Twilight Guardian #4

The Guardian meets a man who claims to be her father and reveals that he’s actually Steve Ditko — well, maybe not really Steve Ditko, but at least a paranoid comic book creator with an unhealthy obsession with Objectivism. After he finally leaves, she reads one of his comic books — “The Gulch,” a black and white comic that reads like a parody of Ditko’s maniacally Objectivist hero Mr. A. And after that, it’s back to another quiet neighborhood patrol while — Wait a minute! There’s a house on fire! And the only person who can help is the Twilight Guardian! Can she finally come through when the chips are down? Or is the Dusk Devil going to have the last laugh?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Holy cow — action! And it’s pretty blasted good action, too. And that comes on top of what looked like just another weirdly off-kilter issue. In fact, all the weird stuff definitely reminds you that, despite the derring-do and whupassery that closed the series, the Guardian still has a lot of the same problems she had before — she’s still off her meds, she’s still got some severe issues with paranoia and delusion (surely I can’t be blamed for wondering if her long-lost father was ever in her house at all), and she’s still using her “crimefighting patrols” as an excuse for not dealing with the broken parts of her life. Is it a happy ending? Maybe it is… but like every other superhero comic, it’s just a temporary triumph before more difficulties start up…

Avengers Academy #12

Korvac, the cosmic menace with the name like a vacuum cleaner, has defeated the Avengers — now it’s all down to the students at Avengers Academy. But Korvac’s ex-wife, Carina, has used her own powers to turn the kids into adults — she’s put the kids’ minds into aged-up bodies from other dimensions and given them the knowledge so they can use their new powers effectively. That’s not entirely good news — for one thing, these are the best possible bodies from every possible future, so there’s a good chance that they won’t actually end up so fortunate in their own lives. So Veil still has to worry about dying, and Mettle and Hazmat know that they’re almost certainly stuck with their unpleasant powers forever. But can even their expanded powers let them survive Korvac? And even if they do, what other changes are they going to have to deal with?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Good action, good personality work. Just about everyone gets socked with some big changes — some good, some bad. And the last page packs an emotional whallop you won’t find in many comics out there today.

Green Lantern #65

Krona has reintroduced Parallax — and the yellow impurity — back into Oa’s Central Power Battery, allowing him to take mental control of most of the Green Lanterns. Only Earth’s Green Lanterns have been immune because they’d been influenced by Parallax in the past and were thus able to recognize him in time to get their rings off. Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner travel to Oa by spaceship and are able to locate Kyle Rayner and John Stewart before the mind-controlled Lanterns blow the ship out of the sky. Since they can’t wear their regular power rings without risking being taken over, Jordan offers them the non-green power rings lost by the other ring bearers when they were absorbed into the Book of the Black.

Verdict: Thumbs down. There’s really not much of anything happening in this one. If you’re just desperate to see Hal wearing a yellow ring, Guy with a red ring, Kyle with a blue ring (which, remember, is only really good for overcharging green rings — nice choice, Kyle), or John dressed as an indigo hippie sniper… Well, that’s still not enough reason to get this one, frankly.

Twilight Guardian #3

The Twilight Guardian has returned from her trip to the comic convention with an unexpected contact — a comic book publisher who wants to publish comics about her? He sends her several pitches for the new comic, which we get to see during the course of the story — they’re all relentlessly Image-in-the-’90s. Her patrols around her nine-block area in the suburbs continue, with the usual share of weird paranoia — including a bunch of kids playing with firecrackers after midnihgt, the Guardian taking an unexpected nap and waking to find mud on her shoes, and a close encounter with someone who might be her nemesis the Dusk Devil — but he mysteriously vanishes into thin air. But none of that compares with the person she eventually finds inside her house.

Verdict: Thumbs up. So very, very weird. I still can’t decide if the Guardian is merely delusional and paranoid, or if something very strange is happening to her. Hopefully, we’ll find out in the upcoming final issue of the miniseries.

Avengers Academy #11

It’s the Return of Korvac! Who’s Korvac? Honestly, no one cares. He was one of those random interchangeable all-powerful cosmic villains who littered the streets during Marvel’s Silver/Bronze Age. But he’s returned, and we’re supposed to be very excited about that, mostly because Marvel says we should. He’s come looking for his ex-wife, Carina, who Veil just pulled out of an interdimensional limbo because she thought she was the Wasp. Carina wants nothing to do with Korvac, but that doesn’t stop him from showing up and shooting energy blasts around. The Avengers show up to try to beat Korvac down, but he’s much too powerful for them. Jocasta takes Carina and the kids from Avengers Academy and hides them in a room that randomly jumps around to other dimensions to keep it hidden. And Carina reveals that she has extremely powerful powers over time and space, and he believes that the Avengers Academy kids are the only people who can stop Korvac.

Verdict: Thumbs up, despite the “OMG KORVAC” fakery. It’s got a nicely epic feel, which is something this series hasn’t had a lot of yet, and it’s got a nice cliffhanger at the end, too.

The Unwritten #23

Tom Taylor has been swallowed by a whale, along with his winged cat Mingus, Baron Munchhausen, Sinbad the Sailor, Pinocchio, and Jonah. They can’t get out, no matter what tricks they try. When Tom finally locates the whale’s heart, Munchhausen hatches a plot to kill the whale with a cannon and explosives, but he loses the will to destroy the beast. And Tom begins to question whether the whale is actually a real animal at all — more like a symbol for all the world’s readers. But will this allow him to return to the real world again, or to learn the principles of magic?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Just another great issue of this series. Loved how they used all the public domain characters — they were personable, funny, and they all made good sense for the plot. I actually hope we’ll get to see some of them again.

Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #1

For those of you who aren’t already familiar with Axe Cop, let me sum things up for you. It’s a comic created by two brothers. The artist, Ethan Nicolle, is 30 years old. The writer, Malachai Nicolle, is six.

I’ll repeat that for you: The writer is six years old.

This means that the series is impossibly awesome.

It’s been a webcomic for about a year, but Dark Horse is now giving it a limited three-issue series.

Our heroes here are Axe Cop (a cop who fights crime with an axe) and Dinosaur Soldier (Axe Cop’s partner, who is a dinosaur soldier). They must contend with normal cops and the army, who are offended that a police officer would use an axe instead of a gun, an evil planet that wants to destroy Earth, and psychic villains who want to turn everyone on the planet into criminals. Can our heroes prevail, armed only with axes, faint bombs, a flying police car, a planet shocker, a laser-portal gun that can travel through time, a good guy machine, and a fire-breathing dinosaur with giant chainguns for arms?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Seriously, didn’t you hear me say “fire-breathing dinosaur with giant chainguns for arms”?

Love and Capes: Ever After #2

Married bliss continues for Abby and Mark (better known to the world as the superhero Crusader). They purchase a building in the city, start remodeling plans for their apartment, and prepare for a visit from their parents. Complications ensue, of course, including Mark getting temporarily de-aged to 10 years old. And they decide to reveal Mark’s secret identity to Abby’s parents, creating some all new complications.

Verdict: Thumbs up. A fun story — actually, several fun stories — with excellent art, dialogue, and humor. It actually feels like there are too many mini-plotlines in here, but I still enjoyed the full comic just fine.

Avengers Academy #10

Well, let’s see — Veil is desperately trying to avoid being kicked out of the Academy, but it seems like she can’t stop putting her foot in it. Giant-Man comes up with an idea to help Hazmat live a normal day — he teams her up with mutant power-drainer Leech, whose ability to shut off her powers means she can spend a day outside of her containment suit. And Speedball takes the class on a field trip to Stamford, Connecticut, where he was involved in an accident that killed several hundred people a few years ago.

Verdict: Thumbs up. A nice change-of-pace story. Speedball takes the lead, Hazmat gets her chance to act mature, and Veil shows her dangerously impulsive side. Fantastic art by Sean Chen.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Chris Sims got to make an appearance on “The Daily Show” to talk about Batman. You can watch the video here, as well as be horrified by comments by awful racist douchehats.
• Here’s a fun article about the influence of awesome illustrator Edward Gorey.
• And finally… Vampire Hockey Players!

Twilight Guardian #2

The Twilight Guardian has gotten an invitation to join a group of “Real Life Superheroes” meeting at a comic book convention. Of course, she worries about the possibility that her arch-nemesis, the Dusk Devil, will take her absence from patrolling as an excuse to wreak havoc, and she wonders about the strange location of the convention — a remote island in the middle of Lake Superior. After collecting a new hoard of comics and partaking in some of the usual convention activities, she gets to meet her fellow hero-wannabes — the Vermillion Claw, Captain Community, the Strong Right Arm of Justice, Wendy City, and Dr. Double-Danger. They trade crimefighting tips, help a stranded motorist, and solve a crime. And once they part ways, the Guardian learns that someone has been following her, and he has a strange offer for her.

Verdict: Thumbs up. I won’t lie to you and tell you it’s an action-packed story, or that it’s not still deeply weird. But I liked seeing the Guardian out of her usual environment. It’s clear that part of what she needs, besides taking her meds regularly, is social interaction and non-superhero activities. Of course, I can’t help wondering why on earth there was a comic convention, complete with large crowds, tons of booths, and a large convention center, on a tiny island that has a normal population of just 220 people…

Avengers Academy #9

Tigra has kicked Striker, Hazmat, and Veil out of Avengers Academy, and now the rest of the faculty have to persuade her to withdraw her expulsion. Meanwhile, Finesse has decided she wants to track down the Taskmaster, who she believes is her real father, and she blackmails Quicksilver into helping her find him. And once they meet, of course they have to fight each other…

Verdict: Thumbs up. Fun action, fun dialogue (especially the sniping between Tigra and Quicksilver), and fun artwork.

Green Lantern #62

Well, the villain kidnapping the ring entities is revealed to be Krona, who has some crazy plot involving using the entities to rid the universe of emotional imbalances. Various Lantern corps members try to stop him and are generally powerless against him. Flash, Batman, and Superman try to convince Hal to work with them after Krona makes his escape, but he goes off with the other ring bearers instead.

Verdict: Thumbs up, but it’s a close one. The story is fine, but it’s not really very noteworthy.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Mark Evanier had this great remembrance of Joanne Siegel, widow of Jerry Siegel, the co-creator of Superman. Joanne died just last week.
• Might be a bit far to travel to, but Monash University in Melbourne, Australia is looking for papers and presentations about female superheroes.
• Scarlett Johansson beats up everyone.
• This video reminds me of my last vacation.
• You gotta appreciate all the hard work these guys did to make this.

Avengers Academy #8

Okay, backstory — a while back — I think during “Civil War” or one of the other idiotic Marvel crossovers — some supervillain called the Hood ambushed Tigra, beat her up, and videotaped her so he could blackmail her into — I don’t remember. It was stupid and pointless — one of the things Brian Michael Bendis does so he’ll make his fanboys think he’s gangsta. Anyway, Tigra is now teaching at Avengers Academy, and the students have just discovered that the video has finally been released on the Internet. Tigra’s not happy about it, but she and Giant-Man shut the kids down when they suggest going after the Hood for revenge — the Academy is about getting them to play by the rules, not slip into supervillain thinking.

But of course, some of the students — specifically, Striker, Hazmat, and Veil — decide to track down the Hood (he’s escaped from prison but lost his powers), beat him up, and make their own tape. Meanwhile, Tigra is trying to deal with the residual effects of the trauma by creating her own foundation to assist anyone who’s undergone that kind of ordeal — from abused children and spouses all the way to suicidal vets. But how’s she going to react when she learns that the students have gone outside the law?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Nice to see that Christos Gage and other people at Marvel are willing to figure out ways to fix Bendis’ screwups. Good character work here, too, especially for Tigra. And an excellent cliffhanger to close everything out. No idea how they wrap this up without just resorting to the old reset button…

Morning Glories #6

A new storyarc begins — and for most of this issue, we don’t really see any familiar faces. Our focus is on Julie Hayes, a researcher with connections to the mysterious rotating dynamo seen in the Morning Glory Academy’s basement. She’s on the run from the law because she made a mistake that cost 12 people their lives. She meets a member of the Academy’s staff who offers her a deal — come work for the Academy doing stuff that’s probably illegal, and the Academy will make her legal troubles go away. Will she take them up on the offer? And will the surprise on the last page make your jaw hit the floor, or drop all the way through to the basement?

Verdict: Thumbs up. I was considering giving this one up. But that last page definitely roped me in for the next storyarc.

Today’s Cool Links:

• As long as they’re changing the Zodiac up, you may as well get yourself a complete new horoscope. I’m no longer just a Virgo — I’m a Dracula.
• The Beast has its annual Most Loathsome People of the year out. Go read and enjoy!
• Here’s some way freaky animation for you.

Avengers Academy #7

Our focus for this issue is on Hank Pym, former Ant-Man, former Giant-Man, former Yellowjacket, currently calling himself the Wasp in tribute to his late wife Janet. He’s just learned that Tigra’s child, conceived by a Skrull doppelganger, is genetically his child, due to the Skrulls’ abilities to duplicate someone down to their DNA. And he’s decided to take on his old Giant-Man name and costume, because he plans on bringing Janet, her body trapped in an “Underspace Dimension,” back to life and back into the real world, despite the danger that her mind may not have survived at all. Meanwhile, a prison transport taking the Absorbing Man to prison suffers a mishap, and the supervillain is released into New York, with only the inexperienced Academy members and Pym available to stop him.

Verdict: Thumbs up. The Academy members are almost entirely forgotten here — Pym carries the whole show. And it’s a pretty good show — I love the way he takes out Crusher Creel, I love the scale of their battle, I love seeing a science guy like Pym do crazy comic-book science.

Batman and Robin #18

Bruce Wayne’s former girlfriend Una Nemo isn’t actually dead — she’s just got a gigantic hole all the way through her skull. Apparently, she had a condition called Dandy-Walker Syndrome — an actual genetic defect where a large portion of the brain is missing, but intellect may be unaffected — and she didn’t even know it until some robbers shot her in the head and dumped her in the ocean! She attends her own funeral as a lark, but is upset that no one seems sad she’s gone — and Bruce Wayne didn’t even attend! Exposing her brain to more oxygen made her smarter but a heck of a lot crazier — she started calling herself “the Absence,” gathered up a bunch of imbalanced disciples, and went about luring Batman and Robin to her. When the Dynamic Duo make their escape, they tell Bruce what happened — he was on his “lost in time” period when Nemo “died” and didn’t even know about it ’til just now. But that won’t stop her from going on a killing spree of Bruce’s old girlfriends.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Wow, Una Nemo is spectacularly weird looking. Not a whole lot of detecting going on here, as most of the issue is devoted to Una monologuing for the heroes. Still, it works well, and comes across as spectacularly creepy.

The Unwritten #20

Tom Taylor and Lizzie Hexam have gotten together, if you know what I mean and I think you do. While she’s in the shower and he’s afterglowing, he sees… a glowing white whale? Convinced it’s Moby-Dick, he takes off in pursuit, only to find that it’s actually a prop for Pittsfield’s annual Mobyfest. He takes part in a dramatized reading for the festival and suddenly finds himself sucked into the novel, mistaken for a crewman on the Pequod, and standing in front of a Captain Ahab who looks startlingly familiar. Meanwhile, Savoy is turning into a vampire, and the Cabal is sending more assassins after them.

Verdict: Thumbs up. I never liked reading “Moby-Dick,” but this is an unexpectedly fun story. I’m even enjoying the bits from the novel, with all the weird Melville crap that always bugged me. Plus there’s the usual great dialogue, bizarre complications, and funky plot twists to enjoy.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Dear racist freaks who are cartoonishly angry that a black guy is playing a Norse god in the “Thor” movie: CRY MOAR, PLZ.
• All the movies from 2010 in just six wonderful minutes.
• Ten mind-blowing easter eggs hidden in famous albums.

First of all, we have some very interesting news for comics lovers in Lubbock.

There’s going to be a meeting tomorrow evening for folks interested in holding more comics conventions here in the Hub City.

It’s going to be happening at 8 p.m. sharp on Thursday, November 11, in the Metro Tower/NTS Building downtown, way up on the 19th floor in the large meeting room at the end of the hall.

They want anyone interested to come on out — whether you’re wanting to run a table, be a guest, or have some larger part in future conventions.

Got questions? Drop Nicholas an e-mail, and he’ll set ya up.

Alright, now let’s hit a few reviews.

iZombie #7

Gwen needs to chow down on a brain soon, or she’s going to turn into a mindless shambler zombie. But before she can get to her cerebellum lunch, we get to see Claire the vampire raised from the dead again by a mad scientist, Spot meets a new friend, and Horatio and Diogenes, the monster hunters, bite off more than they can chew with a van full of vampires.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Beautiful artwork, fun writing, and more craziness injected into Gwen’s undeath. The cliffhanger is pretty good, too.

Avengers Academy #6

Our focus this issue is on Reptil, the academy’s dinosaur-morphing golden boy. He’s dreamed of being in the Avengers his whole life, he’s just been elected as the class leader, and he should be on top of the world, but stress over his parents’ deaths, his potentially out-of-control powers, and having to keep too many secrets buried on behalf of his classmates is driving him towards a nervous breakdown. Can anyone help him make an emotional breakthrough?

Verdict: Thumbs up. I’m enjoying this comic a lot more than I ever expected to. The dialogue is good, the art is good, the plotlines and characterization are good. It’s well worth reading — hope you’re giving it a shot.

Secret Six #27

The two different Secret Six teams keep brawling with each other in Skartaris, but they call a fast halt to the proceedings after Scandal accidentally slashes Bane’s throat out. Luckily, Skartaris has healers who can fix him up fine. But the two teams are still at odds, still heading for a confrontation between two armies to determine who will control the fantasy kingdom. All that, plus Amanda Waller shoots someone in the head!

Verdict: Thumbs up. Not much to say about it — all the good stuff we’ve come to expect from the “Secret Six” series.

Chaos War #3

The Chaos King is whuppin’ everyone’s butts. He’s already taken over the Underworld, which allows him to control dead gods like Zeus, Hera, and Ares, who, backed up by Chaos’ power, can even smack Galactus around. Hercules is finally forced to kill Zeus, who encourages Herc to team up with the rest of the gods in the rest of the pantheons. Unfortunately, when Hercules uses his new omniscience to find where they’re all hiding out, he reveals their location to the Chaos King — and the more gods he devours, the more infinitely powerful he becomes. Is there any way to win when there’s no chance to win? And who is the Chaos King’s secret ally?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Okay, by this time, the threat to the universe has been risen way, way out of anyone’s league — so it’ll be fun to see how Herc and Amadeus Cho get out of this one next issue…

Today’s Cool Links:

• Marvel’s big price drop didn’t last very long, did it?
• Take a tour of the world’s creepiest Six Flags.
• This is what happens when you let your big-talkin’ rhetoric race past your ability to consider future consequences. Also, it’s funny as heck.
• I’d like to introduce y’all to Those Poor Bastards, my new favorite band in the universe. Ever wonder what kind of country music they play in Hell? They play this and this and this.

The Amazing Spider-Man: Back in Quack

Yay! Howard the Duck!

Spider-Man runs across Mayor J. Jonah Jameson holding a press conference to promote some group called S.O.O.Ph.I., which is a very obvious evil brainwashing organization that makes all its members wear oversized smiley-face masks. And they’ve kidnapped and brainwashed Howard the Duck and his kinda-sorta-maybe girlfriend Beverly Switzer! Can Spidey break them free of the mind control? And can he use reverse psychology to stop S.O.O.Ph.I.?

Verdict: Thumbs up. What I love about this is writer Stuart Moore is almost channeling Howard’s creator, Steve Gerber, with this goofy, byzantine, gonzo plot. It’s a fun story with a lot of personality.

Avengers Academy #5

Our focus is on Striker, the electrically-powered glory how. His mom was a fame hound and has done everything she can to train him to believe that he’s nothing if he’s not famous. After he gets his powers, he falls into Norman Osborn’s clutches — but unlike his classmates, he gets coddled by Osborn. In the present day, while the Academy members are on a night on the town with Hank Pym, they all get attacked by Whirlwind. Can they stop the supervillain? And can Striker use all this to get himself some much-needed attention?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Good story, excellent characterization, fairly good artwork.

Chaos War #1

The Japanese god of chaos and darkness, Amatsu-Mikaboshi, now calling himself the Chaos King, has already killed plenty of gods on Earth and on alien worlds, but now he’s decided to wipe out all reality so he can be the only thing left in existence. He starts out by attacking Nightmare and tearing him to pieces. Meanwhile, Hercules returns to life and returns to Earth, with enough new power to make him the most powerful being on the planet — and that’s a bit more power than even he can handle, so Amadeus Cho shows up (just before the Avengers start pounding on him) and talks Herc down. After that, uses his new power to summon all of Marvel’s heroes to Central Park, rallies them, despite their doubts about Herc’s stability, to join the fight against the Chaos King, grants them all a fraction of his power so they can follow him, and leads them into Nightmare’s realm. But is the Chaos King stronger than all of them?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Greg Pak and Fred van Lente writing Hercules is guaranteed gold, every time.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Gavok has a good look at “Franken-Castle,” a series I missed almost entirely…
• Okay, fine, just a commercial, but this is still pretty awesome.
• Smell like a monster, man.
• Allie Brosh from Hyperbole and a Half shows you how to put on a coat.

Avengers Academy #4

After getting treated to Mettle’s stomach-churning origin (Hawaiian surfer-dude gets his face demolished in a surfing accident — but wherever he loses skin or cartilage, there’s just shiny red metal behind it. And then Norman Osborn gets hold of him and makes it worse.), we get into the meat of the story. The kids from Avengers Academy — selected not because they’re going to be great heroes, but because they have the potential to become great villains — are visiting the Raft, a maximum security supervillain prison. Mettle, Hazmat, and Veil have taken advantage of a blackout to go looking for Norman Osborn to get revenge on him for the way he screwed up their lives. But Osborn talks them down, saying that he’s made them great and promising that he can “fix” them.

Soon enough, the other supervillains start breaking out of their cells and giving the Academy kids and the Thunderbolts trouble. Mettle gets into a fistfight with the Juggernaut and has a little too much enthusiasm for it. Man-Thing shows up and scares the heck out of everyone. Hazmat threatens to give a convict cancer. And eventually, everyone gets the prison back under control, and the kids get kicked out of the prison.

Verdict: Thumbs up. A huge amount of fun. This is a great concept for a series — teen heroes who might turn out to be teen villains — and I love how it’s all progressing. Christos Gage and Mike McKone are both doing great work on this series. And I also like how this crossover between “Avengers Academy” and “Thunderbolts” was handled — they’re telling the same story in both comics, but with different points-of-view. If you don’t read one series, you don’t miss out on half the plot.

Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! #20

It’s the final showdown between the Marvels and Black Adam — and everyone gets their first big surprise when Mary says her magic word and transforms — not into the pint-sized superhero we’re accustomed to — but into a grown-up Mary Marvel! In the confusion, Black Adam escapes from the Rock of Eternity and unleashes all of Captain Marvel’s greatest foes on Fawcett City. Cap ends up taking down all the bad guys almost single-handedly, but Black Adam has one more nasty little trick hiding up his sleeve.

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s the next-to-the-last issue of this series, and it’s wrapping up quite well. Art Baltazar and Franco are doing some of the best writing they’ve done on this comic, and Mike Norton is producing some really charismatic, fun art. It’s kinda weird to see a grown-up Mary Marvel — we’ve had a lot of time to get used to Mary as the super-speedy super-kid. Clearly, the creators planned to do this eventually, and the cancellation of the series just pushed it (and the introduction of Captain Marvel Jr. last issue) forward much sooner than planned. Still, great story, great art — let’s hope they can keep it going for the finale.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Harlan Ellison is dying?
• Margaret Atwood and Ursula K. LeGuin get together to talk about science fiction and literary matters.
• Laundry Day

The New Avengers #3

Some new magical interdimensional villain has kidnapped Iron Fist, because he had the bad fortune to be holding the Eye of Agamotto. But they can’t actually take the Eye from him, which gives him a lot more leeway than he might’ve expected. Meanwhile, on Earth, the absence of the Eye has lead to an invasion of interdimensional demons, who immediately get busy tearing New York City apart. While the Avengers fight the demons, Dr. Strange, Dr. Voodoo, and Daimon Hellstrom leave for Voodoo’s Sactum so they can figure out how to get rid of the demons. And the bad news is — they’ve got no idea. Where does that leave the heroes trying to keep the Big Apple safe? Nowhere good, that’s for sure.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Excellent patter in this one, especially between Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel, and the Thing, and during Victoria Hand‘s very entertaining rant in her car about being forced to work with the Avengers. Aside from that, the action is good, the art is great, and the revelation of the Big Bad is a pretty unexpected surprise.

Avengers Academy #3

I missed an issue of this one — either not enough got delivered to my local store here in Denton, or there was a lot of unexpected demand for it. But this one looked interesting to me from the beginning, and I didn’t want to give up on it just because I missed the second issue.

So in this issue, besides getting some insight into Hazmat’s terrifically toxic powers and her extremely depressing life, and sitting in on an example of why no one should let Valkyrie teach students anything (it involves beer and sex toy demonstrations), everyone takes a field trip to the Raft, a high-tech prison for supervillains run by Luke Cage and the Thunderbolts. The idea is to let the Thunderbolts give the kids the “Scared Straight” treatment, but Hazmat, Mettle, and Veil have other ideas — they’ve found out Norman Osborn is being held at the Raft, and they want revenge for the way he tortured them. But if they sabotage the prison’s security measures to get at Osborn, they may end up causing a gigantic breakout…

Verdict: Thumbs up. Good dialogue, wonderful art, and lots of fun characters. Pretty much everything with Juggernaut on the page is a solid winner. I do have some quibbles — I’m not sure I like the idea of Speedball being a cutter — I think I’ve had more than enough of emo Speedball. And I’m not sure I believe that a super-prison like the Raft wouldn’t have some defenses against an electromagnetic pulse.

Today’s Cool Links:

• In-depth analysis of Planetary #7, the wonderful “All-Vertigo” issue.
• Snell takes a look at Neal Adams’ great “Phantom Stranger” covers.
• Kate Beaton makes comics about going to visit her folks.