This turned out to be one of the biggest weeks ever for me. Reviews from here on in are likely to be short...
Dynamo 5 #5 - Jesus, has Captain Dynamo never heard of a condom? Seriously. He's got to be the biggest man ****e in comics. Oh, and this book keeps getting better and better. The splash page with the kids surrounded by the cops was beautiful. This title's a gem.
American Virgin #16 - This arc is a major improvement over the previous two. This title is becoming great again. I read on Becky Cloonan's blog that the direction this book is going to take soon will surprise a lot of readers. I'm glad I stayed on.
The Faker #1 - Holy damn, Mike Carey writes some good non-spandex stuff. Really, really solid debut. Jock's artwork definitely adds to the story, too. I'm intrigued by the premise and can't wait for issue #2.
The Loners #4 - Reading this makes me hate all the people not reading it. It's because of them this won't get picked up as an ongoing, and that's a damn shame. Cebulski's writing his heart out and Moline's artwork is a perfect fit. It's a Julie-centric issue and explains her..."blonde" personality of late. I don't want this one to end.
Uncanny X-Men #488 - By far the worst of Brubakers titles, and it's still enjoyable. In a perfect world, he would be filling Bendis' slot as Marvel's ace writer. In any event, Hepzibah (she's growing on me) begins to acclimate herself into the group, and it comes of as natural. What's most interesting to me is Warpath's character. I didn't read the last arc, but he seems very confident and much more mature than I remember. He's literally written as Storm's equal. It's a little jarring at first, but I have to give Brubaker credit for actually developing the characters he's using instead of just throwing them at evil mutants and hoping a story comes out of it. Xavier continues to do his own thing with Kurt tagging along. I read the Xavier scenes, and I wonder if Kurt is hanging around Xavier out of pity. I mean, no one likes the guy anymore. It must be awkward to not be welcome in the home you created. I think that's why he keeps himself busy. He's like a lonely, retired guy who keeps trying out new hobbies to pass the time. It's so weird.
Astounding Wolf-Man #2 - It took about 8-12 issues for Invincible to hit it's stride and look what it's become now. I'm hoping once Kirkman has the time to develop the world Gary lives in, the same thing will happen. I'll give him credit for not decompressing anything. Since the first issue, the reader has been thrown in the story at a break neck pace. It's nice to buy a superhero comic book, and get your money's worth. And the cameo by Art Rosenbaum answers the question of what universe this takes place in.
Exterminators #19 - This book is schizophrenic. After a solid 6 issues of completely ignoring the main plotline, we're now right back in it. I have no idea what Simon Oliver's plans for the book are. Darick Robertson's pencils were a treat, though.
X-Men #188-193 - I picked up Carey's first arc and I'm impressed. It's actually pretty interesting stuff. It seems that while Morrison was doing weird for weird's sake, Carey's story is weird in nature; like it kind of forced itself to be unusual. I even dug Bachalo's pencils. Sometimes he can be distracting, but I think he actually adds to this story. I honestly wouldn't have wanted anyone else doing the art. The only complaint I have is the splintering of Rogue's team from the rest of the X-Men. I felt like I was reading
X-Treme X-Men all over again. I enjoyed this enough to decide to continue picking this title up, although I'm not too thrilled about Ramos' contributions.
I still have
Daredevil: Battlin' Jack Murdock #2,
Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness #5, and
Black Diamond #2 to go...
I won't have enough cash for both.
