While San Diego Comic-Con is going new comics are still being released.  Here’s this week’s books.  Find out which you can skip and which are must reads.

Monthly Comics

Age of Heroes #3 – Marvel continues to spotlight lesser characters with this limited series.  This time is Victoria Hand, Sharon Carter, Maria Hill, Blue Marvel, Taskmaster and Squirrel Girl.  The beginning story with Victoria Hand, Sharon Carter and Maria Hill was ok, but the whole cold this was a bit silly.  The Blue Marvel story was a missed opportunity to really use him and the Taskmaster story was cool and revealed a series staring him starting in September (which we look forward to).  The Squirrel Girl one pager was so bad, in that in the end it turned into an advertisement for Disney’s Disneyland, Marvel’s new owner.  So early in the new venture, that was a bad editorial decision, even if meant as a joke.  Overall, a big meh.

Story: 6.5 Art: 7 Overall: 6.5

Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #2 – Spider-Man and Wolverine continue their trip through time as we get hints as to who the villain that’s sent them on their journey is.  We’re also introduced to Doom the Living Planet.  A very weird, and entertaining journey.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8

Atlas #3 – A reboot and new direction is exactly what this team book needed.  It’s one of the best series to come out of Siege. Atlas and 3D Man continue the search of who the mysterious beings with three eyes are.

Story: 8.25 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.25

The Avengers #3 – The Avengers must deal with the fracture in the time stream as they deal with versions of themselves from a possible future where some of the team are a part of Apocalypse’s Four Horsemen.  The read is entertaining and at times really fun, but some of the dialogue in the first quarter was really odd at times.

Story: 7.75 Art: 8 Overall: 7.75

Black Widow #4 – Black Widow continues to track down the man who’s framing her.  The series deals a lot with her past and actually suffers from the month break between issues.  I have a feeling when this is over, it’ll read better as a trade than single issues.

Story: 7 Art: 8 Overall: 7

Brightest Day #6 – The questions keep coming and little answers are given, though we are given the history of Mera.  The issue mostly focuses on Martian Manhunter and Deadman and their return.  That’s about it.  Overall, a solid issue.

Story: 8 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8

Dark Wolverine #88 – It’s Daken versus Frankencastle (the man he sort of killed).  An ok issue, and for the most part a long and drawn out fight.  I do think Daken as a character has a lot of potential that just hasn’t been fully seen yet.  We’ve gotten lots of glimpses though.

Story: 7.25 Art: 8 Overall: 7.5

Deadpool #25 – Deadpool wraps up his Vegas vacation as his whole plan comes together.  As usual, pretty entertaining.  The best thing about the issue is the joke about 3D on the front and back cover.

Story: 7.75 Art: 8 Overall: 7.75

Green Hornet #6 – Kevin Smith keeps hitting it out of the park with each issue.  We meet the rest of the Green Hornet’s team, and his training begins.  The issue has a great mix of action and humor and the issue is pretty much the montage part of the movie where the great training music begins.

Story: 9 Art: 8.5 Overall: 9

Marvelman Primer – A very helpful issue to introduce those unfamiliar with the character and his history with the upcoming reprints by Marvel.  The only frustration comes from the fact that where Marvelman fits into the greater Marvel universe is left unexplained.  And the history is a bit glossed over, though there’s a decent recount of the lawsuits involving the character, DC and Fawcett.  The more “modern” history isn’t covered at all but there is a brief mention of the darker take on the character.

Story: 8 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.25

The Marvelous Land of Oz #8 – I still haven’t caught up, but I’ve read good things about the series.

Story: ? Art: ? Overall: ?

The New Avengers #2 – Out of the two Avengers books this week, this one was much more entertaining as the team must deal with a few of their friends possessed by demons.  What’s great about the series is that it picks up on what was being set up for a while by the various Doc Strange and Doc Voodoo mini-series.  The plots they were building up to had a lot of potential and bringing it all over to such a high profile series was a nice way to create a book end for many open threads and plots.

Story: 8.25 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.25

New Mutants #15 – The team takes a break and some much needed r&r after the events of Second Coming.  But of course it’s an “X” series, so rest doesn’t last for long.

Story: 7.5 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.5

Thunderbolts #146 – The team heads out on a mission and the must decide still figure out their whole dynamic when things go awry.  A very entertaining series.  The new team is awesome so far with some great personality conflicts.

Story: 8.75 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.75

True Blood #1 – It’s the comic book adaptation of the hit television series based off of the hit book.  The first issue throws us right into the weirdness with a Native American deity trapping everyone in Merlotte’s.  I had some issues with the issues but what was especially irritating was that there’s little given as far as the story background (which is fine) but every character is introduced by their full name.  If you’re going to write for people who know the series, why the last names?  It was very odd, but overall very ho-hum.

Story: 6.5 Art: 7 Overall: 6.5

The Walking Dead #75 – Absolutely awesome, the series again turns in a direction you weren’t expecting in this pivotal issue.  There’s also a fantastic color back up story that’s hilarious as well as photos from the upcoming television series.

Story: 9.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 9

X-Factor #207 – The team gets their next gig as Rictor and Shatterstar have a frank discussion about their relationship.  Peter David has no problems when it comes to pushing boundaries and it’s great to see.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8

Graphic Novel

Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour – Bryan Lee O’Malley’s end cap to the beloved comic book series and soon to be motion picture.  We’ll have a full review when we complete it.