I get to spend the day trying to figure out what’s going on with the Captain America 2 filming around the corner from my office, how about you?

Around the Tubes

Bleeding Cool – Karl Urban Says A Dredd Sequel Is “Not Off The Agenda” - It’d be cool if it happened.

MTV Geek – Top 10 Best ‘Star Trek’ Comics You Need To Read – No idea if this is a good list, for those interested…

Bleeding Cool – The Ridiculous Legal Challenges Against Jupiter’s Legacy - Geek fans battle in 3…2…1…

Around the Tubes Reviews

Comic Vine – Doomsday.1 #1

CBR – Dream Thief #1

Comic Vine – Fatale #14

Comic Vine – Gambit #12

Comic Vine – Nova #4

Comic Vine – Red Hood and the Outlaws #20

Comic Vine – Regular Show #1

ICv2 – Resident Alien Vol. 1: Welcome to Earth TP

Comic Vine – Star Wars: Darth Vader And The Ninth Assassin #2

MTV Geek – Strange Attractors

Comic Vine – Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #23

Comic Vine – X-Factor #256

The story behind this image will leave readers in tears! What could possibly drive Miles Morales to abandon his role as Ultimate Comics Spider-Man? Find out this May, in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #23!

ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #23
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
Art & Cover by DAVE MARQUEZ
ON SALE MAY 2013!

The weekend is almost here, yay! But more importantly, the election is almost here and we can be done with all of these ads! Yay!

Around the Blogs

The Beat – Publishers Weekly Announces Best Graphic Novels (and Best Books) of 2012 – There’s two months to go with some great releases, a bit early?

Around the Tubes Reviews

Talking Comics – American Vampire #32

Talking Comics – Ghosts #1

CBR – Swamp Thing Annual #1

CBR – Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #16.1

Talking Comics – X-Men Legacy #275

Checking out what’s coming out this week, there’s a lot of solid books to choose from. After a lot of internal debate, I have to go with Daredevil #18 as this week’s pick. Mark Waid‘s run on the series has been classic and the combination of amazing artists makes this one of the best comics out there by any publisher. There’s few series all the reviewers can all agree on, but it’s pretty unanimous that Daredevil is a series that has to be read and should be read by everyone, and yes it’s that good.

• Daredevil #18 – see above
• Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #15 and Ultimate Comics Ultimates #15 – Marvel has made their Ultimate universe, the one where anything can happen and everything does. You want a universe where everything is on the table? Here you go.
• Revival #3 – Image Comics has a huge hit which is as much philosophical as it’s a “zombie” comic. One of my favorite of the year.
  
• Extermination #4 - BOOM!’s post apocalyptic alien adventure has been a great ride, a slow one, but entertaining enough to get me coming back each month wondering what will happen next.
• Irresistible #3  – Zenescope has an interesting series here, where a man becomes as the title says irresistible to women.
  

It’s a new week and we’re counting down to San Diego Comic-Con 2012!  Anything folks are looking forward to?

Around the Blogs:

ICv2 – $70 Million in Digital Comics – Wow, that’s a huge number.

U T San Diego – Graphic novel prepares deploying corpsmen – I should read my copy.

The New York Times – In New Digital Comics, Each Tap Holds a Surprise – Should be interesting to see where digital goes over the year.

IGN – Spider-Man Tracking to Wall-Crawl Past $125M – Should be interesting with the holiday.

Bleeding Cool – When Maurice Sendak Wanted To Blow Up President Bush – Holy shit.

The Comics Reporter – CR Sunday Interview: Ed Brubaker – A good interview.

Around the Tubes Reviews:

CBR – Before Watchmen: Comedian #1

Bleeding Cool – Dark Avengers #176

Pop Decay – Dark Country

Boing Boing – Daybreak

CBR – Planet of the Apes #15

Talking Comics – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #11

Cambs Time – Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man – Scorpion

Talking Comics – X-Factor #238

Ok, I slowed down in the whole catching up on my reviews thing… but back to it and hopefully I’ll totally be caught up by the end of June… if not sooner.

Age of Apocalypse #2 – The remaining resistance is on the run and Jean Grey and Sabretooth’s role is still up in the air.  The series is solid and different, with some solid art.  The series is different enough to stand out from the rest of the “X” books.  I missed the original Age of Apocalypse, so this’ll do for me.

Story: 7.75 Art: 8 Overall: 7.75

American Vampire #25 – Scott Snyder’s series is amazing and this issue ties so many threads together.  I can’t wait to see what he does and what he has in store for the series.  I can’t get enough of this series and it absolutely shows off why Snyder is one of the best writers out there.

Story: 8.5 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.5

Animal Man #8 – The battle against the Rot continues as Animal Man and Swamp Thing are going to team up and collide.  The series shows that the Vertigo feel can work and work well in the modern DC universe.  The art is solid on top of it.  This is one of the best series to come out of DC’s relaunch.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8

Avengers Academy #28 – The team up with the Runaways continues and there’s a bunch I like, and a lot I don’t.  The series just feels like the B-team for Avengers.  We’ll see where it goes, but hopefully post Avengers Vs. X-Men the series will get a nice shake-up.

Story: 7.25 Art: 7.25 Overall: 7.25

Avengers Vs. X-Men #1 – This is it?  There’s some great build up and tension, but the old quote about sound and fury signifying nothing stands out to me.  It’s just one issue, but I hope there’s more to it all than just this.  The art is pretty solid, but overall, pretty meh so far.

Story: 7.75 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.75

Batman: Detective Comics #8 – While the art is pretty decent, I think the story really shows how excellent Snyder’s Batman is compared to this inferior series.

Story: 7 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7

Batwing #8 – We find out the identity of Massacre.  I can’t say I’m shocked.  The ending to the first arc is ok.  It’s not quite the solid series it was when it started, but still a nice addition to the Bat family.

Story: 7.5 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.5

Brilliant #3 – A debate rages as to how to handle the discovery as the FBI attempts to put together what happened.  This series feels like a tame Mark Millar series.  Without the swearing and over the top violence.  Not sure if that’s a good thing… either part.

Story: 7.25 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.25

Chew #25 - Tony is captured and this series shows why it’s one of the most creative and original ones out there.  The story is as off the hook as can be expected and art entertaining as usual.  A series that should be on everyone’s pull-list.

Story: 8.25 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.25

Danger Club #1 – The adults are away and the children will play.  The adult super heroes might be dead, so the kids have taken over.  The series just has awesome punch to it with solid art.  It’s not totally original, but it’s damn entertaining.

Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5

Daredevil #10.1 – A great point one that introduces Daredevil to new readers and catches them up on information you know.  I’m loving the Omegadrive story.  Watching the groups after it attempt to get it is beyond entertaining.  Mark Waid is at the top of his game with this series and the art is amazing.

Story: 9 Art: 9 Overall: 9

Fairest #2 – The art is fantastic and story solid in this spin-off from Fables.  Two issues in and you can see the series falls more into the fantasy end of things, picking up on some threads left from the main series.  It’s only two issues, but it’s two solid issues.

Story: 8.25 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.25

Fear Itself: The Fearless #12 – So, Hellstrom is a bad guy in this book, but a good guy in Circle of Four and Journey?  Get the characters straight!!!  There’s some interesting stuff set up here, but overall, this twelve part series was a mess.

Story: 6 Art: 6.75 Overall: 6.25

New Mutants #40 – Douglock fights Ani-Matter and I yawn…

Story: 6.5 Art: 6.5 Overall: 6.5

Red Lanterns #8 – Take this story and switch the color to a different Corps… does it make a difference?  No, not really and that’s where the story fails for me.  Red Lanterns should have an animalistic feel to them and here they just come off like a bland version of Yellow or Green.

Story: 6.75 Art: 7.5 Overall: 6.75

Secret Avengers #24 – A cool story still with the team taking on various cyborg like beings in the Marvel universe that have come together.  It’s a somewhat original story, and the art is pretty solid.  I think the series is finally finding it’s footing.

Story: 7 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7

Stormwatch #8 – The team takes on a pretty huge threat and Midnighter makes a hell of a decision.  The series is finally getting good for me, and hopefully it continues on this pace.

Story: 7.75 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.75

Swamp Thing #8 – A series that’s been more Vertigo and horror than superhero swings the superhero way as Swamp Thing goes after the Rot in the beginning of a hell of a battle.  Compared to past issues, the issue is just ok, but it’s one piece of a much bigger and excellent story.

Story: 7 Art: 8.25 Overall: 7

Thunderbolts #172 – The renegade Thunderbolts fight the original Thunderbolts in a pretty typical battle issue.  There’s some potential here, but so far it’s pretty average but still somewhat entertaining.

Story: 7 Art: 7.25 Overall: 7

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #9 – Miles meets the police and his uncle comes calling when he runs into trouble.  The series continues it’s excellence as a new Spider-Man still gets his act together.  The art is great and story solid.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8

Venom #15 – Flash must deal with the last few weeks and his getting up and heading to Vegas.  His personal life is unraveling while he deals with having been attached to Venom so long.  The series is getting back into the swing of things focusing on Flash’s personal life as much as the superhero.  That’s when it’s great.

Story: 8.25 Art: 7.5 Overall: 8.25

Wolverine and the X-Men #8 – The kids head off to find God (not really) while Wolverine deals with his getting beaten down at the Casino.  Meanwhile the Hellfire Club hires Sabretooth to give them some tips which leads to Sabretooth fighting Beast in an awesome fight.  The issue is all over the place and pure amazing.

Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5

The 2012 Glyph Comics Awards winners have been announced and Princeless has walked away with numerous awards.

The complete winners are:

Story of the year: Princeless, by Jeremy Whitley and M. Goodwin (Action Lab Entertainment)

Best writer: Jeremy Whitley, Princeless (Action Lab Entertainment)

Best artist: Sara Pichelli, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man (Marvel)

Best cover: Chew #27, Rob Guillory (Image Comics)

Best male character: Miles Morales, Ultimate Spider-Man; Brian Michael Bendis, writer, Sara Pichelli, artist; inspired by the character created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (Marvel)

Best female character:  Adrienne, Princeless; created by Jeremy Whitley, writer, and M. Goodwin, artist (Action Lab Entertianment)

Rising star award for best self-publisher: Whit Taylor, Watermelon

Best comic strip or webcomic: Fungus Grotto, by Ms. Shatia Hamilton

That’s three week’s of reviews taken care of this week.  Getting closer to catching up.

Age of Apocalypse #1 – It’s the last remaining humans versus Weapon Omega and a world full of mutants.  It’s the reverse of the 616 in a way and while I missed the Age of Apocalypse the first time around, the writing style, voice and art have me wanting to come back for more.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8

Animal Man #7 – The battle along with Swamp Thing is growing nearer as the Rot continues to hunt Animal Man and his family.  The story is solid as expected and it’s the fright along with the quiet moments that makes this series great.  Vertigo has come to DC and damn is it good.

Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5

Avengers Academy #27 – Part one of the Runaways’ visit to Avengers Academy starts with a stereotypical fight and looks like the second part will be one too…. sigh.

Story: 7.25 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.25

Avengers: the Children’s Crusade #9 – After so much build-up.  After so many delays, the final issue of this mini-series is kind of a let down.  Not much really happens other than events being set into motion concerning Iron Lad and what happens to Vision, but really it’s all to neat and tidy when the vents leading up to it and depicted during were anything but.

Story: 6.75 Art: 8.25 Overall: 7

Batman: Detective Comics #7 – The story involving Penguin’s Casino is over and I’m all mixed up as to what the hell is going on.  Too many Batman comics with not enough distinction.  The stories seem to blur together a bit and that’s not a good thing.

Story: 7 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7

Batwing #7 – We find out the horrific thing the Kingdom did and really, it’s impact just didn’t hit me.  But.. the fight heads to Gotham.  What’s it say that Batwing has to run to the other “white” Batman and friends to solve his issue?  Doesn’t really make the character stand on his own….

Story: 7 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7

the Defenders #4 – The first arc is over, but that doesn’t mean the story is over.  There’s a dream machine and Strange doesn’t know what it does and how it works.  The issue really focuses on Strange and his history and a lot of potential of what the story could be.  Lots of hints of excellence, but it doesn’t quite work for me.

Story: 7 Art: 7 Overall: 7

Fairest #1 – Spinning out of Fables, what ever happened to Sleeping Beauty?  Ali Baba is the Prince of Thieves in search of treasure and this first issue harkens back to the quality of early Fables comics.  So good.

Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5

Hell Yeah #1 – It’s the last generation of heroes and there was a lot of buzz about this book and there’s a reason.  It’s so good, Hell Yeah lives up to it’s name.  The comic has great art and the story has me very interested.  Such a solid first issue that shows why Image is one of the most buzzed about publishers.

Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5

The Manhattan Projects #1 – Jonathan Hickman’s latest series is so interesting involving the Manhattan Project and how that was really a front.  The ideas are so out there as expected, Hickman knocks it out of the park with this first issue.  The art is interesting and not quite to my liking, but overall the series is a great read and absolute buy.

Story: 9 Art: 8 Overall: 9

Night Force #1 – What the fuck did I just read?  This is really only for hardcore fans of whatever came before.

Story: 6 Art: 7.25 Overall: 6.25

Rachel Rising #6 – Wow.  A slow burn of a horror series that seems to only get better with each issue.  I really wish more people were praising the series because it deserves the mass exposure a certain other horror comic series is getting.

Story: 9 Art: 8.5 Overall: 9

Ralph Wiggum Comics #1 – The things that come out of Ralph’s mouth are some of the best things ever said on The Simpsons.  He’s easily one of my favorite characters.  I was giddy when I heard about this series and it’s as funny and innocent as I expected.  I had a smile on my face the entire time and was laughing out loud.  So much potential, so much fun.

Story: 9 Art: 8 Overall: 8.75

Red Lanterns #7 – Atrocitus still searches for Krona so Bleez decides to take the Red Lanterns on a mission.  Then there’s the Red Lantern of Earth, who of course lashes out and fights Guy Gardner.  For all good there is, there’s also so much bad…

Story: 7 Art: 8 Overall: 7

Stormwatch #7 – The series is so close to being something great, but it just doesn’t quite do it for me.  I’m still reading hoping it’ll get there.  It shows improvement, but still not there yet.

Story: 9 Art: 8.5 Overall: 9

Swamp Thing #7 – The Green is under assault by the Rot and Alec must choose what he’ll do.  Does he become the Swamp Thing or does he let the Rot win.  Here’s what we’ve been waiting for… the decision.

Story: 8.75 Art: 8.75 Overall: 8.75

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #8 – Miles and his uncle have a talk while the Scorpion is after the Prowler.  Miles is still dealing with his new role as others are adjusting to the news of a new Spider-Man.

Story: 8.25 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.25

Uncanny X-Men #8 – The Tabula Rasa story is over and I’m sure that’s not the last we’ll see of it.  Overall a poor follow up to X-Force’s story that created it, but interesting concepts.  The art is still very uneven.

Story: 8.25 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.25

Venom #14 – The battle in Vegas is over thankfully… such a bad story arc.  Here’s hoping the series gets back on track.

Story: 6.5 Art: 6.75 Overall: 6.5

Villains for Hire #4 – And with that, a good concept comes to an end.  So sad as the Heroes and Villains concept had a ton of potential and the Heroes version was a lot of fun.  This ending was a bit convoluted, but still entertaining.  We’ll see if there’s any lasting impact to this all.  I hope there is.

Story: 7 Art: 7 Overall: 7

Winter Soldier #3 – Not as quite good as Cap stories of the past, the series is slowly finding it’s own voice and coming together.  Bucky and Widow have to break into the Latverian Embassy to have a chat with Von Doom after figuring out who is behind all the activity they’re tracking.  There’s a lot of action here, but the comic stands out when it slows down and focuses on the characters.

Story: 7.5 Art: 8.25 Overall: 7.5

Wolverine #302 – Wolverine struggles against mind control, what a shock.  His battle with the Hand continues and gets noticed by the Hand’s leader Wilson Fisk…  The story is ok, but the art is sub-par.

Story: 7.5 Art: 6.75 Overall: 7.25

Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega #3 – And the point to this miniseries is?  I really need to learn to not buy these.

Story: 6.75 Art: 6.75 Overall: 6.75

X-Men #26 – Wow is the art bad in this issue.  Storm looks anorexic in the majority of panels.  The story is so-so, but really, I kind of hoped someone would stake Jubilee and get this story arc over with.

Story: 7 Art: 6 Overall: 6.75

Getting closer to catching up with reviews….

All-Star Western #6 – The mystery of the abducted children is solved as Hex and Arkham’s adventure comes to a close.  Hex is now heading to New Orleans which should be fun and interesting.  The series so far has been decent and I’ve enjoyed it being tied together with the modern DC universe, a nice touch.

Story: 7.75 Art: 8 Overall: 7.75

American Vampire #24 – We get more of a background of how events got to where they are.  I’m loving the setting, action and how this arc is plotted out.  Solid stuff and I’d expect no less from Scott Snyder.

Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5

Aquaman #6 – Mera goes food shopping, and things progress as you’d expect.  The story is predictable, but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining.

Story: 8 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8

Avengers Academy #26 – We find out who and sort of why Reptil was sent back from the future, and it’s not what I expected.  The series hasn’t always been great, but it’s moving in the right direction to get there.  Getting better with each issue.

Story: 7.25 Art: 7 Overall: 7.25

Batman: The Dark Knight #6 – Bane is back and I can’t say I like this pumped up version compared to what we last saw in Secret Six.  This is just a hulking behemoth with no thought or depth compared to a rather complex character that grew from the 1 dimensional character he sprung from.

Story: 6.75 Art: 8.5 Overall: 7

Captain America & Bucky #627 -The story is cool in a retro sort of way, but that’s how he takes down Captain America?!  With a hug?!

Story: 7 Art: 8 Overall: 7

Chew #20 – Olive Chu goes on a mission and learns more about her abilities.  As usual, the story is over the top and so much fun.  This series is a must buy for every.

Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5

Fantastic Four #603 – The Fantastic Four and Galactus take on the Mad Celestials as the story continues to come together.  What’s been years in the making is finally coming to a close and the big picture is clearer.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall:8

The Flash #6 – The new Captain Cold?  Really don’t like.  The story though is ok and always great art.

Story: 7 Art: 8.25 Overall: 7

Green Lantern: New Guardians #6 – Interesting concepts, but not the best execution.  Lots of potential here that’s not being met yet.

Story: 6.75 Art:7.5 Overall: 6.75

I, Vampire #6 – The story is amazing and just full of holy shit moments.  This is one of the best series to come out of DC’s reboot.

Story: 8.75 Art: 8.75verall: 8.75

Justice League Dark #6 – Six issues to just get to this point… sigh.  I’m really only reading this for the I, Vampire crossover.  So much potential..

Story: 6.5 Art: 7 Overall: 6.5

The Mighty Thor #11 – The trolls attack as Loki figures out what’s going on and their plan is revealed.  Just in time for the new Asgard to launch too.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8

New Mutants #38 – Doug visits the island where he died.  If you’re not a long time fan of the New Mutants, you probably won’t care, just like me.

Story: 6.5 Art: 7 Overall: 6.5

Secret Avengers #23 – Venom joins the team which doesn’t go over so well.  Is it just me or is Hawkeye way more dickish in this series?  Still, the series is finally finding a voice of it’s own, took long enough.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8

Teen Titans #6 – Licking their wounds after the fight with Superboy, there’s a fight that seems to be pointless as others work to help Kid Flash.  Oh yeah, a mystery is thrown out there too.  Not a bad series, but like the rest of the DC reboots, it’s losing my interest.

Story: 7 Art: 8 Overall: 7

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #7 – General Krang needs Splinter and Stockman sends Mousers to go fetch him.  The series continues to be awesome in every way.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #7 – The fact he’s Spider-Man hits Miles as he heads out to see the extent of his power.  At the same time his uncle is up to something…. The series still has a lot of fun to it, even though the art isn’t quite as solid as it once was.

Story: 7.5 Art: 7 Overall: 7.5

Uncanny X-Force #22 – I thought the Otherworld setting was bad enough, now Weapon III is thrown into the mix.  This great series has dropped in quality quickly.  I can’t wait for this story arc to be over with.

Story: 6 Art: 6 Overall: 6

Venom #13.3 – Wow, is this story bad.  The fact that it’s weekly is just hurting the wallet too.  There was some hope this would be a good event, but can’t say it’s anything knew that hasn’t been seen before.  This great series has gone off the rails.

Story: 6 Art: 6.5 Overall: 6

Wolverine & The X-Men #6 – Wolverine is trying to get money for the school, folks are trying to help Kitty out and Kitty is trying to save herself.  So many different stories and all of it pretty damn fun.  It’s not quite as solid as it’s been, but still an entertaining and original story arc.

Story: 7 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7

X-Men #25 – The X-Men and vampires holding Jubliee meet up and of course fight due to a misunderstanding… how original.  Then something sort of original happens.  Still, not a great plot.  I wish someone would just stake Jubliee and get rid of the character.

Story: 7 Art: 7 Overall: 7

X-Men: Legacy #262 – The battle with Exodus continues and they stop to talk during the middle of it, cause that’s smart.  The story is the typical battle, nothing original really and the art isn’t up to snuff for me.

Story: 6.75 Art: 6.75 Overall: 6.75

Around the Blogs:

Bleeding Cool – Grant Morrison, Darick Robertson, Mark Millar, Frank Quitely, Steve Niles, Howard Chaykin,Tony Harris, Scott Morse, Brian Wood, Ming Doyle, Nick Spencer, Riley Rossmo Announcements At Image Expo - Lots of news coming out of Image Expo.

The Beat – More Scenes From Image Expo - Guess I should have gone.

The Beat – How Many Pages of a Digital Comic Get Read In One Sitting? – Interesting info.

Around the Tubes Reviews:

CBR – Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #7

CBR – Wolverine & The X-Men #6