Dead of Night: Featuring Devil-Slayer #1-4

This has been a decent mini, but I'm afraid I still like the old Devil-Slayer more. The series tells the story of a GI facing off against a Blackwater type merc group. The problem is the mercs are really devils working with rogue angels to start a new war between Heaven and Hell. We find out the D-S is a long-lasting role passed down through history to equip heroes to face off against the super-natural. I'd say our new Slayer does a good job considering his mentor/trainer gets wasted in issue 2 or 3. The story is a little bit by the numbers and predictable, but the dialogue is better. The dialogue during the final battle is good and angry, showing how the fight had gotten personal.

The art by Chris Samnee is a real treat. It's dark, moody, and tells the story clearly. I think he could be up there with Mignola and Sook as far as mood and setting. I'm looking forward to seeing more from him.

Fair

Birds of Prey #125

Wow. Joker really messed up Barbara Gordon a few issues ago. She is still reeling after their encounter and it seems she may be losing her way. Black Canary has returned to the comic to bring it to a close, which is a nice parallel. Tony Bedard even has BC say she has always wanted to pay Oracle back for "saving" her back when the series started. What bothers me is that with this breaking down of Oracle/Barbara, I'm afraid her character is being set up to become Batgirl again. The handicapped hero has been such a neat, groundbreaking thing, I don't see why we need to take a step back to make her Batgirl again. Bedard's villain in this issue is pretty interesting, the Collector owns eBuy and collects rare things and PEOPLE! While BC and Oracle face off against an army of hitmen in Vegas, the rest of the Birds free his prisoners back at his HQ. It's a neat and scary idea, although Bedard goes a little far (and unnecessarily so) when he has a baby get electrocuted while in captivity.

The art is by Scott McDaniel, and I got a bit of a flashback to his Nightwing days while reading the book. No one can draw swarms of assassins like McDaniel! I'll be sad to see this book go, but it really has gone downhill after Bedard's initial fill-in run.

Fair

Justice Society of America #22

Well thank goodness that's over. After the last 3 years, I'm really ready for the KC Superman to move on. The Gog part of the story has been pretty entertaining, and that resolved pretty nicely. Starman and Superman get to take out Gog in a pretty entertaining fashion. Starman's agreement of "Yabba Dabba Doo" was pretty amusing and I liked him getting such an important role in saving the Earth. Most of the Gog-sided heroes get some nice payback on him too. Damage's huge explosion was neat, and Citizen Steel stands up to him nicely too. Only about 1/2 the issue is spent resolving the JSA's own storyline though. The other half features Alex Ross extrapolating out what happens to KC Superman after he returns to his own Earth. It seems he reunites with the surviving heroes (I spotted Ray, Mr. Miracle, Barda, Avia, Elongated Man, and more). Superman and WW get together and either have a ton of kids or just love being surrounded by kiddos. It seems as though KC Supes sticks around until the Legion age too, as he smiles at them as an old man. I probably would have been fine with this if I had seen it in a KC /book, but I was annoyed at so many pages being taken from the real JSA. I am very pleased at the character epilogue moments we do get with Damage, Magog, and others, though.

Dale Eaglesham's art is pretty great as always, his scene with Damage and Judo Master was especially cool. Alex Ross' art was great too, but like I said, I didn't really need to see more KC Supes. In all, the strong resolution to the long Gog-plot makes this book still rank pretty solid.

Good

Avengers: The Initiative #20

This is a nice cap on Dan Slott's run on this title. The book wraps up almost all of the status quo since issue 1, and leaves us with a lot of uncertainty as we move into Christos Gage's upcoming solo run on the title. We see the returnees from the Skrull kidnappings (including Frog Man, Razorback, Thor Girl, and Dum Dum Dugan, I didn't see Lobo!) 3-D Man heads out with the last man standing from the Skrull Kill Krew, as Crusader's classmates are not pleased at 3-D for killing their friend. In a fascinating twist, we find that Tigra is pregnant with Skrullojacket's baby, and she's leaning towards not keeping it. Since she's a cat-lady and he was an alien, she's justifiably concerned that she may end up with a litter of aliens! Not to mention that she never knew he was an alien imposter anyway. I think this is a neat opportunity for the character, I'm really hoping she becomes one of the main heroes in the book, there is a lot of story potential and she's not headlining anywhere else. While I'm at it, let's hope Wonder Man, Stingray, and Hellcat are main cast members moving forward too.

Gauntlet is stepping up to lead The Initiative (at least for now) and he puts Taskmaster in charge of the The Shadow Initiative in a pretty cool development. I really dig how Taskmaster susses out who Mutant Zero is too. I saw it coming, but it was still neat.

The bulk of the issue is spent with Hank Pym talking to Jan. I won't explain how, but this leads to some neat scenes where Hank is trying to find some sense of closure and say goodbye since he never saw the Wasp after his abduction. Hank admits his blame for "the slap" too, it wasn't an imposter, it was him. I'm hoping that the character will be able to move forward now, although since he leaves the book with a certain someone, I'm not sure how he'll move past his wife's death.

The art on this issue is average. The title is in desperate need of a consistent, good artist. Steve Kurth does an ok job on some parts of the issue (the Hank/Jan scenes were strong), but really can't handle other parts (Tigra's scenes especially). I think Humberto Ramos will be an upgrade starting next issue as the remaining team faces off against Clor/Ragnarok. That said, the art is not poor enough to hurt the rating that much.

Good

Fantastic Four: The End TPB

Man, Alan Davis can really do no wrong with me. I had been kind of dreading this, even though he was the creator. The "End" series from Marvel can be kind of depressing, and I wasn't liking the idea of a depressing FF book. I should have known better. This book has everything. Taking place in a utopian future where our solar system has been colonized and then cut off by the rest of the Marvel cosmos, all our heroes are still around thanks to a life-extending treatment developed by Reed Richards. There are no mutants, thanks to a "Mutant War," but just about everyone is still around. John Storm leads the Avengers (Thor, Iron Man, Vision, Captain Marvel, and the Silver Surfer). Ben Grimm is a family man on the Inhuman-settled Mars. Sue Storm is an archeologist trying to find a way to bring back her dead children. Reed Richards is a recluse on a one-man satellite. I don't want to ruin the wonderful cameos and villains featured in this book, so let me just list some of the guest stars: The Avengers, Thundra, Wyatt Wingfoot, Inhumans, Captain America, Black Panther, She-Hulk, Giant Man, Wasp, Spider-Man, Nick Fury, SHIELD, Daredevil, Galactus, Namor, I could go on and on. Well, that is quite the lineup of heroes, who do they fight? Mole Man, Annihilus, Super Skrull, Shiar Imperial Guard, Mad Thinker, El Diablo, again, I could go on and on. This book really has everything you could want. It is a bright vision of an awesome Marvel future. It revels in the best parts of comics, the mad stories, the heroes overcoming all odds, classic villains, and a great ending. Check this out.

The art is wonderful as Davis' work alwyas is. The future costumes of the entire cast look familiar but updated. The pseudo-science is great and comic-booky. The kirby influence comes through loud and clear (check out those negative zone flight packs).

Excellent

Forever People #7 (1972)

I have been loving the Jack Kirby Omnibii collecting the Fourth World saga. I'm just now getting to volume 3, and the first issue is Forever People #7. I think what is so fantastic about Kirby is his love of youth and his belief that they could really change the world. In the start of the issue, the youngest gods of New Genesis confront Highfather, begging him to save the Forever People. The FP have been blasted to different points in Earth time by Darkseid's omega beams. Beautiful Dreamer and Mark Moonrider get to visit Ford's theater on the night of Lincoln's assassination. Big Bear gets to see the Romans leave England and inspire the Arthurian myth. Vikyn gets treated poorly by racist Spanish explorers. Poor Serifan is just sitting around fighting off the army of Glorious Godfrey. Each story gets some nice exposure for the characters involved. In each of the stories, I loved how the optimism of the Forever People made them see the best of each situation. Vikyn's love of the unspoiled environment of the Spanish conquest was particularly cool. In the end, Highfather used another wacky high concept, the alpha-bullet that can return each hero to New Genesis. The best exchange of the issue is when Highfather questions Esak about youth "What is it that makes the very young -- so very wise?" Esak replies "Tee hee, it is our defense, Highfather, -- against the very old!!" I love the awkward phrasing and odd punctuation Kirby uses. His work is honestly like it has been run through a language translator.

His art is dynamic and mind-blowing as always. Highfather's chamber on New Genesis is awesome. Kirby's faces do tend to look a tad odd, but man, that energy is unbeatable.

Excellent

Top lists of 2008

For New Year's Day, let's take a look back and a look forward.

Top 5 ongoing series of 2008

1. Thunderbolts
2. Avengers: The Initiative
3. Secret Six
4. Guardians of the Galaxy
   
5. Captain America

Top 5 Marvel characters (as of 2008)

1. Iron Fist
2. Iron Man
3. Cyclops
4. Daredevil
   
5. Wolverine (it hurts to say that)

Top 5 DC characters (as of 2008)

1. Booster Gold
2. Guy Gardner
3. Batman
4. Power Girl
5. Black Adam

Top 5 Writers of 2008

1. Christos Gage (Thunderbolts, Avengers: The Initiative)
   
2. Dan Slott (Avengers: The Initiative, Amazing Spider-Man)
   
3. Matt Fraction (Invincible Iron Man, Immortal Iron Fist, Thor 1-shots)
   
4. Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (Nova, Guardians of the Galaxy)
   
5. Grant Morrison (Final Crisis, Batman)
   

Top 5 2009 Projects I'm psyched for

1. Andy Diggle's Thunderbolts
2. Dan Slott's Mighty Avengers
3. Christos Gage's Avengers: The Initiative
4. Bill Willingham & Matthew Sturges' Justice Society of America
5. Matt Fraction's new take on Invincible Iron Man