The Super Hero Squad Show #3

And here’s the latest issue of the comic based on the “Marvel Super Hero Squad” TV show. And you’ve got all these “fractals” — fragments of the shattered Infinity Sword — and anything that comes into possession of one of them gets massively hyper-powered. Well, one of the fractal shards accidentally gets stuck into a jellyfish in the ocean, leading to it turning into a giant blob monster and attacking the city. Unfortunately, it’s much too tough for the Super Hero Squad to hurt, and it just ate the Hulk. Reptil and the Falcon, assuming the attack of a giant monster must mean the Mole Man is behind the plot, put on a lot of silly disguises to try to capture him. Meanwhile, Iron Man realizes there’s a fractal inside the monster and has Hulk swim through the jellyfish to grab it. And what’s the result of the awesomely powerful fractal on the already awesomely powerful Hulk?

PIRATE HULK.

Soooo awesome.

And on top of all that, we also get Thor reliving his glory days in high school, which were completely goofy.

Verdict: Thumbs up, both for Pirate Hulk and Thor playing in a garage rock band with the Warriors Three.

Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #21

After Nova pops off with a line about how easy it’d be to divide the Avengers into various strike teams, Captain America and Invisible Woman call his bluff and ask how he’d really do it. This eventually ends with Nova in the role of reluctant kinda-sorta-pseudo team leader when a couple of mythological figures go to war with each other in Hawaii. Soon after the strike team leaves, Nova, Black Widow, and Invisible Woman run into a 1940s-era superheroine named Sun Girl, who tells them that a fellow Golden Age hero named Gary Gaunt is in trouble. Gary periodically turns into a Hulk-like wild man, but he’s had his problem beat for decades, thanks to a special serum that keeps his monster-side under control. But some burglars have stolen his serum from the rest home, and Gary is afraid he’ll turn into a monster again. Sue Storm and Black Widow go to track the thieves, leaving Nova babysitting a senior citizen, listening to old war stories, and worrying that Gary may turn into a monster again.

Verdict: Nominally, a thumbs up. The entire story is lightweight — I mean, more than is usual, even for an all-ages book. And it’s got an irritating punch-line moral, too. But I love the characters of Gary Gaunt and Sun Girl. That alone made me enjoy reading the story.

Booster Gold #29

Booster’s sister Michelle is stuck in the past, living in Coast City, and finally remembering that the entire place is about to be destroyed by Mongul and the Cyborg Superman. Meanwhile, Booster and Rip Hunter have figured out that the renegade time traveler who tried to kill Hank Henshaw last issue is going to try to stop him from blowing up Coast City, no matter what damage may occur to the timestream. Booster reluctantly goes to stop her — he’d prefer to save Coast City, too — but it may already be too late. And our backup story focuses on Jaime Reyes, the Blue Beetle. The Scarab armor has gone bad and taken Jaime over — it’s planning on doing whatever it can to destroy the world, and only Paco, Brenda, Traci Thirteen, and Peacemaker have a chance to stop him.

Verdict: Thumbs up. The Booster story is fine, but I wanna talk about the Blue Beetle backup story. It ends well, of course — except that this is the final Blue Beetle backup story in the “Booster Gold” comic. This is rotten news — I’ve enjoyed most of the Booster stories, but the fact remains that the stories about Jaime, his friends, and family have generally been of higher quality. Jaime deserves a place in the DCU outside of occasional guest appearances or in the spectacularly awful “Teen Titans” comic. Hopefully, someone at DC will get smart and give him back a regular ongoing title again.

Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #20

It’s the current crop of Avengers — Captain America, the Vision, Iron Man, the Invisible Woman, Thor, Black Widow, and Nova — against Diablo, an immortal alchemist. Diablo beats Iron Man like a drum while the rest of the team is running around New York trying to locate them — and they’re being attacked by gigantic fire and stone elementals. Will the team be able to save Iron Man, stop Diablo, and discover who has been causing emotional freakouts all over the world?

Verdict: I’ll give it a thumbs up. Nothing entirely outstanding, but there was nothing seriously wrong with it either. There are a few really nice character moments in here, and Diablo makes a very threatening villain.

Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #19

Well, first things first: Even if she’s not wearing her familiar Fantastic Four outfit, that’s one of the most awesome cover shots of Sue Storm I’ve ever seen.

Second, I found out, to my great disappointment, that the entirely awesome and hilarious “Marvel Adventures: The Avengers” series has been cancelled, and that nearly all of the “Marvel Adventures” titles are either being cancelled or are going to get revamped and retooled. Honestly, I didn’t see anything wrong with ’em in the first place. And where are we going to get our monthly dose of Giant-Girl?

But anyway, for as long as this title lasts, the current lineup of the Avengers is Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, the Invisible Woman, the Vision, Nova, and Black Widow. They’re moving into their new headquarters when the supervillain Plant Man pays them a visit. But he’s not here to fight — he needs help because the Silver Surfer has seemingly gone nuts and keeps trying to kill him. While the rest of the Avengers make preparations for the Surfer, the Vision goes to visit the alchemist Diablo who the team met a few issues ago. While they discuss the secret codes of the Voynich Manuscript, the Silver Surfer finally arrives, attacking everyone around him in an attempt to get at Plant Man. And he’s so juiced-up on the Power Cosmic that even Thor has trouble dealing with him. So why won’t the Vision help out in the battle? And what is Reed Richards hiding from the team?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Some amusing character bits with Plant Man, a nice solution to the problem of the out-of-control Silver Surfer, and a new mystery to add into the mix. Isn’t it depressing that the only comics that focus on the fun of superheroic stories are the ones marketed mostly to kids?

Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! #11

Billy is still suffering from something that’s already turned Captain Marvel evil and is slowly corrupting him as well. Mary Marvel and Tawky Tawny escort him to the Rock of Eternity to see if the Wizard Shazam can help him. Trying to figure out what’s wrong, the wizard has Billy say his magic word, then draws the evil out of him — and it manifests as a mirror-image of Captain Marvel who speaks in reverse. While Captain Marvel tries to stop his double from wreaking havoc on the world, the wizard fears that something far more terrible is at work.

Verdict: Thumbs up. If I’ve got a quibble, it’s that the creators didn’t give Evil Marvel the same costume he has on the cover — instead, he and regular Captain Marvel have almost the same costumes, which can sometimes make it hard to tell the two apart. However, beyond that, it’s a great issue, with good characterizations, decent dialogue, excellent action, and a wonderful mystery.

Jonah Hex #50

I just can’t resist an issue of this comic when Darwyn Cooke is doing the artwork.

Scarred, cynical bounty hunter Jonah Hex is huntin’ down ne’er-do-wells with Tallulah Black, a scarred, one-eyed bounty hunter — and Jonah’s occasional lover. After she gives him the slip the next morning, Jonah is offered a chance to bring in a bunch of new bounties, all at the request of a wealthy oilman. The more he brings in, the more he stands to earn. So he sets off killin’ a bunch of badmen. Meanwhile, Tallulah Black has turned up in a little town called Silver Springs. The sheriff doesn’t trust her, but Tallulah wants to put her past behind her and try to become, if not respectable, at least not a bounty hunter anymore. Elsewhere, the remaining criminals on Jonah’s hit-list confer to figure out a way to get rid of Hex — they decide to invade a small town, run off or kill the residents, and use it as a trap to lure Jonah to his death. The town they pick is Silver Springs.

A few months pass, and we learn that Tallulah’s pregnant with Jonah’s child, she’s building herself a home, and getting along with most of the Silver Springs folks, except for the religious nut who helps run the dress shop. And right about time Tallulah’s ready to give birth, the crooks finally invade Silver Springs, and Abigail, the aforementioned religious nut, slugs Tallulah over the head with a hammer, stabs her with a pair of scissors, and cuts the baby out of her, fleeing on the first train out of town. Jonah shows up in time to save Tallulah, and resolves to go track down Abigail and get the baby back.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Good grief, what a thumbs up. It’s a done-in-one story, and it’s more epic than every mega-crossover event you’ll see this year and next. Aside from Darwyn Cooke’s amazingly beautiful artwork (Check out that incredible supersized splash page on page 2!), the storytelling here by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti is absolutely pitch-perfect for everything you’d want from a “Jonah Hex” comic — funny, grim, heartbreaking, terrifying, hard-bitten, and cynical. The dialogue just sings, especially between Tallulah and the sheriff. The last page is just outstanding, without a word being said. Go get it, y’all.

North 40 #6

Sacrifices have been made, and Cthulhu — or something very much like him — is loose in Conover County. Wyatt Hinkle, Amanda Walker, and Sheriff Morgan are in a desperate race to lead the monster-god to water so they can perform a ceremony to banish it. We learn some new insights about some of our players, get one more confrontation with the awful Atterhull clan. But even if the monster can be destroyed, what other threats are ahead for the mystically transformed county residents?

Verdict: Thumbs up. This whole series has been a great big wad of fun. And a nice crisis to finish things off. Even better, they’re still able to add new monsters and freaks into the mix clear up to the end. I sure hope they make this one a continuing series, ’cause I’d love to read more of this stuff.

Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #18

Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Vision, and the Invisible Woman are investigating worldwide incidents of towns suffering from uncontrollable fits of rage and violence. They visit a small village in England, where Nova and some of his friends are on the trail of a spriggan, an unpleasant kind of faerie. And they’re all joined by the Black Widow, who’s bored and looking for some excitement. Can all these heroes figure out how to work together as a team?

Verdict: Ehh, not bad, but not a completely enthusiastic thumbs up. There are some nice moments here, but I can’t get over the weird composition of this team. They’re calling themselves the Avengers — does that mean there’s not a “Marvel Adventures: Avengers” comic anymore? I was a big fan of that one. Nova and Black Widow really don’t seem like the kinds of characters you’d want on a new “Avengers” squad like this. And it seems strange to see Sue Storm outside of the Fantastic Four — and wearing that green-and-red costume…

Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #17

Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor are called out to the scene of a disaster in a small town — the entire population seemingly went insane and began trying to kill each other. One of the survivors that they find is none other than Susan Storm, the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four — and she immediately begins attacking everyone! After she’s finally subdued, she reverts back to normal and is able to shed some light on the situation. She’d been in town on Fantastic Four business when some sort of creature appeared and somehow drove everyone into a violent rage. Suspecting that the creature was some sort of artificial construct or android, they calkl in the most advanced android they know, the Vision, who scans the available evidence and discovers that an immortal alchemist supervillain named Diablo was also in the town at the time of the attack. What’s his connection to all this, and can the team stop another disaster in time?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Interesting choice of team members — Cap, Iron Man, Thor, and the Vision weren’t unexpected for something that resembled an Avengers story, but Sue Storm, without the rest of the FF, was an unusual choice. Still, it worked out well, with a nice, bizarre mystery and a stronger air of menace than you might expect from an all-ages comic.

Justice Society of America #32

Mr. Terrific has died on the operating table, but Alan Scott is using his Green Lantern ring to stop time for him so Dr. Fate will have a chance of using magic to revive him. The investigation into who stabbed him is still inconclusive — they’ve finally realized that the All-American Kid was being mind-controlled, but they suspect Kid Chimera, whose specialty is illusions, not telepathy. Meanwhile, the gang of supervillains who attacked the JSA before is back for more mayhem.

Verdict: Thumbs down. This is just not fun, and it’s being drawn out much, much too long.

The Incredible Hercules #136

Hercules, disguised as Thor, has been conned into helping the Dark Elves invade Earth. Luckily, there’s someone on hand to stop him — Thor, disguised as Hercules! Most of the rest of this issue is one of the best slugfests I’ve seen in ages, accompanied by Greg Pak’s impossibly awesome sound effects, like SUKKKAPUNCH and WHATAMANNNN and GODDATHUNDAAA and THORRRRULZ and GOTCHAGAAAIN and BACKATCHA and, for whatever bizarre reason, SHOKKAKAAAAAN! Maybe that means we can look forward to sound effects like ARRRREETHAFRANNKLINNN and JAAAAAMESBROOWWWWNNN!

Verdict: Thumbs waaaaaay up. This was just so absolutely fantastic — definitely the most fun and enjoyable comic I picked up this week. Go get it, people! Don’t wait!

Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #16

It’s a teamup with Spider-Woman, the Beast, and Giant-Girl (now experimenting with new shrinking powers that let her operate as the Wasp and Giant-Girl at almost the same time) as they try to unravel the mystery of what blasted Hercules all the way from the moon to the Earth. They know HYDRA is involved somehow, but their only lead in the case is a piece of paper Herc left behind with a bunch of cryptic and goofy clues. Tracing Hercules’ steps, they find that, well, Hercules really likes the ladies, really likes to eat, really likes to have his ego stoked. Can the heroes figure out what HYDRA is up to and what Hercules got himself into?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Giant-Girl’s new Wasp powers were handled very amusingly, and the slow, piecemeal discovery of Hercules’ misadventures was also fun. On the whole, it’s good all-ages superhero fun, and that’s good enough for me.

M.O.D.O.K.: Reign Delay #1

Hey, a one-shot issue starring everyone’s favorite colossal-nogginned megalomaniac, M.O.D.O.K., written and illustrated by Ryan Dunlavey, of “Action Philosophers” and “Comic Book Comics” — this is pretty much a guaranteed thumbs-up. But let’s give it a look-see anyway…

So, we got this “Dark Reign” crossover going on, where Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, has basically taken over S.H.I.E.L.D. and is running the country with a bunch of supervillains in disguise. Well, M.O.D.O.K., the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing, wants in on that action, but can’t get Osborn to return any of his dozens of calls. Finally, desperate to be rid of uber-craniumed pest, Osborn assigns him and a few of his minions to be to official “protectors” of… Erie, Pennsylvania. Luckily, M.O.D.O.K. grew up in Erie, so he can live in his parents’ home, get delicious pancakes for breakfast, attend his high school reunion, and fight an out-of-work Canadian superhero. And, of course, brainblast his sad-sack minions, which he does as often as he can.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Very enjoyably silly stuff. If you get only one comic this year that features a giant-headed supervillain being accosted in a bar restroom by grown-up bullies and given a swirlie, make it this one.

Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #15

The Hulk and Tigra are attending a movie awards show because they were both in a documentary called “Don’t Look at the Camera: Three Days in the Life of the Hulk,” which has been nominated for an award. Unfortunately, Mysterio is also in attendance, because he owns a special effects studio that’s been nominated for another award. Unfortunately, when Mysterio loses the award, he reacts very badly — he plans to create illusions of an alien invasion so that Hulk, in the process of smashing the nonexistent aliens, will end up demolishing the entire auditorium. So why is Tigra the only person unaffected by Mysterio’s illusions, and can she stop the villain and his henchmen all by herself?

Verdict: Thumbs up. This one’s a bit iffy in places — I don’t mind funny, good-natured, peace-loving Hulk, but this version of Hulk was so sedate, he almost seemed tranquilized. And even on the printed page, Tigra really is an awful singer. But I did enjoy Tigra saying “Oh sneezes!” everytime something went wrong, and that made up for a lot.

Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #4

Uh-oh, Thanos is on the scene, and he means to get all the Infinity Gems away from the Pet Avengers. None of them are tough enough to take him on, so Frog Thor (I just can’t get into calling him “Throg” — even for this series, it’s too silly) takes all the gems and gives them to Lockjaw, on the pretense that Lockjaw is going to betray them all and hand them over. Instead, Lockjaw blasts Thanos a few times, then teleports him pretty much all over the place before stranding him in an alternate universe where he can’t get back. Huzzah! Cute animals triumph over evil!

Verdict: I’ll give it a thumbs up, because this issue was still plenty fun. But this was still the weakest issue of the series. If Thanos couldn’t understand what the animals were saying, why all the subterfuge that Frog Thor goes through? How did Ms. Lion survive getting a face-full of Thanos-blast? Why wasn’t Lockjaw more powerful when he possessed all of the Infinity Gems? Still, like I said, lots of good fun in this one, and I’m looking forward to the planned ongoing series with these characters.

Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! #7

Dr. Sivana is back and plotting more evil. After learning about Tawky Tawny’s connections to Billy and Mary, he manages to trail them to their home, bug their apartment, kidnap Tawny, and lead them straight into a trap — he’s re-activated the giant robot Mr. Atom, and he’s managed to super-charge him with the Marvels’ own lightning! Do they stand a chance to stop Dr. Sivana’s schemes?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Cute story, cute art, and they manage to raise the stakes and make things even more dangerous for Billy and Mary. That’s actually a pretty nice accomplishment for a kids comic.

Marvel Adventures: The Avengers #39

The Leader, the Abomination, and the Rhino are pulling off a ton of crimes as they work toward a plan to take over an orbital super-laser. Wolverine gets conned into making hot dogs while wearing an apron, just so Spidey can upload the pix to the Internet. Luke Cage beats the Abomination by beating him senseless with Wolverine. Spidey and Storm beat the Leader with rain. And Rhino wants out of the villain biz, so he and Tigra fake an epic battle so he’ll have an excuse to retire.

Verdict: Thumbs up. This one was just spectacular fun. The coolest scene was Tigra’s faked battle royale with Rhino — in a dramatic, drenching downpour, no less. The prize for best line goes to Tigra for: “Won the fight. Stole a line from the Thing. I’m totally a hero, and everything’s fine.” Just plain fantastic stuff.

Tiny Titans #19

Most of the story is all right there on the cover — Bumblebee and Plasmus meet on a dreary, rainy day, fall in love, and all the world erupts in a symphoy of sunshine, butterflies, rainbows, tandem bicycles, ice cream, lollipops, and movie outings together. Their affection is so infectious, it even gets Mallah and the Brain running around with cartoon hearts around them (which is really, really funny if you’ve read Garth Morrison’s old “Doom Patrol” comics). Elsewhere, Robin can’t do his homework because girls keep stopping by who are in love with him, and the Titans Apes Club meeting suffers from a severe lack of apes.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Yet another classic from Baltazar and Franco. They could’ve made every last bit of this issue focus solely on Plasmus and Bumblebee (and Mallah and the Brain), and it would have still been awesome.

Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #14

Hawkeye and the Blonde Phantom run into a bank robbery where the robbers are using a hostage Bruce Banner as a threat to get what they want — if everyone doesn’t hand over their cash, they’ll make Banner mad, he’ll turn into the Hulk, and he’ll start smashing up everything. But Hawkeye and B.P. have met Bruce Banner, and that guy isn’t Bruce Banner — he’s part of the gang masquerading as Banner to help the heists go smoothly. Can they track down the gang before they make their big getaway?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Seemed a bit long, but it was a cute concept for a story, and the chemistry between Hawkeye and B.P. is great.

Tiny Titans #18

It all starts quietly enough with a coffee spill in the hallway. Principal Slade calls in the school’s janitor — well, actually, Sidekick Elementary doesn’t have a janitor. Instead, he calls for… Lunch Lady Darkseid!

And he designates the dark god as Janitor for the Day. Which Darkseid is entirely down with, as long as he gets a nice jacket. And because Darkseid is such a control freak, he uses his “authority” to stick Robin in detention. After that, Kroc shows up and busts out the light bulb, creating… the Blackest Night.

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s a pretty light issue this time, but anything with Lunch Lady Darkseid is a winner for me. Maybe they should give him his own series…

Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #13

The Sensational She-Hulk pays a visit to Avengers Mansion to visit Spider-Man and Tigra. Shulkie and Tigra convince Spidey to join them for a shopping trip/picnic in the park, but the fun gets derailed by a superpowered bulldog running amok in the city. A bunch of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents soon appear to reveal what’s going on — the bulldog is actually an L.M.D. (Life Model Decoy — err, Doggie), an advanced robot that has been co-opted by the Hulk’s enemy, the Leader, so he can steal data from the super-spy agency. While the heroes join the search, they soon find themselves under attack from hostile robotic pigeons, police horses, and pelicans before the Leader and his giant killer robot make their own appearance.

Verdict: Another thumbs up. Outstanding dialogue and characterization on display here. The entire story is very fun and funny — and like nearly all of Marvel’s all-ages comics, it works great for both kids and adults. Go pick it up!