He's keeping a running tally of all the continuity mistakes...

What has come before: Norman Osborn (formerly the Green Goblin, now the Iron Patriot) pretty much runs America. Clint Barton (formerly Hawkeye, now Ronin) seems to be more upset about this than anyone (even Spider-Man, oddly enough).
This comic dredges up some mixed emotions in me. I’ll get into it further after the break, as there are some spoilers contained herein.

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What has happened before: The Kree and the Shi’Ar went to war again, this time lead by Earth-born conquerors (Black Bolt and Vulcan, respectively). The Kree won when Black Bolt set off a doomsday weapon that appeared to kill both Vulcan and himself.  While all this was going on, the former Shi’Ar empress, Lilandra, was assassinated by what appears to have been Darkhawk.

If the War of Kings miniseries had a failing, it was that the ending was rather abrupt. Thankfully, this issue provided a much needed epilogue for this epic crossover.  Writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning maintain their high level of quality output here, as does artist Paul Pelletier. Like their Secret Invasion: War of Kings one shot, this issue concisely sums up the previous crossover, tells a self-contained story, and provides all the necessary set up for the next crossover event. My only problem with it is that it makes me want to follow the upcoming Realm of Kings crossover, despite my crossover fatigue and rapidly shrinking comics budget.

Of course, if Marvel continues to publish transitional one-shots of such high quality, I may just skip the crossovers altogether and buy these every few months…

X-Factor Special: Layla Miller

Do you love one-shots? Because I sure as hell do and it’s effing amazing how well the X-Factor writer Peter David wrote this one-shot, but then again it is Peter David so it should have been expected. Even though I thought (for some reason beyond me as I write this) that this was a limited series, as a one-shot it’s simply outstanding.

Before I get things started, I’m going to say one thing real quick:

• I didn’t read the X-Factor/She-Hulk cross over for Secret Invasion just because. I really wanted to just get past the terrible art and push the X-Factor story forward. This doesn’t have anything to do with this review, but it is X-Factor and I was originally going to do a double review, but decided against it.

So! To continue, I’m not even going to come close to giving away all the spoilers of X-Factor: Layla Miller because it’s simply too good for you to not go out an buy, but I’ll do my best to fill you in and let you know how much I liked it. (haha)

**minor spoilers and more after the break**

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