A great week of books with a little something for everyone.  Super heroes, comedy, epic crossovers, charity, and some cerebral books all hit this week from varied publishers.

Monthly Comics

Blackest Night: Batman #3 – We know the deal when it comes to the Blackest Night limited series, the dead rise, the heroes must deal, rinse, repeat.  Batman and Red Robin must deal with the animated corpses of their parents in this final issue of the limited series.  Overall, ho-hum, not much of a needed read when it comes to the bigger story.

Story: 6 Art: 8 Overall: 6.5

Deadpool #900 – I know what you’re asking, really Deadpool has done 900 issues!?  Well, the answer is a simple no, but if anyone should hit that number first it should be the man Marvel is attempting to prop up as the next Wolverine.  In fact, next month sees the launch of his third monthly series with Deadpool Team-up #899.  If you’re a Deadpool fan this issues is worth the hefty $4.99 price tag as it’s thick.

Story: 7 Art: 7 Overall: 7

DMZ #46 – Now that Parco has declared to the world that the DMZ is now a nuclear state, is Matty finding what he wanted in new leadership.  Is Parco the person he thought he was and can lead the DMZ in the proper direction?  And will the world stand by as a new nuclear power is declared?  As always, Brian Wood brings an excellent entry in his fantastic series.

Story: 9 Art: 8 Overall: 9

Fables #89 – Bufkin must deal with Baba Yaga and the free Genii as Mr. Dark continues his plan for the former Fables town.  The recent horrible crossover is out of our memory as the series is well back to it’s fantastic form as it marches towards issue #100.

Story: 9 Art: 9 Overall: 9

Green Lantern Corps. #41 – All those months getting to know the Corps. individual stories has paid off as their histories have come back to haunt them.  While the limited series lack, something, the main Blackest Night story along with Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps. are the top notch story telling and art you’d expect.

Story: 8.5 Art: 8 Overall: 8.5

Liberty Comics #2 – The second issue of this comic series that raises money for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.  The CBLDF is a wonderful organization that defends free speech and has defended comics for more than 20 years.  This second issue contains submissions from numerous creators and for the support of a wonderful organization alone is worth the purchase.  While it’s rated an 8 all around it’s a must buy just for the charity alone.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8

the Marvels Project #3 – Continue to witness the early history of the Marvel Universe and the rise of the superhuman in this series written by the talented Ed Brubaker.  My biggest enjoyment is the circle being completed with the inclusion of some great early Marvel history such as has been revisited in Marvel’s other series The Twelve.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8

Secret Six #14 – The team must deal with the slavers as the Amazons make a break for it.  Not quite the usual top notch witty banter and story telling but a decent issue still.

Story: 7 Art: 8 Overall: 7.5

Uncanny X-Men #516 – Magneto pays a visit and wants to talk to Scott as we learn where his newly returned powers have come from.  While this issue is much better than recent past issues, I have a feeling the greater story will be much better than this one issue (however this seems like a very vital piece of that puzzle).

Story: 8 Art: 7 Overall: 7.5

Unwritten #6 – One of the best comics currently on the market, if you enjoy cerebral writing at all, this should be part of your monthly purchases.  Tom has to deal with the mass murders and stand trial as he’s accused of them.  Historical writing and modern blogging clash in this brilliant series by Mike Carey and Peter Gross.

Story: 9 Art: 8 Overall: 8.5

the Walking Dead #66 – Who’s worse, the killers, or the killer’s killers?  Robert Kirkman’s series isn’t about the zombie horrors that plague the landscape, but the horrors the survivors must commit.  As usual, brilliant, and one of the best books out there.

Story: 9.5 Art: 9 Overall: 9.5

X-Men Forever #9 – The X-Men’s enemy becomes a little bit more clearer as they take on some Sentinels.  If you were a fan of the 80’s and 90’s X-Men this series succeeds in giving a nice throwback feel.  It’s entertaining and a “buy” if you enjoyed that era, but if not, it’s a “pass”.

Story: 7 Art: 6 Overall: 6.5

X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #1 – Agents of Atlas were the stars of their own critically hailed series that suffered in sales as a series like it would be expected to.  While the series is on hiatus, Marvel has decided to do what worked in the 90’s and bring the X-Men in an attempt to drum up some interest.  My suggestion would be to just produce quality product like this issue and you won’t need stunts like this to begin with.

Story: 9 Art: 9 Overall: 9

Graphic Novel

Noir: A Collection of Crime Comics – Noir is the new super hero and zombie.  Dark Horse throws their hat into the ring in the genre with a pint size comic collected short stories from various comic artists such as Brian Azzarello, Gabriel Bá, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and many more.  Some of the stories are better than others, but overall the package is nice, entertaining, and worth the money.  It might not be my first suggestion if someone was looking for a good comic noir read, but it’s definitely worth the buy if your a fan of the genre.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8