Weekly Comic Book Reviews for 12/9/09

Amazing Spider-Man #614

Creative Team
Writer: Mark Waid
Art: Paul Azaceta
Colorist: Dave Stewart

Story – Power to the People Part Three

Review
After two average episodes Mark Waid steps up and delivers a very entertaining ending to this Electro story arc. Though the last issue improved on the first issue this final issue of this arc was a huge improvement over the first two issue of this arc. Though this is not Waid's strongest effort on Amazing Spider-Man it was a solid ending.

What I liked was that Waid was able to show Electro is much more powerful than he was before. Electro has been a villain with some nice potential that I have felt has never been tapped into. Even with his powers he was still nothing more than a street punk trying to get a little money by stealing which does not fit with the supposed unlimited power he has. But Waid changed that a bit by tapping into some of the characters potential by giving him a bigger scope.

I am going to say that I would have liked it if this "power to the people" thing sticks for Electro. It felt a little forced to make Electro bigger and did not fit with his previous portrayals.

Still, this new development for Electro did lead to a very entertaining fight between Spider-Man and Electro in the Daily Bugle. The only thing is that I still am not digging Kraven's wife and daughter gathering Spider-Man's Rogues Gallery together.

The fight itself was good but what made it better was seeing Bennett and JJJ in there fighting and Bennett trying to get JJJ killed only for it to backfire on him. It was a good interaction between the two characters that has been a long time coming.

And with what happened to the Daily Bugle at the end of this issue I kind of wonder what will happen to the Daily Bugle now. The newspaper has been a mainstay within the Marvel Universe for a while now though over the past few years the Frontline has taken that position. But with the Daily Bugle now gone I will be interested in seeing what happens with Betty Brand as well as how this affects the Frontline.

The other problem I had with this issue, and arc, is the art by Paul Azaceta. If this was a Daredevil or Punisher book his art may fit but his art just does not fit well with Spider-Man. The issue felt like flat at times with the art though this is more about his style not being a fit for this title than the art itself.

Issue Rating
Story: 8.6/10 – Waid turned in some enjoyable dialogue and he did a great job with the interaction between Bennett and JJJ.
Art: 6/10 – Azaceta provide okay artwork but his art is just not a good fit with a title like Amazing Spider-Man.
Overall: 7.3/10 – Amazing Spider-Man #614 was a fun read. If you have been enjoying the last few arcs on this title than you will enjoy this issue, but if you haven't than you might. Personally I liked this arc and can't wait to see what the Spidey Brain Trust has in store with this Gauntlet over arching story arc.

Batgirl #5

Creative Team
Writer: Bryan Q. Miller
Artist: Lee Garbett
Inkers: Sandra Hope and Oliver Miller
Colorists: Guy Major

Story – Batgirl Rising: Core Requirements Part One

Review
Even though I said I was dropping Batgirl after the last issue did not 'wow' me I forgot to tell my LCS to take it off my pull list and I did not realize I bought Batgirl #5 until I got home. That is what I get for being in a rush. Oh well!

With that said I have to say Bryan Miller did a great job with this issue as he turned in his best issue of Batgirl so far, which I know is not saying much but it is. This was the first issue of this young series which was fun to read. Miller keep this issue moving at a great pace with no awkward transitions or scenes that felt out of place as in the first arc. Miller is quickly proving to be one of the bright young talents at DC and DC better not let Miller get away from them like they have in the past with other up-in-coming writers as he has done good work on this title and his short stint on Teen Titans.

I think a big reason this issue was a success was that we finally saw what Dick's reaction was to Barbara letting Stephanie be Batgirl. The two have always had an interesting relationship and I am not surprised that Dick snapped at Barbara for doing this behind his back as he has a lot going on with having to deal with so many problems in his first few months as the new Batman. Having, as Damian put it, an unexperienced and not well trained person under the cowl like Stephanie is not something Dick can deal with now as it is just another thing he has to worry about. It will be interesting to see were Miller takes this new rift between Dick and Barbara.

Also I enjoyed seeing Damian and Stephanie paired up together. Their interactions throughout the issue were great and I loved how Damian basically pointed out why Steph should not be under the cowl. It was a good moment for Steph as she was able to defend why she wears the cowl and why she should be the new Batgirl. Like with Dick and Barbara, I hope that we see Damian and Stephanie interact more in future issues of this series as they have a fun little relationship.

Besides that Miller did a solid job writing both Barbara and Stephanie's characters. This was the first issue where it felt like I was reading the proper versions of these two characters. They did not sound awkward as they did in the first arc of this series. Instead both were more confident and in line with previous portrayal's of each character.

The only thing I did not like about this issue was the weak ending that we got. The ending felt way to forced almost as if Miller ran out of pages to write a whole issue and just quickly threw together a cliffhanger at the end. It almost felt like a non-ending with how rushed it looked.

Issue Rating
Story: 8/10 – Miller provided some great dialogue in this issue and I hope he continues that with all future issues of this series.
Art: 7.3/10 – Lee Garbett's artwork was okay. There were some inconsistent looking panels but overall the art look good but it was just not great.
Overall: 7.65/10 – Batgirl #5 was a solid issue and convinced me to stick around for at least one more story arc. If you'd been enjoying this series so far than you will probably love this issue.

Legen.....wait for it....dary Comic Book Highlights of the Week for 12/3/09

300th post!!! After a year and a half I finally reached the number 300. Nice!! And what better way then presenting highlights of this past week's comics.

Cover of the Week: Blackest Night: The Flash #1

This was a pretty weak comic book cover week with no one true stand out. But this one for Blackest Night: The Flash #1 was interesting in that it is the first time I can remember we have a homage cover to a cover we just got a few months ago. Still this is a nice cover with the Reverse Flash.

Nova #32 Highlights

Nova isn't the lightweight he was in the past.

Was not expecting this whatsoever. Should be interesting to see were DnA go with Namorita return.

Siege: The Cabal One-Shot Highlights

Norman is losing it which means we may get Green Goblin back. Sweet!!!

BUUURRRRRNNNNN!!!!!

Doctor Doom continues to burn Norman as he tells him how things work now.

The Marvels Project #4

Up until this point Dr. Erskine's murder has always been seen as a pure bad guy but this was a great letter that humanizes the guy and you can sympathize with him somewhat.

How many times have we seen the creation of Captain America now?

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #5 Highlights

This is just a great sequence by Lafuente. The transition from panel to panel is just phenomenal.

Ultimate Barry Allen really let himself go.

Weekly Comic Book Reviews for 12/3/09

The Marvels Project #4

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

Story – Chapter 4

Review
Brubaker and Epting yet again do a fantastic job showing the beginning of the Marvel Universe with The Marvels Project #4. Though I am not familiar with much of Marvel's history before the appearance of the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and the X-Men this team of Brubaker and Epting are doing a great job catching me up.

The best thing about what this creative team is doing is that outside of the brief origin of Steve Rogers before he became Captain America that we get in this issue this series has been dominated by characters like the original Angel and Human Torch. These are character I have very little knowledge but after reading about them in these four issues I am fascinated to learn more about them.

The slow and methodical approach Brubaker is taking with this series is very appropriate in the WWII context that he is telling this story in. Other than seeing a guy in a costume and another one igniting on fire most of this story is being told through the eyes of the people involved in the war. And with the approach Brubaker is taking he has allowed us as readers to learn much more about all of these figures in the Marvel Universe that were important in shaping the current era. A great example of this is learning much more about the person responsible for Dr. Erkskine's murder the moment after Captain America was born. It is a great character study that adds more depth to Steve's origin story.

Speaking of Steve's origin story it was interesting to learn that before he was chosen to be part of the Super Soldier experiment that he was originally going an artist. I don't ever remember this part of Steve's past ever being mentioned and I am actually surprised someone like Steve was ever any sort of artist, but was a cool thing to learn.

To go along with the wonderful story that Brubaker is writing a lot of credit for this mini-series to be such a wonderful read is because of Steve Eptings phenomenal artwork. Epting is the only artist I can think of that is able to make this story feel like it is taking place in the real world during WWII. He captures the mood perfectly of the era. His artwork makes this story into a much more powerful read especially when this series focus more on the people of the streets of New York City. I especially liked the short scene with the firefighters in this issue as he showed us who the true heroes of this world are.

Issue Rating
Story: 8.7/10 – Brubaker continues to do a great job in both writing the start of the hero age of the Marvel Universe while also making it feel like the story is taking place in WWII.
Art: 10/10 – Epting artwork was just phenomenal. His artwork is a perfect fit for the tone of the story and I could not think of another artist who would be able to provide us with such a great looking comic that also looks like it can take place in our world.
Overall: 9.35/10 – The Marvels Project #4 was a great read. This mini-series is making a case for being the mini-series of the year. Brubaker and Epting are knocking it out of the park with this series and I can't wait to see what happens next even if I know how the story ends.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #5

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

Story – the New World According to Peter Parker

Review
With the event that will not be named long behind us it is great to be able to have Ultimate Comics Spider-Man return to the quality it once was at before that event. Even after writing over 140 issues of this series, counting annuals, Brian Michael Bendis continues to not miss a beat and provide one fun issue after another. And Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #5 is probably the strongest issue of the new relaunched series so far.

More so than the previous four issues Bendis was able to balance the Spider-Man action and Peter's personal life very well with each being given half the issue. This is the first time Bendis has been able to split the issue in half like this since the relaunch. By doing this he does a great job showing the reader why Peter's personal life and Spider-Man life are equally interesting to read about.

The battle between Spider-Man and Mysterio did a good job building up the threat that Mysterio is as the new Kingpin of crime. And I like that Spider-Man was unable to take Mysterio on by himself and needed the help of the mysterious Shroud to defeat him. Bendis has done a great job building up Ultimate Mysterio as the Ultimate version of the character has become much more interesting than his 616 counterpart ever was.

Also I like that Bendis continues to play up the mystery of who Shroud actually is. This issue eliminated Kitty from being Shroud as some were expecting it to be. Personally I still think that Shroud is Tandy Bowen as Bendis has always said back during the first volume he wanted to introduce the Ultimate version of the character and even made her the president of Peter's school. And it would be cool to see Bendis give the character a new identity especially after teasing her appearance on the series for so long.

But again, what stole the show, story wise, in this issue was what is going on in Peter's personal life. Bendis has a wonderful handle of Peter and his supporting cast that even the addition of Bobby (Iceman) to the cast feels like a natural fit. He gave a very good and believable reason for Bobby to be a part of this series. And as a fan of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends cartoon I love that vibe Bendis is giving this series as now we have Kitty, Johnny, and Bobby as Peter's super powered friends. Also having the rest of the Fantastic Four on call Peter really has his own Avengers team under his roof. And I like that Bendis has made Aunt May the mother hen for all of these characters as the Ultimate version of the character is being shown to be a much more stronger character than the weak fragile 616 version of the character.

David Lafuente's artwork continues to be just plain awesome. His anime/manga art style gives this series such a unique look that it stands out from all other titles on the stands right now. Also the transition from panel to panel is very well handled. And throughout the issue he gives a wonderful energy that everything feels like it is one constant motion which works well with this series. Also the facial reactions he gives the characters are great.

Issue Rating
Story: 9.5/10 – Bendis continues to do a wonderful job with the relaunch of this series. He just understands how to write all of these characters that even additions to the cast feel like a natural fit to the series.
Art: 9.5/10 – Lafuente's artwork continues to look awesome. His artwork makes this series even more fun to read especially with how he draws the action and character facial reactions.
Overall: 9.5/10 – Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #5 was another phenomenal read. This is just a fun comic to read and if you have picked this series up I highly recommend picking it up if you like superhero comics. This is just one of the best pure superhero comic book on the stands right now and one of the best overall comics you will currently find.

Legen...wait for it....dary Comic Book Highlights of the Week for 11/25/09

Cover of the Week: Green Lantern #48 (Alternate Cover)

DC has had the habit when it comes to Green Lantern covers to releasing the alternate covers of this title along with the solicits to each issue and using a different cover for the regular cover. And it is to bad we didn't get this as the regular cover as this is just a beautiful cover showing off Saint Walker the rich world the Blue Lanterns are located. Just an awesome cover.

Amazing Spider-Man #613 Highlights

I guessing Michelle is not a morning person.

I have the power!

Blackest Night #5 Highlights

Dragonzord, Tyrannosarus, Saber-Toothed Tiger,......Woops wrong costumes. I like how while all the leaders of the Lantern Corps recite their respective oaths Larfleeze is in the back wondering what is going on.

Mmmmmmm...Tasty dessert.

Let seee we got the Superman family, Flash Family, Wonder Woman family, Titans, and JLA but no one from the Batfamily. What up with that?

Hal and everyone are trying to give Scar a color change as black just isn't her color.

Doesn't black cancel out every other color? Plus mixing all of these colors together will just make black anyways so would this actually work?

Bruce has seen better days.....

as has the rest of the DCU heroes who have died though I have no clue when Wonder Woman died. I only remember the Golden Age Wonder Woman dying in Infinite Crisis.

Fantastic Four #573 Highlights

Neil Edwards draws a great Human Torch. If Johnny ever gets another ongoing or mini-series I hope Edwards is one of the ones considered for the job.

Don't lose your head over it Psionic......Was that to mean?

Green Lantern #48 Highlights

A Gonzo and Scrooge reference in one panel. Have never seen I writer do that. Kudos Geoff Johns!

So now we are getting to the meat of the matter of where Sinestro's hate towards Hal comes from.

Attroticius does not look good as a Blue Lantern. Something about this image just doesn't look right.

Great spread page of all the Lanterns together.

Guardians of the Galaxy #20 Highlights

I wouldn't mind if the artist did the recap pages instead of getting the few paragraphs of recap at the beginning of the issue. Brad Walker did a great job with the first page of this page of Guardians of the Galaxy recaping what happened in the last story arc.

Invincible Iron Man #20 Highlights

Tony has suddenly entered the Terminator: Salvation world. And to make things better the guy saying 'Tony' is his father.

This is the first two pages of what turns out to be a six page video will Tony made up before he decided to turn himself into a vegetable but these two pages sum his will up as he tells everyone "He was right all along and everyone else was wrong."

This was the first time I thought Pepper was given a proper characterization by Matt Fraction.

Ultimate Comics Avengers #4 Highlights

I think Ultimate War Machine is much more of a kick ass character than his 616 counterpart.

I have said it many times before but these two pages reinforce the fact Ultimate Captain America is a badass. Using a kindergarden class to stop War Machine was a brilliant move by Ultimate Cap as he knew he could not fight War Machine one on one.

Red Skull + Cosmic Cube = Big trouble for the Ultimate Universe

Weekly Comic Book Reviews for 11/25/09

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I know I loved all the food. Too bad we didn't get great football to watch. Oh well, it was still a great day and hope everyone enjoyed that day as well.

Now I'm sorry I have really been falling behind on my reviews these past few weeks. But this past month has been crazy for me with all of the projects I have had to work on which has left me very little to no time to do anything. Luckily I gave my final college presentation and paper a few days ago and am mostly done with all of my projects so I can now relax a bit. All I really have left is finals in two weeks and that is it for college. After that graduation baby!

Enough of my self-promotion and time to hit this week's comic book reviews:

Amazing Spider-Man #613

Creative Team
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Paul Azaceta
Colorist: Dave Stewart

Story – Power to the People: Part Two

Review
The last issue started off the Gauntlet storyline, which is the big overarching story taking place in Amazing Spider-Man over the next few months. And the first issue of this story involving Electro did not blow me away as it was an average read. This week's issue was a big improvement on the last one as Mark Waid handled both Spider-Man and Electro much better in this issue.

Now though this issue was an improvement the story of this story arc still feels weak with people turning against the Bailout. It feels as though it is not only to late but a very lame way to get people to hate what the government is doing. Also this story doesn't have much longevity since if I ever decide to pick up this issue again I will probably think of how 08 or 09 this story is and will just not hold up well with what Waid is trying to reference.

With that out of the way I will have to give Waid much more credit as he gave a much more believable reason for Electro to all of a sudden turn from no good thief to anti-government. The last issue it was hard to believe the 180 turn of the character but the reason for Electro doing so in this issue gave his turn a bit more validity and sort of stays true to who the character is. And I liked how his power-up made him a bigger threat especially with how Spider-Man ends up at the end of the issue. Though I am still not feeling this whole "Power to the People" thing he continues to have.

I did like how the Thinker was involved in this issue. He has been a rarely used character that does have a lot of potential so I hope we see more of him in the future.

I continue to enjoy the Peter/Michelle dynamic especially with how Peter unintentionally pissed off Michelle by testing out his new device on their apartment's power. It paid off when we got to see Aunt May and Jay back from their extended honeymoon in a funny scene.

With all that said I continue to find Paul Azaceta artwork to just not be a good fit with ASM. His style would be much more fitting in a noir based character like Daredevil but not ASM. There is actually nothing wrong with the art, it is just that Azaceta's artwork is not a good fit in this title.

Issue Rating
Story: 7.2/10 – Waid writing improved over the dull first issue of this story arc. He did a good job re-establishing Electro as a major threat to Spider-Man.
Art: 6.6/10 – Azaceta provide good artwork though his talents just do not fit in well with ASM.
Overall: 6.8/10 – Amazing Spider-Man #613 was a good read. While I can't recommend this issue to everyone, this was still a good solid issue that Spider-Man fans will enjoy.

Blackest Night #5

Creative Team
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Ivan Reis
Inkers: Oclair Albert and Joe Prado
Colorist: Alex Sinclair

Story – Nekron Rises!

Review
The best way I can sum up Blackest Night #5 in a few words is that this was both the best and most frustrating issue of this event thus far. The first time I read through this issue I was just confused with how all the Lantern Corps were already together when we have only been shown that the Green, Violet, Indigo, Yellow, and Blue Lanterns have teamed up. And honestly this should have been an issue were Geoff Johns and Dan Didio had a small editors note on the first panel telling the reader this issue takes place after Green Lantern #48. Because unless you did read Green Lantern #48 before this one you would not really know what went on at the beginning which also makes me actually wonder how Blackest Night will be collected in the future as the Green Lantern issues are mandatory to read Blackest Night.

Before I continue to talk about the negatives about this issue I will admit that this is the first issue of this event that I actually enjoyed parts of it. And were most, if not all my, enjoyment of this issue came from was when all of the main members of each Lantern Corps were on the page. Whenever they weren't I was not very interested in what was happening. Johns just did a great job writing each character and how each one of them sort of balances out the other. Even though Hal's inner monologue at the beginning of the issue was lame it was a nice way to introduce how they were brought together in a humorous manner, though I am not sure if that was Johns attention.

Getting to see all of the leaders of the Lantern Corps together also proves my point in that these are the characters who should have been the focus of this event from the beginning. I apologize to any Flash, Aquaman, Hawkman, and Atom fans but those set of characters are just not what I am reading this event for. And honestly they aren't as interesting as Sinestro, Carol, Atrocious, and the others because those characters really stole the show in this issue. It was just fun seeing them on screen after having to deal with characters that I could care less about with how dull their personalities together were.

And Johns did plenty of good character work with each one of these characters to show new readers why they are so interesting. Each character complimented the other and I will admit I got a bit excited at seeing Hal, Sinestro, Carol, Indigo-1, Atrocious, and Saint Walker each reciting their oaths. What made it even better was that Larfleeze was in the background not saying anything as he is the only one without an oath. Even better was when Hal just forced his face into the Orange power battery.

It is too bad that Johns continued to focus on the Earth. While I understand the importance of Earth to the DCU it is not the only planet that is being affected by Blackest Night. But if you are only reading this main series you would not believe that to the case as Johns has yet to move this event from this planet and show the ramifications that the Black Lanterns and Nekron have to the universe. Thus far this has yet to show me why this event is nothing but a self-contained event that only affects Earth. Even though we saw all the leaders of the Lantern Corps on another planet that was a short scene that didn't do much but show us that they have all teamed up.

Also as mentioned previously I still continue to find Barry and all of the Earth's heroes to be the most boring part of this series. After five issues of seeing them battle the Black Lanterns I have become bored of them and the Black Lanterns. Both sets of characters just aren't interesting enough to follow for another three issues as that has been the whole focus of this series. And honestly after Final Crisis I am not up for the mood to see Barry outrun death yet again.

I also don't understand what the meaning of seeing Lex Luthor in the last issue and not getting to see him at all in this issue. While it was a short one page scene I thought it was going to be picked up on in this issue in order to give some variety to seeing heroes vs. Black Lanterns. Actually seeing the villains of the DCU go up against some of the people they have killed or were responsible for killing would have probably been more interesting than seeing the rehash of the same thing we have seen for what is now five issues straight.

And even with the appearance of Nekron the Black Lanterns are not anymore interesting than they were in the previous four issues. As someone not to familiar with who Nekron is other than his Wikipedia entry I don't really see why he was picked for being the main villain over say Anti-Monitor. And honestly I do not see the difference between him and Black Hand, who is much more of an interesting character.

Speaking of something that had less impact than it should have (Spoiler Alert) Bruce's appearance did not feel as important as it should have. One of the reasons for this is because we see all of the heroes who have appeared in the Blackest Night tie-in issues, Superman and Titans, but we do not see anyone from the Batfamily in the scene. I honestly do not understand the reasoning for having Bruce appear and leave out Dick and Tim, especially Dick as he is Batman now. While having some of the big guns of the DCU and also some of the smaller characters but not include the person who is the new Batman in the issue. Honestly I do not understand it because having Dick along with Superman and Wonder Woman would have been much more impactful to Bruce's return than seeing a bunch of characters who were not even close to Bruce other than Superman and Wonder Woman.

Also Bruce's appearance in this issue also contradicts what Morrison is doing over in Batman and Robin. Just a few weeks ago Morrison showed at the end of the Red Hood arc that Dick has Bruce's body hidden under the bunker with no one's knowledge. And that story arc does take place before Blackest Night since the next story arc in Batman and Robin is suppose to tie into Blackest Night so I don't know how the hell Morrison and Johns are going to explain Bruce's body appearing in two different locations at the same time.

Now I can continue to rant about the problems I had with this issue but honestly if you have read my reviews for the previous issue all the problems with this event that I have pointed out are still around. Though I am going to say that the ending of this issue was the first time I actually liked the hook ending of Blackest Night as I am interested to see what happens next issue. It is just too bad that this issue failed for the most part to keep my interest like that last page did as it faced the same problems as the previous issues. So far this event is nothing but DC's version of Secret Invasion especially with how heavily Johns is relying on other titles to tell the complete story of Blackest Night.

On the positive side Ivan Reis's artwork continues to be the best thing of this event. Reis along with his inkers Oclair Albert and Joe Prado and colorist Alex Sinclair provided some breath taking artwork. And honestly if it wasn't for the art I probably would not have put down this issue before finishing it because Reis and his crew are just doing an awesome job making this event look important though the story Johns is writing doesn't make it sound that way.

Issue Rating
Story: 5.6/10 – Though this issue was better than the previous four entries it was only because of the great first four and last pages. Everything after that Johns failed to capture my interest as he continues to rehash the same thing that has happened in the first two issues.
Art: 9.5/10 – Reis continues to be the bright spot of this event. He really makes the story feel epic even with the weak story that is being told.
Overall: 7.55/10 – Blackest Night #5 was an improvement over the previous issues of this event but it was still a disappointing read as Johns continues to move the story very slowly even after reaching the halfway mark. And it does not help future issues that the villains of this series continue to be as dull as dirt. Hopefully things will change with that final page.

Fantastic Four #573

Creative Team
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Neil Edwards
Inker: Andrew Currie
Colorist: Andrew Currie

Story – Adventures on Nu-World

Review
After the stellar debut story arc by Jonathan Hickman I am sort of disappointed with this one-shot story that followed up that first story arc. Though this was still a good read it was missing some of that greatness of the first issue. I think the biggest disappointment is that we didn't get the fun story on Nu-World that we were promised by the solicit and the cover for this issue.

Nu-World was a very interesting concept that Millar and Hitch introduced and Hickman continued that good development of this world. Hickman did a nice job showing that this is a world that is still very much underdevelopment as the people of the world still have a ways to go before they can establish a proper society. It is understandable that there would be chaos in the way the Nu-World is run as it is still a very young planet.

And Hickman provided plenty of solid character work for Johnny, Ben, Franklin and Valerie as he continues to show he has a great handle on these characters. Each one was well handled though it was sort of a basic approach to these characters and Hickman doesn't flesh these characters out as much as he did with Reed in the first story arc.

Now, though the story in Nu-World was good I will say that it was not as interesting as I thought it would be. There wasn't much in developing this world other than showing there is still work to be done on this world. The characters that inhabit this world were not really shown to be as interesting as the Fantastic Four who traveled to the world. This brief visit really did not help flesh out the world and felt more like a filler issue until the next issue dealing with Franklin's birthday.

Though I am disappointed that Dale Eaglesham was unable to provide the artwork for this issue Neil Edwards provided plenty of quality artwork. His artwork was very similar to Eaglesham that I barely noticed it was a different artist. Edwards did a very good job in this issue and I hope I see his artwork in other issues down the line

Issue Rating
Story: 7.2/10 – Hickman provide a good one-and-done story but it felt like to much of a filler story.
Art: 8/10 – Edwards provides some very artwork as he does a nice job filling in for Eaglesham in this issue.
Overall: 7.6/10 – Fantastic Four #573 was a good read. While not as good as the first story arc by Hickman it was still a good read though not required reading. If you are FF fan you will enjoy this issue but if you are not you may not enjoy it as much but still a solid effort by Hickman and Edwards.

Green Lantern #48

Creative Team
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Doug Mahnke
Inkers: Christian Alamy, Doug Mahnke, and Tom Nguyen
Colorists: Randy Mayor and Gabe Eltaeb

Story – Gimme a Break!

Review
After reading this new issue of Green Lantern I am amazed that the same writer is writing both series. There is a clear difference in Geoff Johns writing in Blackest Night and Green Lantern as I get the feeling he is more free to tell his own story the way he sees fit and is not mandated to write in Flash, Superman, and all the other DCU characters. Johns just seems to be restricted with Blackest Night but in Green Lantern he is telling the story he wants to tell as he allows the characters that should be the center of this event take the center stage in this issue.

Hal, Sinestro, Carol, Atrocitus, Saint Walker, Larfleeze, Indigo-1, Sayd and Ganthet all get their own moments to shine which is how Blackest Night should be like. Each character has their own voice as they show why they are so interesting which goes to the credit of Johns talent as a writer of building so many great characters. And what is great is how each character balances out the other to show how different each Lantern Corp is as the difference between all of them is not just the color.

Johns created some showed off the interesting dynamic the various characters share. The best one was the scene between Hal and Sinestro. These two long time rivals have not hidden the fact that they don't like each other and this issue just reinforces that fact. Sinestro telling Hal that he is the reason everything has happened reinforces the fact Hal is suppose to be the main hero of this event. And Johns also used this short scene to also build up some future drama after Blackest Night as Hal tells Sinestro upfront that he will not be following the Guardians anymore.

The other interesting dynamic was with Larfleeze interaction with Atrocitus and Saint Walker respectively. Larfleeze really shined in this issue and was a better written in this issue than he was in the Agent Orange story arc. He was fleshed out much more and it will be interesting to see what happens to him especially with what happened towards the end of the issue.

Doug Mahnke artwork continues to be great. He did a lot of work to give this issue a big event feel even if it is not the main book. His art especially shines when it comes to drawing action scenes. The last page was especially well done with the various Lanterns appearing on it.

Issue Rating
Story: 9/10 – Johns writing in this issue was very strong and is much better than what he has been doing in the Blackest Night main series. He showed he has a great understanding off each of the characters in this issue.
Art: 9.3/10 – Mahnke artwork continues to impress. It is great to be treated to Mahnke's artwork on a monthly basis.
Overall: 9.15/10 – Green Lantern #48 was another great read. This was the best issue of Blackest Night related material that Johns has written so far and I highly recommend picking this issue up if you reading the event. Both the writing and art are top notch.

Guardians of the Galaxy #20

Creative Team
Writer: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Artist: Brad Walker
Inker: Victor Olazaba
Colorist: Wil Quintana

Story – Fault Lines

Review
After all the death that happened in the last issue of Guardians of the Galaxy DnA slow things down a bit in order to give the surviving characters some time to reflect as well as get some much needed rest. DnA provided plenty of solid character work for all of the Guardians. As has been the case with DnA's work with the cosmic corner of the Marvel Universe even the slower issues have a very good pace that does not feel slow or fast. And this issue also did a solid job being new reader friendly especially with the first page that served as the recap page with Brad Walker providing different images of what has happened in the previous few issues.

There really isn't much I can say about this title that I have not said before. This issue was just a lot of fun to read as DnA prove that there are plenty of stories to be told in the cosmic corner of the Marvel Universe. Even with everything that has happened it is clear there is still a wealth in potential stories to be told with these characters.

The characters each have their own unique voices. Even my favorite character, Rocket
Raccoon, was given some solid character work even though he did not spout out any awesome jokes in this issue. After all the intense stuff this group has been through it was fun to just see them take a moment and just have some drinks like friends and not just figuring out what they need to do next with defeating their enemy.

Also DnA did a great job fleshing out Moondragon out in this issue. Before this issue she wasn't a very interesting character as she wasn't given many scenes to show herself off as a character worth following. But now with the cast being cut down and her being the only psychic on the team it seems more attention will be given to her character. And this issue proved she is a character with plenty of potential.

It was also good to have Brad Walker back in this issue. Walker provided some good artwork that works well with this title. I hope that he stays on this title on a permanent basis as he does a good job with both the talking head and action scenes.

Issue Rating
Story: 8.3/10 – DnA continue to prove they have plenty of stories to tell and they have begun a nice foundation for future issues after what happened in the previous issue with the team.
Art: 8/10 – Walker provided solid artwork throughout the issue to complement DnA's writing.
Overall: 8.15/10 – Guardians of the Galaxy #20 was another fun issue. DnA continue to do a wonderful job with all the Marvel cosmic titles and GOTG is no different. If you haven't tried this series out yet pick this issue up as this is a nice jumping on point to this series.

Top 25 Anime Characters: #1 - Kenshin Himura

#1. Kenshin HimuraCreated by: Nobuhiro Watsuki

First Appearance: Ruroni Kenshin Episode 1 - Handsome Swordsman of Legend: A Man Who Fights For Love
Voice by: Japanese - Mayo Suzukaze; English - Richard Cansino

Yep! That's right the number one anime character on my list is none other that Kenshin Himura. I am a sucker for stories about samurais. In my book you will not find another character that is able to balance dark and light moments as well as Kenshin Himura. Though Kenshin has a basic samurai character look, what makes him a great character is that we are able to get moments and episodes where Kenshin plays the straight man, or the comedic foil, but when push came to shove he can pull of the dark moments like no other character. When we get to see Kenshin's eyes go from their usual color to the yellow/gold you know that you should not be anywhere nearby. With his Hiten Mitsurugi-style Kenshin is basically unstoppable as he is able to move at god-like speed with no other character being more dangerous with a sword than him.

I will admit that I am not a fan of how Kenshin's story ended in the anime OVA, as I thought it was a very sad death when Kenshin, after all the crap he had been through, deserved a happier ending. Personally, I prefer the we got in the manga and it sucked that the anime was never able to do an anime version of the final arc in the manga. I really liked the last arc. Though it wasn't as good as the Kyoto arc it was awesome to learn all of Kenshin's backstory.

And even though the anime never did reach that point they did a great job revealing enough information of Kenshin's past during the Kyoto arc made him still a character you can sympathize with. I would rank the Kyoto arc among my favorite stories told in anime as the series really picked up the intensity in that arc which it never was able to reach with the filler arc that happened afterwards. Kenshin was faced with impossible odds and it was great watching how he was able to face his past and did not allow the Battosai personality overcome him anymore as he was able to let go of that past of being Man Slayer.


Also Kenshin participated in three of my favorite anime fights. His fights with Saito, Aoshi, and Shishio in the Kyoto arc were just pure awesomeness with all the sword action. I would put any one of those three as my favorite anime fight. Kenshin really proved his worth in each of these fights as each opponent did what they were supposed to do when fighting the hero: pose an actually threat and challange/ None of these fights never felt like they were forced on to Kenshin as each one of these fights were well developed that in the end, while knowing Kenshin would win, had me wondering how he would pull of the win with all the intense action going on.

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