EXTRA! EXTRA! (OCT 10-16, 2012)

Avengers vs. X-Men: Consequences #1 of 5
(w) Kieron Gillen
(p) Tom Raney
Because every Marvel event requires a series focusing on its aftermath, Avengers vs. X-Men: Consequences exists to give us readers a bridge between the world of AvX (that we've been living in for the past seven months) and the 'Marvel NOW!' era that started concurrently this week with Uncanny Avengers. Kieron Gillen does the most with what he's given, but unfortunately, the script simply falls short because there's no cohesive plot thread holding the various stories together beyond the fact that they all take place after Cyclops falls. I guess the closest thing to a 'main story' is the one with Cyclops and Wolverine, but if you're trying to look at the big picture, there's not much to see. I'm sensing this just might be a hiccup for Gillen, whose done fantastic work on Uncanny X-Men and his creator-owned Phonogram.

GRADE: 7.2/10

Before Watchmen: Doctor Manhattan #2 of 4

(w) J. Michael Straczynski

(p) Adam Hughes

I don't know why, but both issues of Doctor Manhattan have been very lackluster. Sure, the Doc is a quantum-based entity capable of expanding his consciousness across unknown distance and time, so why does it feel like a chore to read? I've struggled to understand J. Michael Straczynski's hyper-detailed style (remember when Spider-Man met Ezekiel? I want to forget, too) for years now, and giving him Doctor Manhattan was like asking a rocket scientist to explain a coffee maker. Granted, it can be complex, but it constantly feels like Straczynski makes his writing more complicated than it needs to be, and that gets boring quickly.

GRADE: 6/10

Demon Knights #13

(w) Paul Cornell
(p) Bernard Chang

Being one of the sleeper hits of the 'New 52', Demon Knights has given a lot to the DCnU mythology in it's 14 current issues - readers get the history of characters like Etrigan and Vandal Savage, are introduced to new ones like Exoristos, Al Jabr, and the Horsewoman, and get fresh takes on the Shining Knight and Madame Xanadu. Demon Knights #13 sends the team literally into Hell when Etrigan betrays them to curry favor with Lucifer in hopes of freeing himself from the bond he shares with Jason Blood. Unfortunately, Lucifer isn't very impressed and just commands his demons to torture the team. Most of the issue surrounds each team member's individual hell, but the weather starts clearing when Shining Knight realizes his blood vaporizes demons - a strong weapon in the pits of hell.

GRADE: 8.5/10

The First X-Men #3 of 5

(w) Neal Adams and Christos Gage

(p) Neal Adams

I seriously don't like this series. I don't know why I keep reading it beyond the fact that I started reading it and feel a need to complete it. The writing is godawful, the artwork is typical 90s fare with little more than 'real' colors to let you know it was produced this decade, and the fact that Neal Adams and Christos Gage are so giddy about totally changing established continuity boggles my mind. Don't buy this comic book, and don't expect any more reviews of The First X-Men, a series I'm simply done paying money to let disappoint me each month.

GRADE: 1/10

Green Lantern Corps #13
(w) Peter J. Tomasi
(p) CAFU

This is where "Rise of the Third Army" really starts off - lots of Third Armiers (I seriously don't know what to call them; how about Guardian Soliders?), lots of Guardian malarkey, and a clear direction for both Guy and John. Mogo is rebuilding himself, but his origin point must be located for the process to succeed, so the Guardians ask a ready and willing John Steward to take point. Meanwhile, Guy and his hand-picked cew are charged with escorting an important delegation to Oa for peace talks - Guy gets word that one of his old enemies has escaped the Sciencells, and he's is worried the escapee is going after his family. Guy leaves only half his men with the delegation and takes the other half to Earth, even though the Guardians have sent Guy's enemy to kill the entire delegation - it's a pretty good bait and switch, plus the Guardian Soldiers show up to take one of Guy's GLs, showing themselves to the GLC for the first time.

GRADE: 8/10

The Phantom Stranger #1

(w) Dan Didio

(p) Brent Anderson

It's hard to know where Dan Didio is going with The Phantom Stranger - there aren't any clear signs as to what the overall purpose of the series is supposed to be. Is the Stranger supposed to be an agent of good, or is it less direct than that? Traditionally, the Stranger's motives are his own and nothing else, but to feature him in his own ongoing series, there needs to be more than simply mysterious circumstances and unknown meanings - that's fun for a while, but it doesn't make for a lasting narrative style. This month, Stranger finds Rachel, a girl with shadow-controlling powers and no clue how to control them. After a quick duel, Rachel lets the Stranger guide her to someone who can train her, when he takes her straight to her demon father, Trigon, the one being she was trying to stay away from - it's a haunting sight to see the Stranger so removed from humanity, serving only the "higher good" in exchange for his penance.

GRADE: 7/10

Red She-Hulk #58
(w) Jeff Parker
(p) Carlo Pagulayan and Wellinton Alves

'Marvel NOW!' may have officially kicked-off with Uncanny Avengers, but Hulk has changed it's name to Red She-Hulk to coincide with the new Marvel line-wide movement. Jeff Parker brings Betty Ross front and center to star in this 'Marvel NOW!' iteration of the series, which starts off with Betty facing the results of Project Echelon, the government's newest attempt at super soldiers for the future. The Hulk Family has never been too much on my radar, but I'm willing to give any 'Marvel NOW!' series a chance, as that's kind of the point of the whole initiative. Red She-Hulk #58 doesn't do much in the way of direct character development, but Parker does do a fantastic job building up a mythology around her so as to make me more interested in what's happening going forward.

GRADE: 7.1/10

Team 7 #1

(w) Justin Jordan

(p) Jesus Merino

Well, Team 7 #1 is basically just a rehash of Team 7 #0, which is exactly what I predicted - why introduce all the characters in the zero issue when you could have planted seeds for future issues seeing as issue one was literally just around the corner? That being said, Team 7 #1 is surprisingly good for it's plot that takes the team to a floating prison that's supposed to be inescapable. Because this is a comic book and these things happen in comic books, A.R.G.U.S. loses contact with the facility and sends the team up to investigate. I have extremely high hopes for this series, as it has the potential to give readers a lot of secret history of the DCnU, like getting a new "Issue Zero" each month.

GRADE: 7/10

THE WEEK (OCT 10-16, 2012)

Before I start, I want to just say how excited I am that Marvel is finally, finally, finally bringing back Young Avengers! Announced early on Tuesday, the second volume of the team's adventures will be written by Kieron Gillen of Uncanny X-Men and Journey Into Mystery. I absolutely loved the original run of YA, written by Alan Heinberg and drawn by Jim Cheung. The Young Avengers is hands-down my favorite superhero team, even when they were handed around Marvel's creative network like a village bicycle before returning to their creators' hands with The Children's Crusade. Seriously, if you haven't read any YA, do yourself a favor and read the original 12-issue run, the Presents series, and The Children's Crusade. You will not be sorry. And check out CBR's exclusive interview with Kieron Gillen and artist Jamie McKelvie about their Young Avengers starting in January 2013.

Reviews
AvX: Consequences #1 of 5
(Gillen, Raney)
The fallout from Avengers vs. X-Men starts here! Even though Uncanny Avengers is also getting started this week, AvX: Consequences will act as a bridge between Marvel's main event this year, and 'Marvel NOW!' I'm ready to see what Kieron Gillen has in store for this first issue of this series, mostly because I want to read as much Kieron Gillen as I can before his Young Avengers run starts next year!

Green Lantern Corps #13
(Tomasi, CAFU)
"Rise of the Third Army" continues this week...there's not much to say about the whole event yet, because this will be only the second of 16 issues dedicated to the story. In Green Lantern #13, the soliders of the Third Army are only featured in a few panels, but that's okay because this even is about the RISE of the army and then the battle with the Green Lantern Corps. Peter J. Tomasi has not been impressing me as of late, so I'm interested to see where his branch of this crossover event will take us.

Superboy #13
(DeFalco, Silva, Lean)
Oh boy; Superboy is crossing over with The Ravagers. That might be the most boring hype-up I've ever seen. Both of these titles are so lacking in their current state, I cannot even begin to imagine the ridiculousness that will come from them crossing over. Wow. At least Kon-El will have to deal with Jocelyn Lure (the detective after Superboy who was instantly forgettable as soon as she was introduced) before heading off to find Caitlin Fairchild, so that might be something...

Team 7 #1
(Jordan, Merino)
I was impressed with last month's Team 7 #0, and I - like many other DC fans - want to know what's happened in the last five years between the emergence of superheroes and the current-day status quo. Team 7 is poised to give us a lot of cool confrontations and team-ups with various superheroes from all over the DCnU.

Dark Was The Knight
Batman #13
(Snyder, Capullo)
"Death of the Family" starts HERE! Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo kick off the five-month long epic return of the Joker to DC's 'New 52' universe. While most of the tie-in titles will get two or three months of crossover issues, Batman is gearing up for a full tale lasting the entirety of the event. Scott Snyder is a genius with Batman, and his "Death of the Family" will probably go down as one of the best Batman stories ever told. "The City of Owls" storyline is high up there, and the Joke is such a fascinating character that Snyder will definitely work wonders with this opportunity.

Batman and Robin #13
(Tomasi, Gleason, Gray)
The last arc of Batman and Robin was a big letdown, and last month's "Issue Zero" was just a rehash of Damian Wayne's life story. Peter J. Tomasi is very much dropping the ball with both of his helmed titles for DC right now, and Batman and Robin still has two months before it's "Death of the Family" crossover, so he's got some time to right the boat before delving into the Joker's madness.

Marvel NOW!

Uncanny Avengers #1

(Remender, Cassaday)

'Marvel NOW!' starts here! After the events of Avengers vs. X-Men, Captain America sets up a new team, evenly populated by Avengers and X-Men. This is going to be the premier title from Marvel for a while, so I'm just glad it's Rick Remender taking the wheel. Plus, Havok is on the team. HAVOK! I know, I know...

Shadowy Happenings
Demon Knights #13
(Cornell, Chang)
The Demon Knights are down in Hell! Literally! Two months ago, Etrigan basically flipped a massive bird to the rest of his compatriots and transported them all down to Hell to answer to Lucifer. Of course, Jason Blood stays in Hell while Etrigan is on the mortal plane, so it will be interesting to see if they'll interact while the team is duking it out against the Devil.

Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #13
(Kindt, Ponticelli)
While Buddy Baker and Alec Holland are stuck in the realm of the Rot for a year, Frankenstein is battling the surge of Rot overtaking the planet! Frankenstein: AoS has been fantastic so far, and this crossover with Animal Man and Swamp Thing's "Rotworld" makes it even better. On top of all that, Franky is poised to join the Justice League Dark in upcoming issues.

The Phantom Stranger #1
(Didio, Anderson)
The Phantom Stranger strikes a deal with Demon Lord Trigon! And where there's Trigon, Raven will follow. Yes, it's the long-awaited reintroduction of Raven into the 'New 52' continuity! Recent interviews point to a Raven-centric, Teen Titans spin-off starting sometime next year, and this is where it will all begin!

Extra! Extra!
4-SENTENCE REVIEWS are no more, as they are being replaced by 'Extra! Extra!', the section of titles that don't get standard reviews and also don't fall into an specific category of new columns. This isn't to say that these issues are any less good (or bad, in some cases) than the titles featured under the standard REVIEW header, it just means that I found a way to more eloquently talk about them in four sentences better than I could in four paragraphs. It's lika a haiku - sometimes creativity comes out of restrictions.

Before Watchmen: Doctor Manhattan #2 of 4
(Straczynski, Higgins)

The First X-Men #3 of 5
(Adams, Gage)

The Ravagers #5
(Mackie, Churchill)

4-SENTENCE REVIEWS (SEP. 12-18)

Batman and Robin #0
(Tomasi, Gleason, Gray)

If you have to ask yourself - in the middle of your first read through - what the point of this issue, something has gone terribly, terribly wrong. Indeed, Peter J. Tomasi missteps with Batman and Robin #0, opting to give readers a completely unnecessary look at Damian's childhood amongst the League of Assassins. If DC is truly keeping with it's stance that Batman's history is intact, there should be no reason to explain Damian's origins yet again - there really is no inventiveness at all. And the real tragedy is, this could have been done extremely well, but Tomasi simply drops the ball and takes the easiest route possible. After a lackluster "Terminus" arc and now this, I'm starting to question whether or not I even want to keep following B&R.

GRADE: D

Green Lantern Corps #0

(Tomasi, Pasarin, Hanna)

Wowee did Peter J. Tomasi have a tough week, first with Batman and Robin #0, and now Green Lantern Corps #0, another unnecessary issue that doesn't give much in the way of interesting narrative. Sure, we get a good look at Guy Gardner before he gets his emerald ring, but this series is called Green Lantern CORPS for a reason, and Tomasi has not been honoring that title. For a series that's supposed to be about one of the most extensive, impressive, and powerful organizations in the universe, it's hard to justify an "Issue Zero" that only focuses on one single character, no matter if he's one of the protagonists or not. Seriously, I just felt let down the entire time, and that's not a good feeling to have in a month that's supposed to be about catching a similar spark that DC achieved last year.

GRADE: C-

Before Watchmen: Comedian #3 of 6
(Azzarello, Jones)

There really is no way to describe how little I care for the Comedian after reading Brian Azzarello and J.G. Jones' Before Watchmen: Comedian - with each passing issue, Eddie Blake becomes more and more ridiculously vile and twisted in a way that doesn't create a "love to hate him" situation, but just a simple hatred. This month, instead of killing innocent civilians in Vietnam, Eddie is pissed because people are protesting that he was killing innocent people in Vietnam; it's totally hypocritical. Oh, and then he decides he'll just head on over to Los Angeles and just make the rioting all the worse by provoking people into looting and beating each other up. In what way, in what world does Brian Azzarello believe he's making Eddie Blake a relatable or even interesting character?

GRADE: F

The Ravagers #0

(Mackie, Churchill, Rapmund)

Garfield and Tara are kidnapped by Harvest and N.O.W.H.E.R.E., experimented on until they become paranoid and edgy, they rebel against Harvest, but still get stuck in the Crucible - THAT'S IT. Howard Mackie takes a full issue of The Ravagers to flesh out the prior sentence of storyline, something that could have easily been achieved in a fraction of the page space, leaving room to explain other characters associated with this series (not to mention Caitlin Fairchild, a main character with deep ties to Superboy as well) meaning this really isn't an origins issue for the team featured in this series at all. Sure, the fact that Beast Boy was relatively normal until N.O.W.H.E.R.E. got it's hands on him is a revelation that will bear consequences for the future, but the more stock put into the diabolical scheming of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and Harvest without an adequate reason just works to make readers all the more confused. The Ravagers is the weakest of the Young Justice titles DC is currently publishing, and it's a basic problem of indirection - Mackie doesn't seem to have any idea where he's going with these characters and it's painfully obvious.

GRADE: D

Team 7 #0
(Jordan, Merino)

While Team 7 #0 does an excellent job introducing the various members of the titles namesake, it very much feels like this should have been issue #1 - I know that's a nitpick-y issue with an otherwise solid issue, but it stayed with me the entire time I was reading. Because Team 7 starts five years in the past, this series is poised to give readers a great look into the years before the official beginning of the 'New 52', something fans have been clamoring for since the beginning. Of course, the inclusion of such characters as Deathstroke, Grifter, and Black Canary (before any of them took these monikers) helps give credence to the team's connection to the superhero world, while also including some new characters (like Alex Fairchild, father of Caitlin from Superboy and The Ravagers) means this isn't just a history class, but also a chance to expand this new universe with some cool new faces. While I will hold that this "Issue Zero" should have highlighted the team members before they were recruited, I'm still ready to keep up with this series going forward.

GRADE: B

X-Treme X-Men #3

(Pak, Segovia, Diaz, Crisostomo)

I really didn't give X-Treme X-Men a chance at first, unfairly assuming it would be one of the weaker X-books available, but still slightly intrigued by the Exiles-esque multidimensional adventuring. The premise itself was rather silly (ten evil Xaviers across dimensions who need to be put down), but this first arc that takes the team to a world where gods actually exist was absolutely engrossing - the betrayals, the twists, and the character development have all been excellently handled by Greg Pak, with amazing artwork from Stephen Segovia and Paco Diaz. While X-Treme X-Men may never be as good as Exiles, it's got a lot of good potential: Captain Howlett apparently was in a relationship with the Hercules from his dimension, a 14-year-old Kurt Waggoner just wants to make a difference after failing to save his family, and Dazzler from our world is out to prove herself when Cyclops talks down about her. If Pak keeps up the momentum, this series is set to be one of the best fringe series Marvel offers.

GRADE: B