By Erik Lewis, Lead Blogger
Warren Taylor, Feature Blogger

Hey everybody!  Thanks for stopping by to see what reviews we have for you.  This week was a pretty big one as far as my pull list was concerned, and Warren had a few issues that he read to say something about, so just sit back and let us take you through them.  As always, I pick up my comics at Comics and Paperbacks Plus in Palmyra, PA.  You can find them on Facebook here or here, or you can stop in if you find yourself in Central Pennsylvania. You can also follow me on Twitter, just to see what I think of my books as I read them!  Here's what I got:

Incorruptible #11
Beasts of Burden/Hellboy #1
Teen Titans #88
Green Arrow #5
Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Oracle #1
Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Ras Al Ghul #1
Action Comics #894
Justice Society of America #44
Zatanna #6
Hellblazer: City of Demons #2
Amazing Spider-Man #646
Avengers #6
Secret Avengers #6
Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet #3
Avengers vs The Pet Avengers #1
Captain America #611
Captain America: Patriot #3
Thunderbolts #149
Shadowland: Moon Knight #3
Fantastic Four #584
Incredible Hulks #615
Secret Warriors #21
Klaws of the Panther #2

And here's what I thought:

Teen Titans #88

DC Comics, $3.99
J.T. Krul, Nicola Scott, Doug Hazlewood, Rachel Gluckstern
Review by Erik Lewis
Teen Titans is a book that I enjoyed for a big run back when this current volume started, so I decided to pick it up again starting with this issue to see how it's progressed.  To my surprise, J.T. Krul is writing the book, and it's not surprising because of the quality or anything like that, it's just that he seems to write quite a few of the DC books that I read.  The lineup is fairly standard for Titans, at least as I remember, with Wonder Girl, Superboy, Beast Boy(though he may go by something different now, I'm not sure), and Kid Flash being members I remember from earlier stories, with Ravager and Raven being somewhat new to me.  There's also the addition of Damian Wayne as Robin to the team at the end of the book, which really shouldn't come as a shock to anyone.  Teen Titans is all about younger superheroes looking to find their place, so adding Damian is a natural step, but a welcome one.  There's a lot more drama than I remember, though, and I'm not sure if that's status quo for the book, or if that's something that Krul has brought on, but I suppose the subject matter lends itself very well to drama.  There's a villainous reveal that I can see coming to a head in the next few issues, as per standard, but there's very little action.  I suppose a team book is more about team interaction than action, but I'd kinda like a little more fighting and a little less talking.  The art is decent, although there's nothing too outstanding to write about.  It fits the story, flows nicely, and aside from a few moments, it remains fairly clear throughout.  I guess the bottom line is that the book meets expectations.  No more, no less.  And honestly, I like a little more from my comics.

Batroc's Beard 2/5

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #15

Marvel Comics, $3.99
Brian Michael Bendis, Sara Pichelli, Justin Ponsor, Mark Paniccia
Review by Warren Taylor
Most of the issue of Ultimate Spider-Man 15 is a series of conversations. They’re necessary conversations, but nonstop talking nonetheless. The comic serves as an epilogue to the events of the previous couple of issues where the Chameleon twins impersonated Peter Parker and took over his life. In the process they ended up driving a wedge between his relationship with Gwen and made the world believe that Spider-Man was just another criminal after all. We see the aftermath of those events in this issue, so while it helps further the overall plot, it’s not the greatest jumping on point for new readers. As most of the comic is one conversation after another, the pages never seem dull. This is in part to some very creative layouts. The first four pages are essentially the same image of Peter lying in bed depressed, but he’s having two different conversations with Carol Danvers, acting director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Aunt May. He’s getting some necessary closure in each one of his lives, by the two matriarchal figures of those lives. The driving force of the issue is that Peter needs to talk with Gwen about their relationship. Fake Peter kissed Mary Jane and Gwen saw it happen. Originally believing that the impostor was the real Peter, she was naturally upset. Now knowing the truth, instead of being relieved, she’s somehow convinced herself that Peter still loves Mary Jane based on the Chameleon’s actions. Her reasoning isn’t air tight, but one could argue that it’s the logic of a teenage girl. Instead it only serves to throws yet another unnecessary wrench into Peter Parker’s love life. Heaven forbid he’s actually happy for an issue or two. After never having that oh-so-important clarifying conversation, Gwen leaves the Parker household upset and we don’t know where she goes. It’s a weak ending to the arc from a writer who consistently delivers weak endings. This has been a common problem with the entire series for quite some time. She isn’t a strong enough character on her own to hold any interest – making the ultimate version of her an alt-rocker isn’t enough to define her – but maybe there’s actually a plan for her exit. The writer, Brian Michael Bendis likes to claim that he has the series scripted well in advance so he always knows where it’s going, but if that’s true then the entire world wouldn’t have forgotten that Gwen is actually a clone of the real Gwen Stacey made from the Carnage symbiote. Yep. He should ditch the angle of her hurt feelings and get back to her origin. See, that’s a much more interesting story.

Batroc's Beard 2/5

Thunderbolts #149

Marvel Comics, $2.99
Jeff Parker, Declan Shalvey, Frank Martin, Bill Rosemann
Review by Erik Lewis
Parker's Thunderbolts, so far, has been very good.  Good enough to take a storyline that's a simple tie-in for another book and make it highly entertaining and very readable.  Not only that, but he takes a storyline that, since it's a tie-in, another writer could kind of turn into a write-off issue, making nothing important or with any impact to the overall title happen in the pages, but instead he makes it matter.  Our "heroes" were left ambushed by a secret sect of the Hand known as the Underhand, and overwhelmed by sheer numbers, which has happened a few times in the Parker-written Thunderbolts, but in this issue, they manage to fight back.  In the battle, the two S.H.I.E.L.D. escorts, Fixer and Songbird, are taken out of the fight, and to earn some brownie points, the remaining members decide that they should try to complete the mission on their own, instead of waiting around or making a break for it.  Juggernaut, Moonstone, Crossbones, Man-Thing(or what's left of him), and Ghost pursue the fleeing ninja, with Juggernaut tunneling through solid rock, because as you know, once you get him started he's unstoppable.  We see some interesting interactions, like Moonstone calling Crossbones a crazy racist(which I though was kinda funny, actually), and how Crossbones was changed by the Terrigen mists from the earlier part of Parker's run.  As is pretty much par for the course with Thunderbolts, one of the characters does something less than heroic, which is witnessed by still another character, so I can only assume that that's going to be brought back later.  Shalvey's art style is interesting, in that it's not super-realistic, and is a bit angular at times, but certainly not to the detriment of the overall product.  All the action flows cleanly and there's not a single page where I don't know what's going on, so in all honesty, it's a joy to see.  The next issue should provide a decent jumping-on point for new readers, and I highly suggest that you do read it.  Thunderbolts is always fun, but the circumstances surrounding the book and the creative team are top notch this time around.

Volstagg's Beard 4/5

Amazing Spider-Man #646

Marvel Comics, $2.99
Mark Waid, Paul Azaceta with Mathew Southworth, Javier Rodriguez, Stephen Wacker
Review by Warren Taylor
My primary thought when reading Amazing Spider-Man 646 was “finally, it’s over.” The idea behind the arc was that Lily Hollister’s baby is finally born. For those of you who don’t know, she was Harry Osborn’s ex-fiancée. Their engagement ending because he found out that she was also the villain Menace and could transform back and forth at will. If having a super villain for a girlfriend wasn’t enough, the child she was pregnant with wasn’t his at all, but was actually the offspring of a union between herself and Norman Osborn: Harry’s father, otherwise known as the Green Goblin. That sets the stage for the Origin of the Species storyline where Dr. Octopus will do anything and everything to get his hands … er tentacles on the kid as it’s blood is important to his research because it’s a combination of pure strain goblin serum mixed with whatever it is that’s dosed in Lily. It will be the strongest goblin out there. So, he recruits just about every Spidey villain in the book to help him get it. While that sounds like a great premise, the comic just doesn’t deliver. There’s something off about how it is presented. The last couple of issues we’ve seen Spider-Man literally tear apart New York looking for this missing child. He’s been pushed too far and he’s letting everyone know it. The police can’t slow him down and the villains are terrified of him. At least that’s what the dialogue bubbles say, but I don’t feel that from the book. The speech isn’t witty, it’s forced and the art from Azaceta looks like a High School kid drew it. I know the artist has done previous issues of ASM and he’s worked on a variety of other titles, but his style doesn’t work in one of Marvel’s flagship titles. It also doesn’t help that all of the colors are muted for some reason. If done artistically, it doesn’t look dark and ominous; it just looks dull and faded. We are told that everything in 646 should matter, but it’s hard to find myself caring. Waid’s writing is subpar, that art is abysmal and even the big reveal at the end that Harry is actually the baby’s father, not Norman, doesn’t hit the mark. When we were told the opposite, it was shocking and unexpected. Now that things have been reversed in typical comic book fashion, it doesn’t pack the same punch. Everything about the arc was a letdown and this issue was no exception.

Batroc's Beard 2/5

Hellboy/Beasts of Burden #1

Dark Horse Comics, $3.50
Evan Dorkin, Jill Thompson, Mike Mignola
Review by Erik Lewis
So, if you're not familiar with Beasts of Burden and aren't quite sure why Hellboy is surrounded by dogs and cats, the Beasts of Burden are collection of animals from Burden Hill(clever, huh?) who come into contact with supernatural elements, essentially acting like the feline and canine equivalent of the B.P.R.D.  I've reviewed Beasts of Burden a few times before on the site, and I think I mentioned that it felt a lot like Hellboy or B.P.R.D. stories, so this crossover feels natural.  Mignola gets a "with" credit, so I have a feeling he just kind of steered Dorkin in the right direction considering Hellboy's dialogue, and that's a good thing.  A Hellboy story without Mignola involved in some way just wouldn't feel right to me.  This story is a bit of a continuation of the last Beasts storyline, featuring the girlfriend of the dark magician they killed coming back to try and take out the Beasts once and for all.  Hellboy's in the area, helping the local Amish, for some reason, and decides to follow a dog into the woods.  They kind of gloss over why he makes that decision, and why he can understand the animals when they talk, so the premise of the crossover is a bit shaky, but I suppose when you've punched out elder gods, defeated Rasputin, and been named the king of England, you kind of shrug when a dog talks.  The entire story is well told, with some nice character moments for both Hellboy and Pugs, and it allows both halves of the crossover to shine.  As always, Thompson's art is just fantastic as she conveys a sense of wonder to the animals and manages to mimic the Mignola style fairly successfully on Hellboy.  As a one-shot comic, this is a great read, although it does leave you hoping that they revisit the concept at some point in the future.  The idea of incorporating a talking pug into future Hellboy stories is an appealing one to me, too, just for the sheer ridiculousness.

Odin's Beard 5/5

Guarding the Globe #2

Image Comics, $3.50
Robert Kirkman, Benito Cereno, Ransom Getty, Cligg Rathburn, Thomas Mason, Sina Grace
Review by Warren Taylor
Everything about the second issue of the Guarding the Globe miniseries is fantastic. It’s colorful, dynamic and has a great cast of characters. It’s a wonder why they never made the book before now. As the new Guardians of the Globe are still going around the world on their recruitment drive, they are approached by Lethan, the ruler of Atlantis, who’s having problems with his underwater kingdom. It seems that it’s under attack by the nefarious Octoboss, a being who first appeared in the Invincible main title and has an octopus for a head and speaks like the Hulk. The series really starts to take shape by the end of the comic though, because after his capture at the hands of the Guardians, Octoboss is freed and offered a place on a new villain team called The Order. As this is literally the last page of the issue, it serves as an exciting cliffhanger and helps move the series along. The great thing about the book is that it’s a perfect companion piece to the world of Invincible. Not only do many of the same characters show up, but the art and colors are near identical. It also helps that Robert Kirkman himself, is writing this spinoff so the tone is the same. If you’re a reader of the main title than you should definitely be picking up this series. While some of the characters are homages to other comic books personalities, there are plenty of new faces too. Issue 2 opens with the appearance of Kaboomerang, an Australian hero who throws exploding boomerangs. It’s that kind of tongue and cheek creativity that makes the series great and truly separate it from being another cookie cutter super hero team. The characters are vibrant and full of life, the dialogue is witty and the art is amazing. It will be great to see where the story goes to test the new team in action. There are so many good things to say about it, but above all else, it’s just downright fun.  Reading this book almost makes me sad because it deserves to be more than just a miniseries, it should be ongoing.

Volstagg's Beard 4/5

And that's going to do it for this week.  Be sure to check out the other regular features, Mortals, Take Cover! and The Asgardian Trade Commission.  We also have episode 2 of our podcast available for FREE download, if you didn't get enough reviews here.  Pass it along!  Thanks for reading!

By Erik Lewis, Lead Blogger

So, NYCC is over and that's a little sad, but here at By Odin's Beard we soldier on.  As this week goes on, I'll be posting some con wrapup stuff for your enjoyment, including reports of the con by day, photos, and some exclusive information I was presented with by some of the exhibitors!  For today, though, it's Tuesday, and that means it's time to review last week's new releases.  As always, I pick up my comics at Comics and Paperbacks Plus in Palmyra, PA.  You can find them on Facebook here or here, or you can stop in if you find yourself in Central Pennsylvania. You can also follow me on Twitter, just to see what I think of my books as I read them!  Here's what I got:

Young Allies #5
Incorruptible #10
Amazing Spider-Man: Back in Quack #1
Chaos War #1
Taskmaster #2
S.H.I.E.L.D. #4
Red Hood: The Lost Days #5
Freedom Fighters #2
Brightest Day #11
Thor: For Asgard #3
Shadowland: Spider-Man #1
Batman Odyssey #4
The Boys #47
Baltimore: The Plague Ships #3

And here's what I thought:

Incorruptible #10

BOOM! Studios, $3.99
Mark Waid, Horacio Domingues, Matt Gagnon
I don't remember if I mentioned it when I reviewed Irredeemable, but I was very intrigued by that book and this book on the strength of the issue I received as part of Free Comic Book Day.  They're very much companion books, in that they don't tell the same story, but they tell different sides of the story of the same world.  As I covered in my Irredeemable review, the premise for that book is a Superman-like character who goes on a genocidal rampage, and on the other side of the coin we have Incorruptible, the story of one of the Plutonian's villains who, upon seeing the aforementioned rampage, decides that that's a sign that he needs to go straight and try to keep a balance in the world.  Did I mention the main character's name is Max Damage?  How awesome is that?  Also, his sidekick is a teenage girl named Jailbait.  It's sort of tongue-in-cheek and amusing.  This issue sees Max taking on the Diamond Gang, a white supremacist group who kind of worship the Plutonian.  Jumping in at issue ten leaves some gaps in the story, but Waid does a pretty good job of making it easy to follow, and there are some things that happen towards the end that seem to turn the entire cast upside down, but it's an effective hook to draw me into the next issue, if the rest book wasn't enough.  I have to say, though, I'm not too crazy about the art.  It's a bit cartoony for the cast, and overall not quite right for the premise of a reformed super villain, and as big of a badass as Max Damage is supposed to be.  If you can see past that(I was able to after a few pages) it seems like Incorruptible is a solid book.

Volstagg's Beard 4/5

Taskmaster #2

Marvel Comics, $3.99
Fred Van Lente, Jefte Palo, Jean-Francois Beaulieu, Tom Brevoort
I missed the release of Taskmaster #1 and apparently didn't have it on my pull list for when it came out, so I didn't get to read that until about a week ago, but I was stunned by the setup and the character that Van Lente has given to a character like Taskmaster.  For those of you who don't know Taskmaster, he started off as an Avengers villain who could copy the fighting styles and various skills of the Avengers with perfection.  That's why he has a quiver, the shield you see in his logo, and a sword, he wielded them with the skills of Hawkeye, Captain America, and Swordsman, as well as any other person to ever pick up any of those weapons.  He has photographic reflexes that allow him to copy pretty much anything he sees.  What's interesting about that, though, is the downside that the comic explores.  While he has the ability to duplicate anything he sees, his brain works in a way that pushes everything but the skills he learns out.  It's something that makes sense in the context of the ability, but nothing that I've ever seen explored with the character before.  It's interesting in that it gives the entire story something of a Memento quality.  While you're not trying to figure out the story with the character, you still get this amnesiac character to follow around, and it's really marvelous to see the way he interacts with his world.  To top it off, the art is different than anything I've really seen in that it describes the action very well, and is kind of realistic in some areas, but really unrealistic in others.  It keeps my attention just as much as the story does, and that's a big compliment coming from this story.  Do not miss the rest of this series, or I promise, you will be disappointed.

Odin's Beard 5/5

Red Hood: The Lost Days #5

DC Comics, $2.99
Judd Winick, Jeremy Haun, Michael Marts
I think I've said before how much I don't really like the Red Hood.  If you would have asked me a few years ago about comic book deaths I would have told you that there are some people who just have to stay dead: Gwen Stacy, Uncle Ben, Jason Todd, and Bucky would have topped the list.  Until a few years ago, I would have been against bringing half that list back, unless it were done right.  I think Bucky was done perfectly.  I think Jason Todd was not.  The way that he's portrayed in the comics makes it hard for me to believe that Batman would have ever trusted the kid as a paperboy, let alone a partner.  The way Jason has been written in recent stories: Battle for the Cowl and Batman and Robin, to be exact, has him as an unsympathetic murderer.  Sure, he murders the guilty, but not in a Punisher-like fashion, but more in an unhinged, psychopathic kind of fashion.  Admittedly, we haven't been able to see things from his perspective, so maybe something gets lost there.  That's where The Lost Days comes in, and up until this issue, I didn't really see that.  The story thus far has covered his recuperation after being beaten by the Joker, his relationship with Talia Al Ghul, and his training to become the Red Hood, which shows him on a similar quest as the one Bruce Wayne took at the beginning of his career, just with very different motivations.  You do get to see that Jason's heart is in the right place, it's just that his method and motivations are very different.  With that, I have a new found respect for the character.  It's not to say he's my favorite character, but thanks to Judd Winick, he's no longer a character I despise.  Let's hope that things from this mini can bleed into his next appearance in a Batman ongoing title.

Ollie's Beard 3/5

Chaos War #1

Marvel Comics, $3.99
Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, Khoi Pham, Tom Palmer, Mark Paniccia
An event that's been in the making since the formation of the last God Squad in Secret Invasion finally gets it's official start here, in Chaos War #1.  I made it a point to make sure I had this one in my box, as I am a huge Pak and Van Lente fan, especially when it comes to Herc and Cho.  This story is pretty much a straight continuation of the end of the recent Prince of Power mini, and features some great moments between Hercules and the Avengers, Amadeus and Iron Man, and especially between Amadeus and Hercules.  Seeing Hercules take on the Godheads was a specific joy to read, and maybe my favorite part of the issue, although it's tough to say, because the issue also kicks off with the Chaos King ripping Nightmare in half.  The book continues the proud tradition of sound effects that are less sound effects and more clever truncations of words that describe what just happened, or the characters they happened to(BAAAALDRRR when Balder is punched in the face, for example), a tradition that makes it more of an active reading experience than any other comic I read this week.  I'm a little bit fatigued by the mini events that Marvel has started to do, but I suspect that's only because so far they have all interested me.  I kind of hope the next one isn't one that I feel I have to get, like this, Shadowland, and Fall of the Hulks/World War Hulks were, but honestly, if the quality for this event continues the way it started, I will have nothing to complain about.  That said, the only small problem I have with this issue lies with the inker.  I'd say it could be the line art, but I'm fairly familiar with Pham, and I don't think he could do it like this.  The art in the issue is overshadowed by the dark lines laid out over all of the characters faces, giving them all the appearance of being about 90 years old.  Other than that, though, probably my favorite book of the week.

Odin's Beard 5/5

Now, normally I do 6 books, but I have a lot of other writing to do and I need to get that under way, so the last two titles are going to get a pass this week in favor of writing con reports for the rest of the week.  Check back next week when regular service will resume!

By Erik Lewis, Lead Blogger

So, it's Tuesday evening, and new comics are released tomorrow.  There's a lot I'm looking forward to, but that's not what we're here for.  So, without anything further, lets talk about last week's comics!  As always, I pick up my comics at Comics and Paperbacks Plus in Palmyra, PA.  You can find them on Facebook here or here, or you can stop in if you find yourself in Central Pennsylvania. You can also follow me on Twitter, just to see what I think of my books as I read them!  Here's what I got:

Thor: The Mighty Avenger #4
Amazing Spider-Man #641
Amazing Spider-Man #642
Thor #614
Red Robin #16
Irredeemable #17
Batman #703
Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom #2
Invincible Iron Man #30
Shadowland: Blood on the Streets #2
Daredevil #510
Green Lantern #57
Thanos Imperative #4
Batman Odyssey #3
B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth: New World #2
1 Month 2 Live #2
New Avengers #4

And here's what I thought:

Green Lantern #57

DC Comics, $2.99
Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke, Christian Alamy, Eddie Berganza
I've really been enjoying Green Lantern lately, as it relates to Brightest Day.  I'm very interested to see where the entity tracking is going, and I like some of the development that the characters are seeing, like Carol Ferris in this issue and Atrocitus in recent issues, for instance.  On big problem I have, though, is that in this particular issue(and it was brought to my attention that this has been the case in several recent Green Lantern issues,) the cover doesn't accurately describe the action that takes place in the issue.  I mean, I guess it at least loosely relates, but it would probably work better to attract readers if the cover went more closely with the content.  As for the content, in this issue, Carol Ferris is tracking down the Predator, the entity of the Star Sapphires(power of love, if you don't remember).  I don't know if I missed the issue or if it's before I started reading Green Lantern(I used to be strictly a Marvel zombie), but I'm not too familiar with the love entity, although it seems a little bit creepy to call him "Predator" and associate him with love.  Sure enough, throughout he does nothing to disassociate himself with the "sexual predator" thing that pops into my head every time someone mentions him.  The person Predator possesses is a lonely guy who's stalking a waitress at a casino in Vegas, and promptly upon taking possession, he does what any man knows is the proper way to win a woman's heart: destroy her workplace and threaten her lives and the lives of all those around him.  How is he rewarded?  He gets to make out with a scantily clad supermodel type with a magic ring.  So, very grounded in reality, altogether.  I may be being too critical, though.  Overall, I'd say that the issue is very entertaining, although it feels like the Green Lantern stories have been moving kind of slowly lately, and I'd be more interested to see how they read once they're collected.

Ollie's Beard 3/5

The Thanos Imperative

Marvel Comics, $3.99
Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Miguel Sepulveda, Jay David Ramos, Bill Rosemann
Thanos Imperative continues to be one of my favorite books.  It was great to watch the team that Nova assembled in the last issue go to work, especially when the characters seemed to have the same reaction to some occurrences as I did.  For example, the Silver Surfer made a joke about the Revengers(the cancer-verse equivalent of the Avengers), I was pleased to see Quasar was as impressed and amused by it as I was.  Now, as you may recall, in the last issue Drax killed Thanos.  That part of this issue deals with Drax dealing with that with Star Lord, until Thanos rematerializes, realizing that Death has locked him out of her realm.  If you know Thanos, you know what that means to him.  Distraught over that, he disintegrates Drax.  Now I don't know about any of you, but I could read a comic where Drax and Thanos wail on each other every week, and I did, several times throughout the 90's and early 2000's.  That's not a rip on this book, not in the least.  This is a great comic, and you should be reading it.  With the teaser on the last page, featuring what looks to be Cancer-Verse Wasp, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and Captain America, this title is really entering the home stretch and promising big action to come in the last two issues, I just hope it delivers.  Honestly, I don't see how it can miss at this point, unless the last issue features a terrible ending and terrible art, but the chances of that are less than 3,720 to 1(the chances of successfully navigating an asteroid field, for those of you who don't speak Nerd.)  Sepulveda's art continues to shine in the issue, making everything just pop, and in fact, if the writing were bad and the story were sub-par, his art would be the one redeeming quality.

Volstagg's Beard 4/5

Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom #2

Dark Horse Comics, #3.50
Jim Shooter, Roger Robinson, Chris Warner
It seems like it's been longer than normal since this book came out last, but reading through it, it seems like it was worth the wait.  I don't know if it's a different type of paper they use, but it seems to me that Doctor Solar(and other Dark Horse books, for that matter) have a different weight to them, they seem like they pack a denser story for us to read.  I know I said that the first issue seemed like not a lot of content, but this issue more than made up for that with new content all the way to the letters page and not a single reprint in the book.  It's a fantastic read, too, just for the way that Doctor Solar handles things, although I guess it could be said that he handles things very similarly to how any of us would handle things in those situations.  I like the idea of the reluctant hero, and to me, Doctor Solar is the most reluctant hero of all, only taking on the responsibility because there is literally no one else who can or will, and because he realizes that all the problems that he's encountering are his responsibility as he had a hand in creating them.  Also, I've never seen a hero decide to go back to their day job the way that he does.  Theoretically, he doesn't need to eat, doesn't need to sleep, doesn't need anything that requires cash flow, yet he decides to go back to work at the place where the accident that gave him his powers occurred.  It gives him something that you don't see in a lot of characters today, I guess.  The character also has something very strange about him and the way his mind works.  He doesn't see things the way a normal person might.  He sees no problem with transporting himself through someone's cell phone.  To him it's just the shortest form of travel, no matter how startled the person on the other end might be.  It's an endearing quality, really.  If this book continues to be this good, it's sure to remain on my pull list.

Ollie's Beard 3/5

Irredeemable #17

Boom! Studios, $3.99
Mark Waid, Peter Krause, Matt Gagnon
What I know about Irredeemable comes completely from their Free Comic Book Day issue, which, if I'm not mistaken, also contained the Incorruptible first issue.  Both were extremely interesting premises to me, but somehow I didn't get around to putting this one on my list until now.  Luckily, this issue had a recap box before the comic started that got me up to speed on everything I needed to know to read the issue.  From what I know so far, The Plutonian is a Superman-like character(more an archetype of the super-powered alien visitor than a direct homage of the character) who went on a rampage across the globe, killing something like nine million people along the way, including almost all of his Justice League/Avengers-type team.  In this issue, we get a lot from two former members of that team, one who seems to be kind of a dick, and the other who seems to have his heart in the right place(not to mention an awesome powerset.)  I guess what I liked the best about this issue is the dynamic between the Plutonian and Samsara throughout the book, and the flashback stories that the Plutonian tells about his arch nemesis, Modeus, who is actually Samsara in disguise.  It's a really interesting story that the Plutonian tells about how he figured out that Modeus' motivation, throughout all the years of their adversarial relationship, was a perverted obsession with the Plutonian.  It's something that makes a certain kind of sense if you apply it to other super humans that you read about in this genre of comics, and I think that it's going to make the next issue very fun to read.

Ollie's Beard 3/5

Amazing Spider-Man #641

Marvel Comics, $3.99
Joe Quesada, Paolo Rivera, Danny Miki, Richard Isanove, Stephen Wacker
One Moment in Time comes to an end here.  It's been an interesting story and they've definitely done some inventive things with it.  Now, I'm not entirely sure what the fan reaction has been, but, considering the events that have occurred since One More Day, I think it's a very fitting way to wrap up the loose threads from that.  I have to say, I think this was handled better as a "missing chapter" kind of story than anything I've read recently has been, in that understanding One Moment in Time wasn't essential to understanding any of the recent Spider-man stories, it was just supplemental to the Brand New Day and One More Day stories.  Now, with Peter and MJ dealt with, everything leads very nicely into the next story, Origin of Species, which was also out this week, for some reason.  What I liked the most throughout the entire series was how epic everything felt.  From the first issue right down to the cover design for this issue, you could tell they were trying to do something special.  The way they interjected reprinted pages and panels from a comic that was out 30 years ago was a very inventive way to tell a story that was modifying that continuity.  The entire thing felt very emotional, especially if you've ever been through anything like this before(minus the spider powers, super-powered bad guys, and assassination attempts, of course), and what it all boils down to is a story about Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson.  You could take away all of the out-of-this-world type stuff and it would still be a good story because of that foundation in the characters.  And that's always been Spider-Man's strong point, his character basis.  So bravo to Quesada for getting it.

Volstagg's Beard 4/5

Thor: The Mighty Avenger #4

Marvel Comics, $2.99
Roger Langridge, Chris Samnee, Matt Wilson, Nathan Cosby
I talked, at length, about the recap pages that this book uses the last time I reviewed it, but I just want to say one more time that they are, by far, the most effective way to recap everything I might have forgotten since the last time I read the book that I've seen in a comic so far.  That said, this book, in total, is one of my favorite books on the stands right now, and that's saying a lot.  I've really learned not to judge a book by it's cover or rating in the past year, and I owe a lot of that to this book, Pet Avengers, and Thor and the Warriors Four.  As you can see from the cover, the big selling point of this book is the inclusion of the Warriors Three, Asgardians Hogun, Fandral, and Volstagg(whose mighty beard is the #4 spot on my ranking system).  They come to get Thor to relax for a little bit, and to gauge the progress he's made in the task that his father set out for him, but that he can't remember(I don't know if this was in the book already or not, but I'm willing to bet that Loki is behing the reason he can't remember what he's doing on Midgard).  They have fun, and let us in on the fun too, and it's easily the best book I've read where the action isn't really the central focus of the story.  I think my favorite part(aside from Samnee's gorgeous art) is the moment between Brian Braddock's friends where it's discussed that they know he's Captain Britain, they just pretend not to notice.  I think if that stance regarding secret identities were adopted in more books, comics might be more fun.  Now, with the Warriors Three already guest starring, I have to say that I wasn't expecting Captain Britain too, but it was a nice surprise.  I really like it when a book like this, as an ongoing, can take a break from a main story and show a story like this one, and I like that this book kind of stays away from sweeping arcs, or at least has so far.  Anyway, I should say that if you're not reading The Mighty Avenger, you're missing out, but you know that already, so go buy it if you haven't.  Every issue, at least so far, is a great starting point for new readers.

Odin's Beard 5/5

Well, that's it for this week's Single Combat.  Did I miss something great this week?  Tell me in the comments, or find me on Twitter.  I usually do good with responding.  Until next week!

By Erik Lewis, Lead Blogger

Well, it's Tuesday, so that means it's a review day.  Sorry for missing the Asgardian Trade Commission on Sunday, but I was feeling under the weather.  It's bound to happen from time to time.  So, without anything further, let's get on with the reviews!  As always, I pick up my comics at Comics and Paperbacks Plus in Palmyra, PA.  You can find them on Facebook here or here, or you can stop in if you find yourself in Central Pennsylvania. You can also follow me on Twitter, just to see what I think of my books as I read them!  Here's what I got:

Avengers #4
Shadowland: Moon Knight #1
Heroic Age: Prince of Power #4
Justice League of America #48
Invincible #74
Guardians of the Globe #1
Green Arrow #3
Fantastic Four #582
Secret Warriors #19
Captain America #609
Batman #702
Namor: The First Mutant #1
Thor #613
X-Factor #208

And here's what I thought:

Invincible #74

Image Comics, $2.99
Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ottley, Cliff Rathburn, Fco Plascencia, Sina Grace
Ok, first thing I want to say, and I feel very justified in saying it since it fits with the theme of the site, is that Viltrumites have awesome mustaches.  I don't know much about the Invincible universe, but it seems to me that a lot of Viltrumites have them.  It could be a genetic thing explained in an earlier issue, it could be an aesthetic choice, it could just be a coincidence, but I sincerely want to believe that it has something to do with being a full-grown adult male in their society.  Ok, moving on.  Invincible has been on my radar for quite some time now.  Back when it started I wasn't able to get comics as regularly as I would have liked, but I knew Kirkman from reading Battle Pope, and I knew the guy had what it took to write a good series.  When I was able to start buying regularly again, Invincible seemed like it was too far along to jump in, although that may have just been an excuse to stick with Marvel and DC.  With Guardians of the Globe coming out this week too, though, I figured it was as good a time as any to start buying this title.  Now, I've read the first trade, so I know who Invincible is, I know who Omni Man is, I'm familiar with Allen the Alien, and I have a general idea of the back story, but even with only the most rudimentary understanding, this book is so much fun.  I realize I cam in on the tail end of a story arc and and that may not be the best place to judge a book from, but it seems to me that there's not a preponderance of plot, and the action seems to flow fairly well from one sequence to the next.  To top it all off, everything about the book just looks fantastic.  Pencils, inks, colors, I don't think I've seen a better looking book recently.

Volstagg's Beard 4/5

Batman #702

DC Comics, $2.99
Grant Morrison, Tony Daniel, Mike Marts
This is the conclusion to the missing chapter of Batman R.I.P.  I've said it before, I'll probably say it again, but telling a story that you have to go back to more than a year after it's published is probably not a good way to write that story.  The biggest problem that I have with this particular story is that it's supposed to clean up the R.I.P. storyline and any problems that it might have had while touching on how it tied in to Final Crisis, but it doesn't feel clarifying at all.  It feels disjointed, as if told by a mental patient, and it just muddies the waters even further.  At this point, I kind of feel as though Grant Morrison could write anything he wanted to, like, say, a garishly dressed, mostly crazy Bruce Wayne who's really an alternate personality that Bruce created in case of emergency(wait a minute...) and he could get away with it.  In all honesty, I kind of want to like what he's doing with Batman, but I guess it comes off seeming more like a story less suited to Batman and more suited to, say, Dr. Strange.  But, then again, I'm the guy who generally enjoys Kevin Smith's Batman, so I'm not sure exactly what that says about me.  I will say that I do actually enjoy Morrison's take on Batman and Robin in their book, so maybe I should give the guy credit and say that the story being told in R.I.P., Final Crisis, and the Missing Chapter is just a little out of what I look for in a book, and I guess that's ok.  In spite of what I think of the story, the art is fantastic, so that's one thing the book has going for it.  For Batman as a title, I'll pick up one more issue, if it's more of the same, I think I'm done with it for a while.

Batroc's Beard 2/5

Namor: The First Mutant #1

Marvel Comics, $3.99
Stuart Moore, Ariel Olivetti, Jeanine Schaefer
Ok, so I've been excited for this for a little while because I really like Namor.  He's always been a favorite of mine, and I also usually enjoy Olivetti's art.  The book does look pretty good, although I'd say the look does feel a little bit off, and the story, well, I tried to take it seriously, but there's so much ridiculous stuff.  First off, the whole "Curse of the Mutants plotline seems a bit contrived.  I mean, seriously, vampires?  Second, there's the whole "first mutant" thing.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we decide that Apocalypse was the first mutant?  Wasn't he around in Egypt?  The whole book is just covered with contrived dialogue, from the dying member of Namor's royal guard who gives Namor a grim warning about the foes he's about to face, to every single line he exchanges with the children of that very same guardsmen.  Maybe hackneyed dialogue is something  he passed down genetically?  If so, those kids better warn their kids, maybe get them checked for something.  I think the most laughable part, however, was when Namor, just after being attacked by a vampire squid(I'll let that sink in.  Vampire...squid), he says "This volcano is dormant.  But something inside of it calls to me.  To my royal blood."  I couldn't type that without stopping for breath, I was laughing so hard.  I don't think I've seen an attempt at natural dialogue go so far south before.  It's like the writer was trying to convey Namor as having regal mannerisms, but the script just got away from him and ended up sounding ridiculous.  Anyway, I'd have to say that you should avoid this book like the plague, unless you like reading bad comics.

Superman's Beard 1/5

Guardians of the Globe #1

Image Comics, $3.50
Robert Kirkman, Benito Cereno, Ransom Getty, Sina Grace
Again, I went into this book knowing very little, other than I really liked Robert Kirkman.  This is the other side of the Invincible universe, while Invincible is in space fighting Viltrumites, the Guardians of the Globe are back on Earth, guarding things.  Kinda.  Ok, not really.  So, while I didn't really know hardly anything about the cast of this book, some things are made easily apparent, like Brit is the leader, his wife has a problem with him being a hero, and his power is invulnerability and nothing else.  There are some great sequences that show him trying to adjust to his new rocket gloves and boots, those add some humor.  I also like the interactions between Black Samson, the Shapesmith, and...the other guy, too.  Which is a great spot to interject my next point.  I know I sometimes complain about things that are put in to benefit new readers, like introducing the characters, or recap pages, or things like that, and while I think it's not necessary for characters that have been around for a long time like Superman, Spider-Man, and Batman, it couldn't hurt to introduce some of the character in Guardians of the Globe, especially since they were created in the last decade.  While I greatly enjoyed reading this, and I will definitely be picking up subsequent issues, it would have been more enjoyable more me if I could have gone into it knowing more about the team than just Robot and Invincible as members.  I absolutely hate it when Marvel does something like this, but...maybe a Guardians of the Globe guidebook would be helpful too?

Volstagg's Beard 4/5

Green Arrow #3

DC Comics, $2.99
J.T. Krul, Diogenes Neves, Vicente Cifuentes, Adam Schlagman
Green Arrow, in the last issue, was shot in the head by a black arrow, which generally means Merlyn.  I really like that they use the events of Year One as part of the canon for Green Arrow.  In this issue, we meet what I assume will be the first of Ollie's Merry Men, sir Galahad.  Yes, like the knight.  He even fights with a sword, although he looks less like a knight and more like a Dungeons and Dragons-style ranger.  After saving him from dying, Galahad and Ollie have a little chat about Galahad, and it does me good to know that the writer is willing to acknowledge that the whole Galahad thing is a little crazy.  Also, for some reason(for the benefit of new readers, I suppose) we get brief flashbacks of the events of Rise and Fall, as well as an Ollie vs Shadow Ollie segment, and a flashback to Ollie's troubled childhood as the son of a wealthy industrialist, which drove him to a life of philandering.  Ugh.  I used to like this character too, but the more I read of him, the less I like him.  Can't we just go back to the days when Oliver Queen would shoot a bad guy with a boxing glove arrow while Roy, Connor, Dinah, and Mia helped him clean up henchmen?  I don't think I like the idea of him having Merry Men and being an outlaw in a forest in the heart of his city.  It all seems...needlessly complex to me, although I suppose it's a fairly simple return to the character's initial design.  A few more things: I also hate the new head of the Queen company, and I mean everything about the character, from the origin to the mannerisms to the mask that she wears for no apparent reason, and also, Namor isn't the only one capable of terrible dialogue, as Ollie proves with "Is this forest trying to SAVE me, or KILL ME?!" which just might be the worst cliffhanger ending I've ever read.

Ollie's Beard 3/5

Heroic Age: Prince of Power #4

Marvel Comics, $3.99
Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, Reilly Brown, Adam Archer, Terry Pallot, Mark Paniccia
And so, one of my favorite books in the past few months comes to an end.  It's a good end, though, I especially love how Cho takes care of Thor, and Vali when the time comes.  This book is action packed, effectively manages action on two fronts, and manages to wrap up several stories very neatly.  Thor explains to Cho that he's not going to allow him to succeed because he cannot handle the power of the gods, and I love that after besting Thor and Vali and succeeding in getting the godly power he needed to bring back Hercules, Cho realizes that Thor was right and give up that godly power to a being much more suited to it.  The ending is bittersweet, because I know that even with this somewhat happy end to the this story, I know it's another month or so until I can get more Pak and Van Lente Herc and Cho stories, which seems to me to be too long to wait.  Seriously, if you haven't read Pak and Van Lente's Incredible Hercules or their Prince of Power, you're missing what is certainly an essential Hercules story, what could be considered an essential Marvel Universe story, and what is easily one of my top 3 books of the year, if not of my comic collection.  The recap page, as always, is inspired and funny, the story manages a decent amount of humor while not ruining the tension or seeming out of place, and the characters evolve beyond where they were before.  I think my favorite sound effect in this issue was probably "MATHHIT," although sadly, there were only a few entertaining sound effects this issue.  So, as always, I'm going to tell you to go search your comic shop's back issue bins for this and also to put Chaos War on your pull lists.  So good...

Odin's Beard 5/5

And that's it for this week!  Be sure to check back tomorrow for some special news, as well as throughout the week for more of my opinions on comics!

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