Detective Comics #834
I get the impression that Paul Dini may be overextending himself. Not to say that this is a bad issue -- it isn't, even though it provides several tidy little solutions to the "how are they going to get out of this one?" moment in the cliffhanger last issue, almost as if this was a very dark episode of the 1960s "Batman" TV show with Zatanna in Robin's place -- but it doesn't have nearly the degree of cleverness that Dini's previous issues on this title have had. I have to attribute it to Dini's work on Countdown, which, the less said about, the better. Rating: Eh?

Fallen Son: Iron Man
Well, they've buried Captain America. Alright then. This issue got played up a lot as some sort of momentous event, but it's more like a footnote on the larger story of Cap's death. As always, Jeph Loeb's dialogue is well-meaning but sort of stilted and the revelation of where Captain America is really buried is an interesting thought, even if it isn't really all that well-presented. If there is a reason to get this, though, it's for John Cassaday's altogether stunning artwork, which manages to make several two-page spreads of Captain America jumping look different and awesome every time. Rating: Eh?

The Punisher #49
There's a certain template by which almost every six-issue story arc of Garth Ennis' MAX Punisher series has gone by - bad guy is introduced, bad guy does something horrible, Punisher sets out to find said bad guy, Punisher is held up by complications with other characters, Punisher kills the shit out of the bad guys. This one takes a whole different turn, however, as the Punisher ends up being something of an outside observer to the inevitable slaughter. It was a needed and well-done change of pace, and Ennis has introduced at least one character, a cop, who I hope we'll see again at some point. Oh, and there's some really freaky-ass sex here, too. So that's something. Rating: Heh.

Runaways #27
When Joss Whedon took over as this book's writer a few issues ago, there were several things that bugged me about what he was doing with it -- the switch in location and some characterization I thought ignored some earlier development -- but he makes up for it some in this issue. For one thing, he finally gets around to mentioning Gert, whose death all but changed the whole dynamic of the series when Brian K. Vaughan was writing it. I'm still not entirely sure the guy knows how to plot a comic book, but with a lot of snap-bang dialogue and a knockout last-page reveal, he does a lot to redeem himself here. Rating: Heh.

Thor #1
I'll say this much for this first issue of the new Thor series: The art is really pretty. Unfortunately, that's about all there is, since it seems like this issue takes about 80 percent of its pages just to get to...well...anything. A few lines of dialogue get repeated several times while Thor vacillates on whether he should come back to the real world again. If anything, this reads more like a #0 issue than a #1, since being the first issue implies some kind of start to a continuing action. There's none here, and I hope it gets off the ground soon, because I won't stick around for too many more issues. Rating: Meh.

Ultimate Power #6
We're two-thirds into this miniseries, and, by God, I still have no idea what it's about. It would seem to be nothing but an excuse to have superheroes punch each other (because Lord knows we haven't seen that recently) and give Greg Land an opportunity to trace some more screencaps from porn films. This issue throws in a few elements of plot, unfortunately none of which make any sense. It's like a test to see how much readers will pay for basically nothing, apparently. Rating: Bleh.

Y: The Last Man #57
With only a few issues left to go, Y: The Last Man is wrapping things up. But rather than providing tidy resolutions to the problems that have been arising for the last 56 issues, Brian K. Vaughan continues to develop these characters in complex and realistic ways. Most of this issue amounts to a conversation between Yorick and his girlfriend, Beth, in which they both probably say some things they shouldn't and feelings get hurt. It's pretty spot-on, and sets up a whole new conflict that sends us right into the last three issues. Plus, Yorick directly addresses the fact that there would have been no satisfactory explanation for a plague that killed all the men in the world. It's brilliant. Rating: Yeah!

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