Best Comic

Oooh...fresh from the comic shop, here's the list!

Countdown #1 : The last issue. Does a drop in the bucket in the middle of a forest where no one is there to hear it make a noise? Yes, and it's a sad, disappointed, anticlimactic noise. "I'm Mary DAMN Marvel" indeed.

JLA #20: McDuffie is back and good writing comes with him with a Flash and Wonder Woman pair-up. It starts slow, but it gets better as the pair totally pwn Queen Bee. Sometimes it's nice to see what happens when the heroes have it together.

Mighty Avengers #13: The Secret Invasion Skrullks in (see what I did there?) as we see what's been up with Nick Fury for the past year or so, showing he's already one step ahead of the game.

Number of the Beast #2: Still pretty decent, we see some of what's going on behind the scenes as we learn more about these new heroes.

Shadowpact #24: Blue Devil is back in his old costume and I couldn't be happier! On the other hand, not much else that I care about happened.

Wolverine: First Class #2: Really good writing and characterization makes this a great read. Kitty Pryde shows Sabretooth what for and gives Wolverine his first birthday victory over Creed.

X-Men First Class #11: A scattered issue showing what comic writers really think of the people who read comics. Kinda disappointing.

Best Comic this week was hands down Wolverine: First Class. Woohoo!

Best Comic

This week was better than average, but didn't excell. It was kind of a B+ week.

Here's what I got:

Annihilation #6: A good ending to this series. The calvary comes rushing in, the undefeatable foe is defeated and most of the characters live to see the end. Some weirdness happens when Ultron assembles himself out of a fleet of Kree robots, and I think that Warlock called Tyro his "son" (which isn't true), but all in all a non-disappointing ending.

Avengers: The Initiative #11: Endings must be the theme this week, as the initiative ends its battle with KIA. Decent action, but way too many characters getting thrown around for any decent story to be done.

Brave and the Bold #12: Ending the Challengers of the Unknown and the book of Destiny run, this finale was underwhelming. The main villain they have been chasing for 6+ comics turns out to be as shallow as that thin coat of water you get from wiping down a granite countertop with a wet rag.

Countdown #2: Spoiler alert. Orion supposedly kills Darkseid in this issue. I can't see DC wanting to get rid of a villain they get so much mileage out of, so I'm thinking he'll be back in some form or another. It was interesting to see the art get more "Kirby-esque" as the battle between Orion and Darkseid raged.

Incredible Hercules #116: A decent issue which serves as a fun battle with the Eternals and the introduction of the Skrull menace into the book. This Hercules is a lot more introspective and a lot less drunk than previous incarnations. I think it's an interesting change, and one I'm interested in reading more about, even though I have a lot more fun with the swaggering, egocentric, womanizing drunkard Hercules trying to bestow "The Gift!" upon everyone he meets.

Noble Causes #32: A reboot for the Noble Family. Not as interesting as the previous book, as the tensions that book started out with have been mostly resolved.

Number of the Beast #1: I read a good review of this last week and decided to pick it up. Its not a half-bad team book. The characters are pretty interesting and I think I'll get the next issue.

Wolverine Origins #24: A talky issue where Deadpool and Wolverine verbally joust as Deadpool is about to drop Wolverine into a deathtrap. Meh.

There are several books kinda tied for first place here, but if I have to choose a winner, it's gotta be the Annihilation finale. Woot Annihilation!

Forbidden Kingdom

It's the Wizard of Oz meets Karate Kid!