More Thoughts:
New Avengers #27: I knew a little bit about some of the things that were going to happen in this issue from bits and pieces of various posts in this thread. The whole "How is Matt Murdock going to read her email when he's blind" didn't bother me as much as "If you're reading this, then I'm probably dead" part. To me, if he's reading it, she must have sent it before she left. If he's not reading it, she didn't send it. But, if she's dead, how can she send it, but not send it if she's not dead? Do you even understanding what I'm saying???
Now, the story is alright. The art kind of stinks. It's amazing how unfeminine they make Echo look in her Ronin outfit, all rippling muscles. Plus, while I hated the original "New Avenger's" line-up, this might actually be worse. Dr. Strange??!!?? How in the hell Bendis thinks Dr. Strange makes a good Avenger is beyond my understanding. Seriously, I would understand if they just took the Great Lakes Avengers and made them the New Avengers instead. Now, I will say the team does work with a group of Marvel heroes that would fight The Hand. (But, face it, The Avenger's are suppose to take on world threatening disasters and villians....not The Hand.) It's more like the old 90's series, Secret Defenders. Someone at Marvel needs to get some balls and tell Bendis that not every character on Marvel's roster is at his disposal. It's amazing to think that Civil War actually reeled him in, made him fit his stories into a certain setting. It was actually the best New Avenger's has ever been. Now, he's at it again, and he's dragging the Avenger's title down with him. 7/10
Jonah Hex #16: While Lone Ranger is getting all of the attention lately (and, rightfully so), this book is still delivering some great stories. In fact, I would venture out and say it's a better book than Lone Ranger for the simple fact you get more out of one issue than probably six issues of Lone Ranger. Most times, the issues have been one-off stories; but, recently we had the three-part origin of Jonah Hex, and this issue gives us part 1 of "The Ballad Of Tallulah Black."
This issue focuses on everything leading up to Tallulah meeting Jonah for the first time, and when you say someone's had a hard life, it doesn't get much harder than Tallulah's. This is a brutal book. While the artist doesn't depict the attrocities as many artists who work on other books, like Punisher and The Boys, it doesn't take much of an imagination to realize what's happening between the panels. The dialogue is pretty good, and I always come away with a few favorite lines. One in particular is when Tallulah meets up with the men who will soon kill her kin, saying "Mister, yore a low blood of dubious origin with a crowd of like-minded turncoats backing yore play!" That statement alone can be said to various people on the Hype when you're in an argument with them. Plus, the little girl at the beginning of this story will haunt your memories for a bit. Just the way she acts and reacts to situations. I loved her line, "A day like this makes the cemetery man smile. Don't you think?" Basically, if you're a fan of the western...or, if you want a story that delivers a bit quicker than Lone Ranger is...Jonah Hex is the comic for you. 10/10
Detective Comics #828: It's nice to have Detective Comics be a place to get some one-issue stories for a quick Batman fix....but, in this issue, the art was only so-so, the story was quickly forgettable, and the reader comes away with not much to be excited about. The only plus for this issue is that the reader gets to see Riddler becoming a much more interesting character by turning his talents to good. 6/10
Action Comics Annual #10: This annual is basically DC's way of promoting future storylines to appear in Action Comics within the next year, I figure. (What's annoying is the fact the last issue of Action Comics, #845, came out in November, promising us the return of General Zod, Ursa, and Non from the Phantom Zone. DC lateness has ended up being just as bad as Marvel's.) The first story, The Many Deaths of Superman, just has Lex Luthor saying Superman isn't impervious, that you can kill him with magic, brute force, or pieces from his planet. That's the extent of the story, besides seeing him looking for Kryptonite in the farthest reaches of the globe. The second story, Who Is Clark Kent's Big Brother, explores an early episode in Superboy's life when a strange visitor from another planet lands in Smallville and Clark wonders if it's possibly his brother or another Kryptonian. The third story, Mystery Under The Blue Sun, is just two pages, and I have no idea what the hell it's about. In the middle of the issue is a two-page spread, called "Secrets of the Fortres Of Solitude," and shows you the inside of Superman's fortress while explaining 12 parts of it. Next, "The Criminals of Krypton" is by far the best short story in the series. It explains how Jor-El's discovery of the future destruction of Krypton was intertwined with General Zod, Non, and Ursa. Next, we get another special 2-page section entitled "Superman's Top 10 Most Wanted." Finally, we end the issue where we began, with Lex Luthor in "The Deadliest Forms Of Kryptonite." Lex explains the four different types of Kryptonite and shows he's going to combine them all within Metallo for a future storyline. Since this ended up being just another DC preview book, rather than a full storyline to enjoy (as I expect with my annuals), I'm giving it a much lower grade than some others might. 5/10
