Captain America #34
It’s the biggest comic of the week, at least for me (I read Y: The Last Man in trades). Does it live up to the hype? Well, it’s just another piece in the rather large puzzle that Ed Brubaker has created since he took over the series. Brubaker resists the urge to make this a very special issue, and just keeps his story chugging along, while keeping it accessible enough for people just picking up this issue. Yes, the new Captain takes up the shield this issue, we all know who it is. That’s almost the B plot of the issue though, as the more important stuff goes on between Tony Stark and a government official who won’t accept the Red Skull is back, and then there’s an exchange between the Skull and Armin Zola and a rather shocking ending with some of the Skull’s sleeper agents. Perfectly paced story, and great action and design from artist Steve Epting (with beautiful inking by Butch Guice). If you’re going to do a big character event, this is the way to do it. —5 out of 5

PULL LIST 01-31-08 Captain America #34 Green Lantern #27 Ultimate Spider-man #118 Spider-man: With Great Power #1 Black Adam: The Dark Age #6 Avengers: Initiative #9 Mighty Avengers #8

Green Lantern #27
More explanation of what the Alpha Lanterns are, as it turns out they are a kind of Internal Affairs for the Corp, but much more sinister. The reveal at the end of what the Alpha Lanterns are turned out to be genuinely creepy, and you get the feeling Jon Stewart made the right choice in turning down the offer to become one. It kind of feels like the story belongs in the Green Lantern Corp book, what with all the other Lanterns running around, but you get the feeling that Green Lantern is going to be the Hal/Jon book, while Corp will be the Kyle/Guy book, and both titles are going to be dealing with the GLC a lot. Geoff Johns continues to expand the cast, (Hal hardly makes an appearance this issue,) and proves that he can create some interesting aliens. Mike McKone continues to fill in on art, but really he should just be the regular artist. He handles the large cast well and keeps everyone distinct, which is very important in this book. Kind of like Captain America, this is just another piece in a larger story, but every issue is entertaining on its own. —4 out of 5

Ultimate Spider-man #118
I have to say, I was a little let down by the first issue of the “Spider-man and His Amazing Friends” arc, but I can’t really nail down what my problem with it was. After the excitement of the last arc, Brian Bendis uses this issue to slow it down some and explore some of the characters, namely Kong and some of the other non-powered side-characters. Iceman stops by to apologize to Kitty Pride, while Johnny Storm stops by to get a date, which sets in motion a trip to the beach and a rather shocking ending. Everything’s up to the regular standards of the series. Bendis’ script has a lot of natural dialog, and the surprises work for the story. Perhaps it was just the lack of action in the issue that made me less excited, but then we’ve had plenty of slow paced issues before, and I’ve enjoyed those. I don’t think it helped that Johnny Storm and Bobby Drake are twins separated at birth, and outside of costumes, there’s just not enough to distinguish them. I’m sure the arc will pick up some speed, but this opening left a little to be desired. —3 out of 5

Spider-man: With Great Power #1
Staying in the Spider-man family, we get the first issue of a new mini, written by David Lampam with art by Tony Harris. This is another retelling of Spider-man’s classic origin, this time looking at the time between the spider bite and the death of Uncle Ben. Mostly it’s just looking at his time as a wrestler and some of his interaction with Flash Thompson and Liz Allen. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever read, I’m just at a loss to find anything new to be added. Yes, we know that Peter Parker was acting like a dick during this short period. Yes, we get that it’s his bad attitude that lead to great tragedy. There’s no new angle here, which leaves us just the art to enjoy, which fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your taste) comes from Tony Harris. He’s using his full on Ex Machina photo reference style, which looks pretty good, but some of the characters seem to be reused from Ex Machina, particularly Flash who looks just like Mitchell Hundreds’ bodyguard. His photo style still has a good sense of action to it, and the bright colors fit the mood of the story. I’ll keep reading, if for the art only, but hopefully the story brings up a new angle in the next few issues. —2 out of 5

Black Adam: The Dark Age #6
A decent issue to end this mini is brought down by one incredibly stupid scene where Black Adam finds out what Billy Batson changed his magic word to at the end of 52. Black Adam is on a quest to restore his wife, Isis, and predictably it ends in tragedy. If you enjoyed Black Adam’s arc in 52, you should enjoy this continuation of the story, although I have no idea how this ties into Countdown, since I haven’t read that series since the second month. It does set up a good story for the future, and puts Felix Faust back on the playing field in the DC universe. The art by Doug Mahnke looks great, he draws a very powerful Black Adam, and helps to get across the wide range of emotions he goes through this issue. But there’s that stupid scene in the middle explaining what the word was changed to and how Adam figures it out. And what was up with that scene where the Justice League shows up? There’s too many questions left unanswered to really recommend this series, but if you really enjoyed Black Adam over the last few years, you might want to check out the eventual trade. —2 out of 5

Avengers: Initiative #9
I brought this book up in the replies to last weeks reviews, and I have to say that this is one of the best team books that Marvel is putting out now. It’s got a wide cast of interesting characters, a lot of building mysteries, it ties into the greater Marvel storylines, and has had consistent art. In this issue, we find out who is attacking the Initiatives base and how it ties into several of the books subplots. We also get to see the Taskmaster’s unique form of training, how far Trauma’s training has taken him, and we learn a secret about one recruit and how it ties into Marvel’s next event. Dan Slott juggles numerous plotlines, but never leaves the reader confused as to what’s going on. Both new and old characters are treated well, and each has their own personality. The art by Stefano Caselli along with the colors by Daniele Rudoni set the mood perfectly, and capture all the action with skill. You really get the sense of the menace going on and since these are mostly Slott’s characters, you never know what’s going to happen to them. All this and it still manages to have fun moments in every issue. Really, if you’re reading Marvel comics and enjoying them for the most part, you should be reading this book, as it pulls together a lot of disparate plots, while telling its own story. —4 out of 5

Mighty Avengers #8
Having read these now, I don’t know if the big Venom virus story could have been saved if it had been released on time as an unofficial crossover with New Avengers. The fight wraps up too quickly in this issue, just as it did when I read it 3 months ago. As we get further into this series, I’m finding that I’m enjoying it less every issue. It’s mostly the characters, because the only one I’m really interested in is Ares, who you can tell Brian Bendis enjoys writing for, but the rest of the characters just fall flat. I just kind of wish he’d let someone else write these characters to see if they have a better grip on them. I also feel bad for Mark Bagley, as this run will probably be his last work at Marvel for a while, and it seems rushed and not up to the high standards he set on Ultimate Spider-Man. In the inking and coloring muddy up his art and rob it of its normal energy. Also a note to the letterer; very small light green text on light yellow captions is nearly impossible to read. Those captions are used for Tony Stark’s armor talking to him, and while they’re not super important, they’re freakin’ everywhere. Please adjust this ASAP. —2 out of 5