Ultimates #11 - Rated 10

See my other thread

http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=168412

This issue was awesome. Hulk SMASH.

Captain America #19 - Rated 6

A little slow for Brubaker. Cap, Union Jack and Spitfire rumble with some n@zi's. They fight then the big n@zi escapes. Later Bucky tracks down the rest of the Master Men and slaughters them all -- off panel ... BOO !!!! Looks like Luskin has had his head "Skullized". Hopefully we'll get some on panel Winter Soldier action next issue.

Uncanny X-Men #474 - Rated 2

WTF ? Paradise ? An angel alien guy ? What Betsy stabs the anti-Phoenix then they all run through a portal Stargate style ? Somebody needs to tell Bedard this isn't Exiles. Dare I say it ... BRING CLAREMONT BACK !!! I actually liked End of Greys.

New Avengers #20 - Rated -4

So this is what this comes down to. Basically the collective was somehow actually Xorn. And now Marvel has officially attempted to explain away Grant Morrison's run using Bendis-logic. The solution, throw a pure energy being into the sun. Isn't the sun essentially energy ? WTF ? How is Iron Man's containment blob holding him in ? WTF ? This was horrible. Magneto hardly gets two cross words in. It looks like Magneto is back, probably with his powers. This book blows.

Astonishing X-Men #15 - Rated 9

Wow. Danger was pretty crappy but this issue was sweet. The Brotherhood make their move on the mansion. Cassandra absolutely mind F's Wolverine - turning him into a little girl, she takes away Beasts human side and soon he is rampaging around the mansion chasing down Wolverine. Scott is a turnip. And Collossus and Black King go at it big time, too bad Peter forgot what Sebastians power is and eventually he gets force spiked by the BK. Still no reveal on "Perfection". Whedon does get his love affair with Kitty on big time, it looks like she is the one who is going to rescue the whole team.

New Excalibur #8 - Rated 7 - Love Nocturnes outfit! Rowr! The team is called to visit the evil prof X because even though braindead he called out for Psylocke. They all arrive with Betsy in tow and get mindcontrolled by.... The Shadow King! He's the one who turned this alt Xavier evil! Betsy attacks him with her Psy sword and beats him... and is then apaprently vaporized. I doubt it though =)

New Avengers #20 - Rated 7 - Remember the sentiant mutant bacteria that was controlling Xorn/Magneto wasy back? Well thats the "Collective". It seeks out Magneto to take him over to be its new face for the mutant population. The Avengers arrive and stop it. Magneto apparently has his powers back. Oh Marvel.. "No mutant will get thier powers ack." You're so full of it. It was action packed. And good to seee Magnus back.

Uncanny X-Men #474 - Rated 7 - Betsy vs the Devil. Or whatever it really is. They find out that "paradise" is basicly mind controlled happiness. Lack of will etc. They beat the "thing" and all get shunted back into thier world. Huzzah good triumphs.

Uncanny X-Men Annual #1 - Rated 5 - Good cover. Arts okay. A "good bye" issue to Storm who is being sold off to stupid hack writting to pull in more black readers. My main issues with the book is that: 1. Ororo sees men as jackels.. heh. 2. She feels unworthy of a King.. HELLO worshipped as a GODDESS!!!! 3. She learns she is actually an African Queen from an ancient lineage in the last couple of pages! Blech... reminds me of the end of Spaceballs or something. This wedding is stupid.

Astonishing X-Men #15 - Rated 9 - The new HF Club attack and pretty much take out the X-Men. What Nova does to Wolvie is HILARIOUS. Of course Kitty's "bad stuff" doesnt effect her for long and she starts back to whoop some butt. I have thefeeling Emma isnt turned evil again. Some sort of ploy... great read.

Ultimates 2 #11 - Rated 8 - Love seeing Cap kick arse! The team gets free and starts to counter attack the evil guys, but the going isnt easy. And just when things are looking kinda down.. The Hulk shows up to help out his old team mates! Should be an awesome end! Ic ant wait to read it in 3-6 months... love those delays Marvel.

No Eternals love? Well I don't give ratings, but I'd say it was a great setup issue. I've always liked the story of the Celestials (minus their Heroes Reborn excursion) and the modern day Eternal stuff is a really interesting spin on it. I'm not sure where it's going, but with the Eternals and Deviants still fighting it out in secret, I'm anxious to find out.

Nova was great as well. This series is also making me like Quasar a bit too, he was like a breath of fresh air after the bad-### Drax, smart-### Cammi, and whiny-### Nova. Not that I don't like any of them or anything, it's just a nice change of pace. For actually making me like Quasar, along with all those other cosmic beings I usually cared nothing for, I'm starting to think there's some sort of magical element in play with Annihilation. Great story so far.

Annihilation: Nova #3 of 4: I've always liked Quasar. If you've been close enough to me at a WW or a comic shop, I'll talk your ear off about how he's been underutilized (and how his heroclix needs a revamp). Imagine my heart's leap of f-ing joy when I see that bad ### cover by Del'otto and the Nova story inside hits stride. Drax is supposedly Nova's mentor. But it's revealed he might need Nova for something else. Quasar shows Nova what heroes really do. What they strive for and I believe Richard finally learns a little something about his newfound status and what it means. Heroes being heroes for once. I honestly haven't felt this strong about a comic since Flash 223 which I thought was the perfect Geoff Johns issue. That's how good this was to me.

A rare 10 of 10 for me.

New Avengers #20- I didn't read the Xorn/Mutant Bacteria story line you guys are talking about. Is this in X-Men/New X-Men? If so, I'm going back and collecting the back issues of Morrison's run, and I haven't read anything before the Riot at Xavier's arc. I thought it was an alright issue. Not as good as previous issues, but not terrible. A couple of things.....Sentry still holds the title of The biggest pile of HYPE, as he continues to be the Avengers' poser, and do much of nothing else. I can't believe people want to see this guy remade as a clix figure, when HE'S DONE NEXT TO NOTHING! I wanna like the guy, I really do, but show me the money , or bring back THOR! To me Wolvie was a little out of character, when he wanted to go after Michael. Also, alas the confirmation- ALPHA FLIGHT IS DEAD!- I rate this a 7.

Astonishing X-Men #15- Wow! Umm, so I don't remember Shaw taking a beating like that EVER. Pete knocked the #### out of him. It was great! I agree with DC, Emma's being used by Nova (though honestly I think she should turn bad on her own, since it's already in her. Kitty's scene at the end, reminds me of when Wolvie was dropped in the sewers under the Hellfire Club Mansion, during the Phoenix Saga.-rated a 9

Ultimates 2 #11- Someone stated that this issue seemed like filler. Actually, I'd consider it more like a build up to the end, that wroked well. Thor's missing, Hulk returns, and the rest of the Ultimates are getting their ###es handed to them. Sure as hell took it long enough to come out. Let's hope Marvel doesn't keep us hanging on too long for the finale. Rated a 9

I read Ultimates on the stoplights home and I loved it. If Marvel could put this out monthly they could triple their profits, because you have to be insane to not enjoy it. At least it's not as bad with Astonishing, I couldn't stop laughing everytime I saw Wolvie. I wouldn't mind seeing a mind block placed, so he reverts to that state every few issues. These are some top notch comics and I'd give them both tens.

I just kinda rolled with it.
What I found most intesting/ironic is that they're still wrapping up thier last company cross over, while the current "event" is already 2 months along! (and pretty much centers around the Avengers.)
The x-men should have been dealing with this Xorn carp, while the Avengers crossed over with Civil War.

This is where marvel lacks in comparison to DC. (Not that I favor 1 over the other, mind you.) But DC had the forethought to plan their Crisis and its related cross overs and effects out a year (or more) in advance. While Marvel just flies by the seat of its pants.

Ultimates 2, #11 (rate 8)

This book kinda reminds me of Mission Impossible III. Its basically popcorn fare. Sure its fun and well paced and drawn, but is anyone even slightly surprised by the story development? 3 issues ago when Cap was captured, did anyone not know he was gonna break out and save the day?
Do we not already know what will happen next issue?
But like a good summer movie sequal, we still keep coming back.

Oh, and the other comparison to MI:III is that its like years between issues. (MI:III came out so long after MI:2 that the teen audience they wanted was essentially coming into the franchise brand new, cuz they were little kids when 2 came out.)
I totally agree with you deadshot, Marvel could be essentially printing money if they could get this book out monthly.

I'd have a much easier time agreeing with you if Infinite Crisis hadn't turned out to be such a gigantic storytelling turd. Planning only goes so far by itself; at some point you have to actually write a compelling story, and hopefully it's one where you don't need to know the names, powers, and histories of 23956 characters all at once... I've recently re-read House of M and found that it stands up very well to repeats.

This whole "Collective" story has been pretty weak, and it ended poorly. It's not a statement on the whole Avengers title, it was just a few weak issues. Still, even though I'm one of the few who really likes Bendis, I'm not sure he's the guy to be writing a core team book. He's like Bryan Singer; relationships and dialogue are wonderful, but when it comes time for big-time action, he just doesn't know quite what to do. I'd suggest that Bendis would be great for Thunderbolts if that book didn't already have a perfect writer in Fabian Nicienza.

No one has mentioned Iron Man #9. While I don't use a ranking system, I will say that I'm flipping thrilled to have this title back on a monthly basis, and I have really liked Patrick Zircher's art since his Thunderbolts days. Just a great book for these three issues. It is a source of tremendous joy to me that Iron Man has, over the past year, returned to his status as one of the Marvel U's movers and shakers. He's always been my favorite superhero. Now if we can only get Hawkeye back...

As far as Astonishing X-Men, Wolverine with eyes wide open and a girlish smile may be the funniest thing in comics all year. And as much as the Hulk reveal in Ultimates 2 made me cheer, the shot of Kitty in the water, Wolverine-style, made me absolutely howl with delight. I will share an annoyance with AXM, though: With all the X-Men's years of history and their massive rogues gallery, was it really necessary for Whedon to establish not one but three new villains in his first 12 issues? That's not even mentioning Perfection. I'm okay with Ord, but Danger needs to seriously pay off in the future to justify her inclusion. And SWORD is just yet another huge bureaucratic entity to deal with. I'm so relieved to see familiar faces in the Hellfire Club I can't even tell you, but when Danger appeared again this month, I said "oh, come on." That said, it's nice to see that Wolverine is the best there is at what he does, and what he does is very dainty.

Wow. Usually, if I write this long it's for my blog.

I agree, this book is top notch. I keep thinking that I like Super Skrull more, but then I slap myself by just reading the first few pages of Nova. The internal battle between Richard and the Worldmind is hilarious. And I'm glad they kept the running joke about Drax.

I totally agree. Nova is by far the best of the books, currently. I'd put Super Skrull in second, Silver Surfer in third and Ronan in a distant, distant fourth... mostly because it's pure junk. But hey, three out of four isn't too bad. Heck, that's better than Marvel's been able to do in quite some time! Hopefully the actual series will be as good.

Drax is my hero... history of destroying or no.

I thought it was a nice change of pace to have the Avengers fight someone from some other rogues gallery, in this case, the X-Men's.
Tho, the whole Xorn thing is screwy. I won't even get into that. Still, not since claremont had a run in the FF a few years back and had them fighting the Brood, have I seen someone other then the X Men fight and X Men foe. Nice change of pace. Story could've been a bit better, but there ya go.

As for Nova, eh. I'm gonna wait till it's in TPB to read it and all the Annilation books, since my comic shop doesn't carry all of the mini's involved. As for Ani himself, I think Death empowered him recently. Hence his new qability to get out of the Negative Zone. He's been enhanced, and in my opinion, it's about freakin time.

I personally like the Surfer's one the most, but Nova is a close second with Super Skrull right behind in third. I really hope Ronan actually gets good though. And maybe, just maybe, have something to do with what's actually going on instead of focusing on some backwater planet.

Yeah, it sucks for DC to have come up with a gigantic crossover idea that tied together more than 70 years of company history and that maintained strong continuity in ever title across it's entire universe for the better part of three years (or more, if you count the 'continuation' in 52 and the One Year Later stories).

How could they possibly think that I might be able to enjoy the story without first telling me who the guy was who Superboy Prime vaporized, or what that guy's name was whose arm got torn off? I have to know the name of every character in their entire company now? I can't just be expected to accept that some of the 'heroes' didn't rank all that far above the random bystander when it came to the story, and that it was more important that Superboy Prime had snapped and started killing some old B-list heroes who'd come to stop him than knowing who those B-listers were, can I?

What were they thinking? Why couldn't they have just thrown something together that'd fit into a TPB ... you know, like House of M? That glorious Marvel story that couldn't even maintain continuity in its own crossover titles. But, it didn't need to, did it? I mean, it makes perfect sense for Spider-Man to be a pro wrestling guy who was also secretly his own psychotic worst enemy while, at the same time, have him fully remembering his 'real' universe and fighting against Magneto's kids with the Avengers on the other side of the planet.

I'd like to see a "continuity flowchart" that diagrams the following Marvel snaffu's:

- Grant Morrison's New X-Men run
- Hou$e of Um
- New Avengers: The Collective
- New Excalibur

All of the above except GM's stuff was thrown together, unplanned junk. Even if IC was complex and featured a ton of history it was better choreographed.