Classic Marvel Figurine Collection 7

#46: Captain Marvel (Kree Uniform Variant)

The Pull List

Due to lack of funds I could only grab three comics of the 9 I was wanting. I think I made the right choices:

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #632
Words: Zeb Wells
Pictures: Chris Bachalo

Shed, Part 3 of 4: Without a doubt another fine example of how this Gauntlet story is making fresh starts out of Spider-Man's classic villains.
Okay, so the Lizard has completely taken of the mind of Curt Conners, to the point where the Lizard was able to kill Conners' young son Billy, very gruesome.
So, Spider-man tries to catch up to the Lizard in an attempt to reason with/stop him and finds the remains of the child as well as what appeared to be a dead Lizard.
Only he wasn't dead. He's still growing and changing so he was shedding.
They have a fight and Spidey is surprised to see the Lizard talking in complete sentences and actually thinking. Lizard tells him he has all the knowledge that Conners had, which means he has all the word usage the man had, which makes Lizard all the more dangerous.
Add to that the fact Lizard can now control the 'reptile' part of the human brain and you have the makings of a wide scope disaster on your hands!
Both the art and story work very well here. Bachalo's art works so well you can almost feel the Lizard's skin on the page. There could not have been a better choice for artist for this story!

THE THANOS IMPERATIVE: IGNITION
Words Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Pictures: Brad Walker

For months now the Cosmic heroes of the Marvel Universe have been dealing with The Fault, a crack of sorts in the fabric of our reality that connects to an alternate universe where there is no death and life has become of kind of cancer. Nova has been trying to learn more about it in hopes of being able to figure out how to close it while the Guardians of the Galaxy have been dealing with the Magus and his universal Church of Truth and trying to stop them from making it worse.
They all failed.
Nova finds out there are 'evil' versions of Marvel's heroes in this alternate universe. They are trying to come here and destroy all death and take over our universe.
As bad as that is, what the Guardians find is much worse: Thanos. The Mad Titan, lover of Death.
In this one shot which begins the event The Thanos Imperative, we see things coming together. The Universal Church has made a major move, involving the destruction of several planets, and has made the Fault bigger.
Thanos is slowly getting his mind together and regaining his strength which is generally bad for everyone.
The Magus learns first hand that failure is NOT an option.
In the end we know that the Other universe wants to destroy Death. But in order to do this they must destroy Death's Avatar: Thanos. History has proven this is a very difficult thing to do.

THOR #610
Words: Kieron Gillen
Pictures: Doug Braithwaite

Siege: Epilogue- Asgard in ruins. Gods fallen. A King shaken. These are things that destroy a man, but an Asgardian sees these as something to simply overcome and grow from.
This issue deals with the fall out of Siege #4. Balder no longer feels he is fit to be King, in his mind he should have moved Asgard from Earth a long time ago. After ending Thor's banishment he tries to turn the throne over to the Thunder God but is denied. Thor will be an advisor but Balder must remain King.
As the Asgardians try to find the bodies of their fellowGods they come across Ragnorok, the clone of Thor. In a knock down drag out, Thor makes his dominance known and puts the clone in it's place...well, in a few places, actually.
This is a great winding down issue and sets the stage for the next chapter in the saga of Thor. Where does Asgard go from here? What of Loki? Can a God be killed on earth and still return? Where did his spirit go if there is no more afterlife for the Asgardians? Does the deal he made with Mephisto and Hela in Siege: Loki play into this? Many questions and many more issues to come!

Favorite Covers #8

Evil Ernie #1 of 5

December 1991

Before there was Lady Death over at Avatar, there was Evil Ernie. This character was the foundation for what was to become one of the most prolific publishers in the 1990's: Chaos! Comics.
This one features the origin and first appearance of both Evil Ernie and Lady Death...and of course who could forget Smiley, the Psychotic Button!
For the cover here...I just love the set up. Evil standing in front of a city in flames. Also, near the bottom are the signatures of creator/writer Brian Pulido and Artist Steven Hughes!
With the recent announcement of Dynamite Entertainment picking up the rights to the Chaos! Cast I wouldn't be surprised if I re-read this series.

Classic Marvel Figurine Collection 6

Special: Thanos

The Long Box #8

MARVEL ZOMBIES #1-5 of 5
Words: Robert Kirkman
Pictures: Sean Phillips
February 2006-June 2006

Marvel Zombies. It's almost it's own family of books like X-Men and Avengers.
Marvel Zombies began in Ultimate Fantastic Four #21 when Marvel was teasing the meeting of Ultimate Reed Richards and 'another version' of him. The tease was Marvel allowed us to think they were finally going to cross the Ultimate Universe with the 616-Universe.
Instead we got the Zombieverse.
The story starts simple enough: "It began with a flash in the sky..." We don't really get to much of an origin for the Zombie Plague in this one, it comes later and I'll cover it when I get to that story, but we do get to see how things ended up.

The story continues from Ultimate Fantastic Four #23 which has that version of the Fantastic Four escaping the Zombieverse with the few human survivors with Magneto staying behind to destroy the machine which allows people to travel to other universes.
So, machine is destroyed and the Zombies are trapped in their universe... with Magneto.
The story continues and it doesn't end well for Magneto who's death is the most gruesome page I'd ever seen in a Marvel Comic. It was more like an E.C. page than Marvel.
Skipping to through the story we learn that this form of 'zombism' doesn't make the heroes and villains mindless zombies. They retain their memories and powers but the hunger drives them. After they feed they are able to think like their old selves and some have attempted to find a cure for their problem.
At one point the Silver Surfer turns up and leads Galactus to this earth. But he doesn't survive the Zombies as Zombie Hulk ends up biting the guys head off and the rest feast on his body. After eating the Surfer they realize they have absorbed some of the Surfer's power cosmic. They use this to fight and destroy many of the other Zombies.
Finally, Galactus shows up and is attacked by the Zombies who overtake him.
We then get a repeat of the Magneto feast scene only with Galactus. Gruesome.
So, after eating Galactus the Marvel Zombies take his place in the grand scheme of things and become the Galacti.

One thing helps this stand out, besides the whole 'heroes eating people' thing. First the covers. Painter Arthur Suydam does the covers which are all homages to some of the greatest covers in Marvel history. It helped that this series sold so well and went into multiple printings, the first issue had five(!), to get more homage covers out for us to enjoy.

This has become a fun and rather long living, no pun intended, launching many sequels and even a crossover with Army Of Darkness!

Classic Marvel Figurine Collection 5

#9: Captain America

The Pull List

I have two books held over from last week due to the Motor City Convention.

AVENGERS #1
Words: Brian Michael Bendis
Pictures: John Romita, Jr.

The Heroic Age Begins! I have to admit, I was very annoyed when I heard New Avengers was ending only to make room for this title AND a new New Avengers book. That is, I was annoyed until I read this book.
The main thing I always liked about the New Avengers title was the grim and street level stories and characters. It was nice, as well as WAY past time, for characters like Luke Cage to get some spotlight and that title did a great job of it.
This book, like New Avengers before it, reflects the are in which it's set in. The Dark Reign and the Siege are over and The Heroic Age has begun!
This means things will be a little lighter. What I love about this change is we finally get to see Heroes be Heroes and fight Villains!
So, with are by John Romita, Jr. there really isn't much I can say. The guy is awesome and continues to be so here. Story-wise...well, the story if by Brian Bendis, a real nice guy, and the guy who got me into the Avengers through the New Avengers series. It picks up right after Siege #4, the heroes are rebuilding and collecting themselves while Steve Rogers, the former Captain America, is out recruiting for a new Avengers team.
It's a who's who including: Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Vision, Dr. Strange, Beast, Tigra, Hawkeye and many others. The sticky wicket here is Simon Williams, Wonder Man. He doesn't think it's a good idea to have an Avengers team because he feels all the things from Civil Wars to Secret Invasions and even Osborn were because of the Avengers. He makes it sound as if he's going to try to keep a new team from forming.
On the other side we have Kang. He's traveled back in time to warn the Avengers of the impeding doom of the future universe at the hands of the children of the Avengers who we were first introduced to in the Marvel Animated Feature: Next Avengers! Kang wants the Avengers to travel to the future and stop the Next Avengers from destroying everything. Simple enough, all you need is a time machine.
Overall, this is old school fun and it's way overdue! I can't wait for Avengers #2!

DEADPOOL #23
Words: Daniel Way
Pictures: Carlo Barberi

Deadpool enters the Heroic Age!
Traveling to Las Vegas to track down a party host who insulted Deadpool on national television, Deadpool bring his brand of chaos to the city.
He destroys part of a casino the stays to gamble...winning every time he plays but it all comes crashing to an end when he faces Vegas' new hero: The House.
Get it? Because The house always wins? It's a play on words using Vegas-speak.... nevermind, it is kind of lame...
Anyway, they have a back and forth and we learn that The house is actually...Weasel! Yeah, Wade's old partner from his 1990's series. Apparently they didn't part on good terms but fortunately Weasel isn't very smart and he allows Deadpool to wear a similar suit of armor and become his "sidekick" Wildcard.
Fun, explosions and other Deadpool-type stuff ensues. This is probably one of the better issues. Perhaps with the heroes actually being heroes again we can get a better handle on Deadpools place in the grand scheme of things. We hope.

DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #893
Words: Rob Williams
Pictures: Matteo Scalera

Guest Starring Captain Britain!
I have to admit, when I saw who was in this issue I had no real interest in reading it. Boy, I love it when I'm surprised! This is probably one of the funnier issues this series has had in a long time!
Deadpool making like a brit, mocking the accent and making an ass of himself, getting destroyed twice...it's good fun all around.
Even Captain Britain, a character I have no interest in, was entertaining. It's always nice to see how a guy like Cap tries to handle someone like Deadpool while maintaining their dignity.
Seems someone wants to take up the mantle of Slaymaster (yeah, he isn't familiar to me, either) and Cap thinks, of course, it's Deadpool. They fight and then team up, you know the drill.
The fun is the dialogue. With 86 titles on the market it's difficult to have some truely good Deadpool dialogue. This one manages to have it. The art works perfect for the story as well.
This is how this series should be done.

ZOMBIES VS. ROBOTS AVENTURE #4
Words: Chris Ryall
Art: "Kampf": Menton Matthews III
"Masques": Paul McCaffrey
"Zuvembies Vs. Robots": Gabriel Hernandez

This is listed as the final issue of the series.
The stories wrap up with little hangers to make way for another possible book.
As of this posting I haven't read it all yet but when I have I will work a full review of it.

Favorite Covers #7

ALIENS VS. PREDATOR #1 of 4

Cover Date June 1990

Before the movies there were the comic books. Published by Dark Horse Comics, this was the very first time we see the universes greatest hunters take on the universes greatest bugs. 

The story takes place on a different planet. It's one the Predators use to train it's younger hunters. They infest an area with the Alien then, after a hive has been established, they go in a hunt them all down.

Its a plan that apparently worked for a very long time...until...humans settled on the planet and they get in the way.

The one thing in this story that has always stuck out in my mind is the scene which shows a Predator, invisible, being mobbed by Aliens with a caption reading "Invisibility means nothing to a creature with no eyes." or something to that effect. It's really to bad they couldn't have made the movies like this.

Motor City Comic Convention 2010

The Motor City Comic Book Convention in Novi, Michigan. Or, as my friends and I call it: Novi.
This year I went with Matt and Libby, we spent quite a bit of money, probably over $400 among all of us, and spend the better part of Saturday there.
First of all let me say the place was PACKED. I've had to wait in line there before but NEVER was the line this long. I swear we were in Canada for a few minutes. The good thing about it was the line moved very fast.
This only happens at a comic convention.
So we paid our fees and got in easy as anything.
With the crowds it was kind of hard to move around but, as is the norm at these things, people were pretty polite about it and there really wasn't much bitching going on. Another REALLY good thing I noticed is the near total lack of body odor. Normally I end up looking through some boxes next to someone who apparently allergic to soap and water but that really didn't happen this year.
People were out in droves and many wore costumes. I wish I had taken more pictures of the costumes but it wasn't easy keeping together with Matt and Libby, so much to look at and really so little time


For me, personally, I was thrilled to meet, again, E.C. Legend: Al Feldstein. He worked on such books as Tales From The Crypt and was an early editor of MAD Magazine.
In hindsight it was probably not a good idea to wear the Comics Code Authority (CCA) t-shirt to meet a man whose career was badly damaged by the stupid thing but what better way to show the overall stupidity of the CCA than to slap it on a shirt and take a picture with it and a man who outlived it.
I also got my EC ARCHIVES: TALES FROM THE CRYPT, VOLUME 1 signed by Mr. Feldstein and a printed signed as well. He was a nice man but seemed a bit bitter over all the jerks who get him to sign something and then toss it on eBay to make money off it. I can promise that will NOT happen to MY items.
Also, this year, I got World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide signed by Max Brooks. The only thing about that that sucked was he was at a panel and I missed it. Ah, well, I still got to meet him.
I told him the Survival guide, while I LOVED it, has pretty much ruined all my favorite zombie movies...he was proud of that. I love a guy who isn't afraid of his work and it's impact.

I didn't do the meet and greet with former WWF Diva Lita though. She was charging $20 for a picture with MY camera. What the hell is THAT about? Lillian Garcia was doing the same thing. Kind of sucked because I was really hoping to meet them.
Another let down was, and this was because of all the people there, the lines for that artists were insane! I would have spent most of my time waiting to get sketches from some of these guys and would have gotten very few and it wasn't worth it so while I had my sketch book I didn't get any sketches this year. This means NEXT year I gotta double the amount of sketches I have.

Beyond the large number of people and something of a let down with the celebs I wanted to meet, Matt and I tried our damnedest to find the lead figures we collect. Not a single one was to be found in the entire show. Guess we'll just have to keep getting them from Nostalgia, Ink. It's worked out pretty good for us so far at least.
Matt DID happen to notice a really cool sword while we were waiting for Al Feldstein. The Sword of Omens from Thundercats. Naturally, Matt had to have his picture taken with it but I was to easily distracted to get my picture taken with it and by the time I realized this it had been sold. But at least ONE of us was able to hold it. And it was very cool.

So, after a long day and a LOT of walking we realized we were running out of money and decided to call it a day with just an hour to spare. But before we went, I just had to make a final purchase. A few years ago there was a Motor City Comic Con Lady Death Exclusive cover and, being the old school Lady Death fan I am (I go back to the Chaos! Comics days) I had to have it. So, since they had another Exclusive this year I decided to grab it as well. IRON MAN #25 was this years book and it's kind of an Exclusive Variant of a variant...really interesting but sadly I was on my way out and didn't get it signed by the cover artist. Ah, well, I got the book at least, right?

So, the day came to an end, we learned it is much easier AND cheaper to bring food, it was nice to sit outside, chat, share are take and relax a bit between runs up and down the isles. I was also very surprised as to how easy it was to get there and back. Tradition holds that we get lost one way or the other. It didn't happen this year. Kind of cool.
Also, I continued by new tradition of getting nothing but trades again this year, with the exception of the Iron Man comic, though next year I think I'm finally going to grab those Marvel Zombies variant covers I need.

So, here are the books I grabbed this year. the Annihilation trades were ALL $5 each! So were the Infinity trades!  So much money saved!

Annihilation Books 1-3
Annihilation Classics
Annihilation: Conquest Books 1 & 2
Arsenic Lullaby: The Donut Cometh
Essential Doctor Strange, Volume 2
Essential Marvel Two-In-One, Volumes 1 & 2
Essential Nova, Volume 1
Essential Spider-Man, Volume 9 $5
Essential Thor, Volume 2
Infinity Crusade, Volumes 1 & 2
Infinity War
Iron Man Vs. Doctor Doom
Spider-Man 2099, Volume 1
Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt

The Pull List

This weekend is the motor City Comic Convention. Because of this I only picked up a few things this week. I plan to have a good sized posting or maybe a series of posts about the convention I'm going to this Saturday along with pictures and video (if I can post video here)

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #631: Shed, Part Two: The Lizard returns in a BIG way. With art by Chris Bachalo this is probably the best Lizard story I've read since SPIDER-MAN #1-5 by Todd McFalane.
Kurt Conners had suppressed the Lizard for a long time but stress and his boss going for the girl he liked allowed the lizard part of his brain to take over.
After killing six people Spider-Man is now on the case. He manages to track The Lizard down to the foster home Conners' sin Billy was staying at.
At first he thought he was to late after finding out the people inside were pretty much dead and Billy was missing.
It turns out that Kraven's psycho-kid took the boy and used him as bait for The Lizard. In what has to be one of the most grisly scenes in a Marvel Comics since Magneto's death in MARVEL ZOMBIES #1, The Lizard decides to prove he is the dominant male by eating the young of Curt Conners.
Overall this is still part of The Gauntlet. This is probably the darkest part of it and is seems all the players are almost in place. What role The Lizard will play remains to be seen.

FABLES #95: Rose Red, Part Two: This issue feels like a great 'set up' issue. We learn about the childhood of Snow White and her sister, Rose Red.
They were very close as children and had some grand adventures including sharing a warm fire with a talking bear and repeatedly saving the life of an old dwarf who has the meanest personality.
Through the story the closeness of the girls is touched on over and over making me wonder what could have possibly come between the two?
I do hope that whatever the outcome of this story is, that Rose will return to her old self again. She's been through a lot and deserves some happiness.
We also get some interesting foreshadowing in reference to Snow White and the future of dwarfs in her life as well as her fist Prince husband.
Still a great series and only 5 more issues until #100!

NEW AVENGERS: FINALE: This takes place after SIEGE #4 (below) and is a taste of what the Heroic Age holds for us: Good guys beating the tar out of the bad guys.
Overall this was a good issue, thought I really didn't care for some of Bryan Hitch's are in some panels and the cover. This wraps up a few more plots points including who was behind the breakout that brought the New Avengers together in the first place.
It also serves as the book end of all the stories that have happened in the last eight years. Not a bad issue but this really could have been the last issue of the regular series instead of being a stand alone thing.

SIEGE #4 of 4: This is it! End ending of a story that has been going for eight years! Through Civil Wars, Secret Invasions and Dark Reigns this is the end of the dark era of Marvel!
It's all out war between The Void, formerly The Sentry, and the Avengers.
Loki tries to make amends for his role in this and pays the ultimate price for it. I have to wonder how long it will be until we see Loki again.
Thor takes on The Void and fails...everyone takes on the void and manages to suppress it for a little while but ultimately, Thor decides what needs to be done and The Void is destroyed.
Now, the Siege is over and new roles are chosen for our heroes. Steve Rogers is no longer Captain America. He's now the new head of S.H.I.E.L.D., basically the New Nick Fury. Iron Man begins the long road to redeem himself, Thor begins his search for a new home for Asgard and the remaining heroes are given the best news of all: The Superhuman Registration Act is REPEALED!
They are no longer fugitives!
The villains turn on The Hood and sell him out for leaving them to burn at the end of the battle.
Overall, very fun and I can't believe how much I missed heroes fighting villains!

Classic Marvel Figurine Collection 4

#1: Spider-Man

Favorite Covers #7

The Atomics #1
Cover Date: January 2000

I got into The Atomics by way of another book called MADMAN also by writer/artist Mike Allred.
Madman is another story altogether but this series drew me in because of Allred's art, it's very 1960's Marvel Pop style and I love it!
This is sort of an old school team book, you have a group of characters, including the stretchy Mr. Gum, who gain powers then, reluctantly at first, join forces to fight bad guys.
The series only ran for 15 issues and had Madman and Erik Larson's Savage Dragon for guest stars.
Fans of old school comics would enjoy this, I'm actually going to be re-reading the entire run again as soon as I can!

Classic Marvel Figuine Collection 3

#58: Yellowjacket and (a tiny) Wasp!

Classic Marvel Figurine Collection 2

#46: Captain Marvel

Free Comic Book Day 2010

Ahhh, free comic book day and all the joys it brings.
Of course, it would bring MORE joy if the people who only showed up for the FREE comics actually stuck around and got into them. But I know of those people some are actually curious about them and others are stupid and think "Gosh! This will be worth something someday!"

Okay, so before I get to my stash of Free Comic Book Day Comics, I want to recap what I did.
Naturally, I went to Nostalgia, Ink. to begin the day. It's my local comic book store and any reason to go there is a good reason. The place was pretty busy, which is nice because it usually isn't. I like seeing people there.
I REALLY like seeing kids in there, even if they have no idea what's going on and have no idea how you handle a comic book you haven't bought yet.
I was there for a few hours talking with other comics fans about the big events in DC and Marvel like Blackest Night and Siege as well as the then upcoming Brightest Day and Thanos Imperative events. One thing I always love is talking about comics with people who know what's going on. Not to sound like a snob or anything but it annoys me when someone tries to impress us by announcing they actually own SPAWN #1 like that's supposed to be impressive. How Spawn became the spokescharacter for the industry like that is beyond me.
Then, after a quick break for food, around 3:30, I headed to my work, Family Video to set up a table there because we were also participating in Free Comic Book Day! It was kind of my idea but it made sense since we have many movies based on comics like Spider-Man and Batman but also many movies were getting comics like Toy Story and Shrek.
I spent 3 hours at the store talking comics, promoting the event, handing out coupons for our store and giving away many free comics.
There was a lot of positive energy there, a lot of fun and I've already got ideas for NEXT years Free Comic Book Day at the store!

So, that was my day, which was capped off by watching a few comic book based animated movies on DVD and here is what I got:

ARCHIE'S SUMMER SPLASH #1: For some reason Archie is one book I look for every year. But I think this is the first time I read one all the way through. I have to admit, it's actually very funny stuff. Not the 'squeaky clean' jokes I expected and the art was fun and simple.
Archie has a long history in comics so gets respect for that even if I don't plan on buying it.

 For more information on Archie Comics, which includes such titles as SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, check out their website at archiecomics.com

BONGO COMICS FREE-FOR-ALL 2010: This is another one I seem to grab every year. Each one has a comic book theme to it and seems to be a stand alone issue. Not bad stuff.
At this time there doesn't seem to be a website for Bongo Comics. Shame.

DOCTOR SOLAR: MAN OF THE ATOM/MAGNUS ROBOT FIGHTER: Can't say much about this one, I haven't read it yet and basically picked it up because I liked the cover.
This is basically a promotion for the upcoming releases of the two characters later this year from publisher Dark Horse Comics.
They have a full issue preview of these on their website:
darkhorse.com




G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO #155 1/2: From IDW comes the continuation of the classic G.I. Joe series started by Marvel Comics in the 1980's. All the classics are here and the stories are told in the classic style. I've never been one for the G.I. Joe comics but this was actually a fun read.
IDW also does Transformers and A-Team comics.
Their website

GREEN HORNET: A preview issue featuring all FIVE of the different titles from publisher Dynamite Comics including: Green Hornet, Green Hornet: Year One, Green Hornet Strikes!, Kato and Kato Origins.
The odd thing is I got a different cover than this one.

 Marvel Comics released two Iron Man themed books this year with IRON MAN/THOR and IRON MAN/NOVA: SUPERNOVA. Of the two I really enjoyed the Iron Man and Thor issue. It's one of the first times these two have interacted with each other since the end of Civil War and the return of Thor.
But the best part: words by Matt Fraction and pictures by John Romita, Jr.!
The Iron Man and Nova issue is basically an introduction to the Marvel Adventures line of all ages comics and a back up feature featuring the Marvel Super Hero Squad characters from the Cartoon Network show of the same name.

THE TICK #1: What can you say? It's the first comics book featuring the Big Blue Bug of Justice: The Tick. I was laughing out loud reading this, as I always do, and had to get THE TICK OMNIBUS, VOLUME 1 off my shelf. Even let a friend borrow it who had never know the joys of a Tick comic book!

YOW! From Drawn & Quarterly comes this collection of comics from years gone by. It's history which is why I picked it up. It's also on paper, not glossy stock stuff, and the pages were made to look aged! How cool is that!

Finally, FRACTURED FABLES from Image Comics. I know, it's out of order, but I picked this one up AFTER Free Comic Book Day when I listed to a podcast of Collected Comics Library. This was mentioned, it sounded fun and it was.

Classic Marvel Figurine Collection

I've been collecting these Eaglemoss Classic Marvel Figurines for a few years now and I get a few new ones every month, finances permitting. I have pictures of them all on my facebook page but I'm redoing the pictures and will post them here as I do them.
These will be posted in no particular order.

 #90: Adam Warlock

The Pull List

Now, before I get into this week's stack, which is pretty small, I just want to say I'm still reading through my Free Comic Book Day 2010 stack and will be posting thoughts on them in the next day or two.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #630: Shed, Part 1: Not only does Spider-Man have to deal with the return of his worst (best?) villains, but now he has to contend with dating, 'Nega-Aunt May' and the return of The Lizard!
This issue is fun, from the start of it with Spider-Man and Black Cat having something of a heart to heart where Cat has to break it to Spidey that they aren't dating...just "having fun" to Peter actually trying to smooth things over with and date Carly (who I love much more than Mary Jane) this one covers all the bases in Peter's world.
In Spider-Man's world, however, things are much darker. The Kraven's are still holding Madame Web prisoner and using her powers to control where the villains appear. The question is can they control the newly returned Lizard?
Now, the writing is light and fun, as this series should be, tempered with just the right amount of foreboding. The art...Chris Bachalo is handling the chores for this arc and I've ALWAYS loved his stuff. His Spider-Man is probably one of my favorites and I always get excited with I see his name attached to a comic I read!

DEADPOOL CORPS #2: Seriously, this series has a LOT going against it. Starting with the art. Who's idea was it to put Rob Liefeld on this book? IT'S HORRIBLE!
Now, beyond the art the writing isn't much better. There are maybe two or three good gags in this book but I have to wonder if writer Victor Gischler even knows who and what the Elders of the Universe are. He doesn't seem to because they are written very erratic. Not like the way they've been portrayed in the past, from writers who knew them.
Bottom line is of the 4, soon to be 3, Deadpool books this is my least favorite and is the only one I wouldn't be sad to see get canceled. Unless I drop it first.

iZOMBIE #1: Now, when it comes to a new series there are 2 things that will get me to look at it: Zombies and a $1 cover price. Add to that art by the always awesome Mike (Madman) Allred and the fact it's a Vertigo title then chances are you have a winner.
This story focuses on Gwen Dylan, a grave digger with a secret...well, a few..
First, she has a friend who's been dead for 40 odd years and is, of course, a ghost. Second, the boy, Scott, who pines for her is a weredog or something...
Then you come to her. She's dead. But she's not. She's a zombie. But not your "uhhurrrr...braaaaiiiinnnssss.." zombie, no, she's a cool chick but she does have to eat brains once a month to keep from going all Night Of The Living Dead.
Now, this was a fun read and defiantly worth checking out. You really can't go wrong with the $1 cover price and at the very least you will know it's an awesome book and perhaps, like me, you'll at least pick up the trades as they are released.
I'd love to get it monthly but I can't afford a new ongoing book...I just hope the covers aren't as cool as the ones on FABLES.