust story in the Annihilation Herald of Galactus thing, which was actually kind of cool), I was foolish to worry, If I didn't know before hand that the Knauf's were taking a break I wouldn't have noticed. and the plot is really interesting it's nice to get a story that doesn't have anything to do with the Mandarin for a change.
Rating: 3.5/5
Title: Thor #9
Writer: Joe Straczynski
Artist: Oliver Coipel
Coipel's back! and in style! this was great, Loki's up to mischeif's again, it really raises a bunch of interesting points about Asgards current situation, and there is some further blending of Asgard and the local town, but it isn't as hamfisted as before, and it only serves to lighten the mood of the story, I'd really like to see the Asgardians react with the rest of the MU imagine Volstagg Vs. Fat Cobra
Rating: 4.5/5
Title: Ultimate Fantastic Four #54
Writer: Mike Carey
Artist: Tyler Kirkham
uhm stuff happened and it was interesting, this book has been running on fumes for awhile, Kirkhams art looked particularily strange in this issue, especially when drawing peoples hair, it's a shame this book isn't more interesting, I guess maybe Mike Carey only really works well with the X-Men
Rating: 2.5/5
Title: Ultimate Spider-Man #122
Writer: Brian Bendis
Artist: Stuart Immonen
this was an entertaining issue, that looked into the motivations of a villain thats become more or less a joke, while his background was revealed and it's interesting enough it's not something that hasn't been done before, folding yet another character into Roxxon just feels a little like having everyone on Smallville be a kryptonite freak, Immonen was great as usual, but this issue just felt really fillerey.
Rating: 3/5
Title: Ultimate X-Men #94
Writer: Aron Coleite
Artist: Mark Brooks
It's nice to see this book taking itself less seriously, after the fiasco that was the end of Kirkman's (actually pretty decent barring the disastrous ending) run, everyone's exactly like they were before, continuity is warped, but it's for the best, the MGH angle is pretty neat, but retconning colossus like that feels like it's in bad taste. Brooks delivers some solid art as usual he's one of those really dependable artists.
Rating: 3/5
Title: Uncanny X-Men #498
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Mike Choi
I gotta say, I'm not liking the San Francisco story AT ALL, if we get more of the same after #500 i'll be uber pissed, and the hippy names are lame, however the Collosus/Wolverine/Nightcrawler story, is fascinating, it really should be the main story in this, Choi/O'Back do an admirable job on art, and the reveal in the russia story is really cool.
Rating: 3.5/5
Title: X-Factor #31
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Paolo Raimondi
This book is spinning it's wheel's in place right now, this arc feels completley unnecesary, how about looking for Layla? how about following up on the Quicksilver one-shot? there is so many more interesting stories that could be being told right now, and this Arcade story is just crap, Raimondi's art is great as usual
Rating: 2/5
Title: X-Force #4
Writer: Craig Kyle, and Christopher Yost
Artist: Clayton Crain
Woah, this book is intense, Rahne wakes up, and what happens next is really unexpected, and there is a twist at the end that's really interesting (well three) if you know who's coming in issue #5 from the solits, let's just say he's not the only one. Craine's art is just jawdropping in this issue he's really coming into his own, and he appears to have finally gotten a hang of how to draw faces.
Rating: 4.5/5
Title: X-Men: Legacy #212
Writer: Mike Carey
Artist: Scott Eaton, and Mike Deodato Jr.
This book is cool, It's making it easy to like Xavier again, Gambit to for that matter, Deodato shows up on flashback duty, and his work is fantastic, Eaton's present day stuff is great aswell, a really interesting cliff hanger, and Mister Sinister may not be alive but his presence is clearly being felt, and you get a rare look at Xaviers childhood, which is fascinating, Carey really loves the X-Men and you can really feel it on every page
Rating: 4.5/5
Title: Young Avengers Presents
Writer: Kevin Grevioux
Artist: Mitch Breitweiser
This book is really polarizing, on one hand it's a great character piece with some fantastic art (they waste Breitweiser on Stature but use Paco Medina on Patriot? wtf?) and on the other hand alot of the plot makes no sense at all (why was the growing man there?) and the ending just reekes of cornball, but overall the positive's outweigh the negatives, and this issue did the impossible and made me interested in Stature (beside her fight with Ant-Man in A:TI)
Rating: 3/5
alot of great stuff in there, just a really good couple of weeks, even the bad stuff was pretty good
Writer: Joss Whedon
Artist: John Cassaday
Well, the wait is over, it's here and it's pretty damn good, everyone knew who was going to kick the bucket for months but Whedon managed to use a pretty decent twist to deliver something unexpected, Cassaday's art is phenomenal as usual, but there is a bunch of happenings in this book that seems unnecessary, like Spider-man's appearence, actually almost all of the non-x-characters were unnecesary. But it was a great cap off to a great run
Rating: 3.5/5
Title: Daredevil #107
Writer: Ed Brubaker, and Greg Rucka
Artist: Michael Lark
Hmmmmm, this was an interesting set-up issue, a neat guest appearence set's up an arc that lets the level of self-loathing going on this book go away for awhile, Lark's art was very good again, this is very much the best DD issue in awhile, and it just may give this title the shot in the arm it needs.
Rating: 4/5
Title: Fantastic Four #557
Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: Bryan Hitch
HitLar's first FF arc comes to a close, though it's nowhere near as good as Ultimates was, it's still a decent story, with great art, and this book is clearly a different beast than Ultimates was. well The Anti-Galactus thing reeked of Dues Ex, and how CAP was defeated has been done so many times, it's practically a cliche.
Rating: 3/5
Title: Ghost Rider #23
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Roland Boschi
More people need to give this book a chance, Aaron's new direction is really interesting, he's made Ghost Rider interesting, that alone is a feat unto itself, Boschi's art was good once again, it really get's across the visceral action in this book, and the cliffhanger is cool, and something anyone who was a fan of the 90's series will be intrigued by.
Rating: 4/5
Title: The Immortal Iron Fist #15
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Khari Evans
Bei Beng Wen is cool,like wicked cool, the application's of the Iron Fist in this book were just great, and putting the dragon tattoo on Bei's head was a stroke of genius. Evan's art fit the tone of this book perfectly, it's a sham Fraction is leaving this book next issue (seriously the guy stays on Punisher War Journal for 20+ issues but leaves Iron Fist at 16? wtf?) and there was a nice nod to the Wu Ao Shi if you were sly enough to catch it.
Rating: 4.5/5
Title: Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #29
Writer: Stuart Moore
Artist: Roberto De La Torre, and Carlo Pagulayan
I was wary of this arc because, i've really been liking what the Knauf's have been doing, and since I had no idea if i've read anything by Stuart Moore (looking back apparently he wrote the Stardust story in the Annihilation Herald of Galactus thing, which was actually kind of cool), I was foolish to worry, If I didn't know before hand that the Knauf's were taking a break I wouldn't have noticed. and the plot is really interesting it's nice to get a story that doesn't have anything to do with the Mandarin for a change.
Rating: 3.5/5
Title: Thor #9
Writer: Joe Straczynski
Artist: Oliver Coipel
Coipel's back! and in style! this was great, Loki's up to mischeif's again, it really raises a bunch of interesting points about Asgards current situation, and there is some further blending of Asgard and the local town, but it isn't as hamfisted as before, and it only serves to lighten the mood of the story, I'd really like to see the Asgardians react with the rest of the MU imagine Volstagg Vs. Fat Cobra
Rating: 4.5/5
Title: Ultimate Fantastic Four #54
Writer: Mike Carey
Artist: Tyler Kirkham
uhm stuff happened and it was interesting, this book has been running on fumes for awhile, Kirkhams art looked particularily strange in this issue, especially when drawing peoples hair, it's a shame this book isn't more interesting, I guess maybe Mike Carey only really works well with the X-Men
Rating: 2.5/5
Title: Ultimate Spider-Man #122
Writer: Brian Bendis
Artist: Stuart Immonen
this was an entertaining issue, that looked into the motivations of a villain thats become more or less a joke, while his background was revealed and it's interesting enough it's not something that hasn't been done before, folding yet another character into Roxxon just feels a little like having everyone on Smallville be a kryptonite freak, Immonen was great as usual, but this issue just felt really fillerey.
Rating: 3/5
Title: Ultimate X-Men #94
Writer: Aron Coleite
Artist: Mark Brooks
It's nice to see this book taking itself less seriously, after the fiasco that was the end of Kirkman's (actually pretty decent barring the disastrous ending) run, everyone's exactly like they were before, continuity is warped, but it's for the best, the MGH angle is pretty neat, but retconning colossus like that feels like it's in bad taste. Brooks delivers some solid art as usual he's one of those really dependable artists.
Rating: 3/5
Title: Uncanny X-Men #498
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Mike Choi
I gotta say, I'm not liking the San Francisco story AT ALL, if we get more of the same after #500 i'll be uber pissed, and the hippy names are lame, however the Collosus/Wolverine/Nightcrawler story, is fascinating, it really should be the main story in this, Choi/O'Back do an admirable job on art, and the reveal in the russia story is really cool.
Rating: 3.5/5
Title: X-Factor #31
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Paolo Raimondi
This book is spinning it's wheel's in place right now, this arc feels completley unnecesary, how about looking for Layla? how about following up on the Quicksilver one-shot? there is so many more interesting stories that could be being told right now, and this Arcade story is just crap, Raimondi's art is great as usual
Rating: 2/5
Title: X-Force #4
Writer: Craig Kyle, and Christopher Yost
Artist: Clayton Crain
Woah, this book is intense, Rahne wakes up, and what happens next is really unexpected, and there is a twist at the end that's really interesting (well three) if you know who's coming in issue #5 from the solits, let's just say he's not the only one. Craine's art is just jawdropping in this issue he's really coming into his own, and he appears to have finally gotten a hang of how to draw faces.
Rating: 4.5/5
Title: X-Men: Legacy #212
Writer: Mike Carey
Artist: Scott Eaton, and Mike Deodato Jr.
This book is cool, It's making it easy to like Xavier again, Gambit to for that matter, Deodato shows up on flashback duty, and his work is fantastic, Eaton's present day stuff is great aswell, a really interesting cliff hanger, and Mister Sinister may not be alive but his presence is clearly being felt, and you get a rare look at Xaviers childhood, which is fascinating, Carey really loves the X-Men and you can really feel it on every page
Rating: 4.5/5
Title: Young Avengers Presents
Writer: Kevin Grevioux
Artist: Mitch Breitweiser
This book is really polarizing, on one hand it's a great character piece with some fantastic art (they waste Breitweiser on Stature but use Paco Medina on Patriot? wtf?) and on the other hand alot of the plot makes no sense at all (why was the growing man there?) and the ending just reekes of cornball, but overall the positive's outweigh the negatives, and this issue did the impossible and made me interested in Stature (beside her fight with Ant-Man in A:TI)
Rating: 3/5
alot of great stuff in there, just a really good couple of weeks, even the bad stuff was pretty good
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