Lot’s o’ Marvel this week. Can somebody explain why they can’t manage their output?!? Anyway… on to this week’s picks…

BUY ‘EM!

DARK AVENGERS #8 – I just want to go on the record as being right about this one. As Utopia draws to a close, we see Osborn’s Cabal start to fall apart. Marvel really hyped the X-23 vs. Daken fight in this issue, but it doesn’t even get to that point. X-Force was sent in to rescue all of the mutants being held and experimented on, not pick a fight. While this is going on, the X-Club raises what looks to be part of Asteroid M to become an island outside of the U.S. 3 mile limit. Cyclops then has all of his teleporters start evacuating all of the mutants in San Fran to the new island. The X-Force team is discovered and must confront Osborn’s Dark X-Men away from the safety of media attention. X-Force manages to take out Dark Beast and Weapon Omega before the rest of the Dark X-Men arrive and just as Daken begins to lunge, Emma shoves him through the floor while Namor takes out Mimic. Illyana shows up to teleport them out and Emma invites Cloak & Dagger to join them. When asked if she has a plan, Emma says, “Not me, darlings… Scott. Scott has a plan.” YES! We next see Scott addressing the media very reminiscent of a benign Magneto as Osborn tells his team that he wants Namor’s head, Emma’s heart and to make sure Summers is watching when it happens. Thank you Matt Fraction for writing Cyclops the way he should be. Not the whiney little girl we’re shown in the X-Men movies, but the guy that’s strategically second only to Captain America (the real one, not Cap-Bucky…). This was a masterstroke worthy of Dr. Doom. Utopia wraps up in Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus and leads us into the Nation X storyline. I am so there…

RED CIRCLE: THE SHIELD #1 – I know, I know… I’ve been bad-mouthing these books every week and this one would be in the recycle pile if it wasn’t for me being such a patriot and loving Scott McDaniel’s art. Why isn’t this guy on a weekly title? I loved his stuff on Nightwing. I’m recommending it just for the art, so don’t hate me…

WOLVERINE: ORIGINS #39 - HOLY CRAP, IT’S ROMULUS!!! Ever since the mental blocks that Charles Xavier place in Logan’s mind have been removed (the entire Origins series…), Wolverine has been doing exactly what Romulus wanted him to. From killing Nuke, to using and then killing Cyber to freeing Daken, even the beheading of Sabretooth – all of it because of Romulus. Apparently, Romulus is getting long in the tooth and wants to choose a successor from his agents and is choosing by pitting them against one another. Nuke: dead by Logan’s hand. Sabretooth: dead by Logan’s hand. Cyber: dead by Logan’s hand. Wildchild: dead by Omega Red’s hand in this issue. Omega Red: dead by Logan’s hand in this issue. That leaves only Wolvie and Daken left. It’s happening next ish – Wolverine vs. Romulus! This has been one amazing reveal after another for thirty-nine issues and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.

STAR WARS: LEGACY #39 – Cade and his crew are on Tatooine to pull a job and Cade has been thrown together with an Imperial agent sent to bring him in. Little does Cade know that the agent is his half-sister by Morrigan Corde, who is also planet-side to help bring Cade in. Luke’s Force spirit guides the two to the ruins of the Lars farm for safety and after settling in, Cade has another Force-induced dream. Luke is intent on keeping Cade from falling to the Dark Side and Cade just wants to be left alone. I love the story and art on this book, but it’s about time that either something major happens to Cade that changes his outlook on life and the Force or Luke and some other Force spirits bend Cade over their collective knees and beat some sense into him. I can hang until at least issue fifty, but after that, I wanna see some motion towards the Skywalker destiny, not being the whiny little b!tch that Luke would have been if not for Obi-Wan.

X-FORCE #18 – X-Force has rescued Boom-Boom and Hellion from the Leper Queen, but H.A.M.M.E.R. soldiers capture X-23 after she saves BB and kills Leper Queen. The rest of the team just manages to stop Hellion from exploding and destroying the U.N., but lose Surge. Osborn turns X-23 back over to The Facility (the place that created her…) who begins cutting her up into pieces (literally! She don’t have no unbreakable skeleton! YEEESH!). The best scene in this issue is Logan confronting Cyclops about almost letting Boom-Boom, Surge and Hellion all die when he forced them to jump to Cable in the future some issues back. Wolvie tackles him, gives him the two-claw salute, and tells him that if either of the two survivors dies, it’s on Cyclop’s head. And Scott just say, “I know.” Wolvie then helps him up, tells him that Cable and Hope (the Messiah Mutant…) are still alive, and walks out to rescue X-23. This could be such a good title if they just showed a little more intrigue and subterfuge as X-Force and Cyclops tries to hide the team’s existence from the rest of the X-Teams. I’m no really a fan of Mike Choi either; his art seems very flat. Bloody, but flat. Show me some energy in the panels and I’ll be picking it up every month…

Green Lantern #45 – A Blackest Night tie-in. The lines are being drawn in the sand as we are shown more of Sinestro’s past and Agent Orange as the dead he used for construct-minons assault him when they are given Black rings. Throughout the issue, we see a lot of peek-ins around the different lantern corps that shows the universe is going to Hell-in-a-handbasket. Quick-fast. If you haven’t been reading Blackest Night or are a Green Lantern fan in the least – you need to be picking up this crossover as I predict more upheaval than Crisis caused. Geoff Johns’ storyline is amazing and a far cry from turning Hal evil in the ‘90’s. I honestly have no clue as how this story will pan out. Think about the number of dead that can be Black Lanterns versus the living in the universe… it’s no contest. The latest issue of Previews shows Nekron (ruler of DC’s version of purgatory…) as the force behind Blackest Night. I’m in.

Fantastic Four #570 – Finally! The FF are back to looking like the bright family/team they should be. I really didn’t like Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s run on the title. Not only was it chronically late, but it was waaaay too dark for the Fantastic Four. From the story to the art style – I just don’t think the two of them should have been signed as the creative team for the FF. Not to say the story or art wasn’t good… it just didn’t fit the title. I did think that the Dr. Doom story in the last few issues was insanely good. But, they’re done and Marvel welcomes Jonathan Hickman (Secret Warriors) and Dale Eaglesham (JSA) as the new creative team and I couldn’t be happier. Not only do we get a writer than can really tell a “super-genius” story, but an artist that can draw a team book and give it the look it needs. Since Civil War took a wrong turn with Cap’s death, Reed has made a list of 100 problems I in the world to solve and them wrote down #101: SOLVE EVERTHING and when he not dealing with immediate threats, problems or just being a father; Reed has locked himself in an inter-dimensional room to work on the list. His has just recently made contact with a multi-dimensional group of Reed Richards from other worlds that convene to discuss problems on their worlds and how to solve them. The “Council” that governs the group is made up of three Reeds that possess the Infinity Gauntlet (remember, our Reed has the gems locked away…). This was a great first issue for Hickman and Eaglesham and a great jumping on point for anyone. It’s been added to my sub list.

HALO: HELLJUMPER #2 – Not much to say here, but I just like it. I’m a fan of the HALO franchise, but haven’t liked the other comics based on it. This title, written by the legendary Peter David with art by Eric Nguyen, Helljumper focuses on a squad of ODSTs and feels like G.I. Joe in the future. The story flows like a military story should and the art is great. If you are planning on buying HALO: ODST like me, check this book out just to get geared up…

NEW AVENGERS #56 – And the house of cards that Osborn has built begins to crumble… When we last saw The Hood, he had been cut off from Dormammu’s power and influence and had the $h!t beat out of him by the New Avengers, Strange and Brutha Voodoo. Loki then appeared and teleported him to God-knows-where, promising him new power for a simple favor. In this ish, Loki leads him to the Norn Stones (basically, magical Asgardian rocks…) that can give The Hood back a measure of the power he had grown accustomed to. So the score is: Emma and Namor have left the Cabal, Doom could care less and Loki now has The Hood in the palm of his hand – Osborn is in pretty deep. But that wasn’t even the biggest thing to happen; both the New Avengers AND the Dark Avengers get their butts kicked. The Hood’s group of villains has not only lost faith in him, but has a new leader in Dr. Jonas Harrow (???). Harrow has set up a device that cancels powers in anyone but those wearing a special piece of tech. The Wrecking Crew & Chemistro have downed all the New Avengers except for Mockingbird, who’s not going to last very long against the Crew. And apparently having his powers cancelled is giving Luke Cage a heart attack. Spider-Man and Ronin (why was Ronin and Cap-Bucky down from a power canceller…???) manage to get in a few hits before being swatted. Then the Dark Avengers show up and the Sentry DROPS! Hard. The rest hang back just as Osborn’s armor is hacked by Harrow who tells him that he’s in charge of The Hood’s Syndicate and then kicks Osborn out of the armor. The last thing we see is the members of the Syndicate, even those in Osborn’s Initiative, gather around, ready to crush both teams. WE WANT THE GOBLIN! WE WANT THE GOBLIN! SHOW US THE GOBLIN!

RECYCLE ‘EM!

BATMAN & ROBIN #3 – Formerly a buy, this title has gotten progressively worse/weird to the point of a Vertigo book. Hey, Grant Morrison! Just because you’re signed to write a title doesn’t mean you have to weird it up and “shake conventions” to get sales. Just write a good story. I loved Morrison and Quitely on JLA: Earth 2 and The Authority, but their run on New X-Men made me cancel my subscription I was so pissed (I’ve since gone back and completed the run since I have issue #100 and up of Uncanny/X-Men, but I’m still pissed…). The thing that really set me off this ish was the Pig-Man as a villain. ‘nuff said. Go back to Vertigo and stay there. Please. Don’t keep screwing up good titles and characters. I’m going to read Judd Winick’s Batman to get this taste out of my mouth…

X-MEN FOREVER #6 – I’m a convert on this title, but why is there a filler issue this early in the series at issue #6? And who da hell dusted off Paul Smith to draw a book? And why? His stuff hasn’t looked good since the ‘80’s. Blah. Skip this issue and pick up #7 in two weeks.

FLASH REBIRTH #4 - Consistantly in the recycle pile and proof Geoff Johns needs to stay in the Green Lantern universe. Professor Zoom is the “engine” for the negative speed force and Barry Allen is the “engine” for the positive speed force. Huh?!? The speed force has existed before Barry, but he created it? I understand quantum physics and the like, but this is crap. Barry should have stayed dead as a hero.

DARKNESS/PITT #1 - Hey, Dale Keown isn’t dead! Wanna place bets on when the next issue is coming out from “Mr. Can’t-Hit-A-Deadline”? Don’t bother…