I'm usually not about overly talky comics, where everyone just YAMMERS at each other, but this is enjoyable in an old-school Chris Claremont way. You know, where people are actually SAYING something when they talk? Sure, it may be a ton of exposition or restatement of theme or intent, but at least there's content to it. The dialogue isn't just repetition or shouting. They're actually saying something. It's overwritten in a good way.

The plotting, though? NOT great. A solid, action opening gives way to a ponderous middle section, only to have a two-page "cliffhanger" that feels beyond random. It's actually insulting how little set-up Heinberg gives the finale of this issue. Maybe in the trade this unevenness may be less obvious, but as a bimonthly comic, it stands out.

The art, it's okay. Not Jim Cheung's best work. The opening, again, is the best part, with Cheung tearing into a nighttime Avengers/Magneto/Young Avengers fight. The rest is alright, it tells the story without being exciting or anything.

Despite the semi-event status this title's been given (The Shocking Sequel To House Of M! The Return Of Allan Heinberg! Rare Interior Art By Jim Cheung! Bi-Monthly Because It's Worth The Wait!), it's an entertaining, slightly above-average Avengers comic. It's good enough.

Here's my problem. I found this issue of Buffy, with Angel and Spike and destiny talk and helper bugs and sophomoric humor and superhero action and a cliffhanger final page, to be quite good. Fun. Quickly-paced. A solid read.

I could not tell you the plot of Buffy Season Eight if you paid me, though.

Like, the broad strokes? Sure. Who's who and who's good or bad, okay. But how every arc ties together? No way. Reading this issue, I felt like I either a) missed 12 issues of story somewhere, or b) Dark Horse accidentally published stories about Fray and Harmony and Faith and Riley when they should've been publishing stories about superpowers and Spike and Angel.

I've no doubt this last storyline, the Joss Whedon one that wraps up Season Eight, will be fun. But at the same time, how can I give a great review to a book that makes me feel like I needn't have bothered reading half this run?

Like Patrick, all I want is a Wolverine book that I can enjoy month to month. In fact, having a Wolverine book that is not entirely tied to "continuity" is what I enjoy most. Jason Aaron is very capable of giving that to us. He did so in the first two arcs of Wolverine: Weapon X, which this series feels like the next arc of. It probably was, and Marvel wanted a new #1 since Daken and X-23 were getting theirs (how long until Wolverine #300? Like 6 months?). So I am going to give Aaron some slack here on that.

As a story, it's an ok premise. I am far more invested in the character work Aaron has been giving Logan as opposed to the plots of the arcs we are given (which have not been bad at all, just sayin'). I like the Heroic Age twist of Logan being more afraid of having hope than facing darkness. It adds a nice new dimension to him that I have not seen really tackled before. The going to hell plot is not too appealing to me, but when Aaron gets the character right, i am more than willing to give it a shot.

Guedes art, to me, was not bad at all. I just don't think he fits a Wolverine book. Hopefully he gets more of a feel for the book and if he starts adding in some solid blacks and becomes less reliant on the colors to show depth, we can have some nice looking stuff. And yes Patrick, the hair did look a little wonky in a few spots, but I have seen far worse.

You like Wolverine? Buy this. You wondering about coming back to or starting to read about the Canucklehead? Probably wanna start somewhere else. Challengers will steer you right.

"In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally begin living."

That's a pretty good tag line for Walking Dead but I'm not going to sum my review up with a, "Ditto, to that."

Zombies make great stories because its the sum of mankind's worst fears, death, the end of the world as we know it, disease/infection, and cannibalism but all wrapped up in a rotting maggoty package. However, not all zombie stories are created equal. Just as there are different kinds of zombies (slow, fast, smart, and etc.), there are different types of zombies stories. There are the stories that focus on the zombies and their gore, there are some that focus on the cause of the infection, and there are some where people get lots of big guns and go hunting--I'm fan of these but only because there isn't much substance to them, just fun. However, Walking Dead is not like any of these stories.

We put our trust in a lot of things, the internet, our cellphones, the government, our jobs, and TV but what happens when none of that exists anymore? What if all there is to life is living? Well image you were in a coma for a good while and then woke up to world suddenly like that? It's a great plot device and also shattering for a character. It's waking up into a nightmare and that is now Rick's life. Except Rick is a little too hopeful about it all. So what's it going to take to bring this good man down? That's what The Walking Dead studies, the characters and their survival. What are the rules now in a world with no law? What are you willing to live with to keep on living?

I love The Walking Dead, especially the first volume, because its Rick's slow realization that nothing is ever going to be the same and no one is coming to save him or his loved ones. It's taking a zombie story and making it a study of character--making it intelligent. The book forces these characters up against some hard questions and life changing decisions, however, it also makes us look at ourselves and wonder what we would have done if placed in Rick's shoes. And its completely impossible to read only one volume, you'll be hooked after this one, trust me.

I don't care that this is a new #1. I don't care that it's a bold, new direction. All I want is a solid, regular Wolverine book that I can read and enjoy month-to-month. I'm not sure this is that. I have liked most things Jason Aaron has written up to this point (I recommend you all go read The Other Side from Vertigo right now), but this feels like I've seen it before... in Hellblazer, in John Byrne's Fantastic Four, and recent Amazing Spider-Man/current Ultimate Comics Spider-Man stories. We'll see how it plays out, but I always pegged Aaron for a little more originality.

And artistically, well, not a great choice here. Renato Guedes is the stylistic child of a Leinil You and Ian Churchill, and if that description makes you cringe, well it's supposed to. And he constantly does the 'character looking down' view and in doing so greatly over-exaggerates the top of everyone's head. And don't get me started on the way he draws Wolverine's hair. Ugh.

So there you have it, an average start to a book that is supposed to be the cornerstone of the Wolverine Family of books. Color me underwhelmed but still reading.

This is one in a series of new books that don't really need to be published. I mean, it's not in current continuity, but it's also not a classic tale from the past. It's just a slightly different take on Thor and that's why it's a Marvel Knights book. But this review isn't about WHY this comic exists, rather if it's good or not. And... it is... okay. Not great; not terrible.

I love Simone Bianchi as an illustrator, but not as a sequential storyteller. His pages are weirdly designed and laid out. He doesn't use all the space and the space he doesn't use stands out as awkward. But the quality of his actual art is quite good. His Thor costume design, however, leaves a bit to be desired. O

And the story... well, it's the same thing as the art. And interesting overall story, but poorly done. Horrible dialogue but a compelling overall plot. However, the reveal at the end of the book is enough to get me to come back next month.

Who is Power Girl and why is she the coolest? As with most superheroes, Power Girl's past is kind of, well, confusing to say the least. Do not panic, you don't need any of that stuff to read this. You can pick up Volume One and in the first two pages it breaks down the most important things to know, Power Girl is a parallel world Supergirl but much cooler. The cool thing about Power Girl is she never wanted to be like Superman, which is why you see no S on her chest. Sure there is a gaping hole where one should be giving us copious amounts of cleavage but the point is, she wanted to make her own way as a Superhero and not just be 'Superman's cousin from Earth-Two'. She doesn't take anyone's crap and is a natural leader.

That is Power Girl and my quick essay on why she is awesome but that is not why this collection gets 5 stars. I give this book such a high rating because of Amanda Conner's flawless artwork (you could read this book over and over again and still not catch all her little details and jokes). And because this is a superhero comic but done fun. There are times when the story gets close to being dark and there is plenty of explosions and action. However, the bright colors, witty comments, and humorous view on Superheroes and their lives makes everything tie together in a complete (you won't feel depressed two hours later after reading this) package. You watch Power Girl punch out bad guys, go to the bank, negotiate with hot alien chicks, run a multi-zillion dollar company, teach her new pal, Terra, what it means to be a hero, and give her cat a bath. With all the brooding in the comic book worlds it's just nice to have a book that brings a little color and a little hope into the mix. It's also nice to see a strong female character making it on her own in a book without the aid of hunky romantic interest or anything else that.

Interesting! I was wondering what their deal is.

In the name of full disclosure: I have not finished reading the issue. I suspect it will happen before the sun shoots out Earth-ending death rays, but certainly not before I finish writing about how much I hate it.

First: The book is about vampires? Really? Groan. I didn't realize when I bought it that this book was a tie-in to the larger X-Men / Twilight crossover. Had I known I would likely have skipped it altogether.

Second: Man, backgrounds must give Olivetti cancer because he does everything he can do avoid them. Generally there aren't any, and even when there are it's often a copy / paste from a different page.

I mostly just feel like a sucker for falling for Olivetti's art again. I completely forgot when buying Namor that Olivetti had runs on Cable and Punisher: War Journal and that I had hated them both for their photoshoppery.

I do appreciate that the story is very old-timey Namor - mythical and mystical stuff hidden in ocean-floor caves, etc etc. And I love any Jae Lee Namor, so the cover is excellent.

Slight positives do not save the book though from its massive negatives, and so it will be the latest $4 addition to my orphan pile*.

(*= The pile of comics I take with me when driving to crumple up and throw at any orphans I see. Nothing replenishes the soul like beaning a parentless street child in the head with a shitty comic.)

When I started reading the comics (which was after the movie's release was already imminent, but still prior to it) I couldn't get my head around how they'd fit six volumes into a single movie. Maybe they'd split the story in two and hope the box office receipts would warrant a sequel (obviously they didn't and, unexpectedly, they weren't). Otherwise, how could you fit the back story of every ex, as well as the longer arc of every character into a single film?

The answer was apparently to hug the story closely through the first half, and then diverge enough to be able to bring it all to a close in the second. And it worked really, really well. The setup was all paced pretty frenetically, to the point that I started to get nervous that loyalty to the source material was going to ruin the whole endeavor. Sometime after the vegan police though the movie decided to take its chances presenting the spirit of the story without a direct translation. Whether it was the twin's battle, or the glossing over of Envy, or the complete leapfrog of Scott and Ramona's cohabitation, or the final battle, a lot of material was cut to be able to wrap the story up.

The biggest loss was the depth to Scott and Ramona's relationship, and I can totally understand why this would be a disappointment to anyone who read the comic as it was released. I mean, people had to sit with the heartbreak of volume 5's ending for a year and a half before finding resolution in volume 6; just the spacing of the comic's release alone makes the misery worse and the orgasmatronation better.

The movie can't compete with that and so it doesn't even try. The story gets reduced to whats necessary and even though this makes it necessarily more simplistic, it has more than enough going for it to compensate.

As to Dal's point on not caring about Ramona: I know Ramona is worth wanting for a couple reasons-

a) there is a scene in the party where multiple people tell Scott how amazing / cool / unique Ramona is establishing as fact -- outside of Scott's opinion alone -- that she is worth lusting after;

b) Scott dreams about her;

c) Scott is willing to fight evil exes for her.

The last point is a bit of a circular argument -- why is Ramona worth fighting over? because Scott is fighting over her -- but still.

Also, Ramona fights for Scott, which keeps the relationship from being unidirectional.

Last points:

+ Casting. Cera, Winstead, Evans, Schwartzman, etc. Cera is a real different character than the book Pilgrim, but it worked.

+ Visuals, all of them.

+ The musics. All of thems.

+ It's actually shot in Toronto, and not in a it's-Toronto-but-lets-pretend-it's-somewhere-else kind of way. There was a subtle acknowledgment of that as well during the Chris Evans scene - there's a backdrop of NY that reveals the CN Tower when Evans punches Cera through it. As a kid who lived in Toronto for some years as a kid, that was exciting.

+ Michael Jane high five.

- Losing the subspace aspect of the plot, mostly.

- The awkward moment at the end where it Knives was presented as an option.

- It just kind of ends.

All in all, the movie is great, great fun that I could see times over.

It's not a BAD comic, this issue of Weapon X. It's a bit of a eulogy for Nightcrawler, as Wolverine takes of Kurt Wagner's last wishes. If you've got a huge investment in the Wolverine/Nightcrawler friendship, this pays it off okay.

The problem is, this doesn't pay off ANYTHING from Wolverine: Weapon X, and man, this is the FINAL issue. I actually had to double-check that Jason Aaron wrote this. It feels like a fill-in. I mean, how often was Nightcrawler even in this title? Like, twice? Of the three storylines Jason Aaron did on this title, none of them were ABOUT Nightcrawler. So why devote your FINAL issue to a character relationship that never factored into your series?

The whole issue feels like a bit of a shrug, a bit of, "Sorry this series didn't work, sales-wise. Let's try again with a new #1 next month, okay?" No Ron Garney, none of the supporting cast (okay, just that SF reporter) that Aaron introduced, no Doctor Rot, no anything that appeared in the first 15 issues besides Wolverine. If this is all Aaron wanted to do with his final Weapon X issue, I'd have rather he ended it at #15.

Four stars! For Brian Bendis' New Avengers! The most superfluous book Marvel publishes! I'm as shocked as you are.

But, man, this book earned it. In all the ways that the last two issues were poorly paced and repetitive, this one was (lame Victoria Hand opening scene aside) brisk, clever, gripping and all-around fun. Things happen, the New Avengers feel like a team, Iron Fist gets to be awesome and clever(-ish), the big bad gets revealed... it's a really strong issue of a book that I was ready to dismiss.

There're still flaws, though. Half the team is incidental at best, forgotten at worst. That Victoria Hand scene is the BIGGEST Bendis cliche. While the mysterious villains are generally well-written, there's a couple points that Bendis does his Bendis patter and it's so jarring you'll do a double-take.

I don't have any faith that this issue isn't just an aberration, and next month'll be an "all standing around, all talking over each other" extravaganza, but this month wasn't. This month was good fun. Credit where credit's due.

At this point, I'm incredibly glad with where the Thunderbolts are going. With the entirety of the cast participating at one point or another in this issue, you can tell that every character has found their own voice in the team lineup. At this point, I've even gotten used to Walker's strange facial expressions and I very much like his ultra-bulky builds. The two-page action sequence was gorgeous in terms of choreography, with a fluid, intense spread. Easily my most unexpectedly best book of the week.

coming from a casual view of the movie(never read the books)Scott Pilgram was a solid 4 star movie. Its was a movie perfect for those of us into videogames,comics or even music. THe visual was great, i couldnt ask for more. Miceal Cera was pretty perfect for this role, HIs apperance just fit. HE made the comedy in the movie that much funnier. The scene where he jumped out the mwindow was priceless. I found each of the exs pretty interesting besides the twins, the movie didnt spend much time on them. I was informed by Patrick in the book they used robots. Are you kidding me how did that not make it in the movie. That would have been hirlirous. My favorite battle was the third one. I mean it was a bass battle figuring im a bassist myself that was epic for me. But that lead into the music part of the movie. Which was great i cant help but to hope there a soundtrack for this movie. Some negatives was scott ex Envy. While it gave us a look on Scott pass, after her bassist was defeated she wasnt seen again. I was kinda hoping for a Envy vs Ramona fight. All around this movie from a casual viewer was great i would see it again and again and still laugh my hardest. So this movie gets a 4 out of 5 for being a great movie but apond finding out there things from the book that could have made it better its only gets 4.

P.s Knives was awesome and the gay roomate was the easiest way to get a laugh out of me.

I thought the cover was cute.

I agree with 100% of what Dal said, but I give it an extra star due to the following:

1: The visuals. I was worried that the comic thing would get old quick, but it didn't. Just fantastic.

2: Casting of the Vegan police. Thomas Jane? Hilarious. Only thing better would have been Pegg and Frost. A 1 minute bit, I know, but still great.

3: The deviations. (Young) Neil being a little more fleshed out was great, Knives being at the end was great, and the way the one up was used was awesome. Oh, and the Nega-Scott was great as well.

Now, the romance thing was the films major downfall. The best parts of the movie were when it felt like an Edgar Wright film, not a Scott Pilgrim book. I do credit Wright with bringing so much to the screen and still having the book gags work in the movie. Though, he is the director and co-screenwriter so he is at fault for the romance not working within the context of the movie. To be honest, at the end I felt like Scott should have stayed with Knives and let Ramona go. This was less the development of Scott and Ramona's relationship than Scott having to grow up, with Ramona just as the catalyst.

Also, Crash and the Boys are my new favorite bad.

I love the book series, but the film mostly didn't work for me. I'm not entirely certain why, but I've got some theories.

1) TOO LITERAL - So much of the books made it to the screen, even if it shouldn't have. Specifically, it's awesome to see Envy, but if all you're going to do is "bitchy ex", man, why bother? All that Demonhead stuff ate up time that could've (should've) been spent developing Ramona and Scott's relationship, which...

2) WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT RAMONA? - The biggest problem the books had was making Ramona feel mysterious without being evasive, cryptic without being withholding, a girl that you can see Scott getting obsessed about. In the movie, she's super cute, but so bland and disinterested that I don't know why Scott would go through any of the trouble to be with her. I know a lot of people (me included) were nervous about Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim, but he's good in this. It's Mary Elizabeth Winstead who's the weak link. Her Ramona, which should be so frustratingly charismatic that you'd fight 7 evil exs to be with her, is all blank looks and shrugs. She's barely worth writing that sentence for.

3) ABBREVIATED TIMELINE - It feels like the whole movie happens over a weekend. There's a frantic pace to everything, which turns the "epic romance" into "quick fling". Why should I care what happens to Ramona and Scott if they just met?

There's probably other things if I though longer about it, but the gist is: great fights, mostly funny jokes, I don't care about Scott and Ramona. If the "romance" part of this romantic action-comedy actually worked, it'd be a 4/5 star movie. Since I didn't care who got together with who at the end, 2/5 stars.

I was starting to become concerned that the relaunch of Birds of Prey with Gail Simone would undo her awesome work in the previous volume. This issue got me back on in a big way. This issue not only may be one of her finest comics ever, but it got the book back to being a perfect comic.

In one issue, The sniveling Black Canary that the DCU had for the last three years went away, Oracle does some awesome rescue action, Huntress snarls, and Dove does something that has been needed for decades. This initial story arc felt a bit padded, with too much focus on Hawk, but I'm very happy where Simone went with her nods to her own continuity and the larger demands of the additional cast. There was comedy, tears, insane action, and guys looking dumb when they get macho. In other words a perfect comic.

The only way this could get more awesome if there was a way to swap out Hawk for the Renee Montoya Question and Manhunter.

I was one of those folks that can honestly say that I buy Superman comics, but I never expect them to be relevant or even good. Many a writer (Johns, Robinson, Loeb, Jurgens, Byrne, Etc.) try to make the character readable and I have found that in most cases a lot of talented people could not top Alan Moore's three great Superman Stories or Morrison/Quitely All Star Superman for its nerve for it's humanity and grace.

I might be very close to being corrected. JMS and Eddy Barrows are creating a Superman story that regular people can read and understand. I'm amazed that DC is letting this story happen, but in this second issue where JMS is exploring the notion of a man trying to find a nation may not be new territory for Straczynski (Midnight Nation) but its new to Superman who is removed from his trappings and working in the world, and relating to regular people and attemptingto use the Sci-Fi trappings to solve real world issues. The story is quiet and subtle. This will be a run that if people give it a chance, the story will be considered one of the best runs for the character.

I was feeling that this series would be the weakest of JMS's DC work, and I'm more than happy to be proven wrong.

One of the things that made brand new day worth reading was the "fun" of the stories. That is, even when the stories were dark they were relatively unburdened by Amazing Spider-Man's years of continuity. The worst stuff brand new day brought us was that ben reilly/kane garbage. I don't mind if a story harkens back to past continuity to offer an extra bit of fun to old readers but use of continuity hurts a book where, as with the clone stuff, you needed to have read those books to appreciate what was happening (and if you did read those books, you probably resented having to relive that torture).

Well brand new day is over and it looks like the moratorium on continuity-infected minutia has been lifted. Instead of the clone saga, here readers get to relive something they might even hate more--one more day. I mean, one more day was terrible, but I was okay with it because brand new day allowed me to move on quickly and enjoy some fun spidey stories.

That was the deal marvel. I don't go rabid fanboy on you, sell my ASM collection and renounce the entire Spidey line (like many did), and you let me forget about the printed vomit that was one more day and enjoy some good spidey books.

You broke the deal! Here it is, back again! And with Joe Quesada's annoying art as well! Seriously, as much as Stan Lee's writing is dated and hokey, his 2 page story with marcos martin is like A BILLION times better than the main book. Paolo Rivera's flashback art attempt to save the book but it doesn't really help.

Skip this one and wait until you hear spider-man is good again. Or just read Spider-Man/Fantastic 4 (entirely and brutally bogged down with continuity, but it looks damn pretty!).