I'm trying real hard to find something nice to say about the latest She-Hulk arc, "Planet Without a Hulk," but it's impossible. Slott immediately turns the character in a strumpet--she has two one-night stands in four issues and attempts another with Wolverine, who tells her--and Marvel's intended nine-year-old audience--he doesn't want "Juggernaut's sloppy seconds." Only in the last issue, before the whole thing turns around on an idiotic conclusion--the real problem with Marvel Comics... Read Full Story

"Sorry. That kid... Poole... he has a family. I have to notify them." "I overreacted. You know what it's like for women in this job." (it's got to be awful since she's got to spout terrible dialogue) Christos Gage's Paradox is apparently the story of regular cops in an extraordinary world--the coroners need necromancy degrees, flying demons are no big deal, and lycanthropes show up in scenes lifted directly from The Monster Squad. Gage has written some stuff at Marvel and DC and it's been... Read Full Story

Like I said before, I'm pretty sure there's a Weekend at Bernie's homage in the first issue of Unique. Unfortunately, the last issue totally rips off Freejack (I mean, Freejack, really? Come on). Anyway, the last issue's really bad. Platinum Studios is infamous as the comics-to-movies (but first the movie options have to sell) guys--they've also never had a movie--and Unique #3 reads like the last fifteen minutes of a movie, except since there aren't any actors, the characters don't really... Read Full Story

First Class #1 starts just like you'd expect--with lame jokes. The Beast is so smart, he tries lecturing panicked people; Iceman makes claws, which Marvel Girl mocks. Loads of goodness--the first issue is narrated by Iceman, his letters to his mom, which bleeds stock device--but then it changes. Once Professor X tells Angel the reason he wants to fly is because he's a caged bird, First Class gets interesting. Unfortunately, the talking school computer version of Cerebro brings it right back... Read Full Story

I tracked down and read Sword of the Atom because DC's got a trade coming out in August and I didn't want to order it and get a piece of crap. Even though the second issue goes way too far with its Marvel-style recap (you know, when there's a one or two page recap of the previous issue, usually revealing information previously not imparted to the reader--much like a serial recap actually)--Sword of the Atom #2 takes four pages maybe, apparently using the same art. But almost immediately... Read Full Story

I hate to say it, but I think Uncanny X-Men is probably the best thing Ed Brubaker's writing right now. It's a big fat space adventure with some sci-fi standards and lots of continuity, none of which I knew, and it's not afraid of being too serious, at least in terms of the reading experience. I'm not sure if Brubaker was having fun or just cashing a check, but The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire is stress-relieving, it's so enjoyable. The worst thing about it are the fill-in issues, when... Read Full Story

Dan Slott does great Spider-Man. I'm not sure how well this Free Comic Book Day issue sells Spider-Man (or Spider-Man 3), but it's a great time. Slott mixes in all the things I think of when I think of Spider-Man--the concern for Aunt May, the public distrust, the wacky supervillain. In this one, the supervillain is a big Spider-Man fan, which is a new one for me, but plays well with Slott's modern setting for the story, even if it is an old fashioned issue. Phil Jimenez's art is real nice... Read Full Story

It had never occurred to me to try reading George Perez's Wonder Woman comics, then a friend told me they were good, so I checked out the first collection, Gods and Mortals. Besides Perez's great art, it's all about his plotting (Greg Potter scripted the first two issues, Len Wein the other five in the collection). He lays out the revised Wonder Woman origin like a movie--like Superman, specifically--spending the first two issues establishing the series's revised Greek mythology and... Read Full Story

B. Clay Moore's The Leading Man is at its best when it's not about its titular character, an actor slash super-spy (all big Hollywood actors are super-spies, since they're often on location). When Moore's writing that character, the comic drags. In the five issues, there's only one scene when the character's reasonably likable. However, when it's all about the super-spy's support crew, Leading Man really works. It's funny and not because Moore's spending a lot of time on his dialogue, trying... Read Full Story

Unique's from Platinum Studios, who I believe develop comic "properties" for TV and movies in reverse... first they get the property optioned, then they published a comic book. Whatever. It's a little odd since Unique's from Dean Motter, who's famous (to most people) for Mister X, but to me... well, he did Terminal City and I love Terminal City to pieces. Unique's his first comic work in a while and, while it's fundamentally different from Terminal City or Electropolis or Mister X--he has a... Read Full Story