Ok, so I’m a little late. Been getting ready to go to this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Here’s what I’ve been reading:

Action Comics #876 – This is a World Without Superman crossover. For those of you that haven’t been keeping up, the bottle city of Kandor has been restored and because Earth couldn’t deal with thousands of Kryptonians, a copy of Earth was created in an exact opposite orbit (not as bad as turning back time by spinning the Earth backwards, but d@mn close…). Phantom Zone criminals that didn’t have a life sentence have been released and Superman has joined the army on New Krypton, answering to Zod. Christopher (remember, he was the son of Zod and Ursa that Clark and Lois adopted…), now in his late teens (Phantom Zone time…), is using the Fortress of Solitude as a base for himself (Nightwing) and Thara (Flamebird) as they fight crime on Earth. While he doesn’t have the same powers as the average Kryptonian in a yellow sun (born in the Phantom Zone…), it appears that Greg Rucka and Eddy Barrows are setting him up to be in the tights for a while. I’m not gushing over this storyline, but I’m intrigued enough by the story and art that I’ll keep picking them up for the next few issues…

Punisher #4 – Frank Castle has declared war on Norman Osborn and the only thing keeping him alive so far is he’s surrounded by people with powers. Osborn has sicced The Hood on Castle and ol’ Frank has decided that The Hood has jumped to the front of the line. Armed with a new assistant that has taken the place of Microchip (remember him?) Frank decimates The Hood’s goons and security forces in this issue. The Hood finally decides that he and his legion of super baddies need to handle this themselves and Frank loads up with copies of Ant-Man’s helmet, Cap’s shield, Hawkeye’s bow and Iron Man’s gauntlet as he readies to assault The Hood’s base. The shocker in this issue and what will keep me around for the next is: SPOILER ALERT!!! MICROCHIP IS WORKING FOR THE HOOD!!! HOLY CRAP!!!

All New Savage She-Hulk #1 – Lyra, the Daughter of Bruce Banner and Thundra (a time travelling warrior determined to sire a strong heir to continue the fight against the tribes of men…). I’m not suggesting to anyone that this is a book to pickup – I AM SUGGESTING THAT EVEYONE SAVE THEIR MONEY! This is a bland ’90′s concept that wouldn’t have been good in the ’90′s. The only remotely redeeming thing about this book is the art. I hope they can hone their skills and wind up on a decent book when this one inevitably gets cancelled.

The Flash: Rebirth #1 – Barry Allen is back and has become super detached and obsessed with saving the world before his time runs out again. This “Barry Allen Primer” issue once again shows Barry’s origin and how the various heroes and villains are reacting to his return from the dead. Basically, Geoff Johns and the senior editorial staff have retconned the entire Flash universe. Barry Allen is back, Wally West is back (with his super powered kids…), and Bart Allen is young and back as Kid Flash with the Teen Titans. WTF?!? Honestly, after all the years I’ve been reading DC comics, I’m sick of them retconning their universe every few years. Maybe this is why DC has such a hard time hanging on to readers. Geoff Johns is writing a spectacular story in Green Lantern, but  think he’s reached his limit and as good as Ethan Van Sciver as an artist, he needs an inker. I think this is why I passed (along with most of the comic readers..) on the Final Crisis series…

Green Lantern #39 – Another part of the Blackest Night storyline taking place in this title and Green Lantern Corps. Hal Jordan has been given a Ring of Hope that can constantly overcharge his green ring. The battles between the green, yellow, blue, violet and red corps has awoken the scion of the orange corps: Larfleeze. The orange corps seems to be based on greed and its revealed that Hal Jordan has the capacity to use most of the colors of the emotional spectrum that have appeared so far: will (green), fear (yellow), rage (red) and hope (blue). The Guardians seem to be going through a bit of dissention in their ranks as one of their own appears to be manipulating them towards an unseen breaking point. This continues to be one of my top two books every month. Phillip Tan’s artwork is phenomenal and Geoff Johns has put the stigma of turning of Hal Jordan evil behind him with the Sinestro Corps War and with Blackest Night, he is cementing his status as one of this generation’s great writers.

New Avengers: The Reunion #2 – Mockingbird has been busy since she’s came back from Skrull imprisonment. She has setup a new group call the World Counter-Terrorism Agency (W.C.A.). Made up of former agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. who didn’t stay on with H.A.M.M.E.R., Mockingbird is picking up the slack that Osborn is ignoring. Ronin (Clint Barton, for those of you who haven’t been reading any Avengers books for the last two years…) has tracked Mockingbird down and forced her to take him on a mission to stop someone from detonating a dirty bomb. This is a surprisingly good read. Jim McCann is writing a great action/romance book and the art by David and Alvaro Lopez is wonderful. I even like the costume redesigns on Mockingbird’s costume. Stick around to the last page though and see Ronin’s heart die all over again.

Wolverine: Weapon X #1 – I guess with Marvel giving the regular Wolverine title to Daken and renaming it “Dark Wolverine,” Wolvie needed to get another book so that Marvel wouldn’t be violating his contract. You know, the unwritten contract that guarantees that Wolverine appears in more titles each month than any hero, in any universe – continuity be damned. Any way, someone has gotten access to the secrets of one of the Weapon X facilities and is creating poor copies of Wolverine. Great art by Ron Garney (who needs to realize his stuff is good) and the story by Jason Aaron is alright at this point. His dialogue is dead on and characterization is perfect, as always. But, with that being said, this series feels incredibly forced. Wolverine appears, each month mind you, in these books: X-Force, Astonishing X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, New Avengers, Wolverine: Weapon X and Wolverine: Origins. Plus, they just wrapped on the X-Infernus mini-series! And it’s not like the stories tie in together. Sigh…  Maybe they’ll finally reveal that Wolvie has 5 clones running around, appearing in all the different Marvel books…

Terry Moore’s Echo #11 – Now we’re getting’ to the main course in this series! With the psycho bum (the one that has part of the suit…) attacking Julie and Dillon at the end of the last issue, the resulting explosion leaves the bum at the bottom of a crater in the middle of the highway and a dumbstruck couple in the fleeing truck. Julie is freaking out that she fired a shot out of the truck, past Dillon’s face and Dillon is terrified of the power that was displayed by both. He finally freaks outs and stops the truck to get away from Julie and she unknowingly channels Annie, the first person to wear the armor and Dillon’s girlfriend, to calm him down. Like I mentioned last post, after so many issues of setup, this series is realllllly getting good. I get the feeling that the more the complete suit is together; the more that Annie’s consciousness will be coming to the forefront of Julie’s mind. It’s just another cool dynamic of this book that keeps me coming back. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again; this book needs to either be a TV series or a movie.

Warlord #1 – Really DC? You cancel good books and then publish junk like this? Is this a payback for a favor? a “Fine. Just stop calling me.” deal? The Warlord books were barely good in the ’80′s. I loved Mike Grell’s Jon Sable: Freelance book and his Green Arrow: Longbow Hunters, but this is a bad joke. The only people buying these books are people who only read Conan or Kull…

Exiles #1 – Another first issue restart for The Exiles. At least Blink is back this time. Morph is now the Timebroker and he’s chosen versions of Blink, Black Panther, Beast, Forge, Polaris, and Scarlet Witch. All picked a split-second before they were killed. Same mission. Different team members. Blink is given the Tallus and is a younger version than the one we’re used to. Black Panther is definitely not T’Challa, is called a whelp by Klaw and possesses some pretty impressive tech. Beast is a cross between the X-Factor’s Beast and the Beast from the Mutant X series: stronger, faster and easier to torque off. This Forge is married to Storm and was in the process of sacrifices himself to push the Skrulls off Earth. Polaris and Scarlet Witch are both supped-up and more experienced in their powers. First mission for the new team: help Wolverine overthrow Magneto. The problem is, this reality’s Wolvie is already dead. The creative team is totally unknown to me, but I love Jeff Parker’s dialogue and we should be seeing Salva Espin’s pencilwork for quite some time. I’m glad that Marvel seems to have remembered that this title should be a crazy and fun roller-coaster ride. This book is a must for anybody that loves alternate reality versions of their heroes and peeking into the different Marvel Universes. Like me…

Dark Regin: Hawkeye #1 – Another Dark Reign spin-off that focuses on Bullseye playing hero as Hawkeye. As shown in the Dark Avengers title, these personalities cannot function as a team and Osborn is just a psychopathic glory-hound. “Hawkeye” has already pulled their collective fat out of the fire more than once, just, when he does it his way, people die. The clincher at the end of the book was when “Hawkbull” steps out to get some air in NYC by roaming the rooftops. He comes upon a woman being mugged/raped as proceeds to kill everyone at the scene. Little does he know that a news copter has filmed the entire thing. This should be a good book that will give us a look into Bullseye’s psyche. I can’t wait until Ronin shows up to kick his @$$. Andy Diggle always writes great stories, but I’m having trouble getting past Tom Raney as the artist. I get the feeling the only reason he’s still working when so many better artists are out there is he knows somebody “on high” at Marvel.

X-Men: Legacy #223 – Professor Xavier and Gambit have tracked Rogue down to the X-Men’s old Australian HQ. Danger, the X-Men’s Danger Room computer system come to life, has also come as she is looking for Xavier. She is partially damaged in a Shi’ar pirate raid and begins to create many scenarios base on Rogue’s fragile mind. By the end of the issue, Danger has been reset to listen to Xavier, Rogue has come to grips with having absorbed Mystique and the group has united to fight the pirates. I’m thinking that this is leading up to Xavier starting his own team and splitting the X-Families down the middle. Especially with more and more team members beginning to question the ruthlessness of Cyclops’ decisions. It’d be easy with all of the other former X-Men floating around. Xavier, Beast, Storm, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, etc. Jean Grey is on the way back as well. Marvel Girl is in space with Havok and Polaris fighting against Vulcan and loses the Phoenix Force as she calls out, “Mom?” This next year for the X-Books should be good.