Detective Comics #5 – This was a pretty interesting comic, while the cover promises Penguin and Batman fighting for Gotham, Penguin only shows up in the last few pages so I am guessing it is the story arc theme, but the really cool stuff is developments from the big shocker of the first issue. People are now protesting in Gotham against Batman while dressed up like clowns in honor of the Joker. This idea is quite brilliant and can lead to a lot of fun in the future well beyond the few pages we see here. The main plot of the issue is Batman trying to capture a thug who kills other men Batman was trying to take out for a drug deal. The thug also has a clown mask on so when he escapes through the Joker protest it works perfectly. I am mostly excited that there is a deeper mystery going here since it is called Detective Comics. This is the first issue of Detective where things seem to work smoothly for me, no giant plot holes, no random wtf moments thrown in just because, it is a straight forward tale with some interesting ideas that have been properly developed from past events. The back up story (yes there is a back up) is pretty good too, although I little bit too long I wanted more of the first story, who the hell would be protesting FOR the Joker? Who was that thug? What does Penguin have to do with all of this if anything? The back up is well written and the art for my tastes is better then the main story, we meet a new character with ties to older characters and a great cameo which helps make the comic feel connected to other DC book but really wanting more of the main story detracted me from caring as much about it. Ah well, they made me care about this book for the first time since it launched so that is saying a lot. 4/5
Ferals #1 – I love werewolf stories, growing up werewolves were my favorite monsters, most likely because I had a thing for wolves and they were just extensions of that. So I was looking forward to the first issue of this book about werewolves from Avatar, what I got did not live up to my expectations. It starts off promising enough, we are at an obvious werewolf attack (obvious because there is blood everywhere and it is a story about werewolves) and meet the main character a small town police officer who is drinking buddies with the victim, also around is the victims ex-wife, and the city coroner. After some set up of characters, the victim was a huge ass who drank too much but well the cop liked him we get a page showing the rest of the victim and jump to the cop drinking his sorrows away. Still so far, so good, nothing ground breaking but things could get moving. Sadly this is where we start getting one cliché after another. First, the cop hooks up with mysterious blond woman in the bathroom (because that is what you do), the woman is never given any character but there are hints she will be important later (likely a werewolf). Then the cop while very drunk goes to his dead friend's ex's house, apparently they have been sleeping together for a long while (because that is how these things are in such stories) this time we at least skip the gratuitous sex scene and move to the next day where like clock work a werewolf appears and people die and the cop gets attacked BUT not killed. Now none of that is really bad per se, but I have seen that story so many times I can't count, what doesn't help is that none of the characters are sympathetic or even interesting, they are just drab, boring walking talking clichés. The art work is pretty good, but the coloring has that drab slightly toned down look a lot of Avatar books have which I think is due to their paper stock. There isn't much else to say, thus far it is entirely skippable, which is a shame, I could use a good werewolf story. 2/5
Goon #37 - This issue has as much inspiration from America's history dealing with unions and the tragedies involved as worker rights were created as it does pulp adventure and horror stories. The main plot follows the events of what happens when a rich and corrupt owner of a fabric factory allows hundreds of women to burn to death in a fire and covers it up because he is too cheap to pay for the small things it would take to give them fire exits. The other focus is an old woman who is forced to work at the factory that catches fire after her husband and son are killed in a mining accident. The story is very tragic and sadly too accurate of the history of this country. This is a great story with wonderful art that fits the setting and story perfectly while seamlessly moving with each flavor the plot transitions through. It starts off as a story of a hard off old woman moves to a corrupt business man abusing the system followed by inevitable tragedy and ends with the people fighting for their rights as suddenly giant monsters get involved because the title character becomes a force for the union. To top it all off, the ending so perfectly ties together all the threads and themes of the book it illustrates how all of the divergent elements work in this story. And that isn't the true end of the book, there is still an essay about early unions and worker rights at the end with accompanying pictures from the time that bring back the impact of the heart of this story. I have to admit I haven't read much Goon, but if more issues are like this I need to rectify that immediately as should you. 5/5
OMAC #5 - In this issue the government organization known as Checkmate seeks outside help to stop the sci-fi created monster OMAC from the most famous sci-fi monster of them all, Frankenstein. What follows is a great two front battle, the feature of which is OMAC and Frankenstein just destroying each other for many pages in the wonderful bright Kirbyesque art style. The other big battle is between the power behind OMAC, Brother Eye and Frankenstein's organization SHADE trying to hack into each other's systems. This may sound boring on paper but the characters involved are so dynamic it remains very interesting. This is a great single issue that not only moves the story forward (and catches anyone up if it is their first issue) but also is a solid cross over making all characters involved looking strong and interesting. 4.5/5
Red Lanterns #5 - This is an issue of building up characters, it is a direct continuation from the last issue that shows the history of three Red Lanterns that are slowly gaining their mental faculties and seeing through the rage. What is interesting (besides the diverse and interesting back stories) is the moral implications and questions the characters discuss as they regain their minds. What is their purpose as a red lantern? Are they all victims? If some of them were evil and malicous before gaining the ring does that take away from being a moral force? This talk could have lasted longer and still been worth reading. Even with these talks there is still action, Atrocious and Bleez still have an interesting conflict, and there is also the search for the dead Guardian Krona. A lot more is going on in this book then I ever expected. Finally we get a conclusion to the story on Earth, finding out who gets the ring which is very well done. I'm amazed at how much of the cast I like and want to see more of, this issue really helped solidify these feelings. 4.5/5
Sweet Tooth #29 - After the last story arc that went well back in time hundreds of years we return to the main cast with a month having passed since we last saw Gus and Jepperd, and boy have there been some changes. Many of which I don't feel I should spoil but the important bits of the story are this, Jepperd has been hunting and surviving outside the dam since he was exiled and waiting for Gus and Dr. Singh to find him so they can get back to traveling to Alaska. Once the group meets they decide to steal from the evil Haggarty's men to get a vehicle to make the trip easier. We also get to see the very expansive cast of other animal man hybrids and the people taking care of them find out several important revelations. You know not spoiling things is a bit hard when so much of this story is big revelations. The important part is this, Lemire's plot, art, and story telling are exquisite here. Things are paced in such a perfect way that every panel accomplishes something while also taking time to show off beautiful landscapes and use multiple panels to just let things breath. In this issue as Jepperd stalks towards Haggarty's base we get large panels of the sun setting as he moves, as well as a perfectly paced two pages of him coming across a bird hybrid. The discovery of the hybrid could have been done in two panels but the way it is done we get to experience the discovery of the hybrid as well, it sneaks up on us and Jep as it sits there motionless, once our shared surprise goes away the tension builds, is it friendly, will it alarm the base? This is what makes the series so great, little moments like that, which build the story and show the depths of character. 29 is a new story arc and thankfully the first two pages helps summarize the basis of the story which helps make this a great jumping on point in addition to the start of a new arc for long time readers. 5/5
Batman and Robin #5 - I haven't been paying much attention to this book, Batman, Detective, and Nightwing have been my Bat universe books since the relaunch but after this issue I think this may get added to that list. The son of Bruce Wayne, (who is also the Robin in this book) Damian Wayne has always been a bit let us say difficult. He was raised by his mother who is in charge of an international group of assassins and is the grand son of one of the most brilliant villains in the world Ra's Al Ghul, so to say he is egotistical, malicious, and over confident is an understatement. He has literally been bred and raised to inherit the world. This issue sees Damian starting training with a new villain who is a ruthless killer and has been trained as such since he was a child. This man also has ties to Bruce Wayne which we discover in a very long flashback narrated by Bruce. While the reverse dynamic of parents to child of the villain is interesting, as is Bruce's first meeting with him and his father it does go on a bit too long. Damian's first night of proving himself to his new mentor as well as Bruce's frantic search for his son are the meat of the story for me and what I want to see more of. Will the newest Robin go down the path of evil? Will Batman find them in time? Can father and son ever have a real bond with each other when they are still new in each other's lives and well they are Batman and Robin? Finally can Batman take down this new threat? Sure he knows the guy but he is still pretty bad ass and it has been years since they last met... I will be there next month to see if any of these questions are answered, that is for sure. 4/5 
Frankenstein Agent of SHADE #5 - This is part two of a crossover with OMAC #5 that came out last week but thankfully you don't have to read that issue to understand this one. We start off with the end of another adventure of Frankenstein's where he is fighting off cannibalistic dwarfs in Tibet. This is apparently part of his vacation which is then interrupted by getting assigned to take down OMAC. We then get the big monster match up from OMAC last week as here but from the point of view of Frankenstein and the other agents of SHADE. The duel sided battle is again a lot of fun and we do get a few parts of the fight we didn't get before, like the involvement of Ray Palmer. I like that even though the middle chunk of the story is the same plot wise (and in some points in dialogue) as OMAC, it is told in such a way it doesn't exactly feel the same. After the monsters battle we get a great character moment between Frankenstein and the creature from Black Lagoon esque doctor. While this issue loses a bit after reading OMAC last week, it completely restores my faith in this series after a shaky first arc. If you are interested in OMAC or Frankenstein I would say this was the better issue to introduce them both while OMAC #5 had the better fight sequence. 4.5/5 
Incredible Hulk #4 - Let's get to the meat of this issue, Doctor Bruce Banner goes on a psycho mad scientist rant in this issue, and that alone would make me love this issue. But there was more to this issue then that. The Hulk and his new friends finally make it to Bruce Banner's island of big hulkish creatures and we get some great Hulk fighting scenes because of it. We also get the confrontation between Hulk and Bruce Banner which is where Banner's mad scientist rant happens. The two talking is the heart of the issue and really who hasn't wanted to see the two talk? We still haven't gotten the how and why the two are seperate from one another but that's what next issue is for! Beautiful art, great action, and compelling dialogue make for a great issue of Hulk. 5/5
Scarlet Spider #1- Hey kids, remember the clone saga? The story where we find out our favorite neighborhood web crawler may actually be a clone of the real Peter Parker which was later retconned that OUR Spider-Man was the real one alllllllll along? Yeah, so do I, and I mostly wish I hadn't. But this being comics it has returned to being a nostalgic idea and must be brought back, so we make our way to Scarlet Spider, the identity the clone of Peter Parker, Ben Reiley took up for a while. This time the main character is Kaine, ANOTHER clone of Peter Parker, the first one in fact who was a villain/anti-hero involved in the clone saga who died during it, but came back during the last Spider-Man crossover, Spider Island where random people of New York gained the powers of Spider-Man. Phew that was a lot to try and explain. Which is all part of this comic, we get every detail of past stories and continuity, filling in plot holes as we go and everything, which slows down this book so much. But we also get to meet Kaine as he is now, a man wanting to escape America and not be stuck with the responsibilities of being a super hero. He use to be an assassin, a villain, but he still has all of the memories of a young Spider-Man, part of him must fight for the innocent. So these two sides interact in great ways. Like the opening where he takes down an apparent drug or arms deal just for the money they were using. When he discovers it was actually human trafficking and there is a sole survivor we see the heroic side of him appear. Later he saves an old lady who is about to be hit by a car then yells at her for being oblivious of the vehicle in the first place! These are the good parts of the issue, they fulfill the tag line of the book, "all the power, none of the responsibility" and if the book spends a year or so with such conflicts and interactions we can have a great book on our hands. Assuming we are done with the pages and pages of boring back story regurgitation, at least Batman and Robin had the decency to give us new material to force feed us, this is crap that came out in the 90's! And it really detracts from a book that holds some promise too, maybe #2 will be back story free, who knows. 2.5/5
X-Factor #230 - A lot has happened in this book as many people were likely paying attention to the other X books. Multiple Man is now dead, Strong Guy has no soul, and Layla can bring back the dead! The only catch? When they do they have no soul. This issue is all fall out and characters trying to figure out what to do next. Do they bring Multiple Man back? He has been frozen, so there is time to decide. Is Strong Guy evil? Should they be apart from him? What are the moral implications of all of this? Who will lead X-Factor now? Also, why is Wolverine here? All of these questions and more are discussed by the large cast and it makes for perfect character moments that are true to each one and allows them all to have a unique voice. Longshot doesn't sound like Shatterstar, and neither of them sound like Sireyn or Monet, etc etc. That is impressive from a book with a cast of 9 plus characters, plus Wolverine who is in the book without taking over. This book is all talk and little action but is never boring. So if you love X books but haven't given X-Factor a chance you should fix that and try it out as this sets up the new status quo and fills you in on everything without force feeding it. 5/5
