MONDOmagazine

The Amazing Spider-Man #626
Fred Van Lente (w), Michael Gaydos (a). Marvel Comics.

Let’s get the dumb stuff out of the way — you can’t have a group of thugs ignore a powerless Spider-Man because he “can’t be the real deal.” Just because he failed to hit you with web, if a guy shoots web at you from his wrists, then that is Spider-Man. And the Hood is hanging around this issue — I’m pretty sick of that guy. And since when does Tombstone bite people? On the good side, the art has some really cool Spidey pics, including a visual gag where he’s slowly sliding down a wall because his powers are kind of turning off. But the most important thing is Peter sits down with his roommate and apologizes for being a jerk. It’s always surprising how much I appreciate the inclusion of a well timed apology. — Isaac Mills

Isaac’s rating: 3.5 out of 5

Avengers: The Initiative #34
Christos Gage (w), Jorge Molina (p), Andrew Hennessy (i), Edgar Delago (c). Marvel Comics.

Alright. I’m doing twice the amount of reviews I normally do and I want to do them in about an hour and I’m going to review them in alphabetical order. This is bad news for everyone (probably).  So, first up, I bought four Siege tie-ins this week and they were all infinitely more useful and interesting than the first two months of this crossover. With the events of Siege 3 there is a specific, important moment for all these series to tie into and it’s extremely helpful as a reader and presents a good nerd moment for the fan. This issue continues to weave a lot of first-person narration from a lot of different characters — perhaps too much — but as the concluding storyline for this series it’s appropriate. — Miles Baker

Miles’ rating: 3.5 out of 5. Crossover rating: A pleasant addition.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #10
Paul Dini, Marc Andreyko (w), Dustin Nguyen, Jeremy Haun (p), Derek Fridolfs, John Lucas (i), John Kalisz, Nick Pilardi (c). DC Comics.

We’re finally back to the main story after a two issue/month break into a side story that I hated. I’d rather pretend those issues never happened — but they keep making reference to the real time that has passed in the story as if all the characters involved have been just standing around waiting for the story to resume. I really don’t understand the delay — it was the same artist on those fill in issues, so I can only assume it was some kind of windfall for DC to get that big time CSI TV writer guy to do a fill-in arc. There’s an hilarious picture of Damien Wayne bursting into a room, holding a sword yelling “Zsasz!” with spittle coming out of his mouth and one iris FAR smaller than the other — he looks insane, and I enjoy it. — Isaac Mills

Isaac’s rating: 3 out of 5

Captain America #604
Ed Brubaker (w), Luke Ross (p), Butch Guice (i), Dean White (c). Marvel Comics.

Falcon rules!

Miles’ rating: 4.5 out of 5

Green Lantern #52
Geoff Johns (w), Doug Mahnke (p), Christian Alamy, Doug Mahnke, Rebecca Buchman, Keith Champagne (i), Randy Mayor, Gabe Eltaeb, Carrie Strachan (c). DC Comics.

The Blackest Night event can’t end here — next week is Blackest Night #8, so that’s when everything will be going down… but here’s a whole issue of Green Lantern with all Sinestro super charged (or, saiyan, if you will). How are we going to stall this one out? Simple — spend time on explaining the history behind those crazy corps creatures (Ion, the will fish thing; Parallax, the fear making space bug, etc. If you have no idea what I’m talking about it really isn’t important, just a cool diversion) and then inconvenience Sinestro for a bit by bisecting him. I don’t really need to point out that bisecting, in general, is fatal. That’s how powerful Sinestro is right now. I expect a lot of cool explosions in Blackest Night #8. — Isaac Mills

Isaac’s rating: 3.5 out of 5. Crossover rating: Pleasant Addition

The Marvels Project #7
Ed Brubaker (w), Steve Epting (a), Dave Stewart (c). Marvel Comics.

Epting, man, you are a million times better than you were in 1994. Never stop inking your own comics. Never, ever. Brubaker, man, I think you might have underestimated the amount of issues you need to tell your story again. I don’t possibly see how you’re going to be able to wrap all this up in one more issue. But, then again, you are telling the story of the beginning and maybe you don’t have to. You talented fucker. — Miles Baker

Miles’ rating: 4.5 out of 5

The Mighty Avengers #35
Dan Slott (w), Khoi Pham (p), Craig Yeung (i), John Rauch (c), Marvel Comics

This is a manic issue. I gather that that’s about par for the course with Slott’s Avengers, but it takes some getting used to. Especially directly after reading Bendis’ Avengers. It’s certainly fun, though, despite feeling cluttered. The stuffed-story approach that Slott has would benefit from a clearer artist, one who adds a certain amount of grounding to all of the stuff going on here, like Quitely does with Morrison. I think that Slott is finding his groove (I last read this title about six months ago) so it’s a shame he’s off it soon. — Owen Craig

Owen’s rating: 3 out of 5

Nemesis #1
Mark Millar (w), Steve McNiven (a), Dave McCaig (c), Marvel Comics (Icon)

I was wary of this title. I haven’t liked the last few Millar titles I tried, so I wasn’t expecting much from this. So I’m pleased to report that I was pleasantly surprised by Nemesis. It was a good fit for Millar and McNiven’s  style: flash, blood, action and badass characters. With that clean focus Millar is in his element here, and I found it fun. Nemesis is an evil bastard and I’m looking forward to see what his plan is. — Owen Craig

Owen’s rating: 4 out of 5

New Avengers #63
Brian Michael Bendis (w), Mike Mckone (a), David McCaig (c), Marvel Comics

I like the idea for this issue. Intercutting scenes of the battle in Siege with conversations the team had with each other, the problem is that I feel like Luke Cage and Jessica Jones have had the “should we/you/I give up crime fighting” talk a fair number of times by now, even devoting a hefty fight to it in issue 38. I enjoyed the Hawkeye/Mockingbird conversation much more mostly by virtue of not having seen it so many times. I also wish that Bendis would stop using cliffhangers that are undermined by upcoming solicitations. Or perhaps I should say that solicitations should stop undermining Bendis’ stories. Either way, that’s one boring cliffhanger. — Owen Craig

Owen’s rating: 3 out of 5

Northlanders #26
Brian Wood (w), Leandro Fernandez (a), Dave McCaig (c). Vertigo.

Never time travel to 1020 A.D. in the winter, guys. It’s not pleasant. Even if you bring lots and lots of blankets and stuff like that it won’t help. You’ll probably still get the plague or some tyrant will shoot you with arrows, you’ll definitely get punched in the stomach. Though, there are a lot of splash pages in the past and they are all awesome and effective storytelling points. If you made them you should be proud of them. — Miles Baker.

Miles’ rating: 4.5 out of 5

Powergirl #10
Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray (w), Amanda Conner (a), Paul Mounts (c), DC Comics

I love these “day in the life” issues. This whole issue is just Power Girl and Terra doing stuff between two bookend-y fights. I especially love it because this creative team is so damn good at it. Palmiotti and Gray tell a few short mini-stories (including some in the background of scenes) that build to an engaging finale. I’ve written plenty about how great Conner is, so I’ll just say that I’m sad she’s leaving the book, but I will buy whatever she does next. I know it’s a lost cause to get anyone to pick this up now, with only two issues left, but I strongly encourage people to get the trades. — Owen Craig

Owen’s rating: 4 out of 5

Secret Warriors #14
Jonathan Hickman (w), Stefano Caselli (a) Sunny Gho (c). Marvel Comics.

I love spy stories where you have to guess at a character’s loyalty. I think Fury has this one covered, but wouldn’t it be interesting if he didn’t? Oh, man, I’m going to have to think about this for the next 30 days — that’s good comics. One thing I’m concerned about is Gho’s colouring. It looks to me like Caselli is doing looser, less detailed art and Gho is trying to cover it up. That or Gho colouring directly from Caselli’s pencils. It’s not terrible, but it draws attention to itself — particularly since it only cropped up in the last 25 pages of this 80-page story. — Miles Baker

Miles’ rating: 3.5 out of 5

Thunderbolts #142
Jeff Parker (w), Wellinton Alves (p), Nelson Pereia (i), Frank Martin (c). Marvel Comics.

Again, so much better! Part of this is due to an art team that I’m less hot and cold on. Alves is a solid artist, but not in line to win any awards. He’s much better suited for this story than Sepulveda was. And Parker returns to his familiar sheep in wolves clothing motif. He’s good at it so you can’t really knock him for returning to it one last time. Well, probably not last — Miles Baker

Miles’ rating: 3.5 out of 5. Crossover rating: probably inconsequential.

Uncanny X-Men #522
Matt Fraction (w), Whilce Portacio (p), Ed Tadeo (i), Justin Ponsor (c).
Matt Fraction (w), Phil Jimenez (p), Andy Lanning (i), Soto (c). Marvel Comics.

They got the wrong guy to draw this issue. Flat out. Nothing else to it. It needed someone who could excel in character moments and draw at least two types of chins (not counting Nightcrawler, it’s hard to fuck up Nightcrawler though). Someone like Jimenez who did the vastly superior second story in this issue. Cool idea, nice little tale of humanity told through aliens. But going back a second, I’m not sold on Kitty Pryde’s return. Doesn’t make a lick of sense emotionally or storywise and her current problem also makes no sense. Seems cheap and easy and Fraction/Portacio didn’t sell me on the moment (aka seriously fucked up) the Kitty/Colossus reunion. Weak. — Miles Baker

Miles’ rating: 1 out of 5.

X-Factor #203
Peter David (w), Valentine De Landro (p), Pat Davidson (i), Jeromy Cox (c). Marvel Comics.

It’s late and I’m tired but I have no other time to write this review. If you were an X-Factor fan who was seriously turned off by the extended time travel storyline that ran last year (and according to the internet there seem to be a lot of you) it’s time to come back. Last four issues were really good and De Landro draws a good book. Come back, friends, the water is warm again. And this time it’s not urine. — Miles Baker.

Miles’ rating: 4 out of 5