Dead of Night Featuring Warewolf By Night #1 Cover

My first impression when viewing the solicitations for the new year for the big 2 comic book publishers was “this is it?” Honestly, it felt a little underwhelming. Considering the fact that Marvel is coming off their big cross-over event, Secret Invasion and in the midst of a whole boat load of X-Men stuff, you’d think that more would be happening. Same for DC, where they are set to finish up their big cross-over, Final Crisis, is post-Batman R.I.P. and is also finishing up Superman’s major New Krypton story arc. But then I dug a little deeper and pulled out a whole bunch of great gems to get excited for. And I’m sure there’ll be more, as many Marvel solicitations are still classified until Secret Invasion wraps up next month. January is shaping up to be a pretty good month to be a comic book fan. And guess what, it is also my birthday month. So, faithful readers, I expect each and every one of you to go out and get me a comic book for my birthday. Seriously. Do it! But until then, read on for some previews so you can decide which one to get me…

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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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Amazing Spider-Man #568 Cover

Is it just me or did that week go by really fast? I feels like I was just writing about the August 13 comic book releases and here we are with August 20 already. Hey, I’m not complaining, that just means more comicy goodness for all of us to enjoy.

With the summer quickly coming to a close, Marvel’s got a bunch of great comics coming this week (sorry, DC, nothing I was all that interested in this week). First, we’ll start with a big new arc in Amazing Spider-Man. I’ll also talk about a couple of awesome, fan-favorite books, one which is ending an arc and another that is starting one. Finally, there are a couple of great one-shots that should round out a nice pickup at the shop this week. I’ll tell you more, if you just hit that break!!!

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Last week, a new arc started in X-Factor and let me be the first to tell you that I really like the way this series is heading right now.

If you haven’t been reading X-Factor so far, drop what you are doing (including reading this post, cause there will be some spoilers) and start reading right now. What really sets X-Factor apart from other X-Men comics for me is the personal drama and the different type of “mission”. First, anyone who read my Amazing Spider-Man rant knows that I have a soft spot for personal drama. X-Factor delivers this by the truck load. From Rictor trying to kill himself due to a loss of his powers after M-Day, to Siryn being pregnant with Jamie Madrox’s child, to Layla Miller being trapped in a distopian future after traveling there with one of Madrox’s dups. As for the teams “missions”, their cases are more of a noir style. X-Factor is a detective agency after all, and the writing reflects this beautifully. Reading this series gives you a sense of reading an old detective novel.

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