After some time off for the Penny Arcade Expo as well as Fan Expo, we’re back with reviews.  We’ve got two weeks worth of comics this week.  It’s always great to come back from a trip and your pull box is filled with quality comics.

Monthly Comics

Blackest Night: Batman #2 – It’s Batman, Robin, and Red Robin versus a bunch of zombie Black Lanterns.

Cable #18 – The series is ok, but become pretty redundant.  Cable and Hope run for the issue, Bishop gets close, repeat next issue.  The story hasn’t really moved anywhere, except into space.  It’s like it’s just waiting for something big to come along, like the next crossover, for the next major step in the series.

Dark Avengers/X-Men: Exodus – It’s the Dark Avengers and Dark X-Men vs. the X-Men for the fate of mutantkind.  An excellent end to the mini-event and a definite defining point for the “X” universe status quo.

Dark Reign: The List – Avengers – In an eerie echo of “Civil War”, Norman Osborn decides there are problems in the world that need fixing, and begins to put together a “to-do” list.  At the same time Clint Barton decides he must kill Osborn.

Dark Reign: Young Avengers #4 – The two Young Avengers team deal with each other as the series rockets to it’s conclusion next month.  One of the better Dark Reign spin offs.

Deadpool #15 – The last two issues have been lacking, and this issue is only half a step better.  What has clearly been a transition arc, we’ll give this series a stay of execution until next month.

DMZ #45 – Matt announces to the world that Manhattan is a nuclear state as the consolidation of power in the DMZ begins.

the Flash: Rebirth #4 – If you understand the Speed Force and the Flash mythology, this series will make a lot more sense to you.  The latter half of the comic started to make more sense to me with an attempt to make the back story easier to understand.  The first half, pure gibberish.

Green Lantern Corps. #40 – The Corps. must deal with the Black Lanterns as new leadership is chosen and a tenuous cease-fire is declared between a member of the Star Sapphires and a member of the Sinestro Corps.

Immortal Weapons: Bride of the Nine Spiders – I still need to catch up fire me.

Incognito #6 – The first arc of the series comes to a close.  Not the best Ed Brubaker has done, but still far better than what’s put out by most folks.

the Invincible Iron Man #17 – Stark’s intelligence continues to drain out of him as he continues to run from Osborn.

Irredeemable #6 – 99 cents got me into the series and I’m glad they were smart enough to throw that price tag on issue number 5.  All caught up, I have to say this is one of the more entertaining series out there.  How do you fight a man with god like powers, the ultimate super hero gone rogue?

Kick-Ass #7 – There’s something about a little girl killing mobsters that makes me grin.  We learn the truth behind Hit-Girl and Big Daddy as they’re interrogated along with Kick-Ass.  This is Tarantino doing comics minus the witty banter, just the violence.  Here’s hoping the movie lives up to the series, cause it will kick ass.

the Marvels Project #2 – Ed Brubaker weaves the tale of the beginning of the Marvel universe.  I highly recommend it.

Secret Six #13 – The team must choose sides.  Do they free the Amazons, or not?

Strange Tales #1 – Marvel allows a bunch of different artists to take a shot and do whatever they like to an epic fail.  This is just not my cup of tea other than the contributions from The Perry Bible Fellowship, both of those pages had me laughing.  I should of gone with my gut and not purchased it.

Thunderbolts #135 – Songbird and the Black Widow are on the run as the Thunderbolts close in.

Unknown Soldier #11 – Moses and Jack pick sides and head to the charity benefit event as we learn more about Moses’s life.  One of the best series out there.

the Unwritten #5 – A stand alone issue focusing on real life authors Clemens, Kipling and Wilde shows that Tom’s father isn’t the only writer with shady dealings.  Also the exploration of words abilities to define reality and spread propaganda and greater themes is explored.  If you are a fan of literary history at all this is a must read series for you.

War of Kings: Who Will Rule? – In a short event, DnA have given us a political allegory reflecting upon current events, and in this one-shot we see the bigger picture. The War of Kings asked how far one would go to protect a people mirroring the Iraq War and this one-shot addresses the post-war “peace.”  New rulers must rise, as chaos ensues in a conquered land with an even greater threat is just over the horizon.  This is the perfect end chapter for the War of Kings event with fantastic hints as to what we can expect in the future.

X-Men: Forever #7 – The X-Men deal with S.H.E.I.L.D. as we catch a glimpse of the past between Fury and Logan.