Comic Reviews for the last week of December!!

So we're in 2008 now but I still have a few comics from 2007 that still need some reviewing. This is also the end of the weekly comic reviews. Starting this month I'll be getting my comics once a month, maybe every other week. We'll see. So at either the beginning or end of the month I'll do a monthly review. Also as a special treat all of the comics I read were good and none will get less than a 3 star review.

Avengers the Initiative #8: This is one of my favorite titles right now. It's also one of the best new series of 2007. For those of you not in the know this series is about the training camp for all government registered super heroes in the Marvel Universe. For the first 7, actually 8 if you count the annual we've seen lies and more lies from the "heroes" running this training facility. Most of the recruits aren't too good either. However, this issue is when everything is starting to fall apart. How? We don't know yet. All we know is that long time hero, scientist and wife beater Hank Pym aka Yellow Jacket running for his life at microscopic size through all sorts of death and destruction. We see a flash back of sorts of the beginning of the initiative up to a week before the begining of the issue. The issue ends with Yellow Jacket staring up at the reason of the mayhem. Who is it? I don't know. It's some crazy looking guy with KIA engraved on his chest. I could go on and on about this series. THe writer, Dan Slott, does a great job of adding more and more charcters to this series with each issue. Some old some new. He gives each one a distinct voice and you never feel like you're missing anything. The unique art by Stefano Caselli is a nice touch that completes this series. ****

X-men #206: This is chapter nine of the Messiah CompleX. This story will end in January after four more chapters. The X-men are still in a pickle. Some have died, some are wounded, some are lost. This issue ends with a possible betrayal by Bishop who had not been seen in this story as of yet. Of course we won't know if he has betrayed his team untill the next issue. But the last page with Bishop standing over the bodies of Cable and Forge with a gleam in his eye holding a smoking guns signs are pointing to traitor. ****

Giant Size Avengers #1: This is an big comic with little odds and ends stories from the various periods in the Avengers' long history. The stories are being shared by three current Avngers' members; The Wasp, Ms. Marvel, and the Black Widow. All three who are in bikinis most of the time. The various stories are all light and fun. Probably the best of the lot involves Spider-man getting a crash course in what it means to be an Avenger by Captain America and Iron Man. This issue also has reprints of some classic Avengers stories as well. ***1/2

Green Lantern/Sinestro Corps: Secret Files #1: After the few months of the Sinestro Corps story in the pages of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps we get this comic filling us in on all the characters invovled with Green Lantern. I usually pass these issue that tell you about characters and fill you in on other things associated with a particular character. However there are tons of artists involved with this issue. So each character is drawn by a different person. They also get a quick blurb so you're not reading a whole page about some random alien with a green lantern ring. There is also a comic about Morro, the crypt keeper for the Green Lanterns, in the middle of the issue. It's an enjoyable read for anyone wanting to keep up with Green Lantern after reading the Sinestro Corps story. ****

Green Lantern #26: This week was a Green Lantern double whammy. We follow several Lanterns dealing with the after shock of the Sinestro war. We also see the beginnings of the Guardians of the Galaxy's newest project, the Alpha Lanterns. Geoff Johns does a great job with keeping the title interesting. Artist Mike McKone is a great replacement for previous artist, Ivan Reiss. ***1/2

Countdown #18: After months and months, Ray Palmer has been found! One main story of this series was the search for Ray Palmer, the Atom. Ray has been missing since issue 7 of Idenity Crisis in 2005. He is aparantly the only one who can stop the Great Disaster from happening. What is the Great Disaster? We don't know exactly. But the Atom is the only one who can stop it. This issue we see where Ray has been this whole time. We get a great little character piece on an already intersting character. This is one of the first payoffs of Countdown. Here's to hoping that they continue. ****

Book of the Week

Amazing Spider-man #545: I never thought I would enjoy the last chapter of One More Day. What has been a whiney, angst ridden chapter of Spider-man's history finally is over. So is apparently is the marriage of Peter Parker & Mary Jane. They sold their marriage to Mephisto, a devil, to save the life of Aunt May who was shot by a sniper gunning for Peter. While I don't like this in the least this issue was good. It had some emotional depth. It also sets up for a promising chapter in the life of Peter Parker. He's single again, Aunt May is alive and nobody knows he's Spider-man. Also he and everyone else doesn't know that he was ever married to Mary Jane. I think a lot of people think that this is the new status quo for Spider-man. It is, for now. This month starts Brand New Day. There will only be one Spider-man title, Amazing Spider-man, and it will ship 3 times a month. Each month features a different creative team. If you want my opinion, I think it will be great. I also think that something will happen after about a year and everything will go back to the way it was. This issue also marks the end of writer, J. Michael Strazynsenki's long run on Amazing Spider-man. He's been on the series since 2001. *****

Look out for next month when I do my monthly reviews. I'll throw in some graphic novel reviews and maybe some reviews of older comics.

Well gang that's it, for now.