Weekly Comics - March 4, 2009

Agents of Atlas #2 (Honestly, the Dark Reign setup is feeling a bit weird for this book, and the flashback/modern-day inter-mixed structure is weirding me out a bit too. I still really like it, but I don't love it the way I did the miniseries)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #23 (I loathe the character of Andrew. And I don't honestly know who the rogue slayer was supposed to be. So I found this to be a weaker issue of the series. Still better than the nonsensical future-speak of Whedon's last arc, though)

Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #1 (Read this one on a recommendation from D3, and kind of liked it. On one hand, I'm tired of writers having to justify Reed's out-of-character Civil War/Illuminati behavior, but on the other, it's nice to see him being the humanitarian thinker, and I do love super-confident Sue Storm and big 'ol super-science stuff)

Hellboy The Wild Hunt #4 (A phenomenally good issue, with beautiful art by Fegredo and a great Baba Yaga backup with art by Guy Davis... but a months-long (at least three?) break halfway through the miniseries? What the hell, Dark Horse?)

Hulk #10 (Read this on a recommendation from Dan Grendell, and he's right... it's fun. Silly, a little stupid, but with great art by McGuinness and a cool, pop superhero comics premise)

Hulk: Broken Worlds #1 (Not really enough space for any of the stories to shine, and there are some clunky moments, especially in Peter David's story, an abrupt ending, notably in Van Lente's story and some weird, hard-to-follow art from Diego LaTorre. Passable, but sorta forgettable)

Killer of Demons #1 (Chris Sims is right. This book is a hell of a lot of fun.)

New Avengers: Reunion #1 (This was... not bad. But I have a huge fondness for Hawkeye and Mockingbird, and I'm not wild about these new, more paranoid versions of them. Interesting art from David Lopez, but the inks and colors make it look a lot different from his Fallen Angel or Catwoman work, more like the Luna Brothers, and honestly? I prefer the other stuff)

Punisher #2 (Wow, I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a Punisher book this much. Remender does a great job of making him the Punisher, recognizable as the driven, dangerous guy from the Ennis books, but very definitely in the Marvel Universe. Opena's art is stunning. And I love the new "Microchip" character. One of my favorite reads of the week, even though I'm almost a month late in getting to it)

Secret Warriors #2 (Not really digging the whole "Hydra secretly runs SHIELD" thing, or uber-evil-for-evil's sake Von Strucker, but... Nick Fury as pissed-off ex-spy on a tear is interesting, and Caselli's art is really nice)

Spider-Man & Human Torch: Bahia De Los Muertos! (Fun, inventive, beautifully illustrated, these Beland/Doe one-shots are a treat, and I hope we'll get more of them in the future)

Superman: World of New Krypton #1 (I think the whole "Superman not in the Superman books" is a horrendous idea, and Robinson's been off his game for a while now, but... this is an OK first issue. Gives Superman a new playground without downplaying that he's still a superhero, even surrounded by others with his powers. I'm not sure I'm interested in twelve issues of this, and I'm certain it's not my ideal Superman story, but I'm interested in at least one more)

War of Kings #1 (Great opener. I'm not a huge fan of the Inhumans or the Shi'ar, but Abnett & Lanning serve up another action-packed opener to a big cosmic miniseries, and this feels as promising as Annihilation Conquest did)

X-Men First Class Finals #2 (Pretty neat transition miniseries, as Parker bids farewell to his take on the X-kids, and inserts a little story around things like Scarlet Witch joining the Avengers, Beast going to work for Brand, etc.)