Bullseye gets a Hawkeye mini, and Ms. Marvel’s title has been taken over by Moonstone. Ares is conquering various books and has his own three issue Dark Avengers tie-in on the way. Hell, even Wolverine Jr is series-jacking one of his old man’s titles.

In all these offshoots, the titular hero saves the mission, if not the day, and makes the other Dark Avengers who show up in that scene look like chumps.

But what about poor ol’ Mac Gargan, aka Venom? He doesn’t have any beef with the jerks he works with; all he wants to do is punch who he’s told to punch and maybe do a little good in the world. Sure, maybe get the girl. Maybe show some people that you can’t keep a good Gargan down.

Maybe eat your face.

I’ve been too busy getting bingo on my celebrity death pools to watch the recent solicits, so Sinister Spider-Man #1 was a welcome surprise. Chris Bachalo‘s cover really does drag your face in and nibble on it quit a bit. Once inside, it’s mean and fun mean and whispers creepy promises of fast, modern, pulpy goodness.

The first issue delivers the goods while still setting us up for the rest of the four-issue run. This oh-so-Sinister Spider-Man has all the set pieces of his Amazing counterpart – JJJ, Osborn, Six goons who are fairly Sinister in their own right, and lots and lots of girls.

Well, ok, skanks and whores. This is Mac Gargan, after all.
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This review will be quick, because it is late, and I haven’t started it yet. Well, I guess I have now.

Reviewing this book is kind of a pain, because you’ve already read it, and you already liked it. I wanted to wait until I got my hands on Thunderbolts #128 to see if there were any super-secret important tie-ins, but Marvel, in their brilliance, have left both titles as excellent stand-alones.

Also, if you haven’t read Thunderbolts #128, you are much poorer for it.

However! Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato came at us last week with Dark Avengers #1 and it was amazing. Norman Osborn assembled his own team of Avengers in such a way that brought clarity to *how* the choices were being made, but left the *why* a tantalizing mystery. We get better insights into characters such as Ares and Ms. Marvel, while extending a questioning tendril towards such luminaries as the Sentry, Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel.

You heard me.

Deodato brought back his magnificent work with the Thunderbolts, including his ‘Tommy Lee Jones’ depiction of Osborn, which Bendis writes for with alternating touches of depth and humor, especially his ‘monster’ work with Venom.

Norman, I wouldn’t want to stick my hand in there, either.

Dark Avengers #1 is deliciously pulpy, action packed, and frankly ties into about four other series that you probably follow. If you’re reading any Marvel comics, you’ve already picked this up and agree with me that it’s fantastic. Thanks, yes-men!

After last month’s issue, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Ms. Marvel. Brian Reed took things in such a strange direction with his little one off about Ms. Marvel’s past and her family, I wasn’t sure what this month’s issue could even be about.

But I was mistaken to think it could even be possibly close to bad. I should be hit in the face with a 12 inch frying pan for even imagining a bad issue of Ms. Marvel.

This month’s issue takes a step far back in Carol Danvers’ past in the Air Force and her first meeting of Tony Stark…

**spoilers and oh so much more after the break**

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Welcome, welcome, welcome back. It’s another week of comics and for you cool kids this week I have a small bunch of comics to present to ye.

• Avengers/Invaders #5
• The Helm #3
• Invincible Iron Man #6
• Marvel Zombies 3 #1

I was indifferent on three of comics but the forth was great and I want to explain my opinions on each. We’ll begin after a short break…

**spoilers and just crazy-fun after the break**

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Just like a few other titles, Ms. Marvel is out of Secret Invasion. As cool as Ms. Marvel’s tie-in was, I was ready for it to be done. But now, I don’t know where we are.

This month’s issue came straight out of no where. It’s got old-school references to things I don’t even understand and there are crazy plot twists that could be coming out of Secret Invasion and we don’t even know when this issue takes place and really that could change a lot of things!

So let’s proceed and after the jump, I’ll go into a bit more detail.

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Like with my rapid reviews, I am going to skip the long intros and just get right to the meat of the post. Ladies and gentlemen, your weekly previews start now!

Daredevil #111

Is it possible for Ed Brubaker to be any cooler? I don’t really think so, and this month, he is introducing a brand new villain to the Marvel universe: Lady Bullseye. I know you may be think that it sounds kind of lame, like Supergirl or Spider-Girl or any of the many other female equivalents to our favorite heroes (for the record, I actually think that the female counterparts are very cool and interesting, but their names are pretty unoriginal). But this is untrue. Brubaker has crafted an all new character that apparently has a very deep and intricate past, which he will explore in the next arc of Daredevil, as he continues to make that one of the best Marvel books.

More previews after the break!

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Why, hello! Hello! Hello! Welcome back to another amazing and intricate entry of the Weekend Whiz! This week I have a ton of stuff to cover (when one comic is equal to 400 pounds that is! Ha ha!) and I hope you’re as excited as I am! This last week was a good one for comics and I had my chance to sit down and read so many! But enough with the wackiness, let’s get back to business. Here’s what I’ll be covering this week:

• Civil War: House Of M #1
• X-Men: Magneto Testament #1
• Secret Invasion: X-Men #2
• NYX: No Way Home #2
• Ms. Marvel #30

Now that’s a mix of Marvel comics I like to see! Let’s begin!

**spoilers and speed to be expected after the break**

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What makes a comic book great? Some people will argue that the depth of story is important. A lot will focus more on the art and let the pictures tell the story. Others say that the whole package is the most important. Still more will say that it has to be part of a major, ongoing story. Luckily for us, Secret Invasion: Front Line has all of these combined in to one amazing comic book. Apparently, it also helps to have Brian Reed writing and Marco Castiello penciling.

If you don’t already know, Front Line shows the Secret Invasion storyline from the perspective of average people living in New York, trying to survive an invasion that they know nothing about and with no way to defend themselves. There are no superheroes, there are no epic battles, there’s just people struggling to live. After the break, I’ll tell you why you need to pick up this book…now!

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Trying out a new feature that I am hoping to write every Monday called Rapid Reviews. I intend to review the remaining comics from the previous release week that I read. These will most likely be the smaller comics, the ones that we didn’t find required a full review or just ones that we didn’t get a chance to write a full review for. So check out the reviews below and leave a comment to let me know if you like/dislike this form of reviewing.

Black Panther #39

Black Panther #39 began their Secret Invasion tie-in this month. Really bad-ass story which reminded me of an epic battle movie, like Lord of the Rings. The writing is excellent by guest writer Jason Aaron who will be doing the entire Secret Invasion arc. I was slightly disappointed in Jefte Palo’s art. It seemed very old school to me and just isn’t the kind of art I like. Bottom line: great story and I look forward to the continuation of the Secret Invasion arc, despite the lackluster art.

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Well if you didn’t know this you do now. I love Alex Ross. I buy comics that he did the cover of just because his painting is amazing. The comic Marvels is my favorite book ever. But Marvels has enough praise, this review is of something else he was involved in. Earth X is Ross’s theory of the end of the marvel universe. This was inspired by DC’s Kingdom Come at Ross painted for. Ross was asked in 1997, in Wizard, what his vision for the end of Marvel would look like when everyone had super powers. What will the characters be like when everyone has superpowers?

Based of Ross’s notes and sketches Jim Krueger wrote Earth X (first issue came out in 2000), a 14 issue series (12 issues, a 0 issue and one issue numbered X). Earth X is a compelling story that whips around from the beginning of earth, to WWII, to the beginning of the Fantastic Four, and to the present–years into the future from the present Marvel universe. The story explains everything from why people have powers, to how Galactus chooses which planets to devour. My favorite part of the story is how it ties everything together from the beginning of time, to the end. It makes this world, where all these characters are invincible and all powerful, quite believable.

After the break I’m going to divulge some of the plot so beware. (more…)