4-year old reviews Tiny Titans #18

I don't like it that Starfire wasn't in it. It was ridiculous when Coach Lobo and the other loved donuts. Those kids aren't all bad because Robin is there. Robin is good. I don't like the Monitor. He was too mean. Those guys aren't kids. Mud man likes mud. Darkseid changed the lightbulb dark. I like this guy (ed. note - the Anti-Monitor). He had a fight with the Moditor (sp). I like Batman's sign. I like the joke sections. I sure remember the jokes.

Teen Titans #73

There are no "anchors" to this new Teen Titans lineup. Blue Beetle and Wonder Girl are essentially the core cast now, but I'm afraid they just don't provide the team with enough of a heart. I always believed that I like the 2nd and 3rd tier characters best, but I'm finding that with the Titans, at least, that level of character is not enough. In fact, the team seems rather incompetent, with Blue Beetle barely coming up with a plan to stop the "Fearsome Three" from escaping from prison.

There are some neat parts to the issue, like the Hammerhead shark man and the puns around taking him down, but for the most part, this is generic comics #101. It could be that with the new Fearsome Five showing up next issue, we'll get more straight-forward super-heroics next issue. I'm afraid I don't find it very exciting when the main conflict is a team against a force-field (and a relatively incompetent team at that). Setting the whole thing up with a flash-forward to yet another dead Titan just makes this silliar. There is no way this story is good enough to be made "important" with the death of a Titan.

Joe Bennett's art is a good fit for the title. His take on the team looks good, with Meltdown and Blue Beetle looking particularly good. I liked his new character designs too. Hammerhead guy and the two new members of the Fearsome Five all had nice looks and "fit" in the Teen Titans world. This actually gets a bump up from Poor due to the art.

As for the Ravager backup, wow. That is one slow burn.

Average

Secret Six #12

Wonder Woman comes off kind of rough in the newest chapter of the DCU's most vile super-team. I suppose we can excuse WW's behavior since she thinks that Artemis is dead when she arrives, but I was still surprised when WW threatened to make Deadshot into a eunich if he attacked. Gail Simone writes WW in her own book, is this how tough WW appears in that?

Naturally, Deadshot attacks anyway and gets taken out pretty quick. As always, the greater threat forced the Six to put aside their differences and team up. After Jeanette turns into a true banshee (while she does, she looks like classic Superman baddie the Silver Banshee) she successfully drops WW. It was surprising, but it worked into the story just fine since Artemis is of course, not dead, and the Six are able to get back into their employers good graces by turning WW over. It seems the villains have a pretty bad dude chained up in the basement; the devil himself. The DCU's devil looks a lot like Marvel's Jackal villain. It will be pretty fun if this is the real deal, but in any case, this guy looks like trouble.
I will admit I was disappointed when Scandal asks Bane to get back on the Venom so that he can bring his full power to bear. Poor Bane just can't catch a break.

Nicola Scott rocks this issue. Her Wonder Woman looks fantastic and the fight against the Six has some wonderfully unique perspective shots that really made the fight memorable. Scott's take on the new Banshee and Devil characters looks great too.

Good

War of Kings #6

DnA wrapped up their sci-fi epic nicely, finally delivering the huge brawl we all wanted; Vulcan vs. Black Bolt. Much of the issue shows this fight in detail. You know things are getting hard core when Black Bolt actually has to speak on more than one occasion. Vulcan brought everything BB could handle, and it was fun seeing such powerful characters battle it out. Even after BB shouts directly at Vulcan, seemingly killing him, Vulcan rises a few moments later and starts ranting about how as an Omega Level Mutant, there is no way to kill him. The battle ended with a huge explosion, probably taking both characters off the board for a bit. Pretty cool stuff.

The other stars of the issue are probably the folks who will end up leading their respective factions after the War of Kings. Gladiator of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard strides into the streets, carrying the Imperial Scepter after it was dropped by Lilandra. He is immediately greeted by cries of "Majestor!" What a cool idea. The ultra-loyal Gladiator may end up leading the Empire he has served so long. It is a fantastic idea that I can't believe took this long to get to. As for the Inhumans and Kree, the issue ends with Medusa wracked with anguish over her husbsand's death (as I said, that won't stick though). Crystal is standing strong after taking action to stop BB's over-reaching plan to forcefully mutate the galaxy with the Terrigen Mists. I think Crystal and her husband Ronan will be the leaders of the Kree after this. Cosmic Marvel is going to be an interesting place for awhile!

Paul Pelletier brought the house down with the violent collision between Black Bolt and Vulcan. The fight atomized their surroundings and Pelletier did a great job portraying the raw power being thrown around.

Good

Captain America: Reborn #2

Ed Brubaker isn't exactly moving along at a whirlwind pace in this limited series. This issue gave us more of Steve Rogers' point of view as he continued to jump through time. I do think Brubaker has Steve's voice down, Cap sounded familiar and likable, even if he did resort to a little cussin'. Bucky Cap and Black Widow take on Ares and Venom, and it is fun seeing that one of those things is not like the others; Ares is the real deal. He took out Bucky pretty easily and I believed it, while I had a harder time accepting that Venom could actually defeat the Black Widow.

There was no real develoment with the Red Skull or Arnim Zola, the real mastermind for this issue was Norman Osborn. Osborn informed the press of Sharon Carter's culpability in Cap's death, making her a wanted woman. He then informs Bucky and Widow that if Carter doesn't turn herself in, she will be responsible for the death of more than one Cap. It's intriguing stuff, and I have to think that Osborn has some sort of plan that can get Rogers' returned and prepped to be taken over by the Red Skull. Crossbones and Sin did show up briefly, so I'm thrilled that their story isn't over yet.

Bryan Hitch and Butch Guice do a great job with the art once again. The sequence with Master Man was tremendous, with Cap doing some nice aerial acrobatics to drive MM two stories down into a parked car. Hitch definitely does well at the widescreen action. I'd say the art nudged this up from a high "Fair" to "Good."

Good

Fusion #3

I find it highly suspect that DnA did much more than consult on this "story." They are credited as writers, but in the three issues of this limited, there hasn't been very much happening. Four VERY out-of-date teams ran around and fought in some splash pages, nothing really changed, no one learned anything, although I learned that "ultra-sapiens" sounds like ridiculous. I never really understood Ripclaw's relationship to the Venom symbiote or how they related to the Hunter Killer guy with undefined powers. This was one confusing mess and I really hope that my favorite writing team didn't come up with most of what was actually published.

Tyler Kirkham has that Top Cow house style down, with lots of cross-hatching and sort of a sketchy look, except when there are iconic poses to be had. I'm really wondering if there was anyone clamoring for this team-up or for this type of story. I definitely would not have read it if the Mighty Avengers hadn't shown up, and as it is they did very little and barely seemed in character.

Poor

Immortal Weapons #1

Holy cow this was a lot of fun. Having a big doofus like Fat Cobra to build a story around lets Jason Aaron cut loose with the ideas. Fat Cobra has commissioned a man to write about his life, from birth to the present. Due to huge amounts of alcohol, Fat Cobra can't remember his own history.

As you can guess, Fat Cobra has lived a very interesting life. In fact, Aaron has so many ideas that he has to cram each great idea into only one panel. These are concepts that frankly could support whole series or limiteds. C'mon, who doesn't want to read about Nick Fury and Fat Cobra battling Russian werewolf-cosmonauts on the Moon or Union Jack and Fat Cobra vs. Nazi Vampire Ninjas? The whole issue is like that, with ideas coming a mile a minute that just make Fat Cobra cooler and more fun. Aaron tried to go for the heart when we find out that Cobra's kids all teamed up to kill their irresponsible Dad, but instead he killed them. By the time the story gets there, Cobra is clearly a man with no boundaries. Trying to tie him down with that sadness just didn't feel right. But Aaron took care of that too, having Cobra drown the memories of the book in wine as he burned the manuscript. Cobra will be just as we like him in his next appearance.

A few different artists tackle the different parts of Cobra's life, and they all do nice work. The ball is in your court, Marvel, how about a Fat Cobra ongoing? Legends of Fat Cobra? Fat Cobra Classified? I can only hope the next Immortal Weapon book is this good.

Excellent