Previewing this Week’s Releases: 9/7/09 – 9/13/09

Comics
Adventure Comics #2 – Geoff Johns impressed me with the first issue of this new series starring Superboy. Even though I not a big Superboy fan Johns does seem to have a good handle of the character as he finally takes the character and makes him much more likable than he was back as a Teen Titan. Though, Johns will need to do a better job with the back-up as the Legion story was a weak. As someone new to the Legion I did not get anything out of story or who the characters are other than their names and powers.

Amazing Spider-Man #604 – So far the Red Headed Stranger has been a solid story though it has not blown me away especially after the great "American Son" arc and Amazing Spider-Man #600 issue. Hopefully Fred Van Lente can provide a good showdown between Spider-Man and Chameleon as well as some aftermath from Chameleon ruining some of Peter's personal relationships.

Blackest Night: Batman #2 – I really liked the first issue of this mini-series as Peter Tomasi proved yet again to be one of the best Batman writers, especially when it comes to writing Dick Grayson. The first issue made a strong case for Tomasi to actually write one of the Batman series with Dick as Batman once this mini-series is over. He just understands the character and the Batman universe. I actually would like it if he got to take over Batman to give him a main stream title to take him out of Geoff Johns shadow.

Green Lantern Corps #40 – Just like Blackest Night: Batman the first issue that tied into this Blackest Night for this series did a very good job giving a grander scope to the event than the main book. Tomasi has done a spectacular job on GLC that this title has actually eclipse Green Lantern by Geoff Johns as the best Green Lantern title. And I am definitely looking forward to seeing how the rest of the Green Lantern Corps does against the Black Lanterns especially Kyle vs. Black Lantern Jade.

Red Robin #4 – Red Robin has been the weak link out of all the Batman titles. Chris Yost has not done a very good job convincing me that Tim's mission to find Bruce is actually worth reading. The whole characterization of Tim post-Battle for the Cowl has been horrible and just seems to have come out of knowhere. I am hopeful that with this fourth issue that Yost can convince me to keep reading this title past this arc.

The Marvel Projects #2 – While the first issue did not blow me away Brubaker and Epting did the job of getting me into this mini-series about the Golden Age of the Marvel Universe's history. I am interested to learn more about the Marvel Universe's past as before this series I only have some working knowledge of.

Ultimate Comics Avengers #2 – The first issue of Ultimate Comics Avengers was just a fun comic to read. It was like Miller never left the Ultimate Universe. I look forward to learning more about the Ultimate Red Skull and see what he has planned after the revelation of being the son of Steve Rogers. But honestly I just want to see more kick butt action from Ultimate Captain America who is just a badass in this universe along with some of the other Avengers.

War of Kings: Who Will Rule? One-Shot – This is the issue I am most looking forward to reading this week. War of Kings was a spectacular mini-series event and one of the best comic book events I have read. Though we have seen some of the aftermath of War of Kings in Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova I am interested in seeing how DnA set up the various characters in the Marvel Universe cosmic corner. DnA definitely have a lot of toys to play with in this one-shot to set up Realm of Kings.

DVD/Blu-ray
Bleach: Diamond Dust Rebellion – I am a big fan of the Bleach anime and I really enjoyed the first movie of this series. The first movie was a solid story that mixed every element that makes this series so fun. Though the second movie looks to have a much darker story that will involve the whole Soul Society, and not just Ichigo, as Captain of the 10^th Squad Toshiro Hitsugaya will be hunted down by the Soul Society. This movie definitely speaks to the popularity of Toshiro, a secondary character in the manga and anime, as he has a whole movie centered around him. Look forward to seeing some great action this series has been known for.

The Office Season 5 – One of my favorite TV series is no doubt The Office. Though the show has lost some steam in these past two seasons this is still an excellent comedy with plenty of laughs. Season 5 had a lot of funny moments that this series has been known for. I am really looking forward to the six season of this series and this box set should tie me over until the new season begins.

Movies
9 – What a coincidence that this movie is being released on 09/09/09, or 9/9/9? Sarcasm aside, I will admit that like many people I loved The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's one of my favorite movies of all time. Sadly I have not liked any of Tim Burton's movies since The Nightmare Before Christmas. Though I was hesistent at first if "9" was going to be any good, as I did not know much about it, after seeing a few trailers and TV spots this actually looks like it may capture the magic of The Nightmare Before Christmas. I can hope can't I?

Legen-wait-for it-dary Comic Book Highlights of the Week 8/12/09

This weeks highlights took a bit longer than expected as it was a huge week with getting 10 titles this week alone. But I finally found time to get all the images together and here are this weeks comic book highlights:

Cover of the Week: Incredible Hercules #132 (Djurdjevic 70th Anniversary Variant)

While I would have liked to have seen Djurdjevic draw an epic image of Hercules in the Thor costume there is still no doubt that as always Djurdjevic alternate cover here gives Thor an epic larger than life look the character should have.

Adventure Comics #1 Highlights

Being dead helps you realize that living in a farm in Kansas is so bad. Better than the alternative.

I'm guessing this final image picks up from the Legion of Three Worlds mini. Though interesting the back-up story itself was dull.

Amazing Spider-Man #602 Highlights

Welcome to Chameleon's museum of human faces. Enjoy your visit.

Chameleon has never looked more badass than he did in this issue. It was both awesome and creepy what he did with the people after he took their faces.

No issue of Amazing Spider-Man is complete without JJJ screaming at someone.

Bump, Bump, Bump! Let's see how Van Lente explains Peter surviving after being dipped in acid.

Batman #689 Highlights

Even though I have been enjoying Dick Grayson as the new Batman could the writers and artists team on the Batbooks stop making him smile everytime he puts on the cowl, please.

Check out the bottom left corner. Looks like the Daily Bugle published their first edition in the DCU. Nice little easter egg inserted by Mark Bagley who has largely been known for his Amazing and Ultimate Spider-Man work.

Wow, will you look at that Bruce actually being a kid. Who would have thought we would see that.

Let's see how Dick does in his first real challange against one of Bruce's old Rogues in the next issue.

Blackest Night #2 Highlights

Like with Martian Manhunter Aquaman really benefits from being a Black Lantern as he has never look like more of a badass than he does in his new Black Lantern look. I say he keeps the look when he is eventual revived, as a non-zombie that is.

This was the only interesting thing, on the story side of things, that was actually of any interest in this whole issue.

Having been watching all of Shark Week last week I totally dug this image of Aquaman summoning sharks, and other sea creatures, to kill all the Atlantian soldiers.

Flash Fact: Hal and Barry have dull personalities. Let the hate mail commence.

This should have honestly happened in the first issue not in one small panel towards the end of the second issue.

Oh no! The zombie Justice League. Just means we are going to get more senseless gore and death in the next issue and very little plot progression. YEEEEEEEAAHH! Not!

Blackest Night: Batman #1 Highlights

Definitely not the way you want to meet your grandparents for the first time.

This is actually more plot progression than we got in the main book of Blackest Night. And it is only a tie-in mini-series. It brings up the question if your soul must pass on to be brought back as Deadman soul is certainly not part of the Black Lantern version of the character.

Just love the fact that the Ventriloquist created Scarface using his ring.

Great way to summarize everything that has happened in Dick's life and what lead him to become Batman.

Just love the shadows of the dead covering the Batsignal.

Green Lantern Corps #39 Highlights

Does this just make it official that Saranik will be a casualty of Blackest Night.

Hopefully this means Guy will join the Red Lanterns as we have way to many Green Lanterns from Earth.

See if we would have gotten an image like this in Blackest Night #2 than I would have liked it more as we see how big the event is with this image alone. Just another case for Tomasi doing a better job than Johns over the past few months with the Green Lantern stories.

Its never good to see your ex again. Especially when they are a half dead zombie being controlled by a Black Lantern ring.

Red Robin #3 Highlights

Oh my god! I still don't believe that you have not gone crazy Tim. Could you actually show us some evidence of Bruce being alive and not just thinking you found it.

The Marvels Project #1 Highlights

A fantastic splash image of the "future" Marvel superheroes.

You do not mess with Namor.

And also do not mess with the first Human Torch because just by touching him you will be set on fire.

Ultimate Comics Avengers #1 Highlights

You really want to know what happened in the ten minutes you've been gone: Jeph Loeb happened.

The image speaks for itself.

Just doing what ever needs to be done to get the mission over with.

I betting a lot of guys, me included, would like to get the number of Tony's therapist as he/she gives Tony a great recommendation to get over his depression.

Ultimate Red Skull is hardcore with how easily he kicked the crap out of Captain America.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 Highlights

Six months does wonders for a city that was under water not to long ago.

Will you look at that the cops actually being nice to Spider-Man. Never thought I see that happen.

Again, this is just wrong.

Love Ultimate Mysterio's redesign. So much cooler than the fishbowl costume of his 616-counterpart.

Weekly Comic Book Reviews for 8/12/09

For my Blackest Night #2 review click here. Also I'll be reviewing Blackest Night: Batman #1 and Ultimate Comics Avengers #1 over at Rokk's Comic Book Revolution later this week so be sure to check those out later in the week.

Adventure Comics #1 (#504)

Creative Team
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Francis Manapul (main story); Clayton Henry (back-up)
Colorist: Brian Buccellato (main story); Brian Reber (back-up)

Story – Superboy The Boy of Steel Part 1 (main-story); Long Live The Legion Part 1 (back-up)

Review
DC has always had a problem trying to get me hooked on their titles outside of Batman. It has only been recently with Sinestro Corps War that I started reading Green Lantern. While I have tried giving several different DC titles a shot I just have DC has never hooked me with most of their titles. This is especially true with Superman related titles. I have probably given Superman and his family of titles more chances to hook me than any other but I just have never read many stories outside of The Death and Return of Superman and the recent Brainiac storyline that I have actually liked. So coming into Adventure Comics #1 I wasn't very optimistic about this title even if I liked Geoff Johns run on Teen Titans and how he wrote Superboy.

With that said Adventure Comics was a solid start to the new Superboy comic. Johns does a very good job with his characterization of Connor and his relationships with Superman, Krypto, and Ma Kent. It was nice to see that Connor's death helped him realize that his life with Ma and Pa on the Kent Farm was much better than he originally thought.

Also I liked the mystery that Johns gave us with the swamp monster and how it is looking for Connor. I am not sure if this is a new threat or just an old Superman villain but I am interested to find out what the swamp monster wants with Connor.

With the mystery and Connor new outlook on life I am going to leave this title on my pull list for at least the Blackest Night tie-ins. The only negative about the main story was that not much really happened in this issue as this the main story was more about establishing Connor back to the present which is not such a bad thing.

Now I only wish the back-up was as good as the main-story. I not really too familiar with the Legion of Superheroes but the back-up really did not get me interested in the cast of characters. Overall nothing really happened in the back-up as it was only an introduction to the characters and I didn't really get a good sense of who the characters really are. And since I am going to be getting the rest of this up to at least the Blackest Night tie-ins I hope Johns does a better job with the Legion story

Issue Rating
Story: 7.3/10 – Geoff Johns did a solid job with the main story with Connor but the Legion back-up story he wrote wasn't very good.
Art: 8.4/10 – Francis Manapul's artwork for the main story was gorgeous. Too bad that Clayton Henry's artwork wasn't as good as his artwork was just average.
Overall: 7.85/10 – Adventure Comics #1 was a solid start to this new Superboy title and it was enough for me to at least pick up the next few issues of this title.

Amazing Spider-Man #602

Creative Team
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Barry Kitson
Inkers: Barry Kitson and Rick Ketcham
Colorist: Jeromy Cox

Story – Red-Headed Stranger: Tenth of September

Review
The last time Fred Van Lente wrote Amazing Spider-Man was back in the one and done story involving The Spot, which was also his first issue as part of the Spider-Man Brain Trust. In that issue he showed a great sense for Spider-Man and that his writing style is a great fit for Spider-Man. But now after that one and done story he did Van Lente finally gets a shot at writing a multi-issue Amazing Spider-Man arc. And this first issue of this new Chameleon story arc was a good, but not great, start to the latest Spider-Man story.

In truth this wasn't a great issue of Amazing Spider-Man there really isn't anything wrong with this issue. Van Lente provided plenty of solid dialogue and Barry Kitson did a good job with his artwork and keep the look of the issue consistent.

I liked that Van Lente continued to show Harry is in worse shape than he was before the "American Son" arc. Though I am not really excited to see Harry fall into another state of depression and alcoholism I like that Van Lente used Harry's problem as a way to get Peter and MJ together to help out a friend.

I also liked the new job Peter got in JJJ's office. It is a new setting for Peter as he will not be able to wisecrack his way through this job as he won't be allowed to mess around as much as he did back in the Daily Bugle.

Now the best part of this issue was the Chameleon. Van Lente did a great job making this new and improved Chameleon a much more menacing threat than he was before. I liked what Chameleon did to his victims after he stole their faces. It gave Chameleon a Batman villain feel with how violent it was.

Issue Rating
Story: 7.6/10 – Van Lente writing style is a great fit for Spider-Man as he did a great job giving this issue a nice mix of humor and drama.
Art: 8/10 – Kitson did a good job with the artwork. Hopefully he is given a little more action to illustrate in the next few issues.
Overall: 7.8/10 – Amazing Spider-Man #602 was a solid read that did a good job starting the new Spider-Man arc.

Batman #689

Creative Team
Writer: Judd Winnick
Artist: Mark Bagley
Inkers: Rob Hunter
Colorist: Ian Hannin

Story – Long Shadow Part 2: New Day, New Knight

Review
I feel a bit bad for Judd Winnick because out of the three Batman titles (Batman and Robin, Streets of Gotham, and Batman) the work he has been doing on Batman feels average when compared to the work Morrison and Dini are doing on over on the other two Bat-titles. This isn't a bad thing as I am enjoying the work Winnick has done so far but so far he hasn't done enough to set this title apart from the other two Bat-titles. So far Batman has given us good but not great reads, and this issue is no different, which is why this title is third among the three Batman titles.

With that said I did enjoy Batman #689. While I have not liked any of Winnick's recent work over the past few years I actually like what he is doing on Batman. I am actually surprised that Winnick hasn't really written anything that has made me hate his writing.

What I like about what Winnick is doing on Batman is exploring the relationship between Dick and Alfred now that Bruce is gone. Dick and Alfred were the closest and most trusted allies to Bruce both in his personal life and in fighting crime as Batman. And while Morrison and Dini have briefly touched upon how both these characters are handling Bruce's death Winnick is fully exploring this aspect of the characters. And it is actually good to see that both Dick and Alfred are having a hard time with the aftermath of Bruce's death and that each one of them is helping the other person ease the pain of losing a father and son, respectively. It gives Batman a nice family feel as both Dick and Alfred are showing how close of a family they were with Bruce and that these two characters have a nice father/son relationship that is similar to the one Bruce and Alfred had.

Also it is good to see that Winnick isn't trying to force Dick to become like Bruce when he puts on the cowl. It makes sense that Dick would be a different Batman in his early adventures as Batman. As of right now he still seems to be acting as he did when he was Nightwing just in the Batman costume. While he will have to adopt more of the darker aspects that made Bruce successful as Batman even in his later years I like that we are seeing a transitional phase with Dick going from being Nightwing to Batman.

And I like that Winnick is using Two-Face as one of the main villains that Dick will have to face in his first adventure as Batman. If done right Two-Face could really become the new Joker for Dick as Batman. Tomasi did a great job in his final arc showing that Dick and Harvey share a long history with one another and it is good to see that Winnick picks up on this fact as it looks like Harvey knows that Nightwing is now the one under the cowl.

As for the art Bagley does a great job with the artwork in this issue. Bagley's artwork is a great fight with this title as he gives plenty of energy to the fights that Dick's acrobatic fighting style should have. And I especially liked the scene were we the Batmobile transformed into its flight mode and I look forward to seeing how he illustrates the big fight that was set up in the final page of the issue.

Issue Rating
Story: 7.5/10 – Winnick does a good job exploring more of the emotional aspect of Dick taking up the cowl but has yet to set his story apart from the one Morrison and Dini are telling in their books.
Art: 8.3/10 – Bagley's art continues to impress. He gives this title a lot of energy and does a good job illustrating the dark scenes as much as the more light and action heavy scenes.
Overall: 7.9/10 – Batman #689 was a good solid read. While it is nothing special it does do a good job giving the reader their money's worth.

Green Lantern Corps #39

Creative Team
Writer: Peter Tomasi
Artist: Patrick Gleason
Inkers: Rebecca Buchman and Tom Nguyen
Colorist: Randy Mayor

Story – Fade to Black

Review
While I have not been enjoying much of Geoff Johns work on Green Lantern and Blackest Night over the past few months I have been immensely enjoying the work that Peter Tomasi has been doing on Green Lantern Corps. And this issue of GLC does a great job not only developing the whole dead are rising aspect of Blackest Night that Johns has been focusing on in the first two Blackest Night and one Green Lantern issues he does an even better job developing the other aspects of the story by giving attention to what is going on with the Sinestro/Mongul Corps, the people in Daxam having powers, and the reaction of the whole Green Lantern Corps to the Black Lantern rings bringing back the dead.

First and foremost Blackest Night is a Green Lantern event and the Green Lantern Corps and the other six Lantern Corps have yet to appear in the event much less react to the Black Lantern threat. And Peter Tomasi does a great job showing that the Black Lanterns are a threat to the whole universe and not just one planet (cough*Earth*cough).

And that is what I have been complaining about with Blackest Night so far as Johns has yet to convince me this is an event that affects the whole universe. Tomasi doesn't even show us the War of Light but what he does do is show us that the universe is about to go through one of its worse disasters in history by showing us how the Black Lanterns are already starting their attack on Oa.

I also liked that Tomasi continued to develop the Daxam storyline and Mongul's takeover of the Sinestro Corp. What made those two scenes even more powerful by Patrick Gleason's artwork. Gleason does a great job giving all the characters plenty of emotion and knows how to use light and darkness in scenes to make them more powerful.

The only thing I would have liked is that we would have gotten this issue before Blackest Night #2 as this issue, just like Blackest Night#1, felt like a set-up to the event. This issue would have benefited much more by being released before Blackest Night #2 as by now the dead rising from the grave isn't the "WOW" feeling it had in Blackest Night#1.

Issue Rating
Story: 8/10 – Tomasi continues to tell a superior story than the one Johns is telling and he did a great job showing us how big Blackest Night really is.
Art: 8/10 – Gleason's artwork is as great as it has always been. He does a great job capturing the sci-fi feel of this book.
Overall: 8/10 – Green Lantern Corps #39 was another solid issue by Tomasi and Gleason. GLC #39 did a much better job convincing me that Blackest Night is a big epic event that threatens to destroy the whole universe and not just one planet.

Red Robin #3

Creative Team
Writer: Christopher Yost
Artist: Ramon Bachs
Colorist: Guy Major

Story – The Grail Part 3

Review
Out of all the Batman: Reborn books out Red Robin has shown itself to be the weak link in the bunch. Yost has not made me invested in the story that Bruce is alive and that Tim is not crazy for believing it. So far Yost hasn't made me believe that Tim is not crazy as he has yet to show the reader that there is one shred of evidence for our protagonist, Tim, to believe it other than he has a gut feeling. Even in this issue Yost tries to use that it may have to do with when Tim was infected with the Anti-Life Equation that he feels this way which is still not believable.

The Tim I am reading in Red Robin just does not look or read like the Tim Drake that has been written before this series. Tim continues to say that no one is trying to help him other than Ra's but we have seen in these first three issues that Dick, Stephanie, and Cassie are trying to reach out to help him. Tim isn't showing himself to being one of the best detectives around. Instead Tim just comes off as a very crazy and unstable person.

Also what doesn't help Yost story is that the character already went through a similar storyline after Infinite Crisis when he became depressed and reclusive after Connor, and later Bart, died. And with both of his best friends back I don't see why Tim is really pushing everyone one away and only trusting Ra's. If anything Tim just seems like another version of Jason Todd, who also used the Red Hood name to cross lines that Batman and the Batfamily couldn't cross. Yost really needs to give the reader more than just pure gut feeling by Tim to believe that this is a useless adventure that will only lead the character to become worse.

Issue Rating
Story: 4.7/10 – Yost story does far has been very thin read. He has yet to make me believe that Tim's journey to find Bruce holds any logic to it.
Art: 5.5/10 – The art for this issue doesn't make matters better. Red Robin #3 wasn't a very good looking book as most of Ramon Bach artwork is very inconsistent through the issue.
Overall: 5.1/10 – Red Robin #3 was another weak read. So far out of all the Batman: Reborn titles this has been the weak link in the group.

The Marvels Project #1

Creative Team
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Steve Epting
Colorist: Dave Stewart

Story – The Beginning

Review
When a series has the creative team of Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting you do not need much to convince me to get the series. The team of Brubaker and Epting has been just money on Captain America. What makes this story of the same team telling the story of the Golden Age characters from Marvel's history is that they have already been exploring some of the Golden Age throughout their run. And just looking at Captain America it can be said that they have been setting up to tell this story for a while on Captain America.

For a first issue Brubaker and Epting do a good job hooking me into this story. While this first issue was a slow start to this mini-series I really enjoyed the narrative focus on of this issue being told mostly from Thomas Halloway, who is the future Angel. It is an interesting choice made by Brubaker and for this first issue it works as an introduction to the WWII setting of Marvel's Golden Age.

There isn't much to say about this issue other than it was just good solid story telling that sets up the rest of this mini-series. And really that is all this issue was, as it works as a set-up for the rest of the series to introduce all the heroes of Marvel's WWII stories in Captain America, Human Torch, Namor, Angel, and others.

Issue Rating
Story: 7.7/10 –Brubaker used this whole first issue to set-up the rest of this story. He provided plenty of solid dialogue to establish the main players of this mini-series.
Art: 9.2/10 - As always Epting's artwork is very impressive in this issue. He does a great job giving The Marvels Project #1 a very grounded and gritty look that feels like we are going to be in store for a great espionage story.
Overall: 8.45/10 –The Marvels Project #1 was a solid start to the re-telling of Marvel's Golden Age. If you have been enjoying Brubaker and Epting's run on Captain America than this series is definitely worth checking out.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #001

Creative Team
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: David LaFuente
Colorist: Justin Ponsor

Story – A World According to Peter Parker

Review
There isn't anywhere else I can start this review for Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #001 than by saying that this was another quality issue by Bendis that this series was known for throughout the 133 issues of Ultimate Spider-Man. In truth, while this series has been renumbered with a new #1 this issue very much feels like issue #134 of Ultimate Spider-Man.

This issue is everything I expect an Ultimate (Comics) Spider-Man penned by Bedis to be like. It has great humor, action, drama and solid character dialogue. It is an interesting dynamic that Bendis gave this issue as Spider-Man is seen as a hero and well liked by New York City but is having trouble with his new job. It is a interesting change from were Ultimate Spider-Man used to be as before the 6 month time skip Peter was actually holding down a solid job at the Daily Bugle and was hated as Spider-Man by the city.

And Bendis does a great job building up Ultimate Mysterio as a credible threat already with the actions he took at the end of the issue. Even though Bendis introduced to the character back in the third annual we never got to really see Ultimate Mysterio as a viable threat. But with the actions the character took in this issue it looks like Peter will be having his hands full in later issues

There were only two complaints I had with this issue. The first is the $3.99 price increase. We aren't getting anymore content than we did when this series was simply called Ultimate Spider-Man. What I recommend Marvel to do to make the price increase not seem as bad is instead of publishing a four Ultimate Comics title is to put back-ups for the Ultimate Fantastic Four, X-Men, or other ultimate characters in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man to make up for the price increase.

As for the issue itself I really did not like the new Peter/Gwen relationship Bendis introduced in this issue. It just doesn't feel since Bendis have always shown these two characters to share a brother-sister relationship and the new relationship just feels wrong.

Now as for the art David LaFuente artwork kicked ass in this issue. I loved his artwork for this issue. LaFuente inserts plenty of energy into every scene. The manga/anime style that LaFuente gave this issue does a good job giving this Ultimate Comics Spider-Man a much different look than most comic books Marvel and DC published that is refreshing to see.

Issue Rating
Story: 9.4/10 – Minor complaint aside Bendis provided some great mix of humor, drama, action and character work that this series has been known for.
Art: 9.2/10 – LaFuente provide some great artwork and his manga/anime style gives this series a great look that is different from most comics.
Overall: 9.3/10 – Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #001 was just a great read. Bendis was able to make this issue very reader friendly while still not missing a beat from his run on Ultimate Spider-Man. It is great to see that after going through the horror that was Ultimatum that this title continues to be one of the best titles being published right now.

Previewing this Week’s Releases: 8/10/09 – 8/16/09

This is a big week in comics for me as I am getting 2 times the amount of comics this week with 10 new titles along with getting War of Kings #6 that did not ship to any comic shop here in Las Vegas. I think my wallet will be crying when I go to my LCS this week. While this week looks to be a great week I kind of wish that Marvel and DC would have spread the love a bit over the other weeks in August as I don't I am getting more than 10 titles the next few weeks. Oh well, enough of my bitching lets what's out this week.

Comics
Adventure Comics #1 – While I have questioned the return of Connor I have to say I am interested in seeing what Geoff Johns will do with the character. Though the main attraction for me in getting this title is Francis Manapul' artwork that looks incredible in the preview we got for this issue.

Amazing Spider-Man #602 – The last issue of Amazing Spider-Man was a good, not great, start to the new arc that brings back MJ to Peter's world. This time around though Fred Van Lente will be handling this issue, and the rest of the arc. The last time Van Lente was on Amazing Spider-Man he did an excellent one and done story involving the Spot. I am interested to see how he handles Spider-Man and his supporting characters in a full arc.

Batman #689 – So far I have been enjoying Winnick's run on Batman. Winnick's work hasn't been as good as Batman and Robin or Streets of Gotham but he still has done a good job handling Dick's new role as Batman and with Two-Face being involved in this story arc it will be interesting to see how Winnick handles the rivalry between the two.

Blackest Night #2 – While I enjoyed the first issue of Blackest Night for the most part I was disappointed with a couple aspects of the issue. Hopefully Johns can fix the problems with the last issue and make this series live up to the high expectations that have been set for this DCU event.

Blackest Night: Batman #1 – Though I have my reservations about having the Batfamily involved in Blackest Night but I would be lying if I didn't say that I am interested to see Dick Grayson fighting/meeting his parents.

Green Lantern Corps #39 – While I have been mixed with the work Geoff Johns has been doing with Green Lantern and Blackest Night I have love all the work Peter Tomasi has been doing on Green Lantern Corps. He did a great job with "Emerald Twilight" and it seems that even though this issue and future issues will tie-in Blackest Night it doesn't look like the event will slow down what Tomasi and Gleason have been doing on this title.

The Marvels Project #1 – This is a series I am not sure if I should get it on a monthly basis or in TPB. While I do like the team of Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting this series sounds like it will be much better in TPB though I will try out this first issue to see what Brubaker and Epting are going to do with this story of revisiting Marvel's Golden Age characters before making my decision.

Red Robin #3 – So far I have been really disappointed with the work Chris Yost has done with Tim Drake and his new role as Red Robin. Still Tim is one of my favorite DCU characters and I can only hope that Yost improves with this issue and stops giving us this emo Tim he has been giving us the first two issues.

Ultimate Comics Avengers #1 – I am really excited to see what Mark Millar has in store for his return to the Ultimate Universe. And the concept of this title having a black-opts team has me even more interested to see what crazy story has in store for these characters and the introduction of Ultimate Red Skull.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 – This is probably the book I am most looking forward to reading out of this crop of new titles we are getting this week. Bendis is just money when it comes to writing Ultimate Spider-Man and I look forward to seeing what he has in store for Peter and his supporting cast, new and old.

DVD/Blu-ray
I Love You, Man – This was probably the funniest comedy movie we have got this year though I may wait a couple weeks before purchasing this movie on DVD.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Blu-ray) – Ah, TMNT! These were the movies I grew up with as a kid. So there is no doubt I will be getting these movies that include the three live action movies and the recent CGI TMNT movie from a couple years ago.