Let’s run through ’em fast.

Captain Marvel #15

So Carol didn’t die in space. She just lost her memory and is somehow faking her way through everything. A ton of superheroes go to blow up some evil aliens called the Builders, but Carol gets stuck in space all alone, then she turns into Binary. Okay, fine, everything old is new again.

Verdict: Ehh.

FF #11

The FF go back in time to try to rescue the Fantastic Four, but they get hijacked by the Impossible Man, and they agree to take on his son Adolf as a student.

Verdict: Ehh.

The Green Team #4

Everyone fights Riot, who turns out to be Comm’s father. Cecilia loses her cyborg arm, and the nanites in Comm’s suit give him superpowers.

Verdict: Ehh.

Lazarus #3

Forever Carlyle visits the Morray family to offer them a truce. She and Joacquim, the Morray Lazarus get along very well. Jonah and Johanna Carlyle, however, are plotting against everyone.

Verdict: A bit better, but still mostly ehh.

Uncanny Avengers #11

Daken stabs Wolverine through the head, the Sentry tears his own face off, and the Scarlet Witch may be about to rapture every mutant on Earth to another planet.

Verdict: I’m a little amazed how little I care about this comic.

Young Avengers #9

Prodigy’s smooch with Hulkling is just gonna cause more angst. The rest of the team meets Leah, a former handmaiden of Hela banished to another dimension by Loki years ago. The team finally rescues Hulkling and Prodigy from Mother’s dimension by hitting her with a bunch of evil alternates versions of themselves. And Kate Bishop is close enough to her birthday that she’ll end up becoming an adult and joining Mother’s side soon. Plus Hulkling’s new therapist looks familiar…

Verdict: Thumbs up. The only one of these I really enjoyed. Lots of fun, lots of action, plenty of intrigue and mystery and humor and spooky stuff.

I had high hopes for every single comic I got this week, and every single one of them let me down. Here’s the damage.

Batman Inc. #13

The final issue of Grant Morrison’s multi-year Batman epic, this one splits its story between Bruce Wayne, beat like a rented mule and arrested for various crimes, being interrogated by Commissioner Gordon, and Batman’s final duel against Talia, leader of Leviathan. Wayne tells Gordon how the murder of his parents left a hole in his heart and how he filled the hole with… something else. And Talia poisons Batman to get a device that will let her destroy cities with a new kind of energy — only to be betrayed by Jason Todd and killed by… someone else. Can Batman continue on, or is his time over?

Verdict: Thumbs down. This one got a lot of hype, and a lot of people who just knee-jerk loved it. I didn’t think it lived up to the hype. The art’s gorgeous, yes. I was pretty satisfied with Wayne’s talk with Jim Gordon. But the rest of it was predictable and pedestrian. Sorry, I wanted to like it, but I just couldn’t do it.

FF #10

Dr. Doom wants the aged, time-traveled Johnny Storm dead, and he’s ordered the blackmailed Alex Power to commit the crime. So he asks Ahura, Tong, Onome, and Bentley-23 is they know anyone who’s ever killed someone. Sure, says Ahura, let’s go talk to my uncle Maximus. And Maximus plays a game of 20 Questions with them to get them to set him free. Meanwhile, Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Hulk, and Darla Deering, along with Leech and Artie, take Tom Brevoort, Matt Fraction, and Michael Allred on a tour in the microverse that ends with everyone getting stalked by a miniaturized giant tiger.

Verdict: Thumbs down. Comic creators showing up as guest stars in Fantastic Four comics are a long-running tradition — Stan and Jack used to meet the original FF all the time. But this time is just plain uninspired — the creators were completely unneeded. And the bit with the genius kids getting completely played by Maximus was really just not very interesting. Sorry, I wanted to like it, but I just couldn’t do it.

Captain Marvel #14

Again, it’s a crossover with “Avengers Assemble,” so we miss about half the story — but I can’t actually tell the difference this time. Anyway, an old Kree supervillain named Yon-Rogg has it in for Carol Danvers and has a whole bunch of robotic Kree sentries converging on NYC. He’s somehow using the robots and his close proximity to Captain Marvel — and a piece of himself that he’s somehow implanted into her brain, which is what’s been causing all her medical difficulties — to materialize an ancient Kree city, which he’s going to use to crush the Big Apple. So she flies into space and dies to shut down the power source and save the city.

Verdict: Thumbs down. Man, it just made so little sense. And she’s not even going to stay dead a whole issue, ’cause we already know she’ll be back in a month, doing some kind of transformation into her old Binary identity. Sorry, I wanted to like it, but I just couldn’t do it.

Daredevil #29

Nate Hackett, former childhood bully of Matt Murdock, on trial for crimes supposedly committed as a member of the Sons of the Serpent, has just been shot… by the trial judge. He’s a member of the Sons, too, as is the bailiff, the prosecuting attorney, several cops — half the folks in the courthouse are members of the Sons of the Serpent. Can Daredevil save Nate, save the innocent paramedic who’s been picked as the fall guy, save everyone else in the courthouse?

Verdict: Thumbs down. I got closest to liking this one, but it just went past my ability to take seriously. If so many cops, judges, and civil servants were secret members of a racist supervillain conspiracy, Nate and Matt and half the superheroes in New York would’ve been taken out by snipers ages ago. Sorry, I wanted to like it, but I just couldn’t do it.

X-Men #3

While most of the team travels to Budapest pursuing Arkea (in the body of Karima Shapandar), Kitty Pryde stays home to deal with an attack on the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning by Arkea’s drones. Bling ends up doing most of the work — and seems vaguely ominous while doing it, though we have no real idea why. Meanwhile, the team pursuing Arkea tracks her to a hospital, where they’re attacked by a bunch of cyber-enhanced patients who’ve been possessed by Arkea. They somehow bluff their way into a victory and even get Karima back alive and more-or-less intact mentally.

Verdict: Thumbs down. I loved the art, but the rest of it? It was all just too abrupt. Fighting against an enemy who scared the crap out of Sublime, who planned to kill every living creature on the planet, and they run her off so quickly, with such a small team? It was too anticlimactic. Sorry, I wanted to like it, but I just couldn’t do it.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Kelly Sue DeConnick has some advice for you aspiring comics creators out there.
• Michelle Rodriguez and other actresses make the point: When entertainment sucks, all of us should work to make entertainment that doesn’t suck.
• A superhero in a burka? Is this a problem? (Truth to tell: No, I really don’t think so.)
• Here’s an interesting article/discussion on what makes a superhero.
• It’s Tales of Metropolis, starring Lois Lane!
• Pen-and-paper RPGs may be getting more popular, even with electronic games to compete with.
• Please enjoy ALL THE ACTION TRAILERS!

Batman ’66 #1

This was not something I was planning on picking up. Just seemed more like a cry for help from the desperate-for-attention DC Comics. But honestly, seeing that Jeff Parker, whose work includes the brilliant “The Age of the Sentry” and the very best issues of “Marvel Adventures,” would be writing this title convinced me to give it a shot.

So here we are in the world of the campy 1960s “Batman” TV show starring Adam West and Burt Ward. The Riddler is on a robbery spree, stealing sculptures by an eccentric sculptor. He raids a civic event and steals the priceless Lady Gotham statue, making his escape in a stolen biplane. He leaves a riddle behind that leads the Dynamic Duo to a dance club owned by a kinda-sorta reformed Catwoman. After a fight and an attempt by the Riddler to blow them all up with a bomb, Catwoman joins forces with Batman and Robin, and they do some more research into the stolen sculptures. Can their detective work solve the case? Or has the Riddler outsmarted them all at last?

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s a clever story, full of more action than you’d expect, nice dialogue, and plenty of nods to the TV show, including the familiar sound effects, over-the-top narration, and a special guest star who Batman and Robin meet while climbing up a building. The art by Jonathan Case is nice, too — the coloring might be a bit too luridly technicolor, but it does the job of evoking the feel of the ’60s TV show and of old four-color comics.

FF #9

While Bentley-23 makes his own documentary about his undersea classmates, the Uhari, the entire Future Foundation pays a visit to Charles Cotta, C.E.O. of Julian Enterprises, who is hosting a pool party for everyone. Cotta reveals that he’s actually an immortal alien who pretended to be Julius Caesar in the distant past, and he’d like to repay a favor that the Fantastic Four did for him by helping the FF locate and rescue them. Meanwhile, a splash fight in the pool gets to be more and more epic and apocalyptic. The grownups are doing fine and preparing to go save the Fantastic Four — but the kids may have lost their innocence and friendship.

Verdict: Thumbs up. The splash war really is pretty amazing — simultaneously hilarious, frightening, and sad. It’s another great, weird issue.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Geek girls and the Doubleclicks have “Nothing to Prove.”
• The original “Star Trek” series in the 1960s had a more progressive view of women than the reboot movies do. That’s not a good thing — that should embarrass the heck out of J.J. Abrams.
• You need some baby ostriches in your life.
• And to close things out depressingly: We live in a more and more insane country, where it’s declared racist to point out obvious racism, where murder is legal under the right conditions, and where the Cult of the Gun is elevated above everything else.

Lazarus #1

The new series by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark is a dystopian sci-fi study on a woman who can’t die. Our setting is the future, when there are no more nations or states, just a handful of wealthy families that govern a small number of useful serfs and a far larger population of the seemingly useless poor, called the Waste. Our lead character is Forever “Eve” Carlyle, the protector of the Family Carlyle. She’s a genetically-engineered warrior known as a Lazarus who regenerates from all damage and is a specialist in all forms of combat. She’s not exactly loved by her family, but she has her duty and she’s willing to carry it out.

Our story starts as Eve is ambushed by some Waste looking for food. They shoot her and leave her for dead, but she heals up, tracks them down, and slaughters them. And it’s soon learned that a rival family invaded one of the Carlyle food compounds, shot a bunch of guards and tried to steal the seed vaults. How did they manage to get so far onto the family property? It’s suspected that they had help from some of the serfs on the inside — one of the technicians betrayed the family, and the family expects their Lazarus to find and execute the traitor. Does Eve have enough faith in her family to do the job?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Very, very nice work here. Excellent writing and art, very enjoyable world-building and characterization. Seriously, this looks like it’s going to be a very interesting story.

FF #8

The Future Foundation returns to New York City, and we get treated to an issue of shenanigans and wrap-up. Doctor Doom makes his move to force Alex Power to be his pawn. Bentley-23 and Ahura wage a Home Alone-style battle against all the other kids in the Baxter Building. Darla Deering gets a couple of rings to help her change into her Miss Thing costume more quickly, leading to a sequence designed to appeal to comic fans of my advanced age. Medusa and She-Hulk have a brawl over Medusa endangering the kids and Jenn’s refusal to treat her like nobility. The D.O.O.M.H.E.R.B.I.E.S. discuss Daft Punk, and some of the Fantastic Four’s greatest enemies prepare to make their moves against the Future Foundation.

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s a fairly humdrum issue, in a way — most of it’s devoted to fairly friendly slugfests. But the bits with the Thing Rings, Daft Punk, Doom, and a few other small but significant moments carry this one over the top.

Young Avengers #6

We check in with a couple of character who aren’t part of the Young Avengers team, at least not yet — Speed, a young speedster and kinda-sorta brother of Wiccan, and Prodigy, a former mutant who managed to absorb the knowledge of a huge number of people before he lost his powers, making him a super-genius in everything from science to combat. Both of them are working for a mysterious company — Prodigy takes technical support calls on every subject from bomb disarming to how to fight Elektra. Speed assembles electronics, doing dreary months’ worth of work in mere minutes. They discover that someone wearing the costume of Speed’s former teammate Patriot is sabotaging the company, and they decide to stop him. But whoever it is, it isn’t Patriot, and he has abilities they can’t counter. What the heck is going on?

Verdict: Thumbs up. A great couple of character studies, and I hope we see both of these guys on the team soon enough. All in all, a really nice, excellently designed comic book.

Batgirl #20

Believing that she’s killed her psychotic brother by throwing a batarang through his eye, Barbara Gordon is all but ready to give up her Batgirl identity and actually cuts the Bat-logo off her costume. But she doesn’t get to enjoy a very long retirement — there’s a new Ventriloquist in the DCU, a young nutbag named Shauna Belzer. She’s got a little talent for ventriloquism, but she’s telekinetic — and she’s desperate to be a star. She tries out for an “America’s Got Talent”-style show, gets made fun of, murders one of the judges, and kidnaps another. And when Batgirl tries to stop her, she gets her butt whupped — by the puppet. That just can’t be a confidence-builder.

Verdict: Thumbs up. I’m not real sure we really needed a new Ventriloquist — has there ever been one better than Arnold Wesker? But Shauna Belzer is indeed pretty nutty, and the telekinesis bit is a nice twist on the formula. I would like to see some more done with the idea of Barbara giving up the Batgirl identity — after all, she spends most of this issue running around in her Batgirl costume…

FF #7

The Future Foundation has been pulled into the Negative Zone by the Wizard and his new Frightful Four — himself, Blastaar, a hypnotized Medusa, and Bentley-23, the Wizard’s young clone, who actually has absolutely no interest in being a part of his progenitor’s makeshift family. The entire Future Foundation, adults and kids, work together to face down the villains.

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s mostly a slugfest this issue, but it’s a very nice slugfest, and this series hasn’t been real heavy on the comic-style slugfests lately. Even then, we still get some great character moments — Bentley’s rejection of his father for his new family, Scott Lang’s attachment to the children and terror that they’ll be hurt, and Darla’s willingness to help her friends overcoming her lack of battle experience. Another great issue — y’all need to be reading this.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Allie Brosh is back, and she’s got an incredibly important new essay for you. This is really required reading for anyone who doesn’t suffer from depression — it’ll help you understand what may be going on with your friends and family who do have to deal with it.
• A guy who loves Nightwing fell in love with a girl who loves Batgirl, and they had the best wedding ever.
• Sometimes the best heroes are real heroes.
• Why didn’t they just close the doors and drive off? Who wouldn’t want a free otter?!
• I’m a terrible person, and this image made me laugh and laugh and laugh.

FF #6

This is just a plain great issue. Dragon Man tries to figure out where Medusa and Bentley-23 have vanished to. Scott Lang continues to slide into depression, if not madness, because of the death of his daughter. She-Hulk and Ahura visit the Inhumans to see if they know where Medusa is, and they get to bring Lockjaw home with them. This is good because Lockjaw is awesome.

The bulk of the story focuses on the Yancy Street Gang, which is not happy that Darla Deering is wearing a Thing exoskeleton that Ben Grimm wore once when he didn’t have his powers. They hack her cell phone and give the photos she took of herself wearing silly helmets to the Daily Bugle. They also invade one of her concerts, throw food at her, and chase her out of the concert hall. Is there going to be any way to appease Ben Grimm’s fanatical foes/fans?

And there’s one little scene with the Moloids that we will discuss in detail a bit later.

Verdict: Thumbs up. How many thumbs up? All of the thumbs. It’s clever and cute and funny and cool in all the right ways. Joe Quinones is the artist on this issue, doing a great job of aping Mike Allred’s style. Matt Fraction just writes a hell of a fun comic. There are so many excellent bits here: The D.O.O.M.H.E.R.B.I.E.S., She-Hulk’s expression when she sees the newspaper, the sleazy Internet cafe, Artie and Leech making shadow puppets in the theater, Scott Lang’s deeply creepy nightmare.

But here is the best bit. And I am going to spoil it completely for you. It is just so good, that I don’t care. I’m going to spoil it because you should be reading this comic anyway, people, and if you aren’t, you should be ashamed. I’m going to spoil it because it’s too good not to spoil.

These are the Future Foundation’s evolved Moloids Tong, Turg, Mik, and Korr:

That’s just a single page. It goes from sublimely ridiculous — a Moloid wearing a dress is silly, I don’t care what anyone says — to astonishingly, gloriously, heartwarmingly beautiful. Gail Simone’s “Batgirl” got all kinds of big publicity when Barbara’s roommate came out as transgender — and I think Gail is just entirely awesome, y’all know that — but this one page, with a Moloid in a party dress and her family who love her no matter what — it’s a billion times better than that issue of “Batgirl.” It’s better than anything else I’ve read this year.

If you’re not reading FF, you need to start doing it as quickly as you can.

Freelancers #5

Val and Cass have joined forces with their mostly-hated rival Katherine Rushmore, as they try to foil Drachmann’s plans to take over Los Angeles. They help reform one of Drachmann’s minions, then recruit Patrick, their… what do you call a guy who hands out assignments for freelance bounty hunters/bodyguards? I dunno, we’ll call him their assignment manager. Anyway, they recruit him to help fight Drachmann, too. And the four of them go walking into the nightclub where Drachmann is building up his army of goons. Do they have a chance? Maybe… but maybe not, once all the betrayals start to pile up.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Good action, drama, dialogue, and humor. I’m enjoying this plenty, and it looks like it’s all building up to an ending. I thought this was going to be an ongoing series? Not sure now…

Today’s Cool Links:

• Time to watch ALL THE TRAILERS.
• You love Rube Goldberg machines? Of course you do. You’ll love this, kiddo.
• Here, you need incredible creepiness in your life right now.

FF #5

Our focus in this issue is on Medusa, who appears to be harboring a few secrets. She enrolls her possibly-crazy son Ahura in the Future Foundation, makes Crystal’s daughter quite nervous, and is visiting some unwholesome old friends. Meanwhile, Darla Deering is trying to figure out a good helmet to wear with her Miss Thing suit, the pressure is getting to Scott Lang, and the elderly future Johnny Storm goes crazy and tries to burn New York City down.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Excellent action, intrigue, and, of course, art. Fun dialogue. Some great funny bits, particularly Darla trying on helmets. In fact, I suspect the whole issue is worth buying just for this panel:

I’m a complete sucker for the Marx Brothers.

Batman Inc. #9

In the immediate aftermath of Robin’s death, the Bat-family battles Damian’s clone and the forces of Leviathan. Bruce Wayne kicks Alfred out of the mansion for letting Damian leave the Batcave. The Squire takes over as the new Knight. Jason Todd is being held prisoner by Talia. Gotham City knuckles under to Leviathan and bans Batman from the city. And Bat-Cow says “Moo.”

Verdict: Thumbs up. Listen, it was just a good issue, a strong obit for Damian (maybe not as good as the silent issue of “Batman” from a couple weeks ago, but good nevertheless), excellent action, and lots of cool moments.

Uncanny Avengers #5

Wonder Man and the Wasp join the team as public relations experts, while Wolverine travels to Japan to recruit disillusioned ex-hero Sunfire. But the team is already fraying at the edges — many members are unhappy with Havok leading them, the mutants and Avengers don’t play together all that well, and a press conference goes from bad to worse when the Grim Reaper, Wonder Man’s brother, attacks the group.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Good all-around storytelling, good characterization, sweet art by Olivier Coipel. Love the way the personalities are clashing and the constant rise in the tension.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Don’t forget: this Saturday, March 30, is TableTop Day. Go forth and play games, people. Board games, card games, roleplaying games, you name it.
• Japanese teenagers hitting each other with hadoukens is the best thing ever.
• I remember some of these old gaming magazines. It’s good to see they’re not entirely lost and forgotten…
• How Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Lawrence Kasdan brainstormed “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
• These games are so cool, it makes me wish I had a TV again.
• John Cole says a lot of smart things about how we think of civil rights that we should all spend more time pondering.

FF #4

The bulk of this issue focuses on She-Hulk going out on a date with Wyatt Wingfoot, and the hilarious and fruitless attempts by Bentley-23 and the lovestruck Moloids to try to derail that date with good old-fashioned mad science. And I don’t know that there’s any need for me to describe it any further than that.

Verdict: Thumbs up. This is just an absolutely outstanding comic. From Jen and Wyatt’s adorably perfect date to the increasingly bizarre and entirely hopeless attempts by the kids to ruin the romance, it’s all solid proof that you — yes, you — need to be reading this comic book. Go get it already!

Freelancers #4

Val and Cass have learned that Drachmann, one of their former instructors at the orphanage, killed their sensei and is the leader of a secret organization dedicated to destroying Los Angeles. Looking for a way to track him down, they pay a visit to Patrick, the guy who gets them their freelancer assignments, and he points them toward a likely target who’ll need them as bodyguards. Ricky Saint is a hip-hop star who claims to be a former gangster — but he’s actually stolen the identity and backstory of a real gangster. Now the gangster is out of jail and looking to bump Ricky off during a big concert. Can Val and Cass manage to keep Ricky Saint alive with multiple assassins gunning for him?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Excellent action and nice dialogue. The whole comic is just good escapist fun. Ain’t nothing wrong with good escapist fun.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Chris Sprouse is a much better man than Orson Scott Card.
• Someone please make this awesome Wonder Woman movie.
• If you haven’t heard the “Head Like a Hole”-“Call Me Maybe” mashup, it’s really pretty dang good.

Batwoman #16

Yet another issue of the most beautiful comic book on the stands. The Medusa and her monstrous minions are laying waste to Gotham City in an attempt to raise Ceto, the mythical Mother of All Monsters. We get a check-in — and sometimes co-narration! — with almost every character we’ve met since this comic began, including Batwoman, Maggie Sawyer, Wonder Woman, Cameron Chase, Director Bones, the Hook, Bette Kane (with an all-new costume!), la Llorona, Maro, and even the Medusa herself. It’s a mad, chaotic war zone as all the chessmen take their positions on the board…

Verdict: Thumbs up. Once again, the most beautiful comic book on the stands. If that’s not enough, it’s a really fun piece of storytelling, too. I love seeing all these characters coming together, with all their agendas and fears and ambitions playing off each other, all working up to something truly epic and apocalyptic. I only wish we could’ve seen Joseph Kane in here, too — he’s just about the only major character we don’t see here.

FF #3

Apparently, the only survivor of the Fantastic Four’s journey into outer space is an elderly Johnny Storm, with the others all victimized by Doom the Annihilating Conqueror, an amalgamation of Dr. Doom, Kang the Conqueror, and Annihilus. Scott Lang tries to persuade Darla Deering to return to the group — an effort that quickly goes all embarrassing when the Yancy Street Gang targets her with a whipped cream bomb and then snaps some photos of Darla half-dressed. Can Ant-Man convince Darla to rejoin the FF? Can the team figure out a way to save the seemingly long-dead Fantastic Four?

Verdict: Thumbs up. There’s spectacular energy in this one. From the mystery of John Storm to the effort to recruit Darla to the Moloids’ trip underground, there’s crackling excitement here. While we’d expect that energy in a chase down a skyscraper’s stairs, we also get it from a mostly static scene with Johnny and Wyatt Wingfoot. Yeah, Matt Fraction is writing a very fun comic, but this feels like a Michael Allred comic from beginning to end.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Was the moon landing a hoax? Here are some photo-based reasons why it all really happened.
• Here’s an absolutely hilarious tutorial about how to make a railgun.
• What happens when you change a familiar song from a minor scale to a major one? You get a song that’s the same, but very, very different.
• Here’s some stuff to scare the gee-willikers out of you.

I’m a bit behind on my comics reviews, aren’t I? Let’s see how many I can get out of the way.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #1

You can’t really call me a Brony. I’ve watched the new “My Little Pony” cartoon, and I think it’s clever and funny and entertaining, but I haven’t gotten into it like a lot of people have. Still, I heard from a lot of folks that the new MLP comic book looked like a winner, so I picked it up.

I’m going to assume that you have some familiarity with the show. Because if you don’t, well, dadgummit, I don’t have time to explain all of this stuff. Sorry ’bout that.

The story begins with a group of young ponies who are trying to figure out how to get their own cutie marks (small magical tattoos related to interests, hobbies, or professions) when they’re suddenly attacked by unseen, menacing creatures. The next day, we finally meet up with our main characters, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Spike, who first discover that the younger ponies have become emotionless, unenthusiastic zombies — and then that almost everypony has been similarly transformed. The culprits are quasi-demonic changelings, and the friends may have to discover a solution to the problem all by themselves.

Verdict: I’ll thumbs it up — the story and art by Katie Cook and Andy Price are just fine, with lots of funny character moments and background gags. I probably won’t be picking up more of these, though — like I said, I’m not a brony, and while I think this was a nice comic, I’m not interested enough to keep reading…

FF #1

Well, it looks like the Fantastic Four are going on a working vacation — they’ll be gone for a year, but for the rest of the Earth, it will seem that they’ll be gone for only four minutes. And because Planet Earth can’t handle the Fantastic Four being gone for even four minutes, they’ve decided to recruit some replacements for the Future Foundation for those four minutes. So Reed Richards recruits Scott Lang, Ant-Man, Sue Richards calls in Medusa of the Inhumans, Ben Grimm invites the She-Hulk, and Johnny Storm completely forgets that he has to recruit anyone, so he picks his latest bedmate, socialite actress Darla Deering. Most of the rest of the issue focuses on the underage members of the Future Foundation to explain who they are and what the FF means to them.

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s a completely idiotic premise, but Matt Fraction’s writing carries it, and Michael Allred’s artwork pushes it over the top. I enjoyed it, I really did, even with the ridiculous egotism that the Fantastic Four, which travels to other planets and other dimensions almost constantly, suddenly believes that the world will end if they’re gone for less than five minutes.

Love and Capes: What to Expect #4

This issue has a lot of emphasis on a couple other than Abby and Mark — namely, Darkblade and Amazonia. Her mother had a stroke, which makes Amazonia the Queen of Leandia, her other-dimensional homeworld, at least temporarily. Amazonia, in fact, doesn’t want to be the Queen, but has no choice, and as long as she’s the Queen, she’s not allowed to go off-world at all, which makes her relationship with Darkblade problematical. Meanwhile, Abby’s bookstore is having financial troubles, Amazonia’s sister, Oriana, is assigned to take over her superhero duties, and the Spencers are enjoying making plans for baby showers.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Good funny stuff, lots of great characterization, all the wonderful stuff we’ve come to expect from the “Love and Capes” comics.

Today’s Cool Links:

I’m still thinking a lot about the end of City of Heroes, so here’s some more links about the best dang superhero MMO ever.

• Real World Heroes is a charity created by and for City of Heroes players, supporting four worthy organizations. I think it’d be great if they had their best year ever. Would you consider donating to them?
• A team of friends finishes one of the biggest task forces in City of Heroes mere seconds before the servers are shut down. Watch the video and be amazed.
• Champions Online competed with City of Heroes, but Cryptic Studios created both games. Champions had their own excellent statement of support after CoH was closed down.