I’m going to do the reviews a different way this week by giving each title. Let me know which format you like.
Rating System: 0 to 1.5 stars = save your money unless you are just mindlessly collecting the title. 2 to 3.5 = worth a shot if you are up to trying something new or wanting to get back into a title. 4 to 5 = a must buy for any comic reader.
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #19 – This is it. Norman Osborn has finally pin-pointed Tony Stark’s location and is moving to permanently deal with him. Since the end of Secret Invasion and the beginning of Dark Reign when Tony was declared the “world’s most wanted man” by Osborn, he’s been running all over the globe, erasing data from safehouses and more importantly – from his own mind. Pepper Potts, Black Widow and Maria Hill manage to break out of Avengers Tower and steal back an encrypted hard drive found by Osborn. As Tony has destroyed more safehouses and tech, he’s been forced to wear his very first suit of armor – which he is unfortunately wearing when Osborn catches up with him. Having already begun the “final” deletion of data in his brain, Tony’s IQ has been reduced to basically riding the short bus. When he puts up no fight against Osborn’s Iron Patriot armor, Osborn becomes incensed and intends to kill Stark in cold blood. Luckily for Tony, Pepper also knew his location and leaked it to various news agencies across the globe. Tony’s last words are “I win” just before e loses consciousness. Back at a secure location, Osborn learns that Tony is now in a persistent vegetative state – which means that his brain has forgotten how to do everything from breathing to counting. When Osborn tells the doctor to pull the plug, the doctor tells him that only the executor of his living will has that authority – Dr. Donald Blake aka The Mighty Thor. Given the fact that Iron Man is set to appear in the Siege crossover at the beginning of the year, I have a feeling that whatever happens to get Thor, Cap and Iron Man back together (and forgive each other…) will happen in this title.
Undercover Fanboy Rating: 
DON BLUTH PRESENTS SPACE ACE #1 – For anybody who grew up the in the late ‘70’s/early ‘80’s – Don Bluth was an animation god. A former animator for Disney during the ‘60’s, Bluth has racked up quite a resume. Here are the big ones: Titan A.E., Anastasia, Thumbelina, Rock-A-Doodle, All Dogs Go to Heaven, The Land Before Time, An American Tail, The Secret of NIMH, The Fox and the Hound, Pete’s Dragon, The Rescuers, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too, Robin Hood, The Sword in the Stone and Sleeping Beauty. That’s a lot of childhood favorites. Something that’s generally overlooked when talking about Don Bluth is the two video games he helped create in the ‘80’s: Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace. Never truly accepted by the arcade crowd as anything more than a novelty, these two games were so incredible groundbreaking that we haven’t had such an ambitious game made since. Both games were fully animated movies (with detailed stories) that prompted the player to move by a flash of light in the direction that you needed to move to avoid being killed. Too soon or too late – you’re dead. Space Ace was the second such game and focused on the adventures of futuristic hero Space Ace/Dexter who was hit by an “Infanto Ray” by the evil villain, Commander Borf. Now Ace reverts to his teenage self and back without warning. This new series picks up after the story in the video game with Borf being hit by his own ray and reduced to a baby – who is “adopted” by Space and his girlfriend Kimberly. The art by Paulo Borges looks just like stills from the video game, but I have to wonder if this series has missed its target audience by a decade or so as most people who remember the game are adults with their own children – children who more than likely will pass on this comic. But, if you’re feeling nostalgic for video games from the ‘80’s, this comic is for you.
Undercover Fanboy Rating: 
BLACKEST NIGHT: SUPERMAN #3 – It seems that DC is using the Titans, Batman and Superman Blackest Night titles to create more intrigue and overall interest in Blackest Night before the “big bad” is unveiled. Much like the Blackest Night: Batman series, Superman, Superboy, Krypto and Supergirl on New Krypton are all dealing with the effects of the dead rising. Superman and Superboy discover that the dead are trying to illicit emotional responses from their intended victims to order to charge their rings. Once they are able to “kill” the Earth-2 version of Superman, Clark and Conner use Psycho Pirate’s Medusa Mask to calm the people of Smallville. While on New Krypton, Supergirl and her mother fight the corpse of Supergirl’s father and succeed in keeping him from ripping out Kara’s heart just as a force shield is erected around New Krypton. With the threat in Smallville averted, Superman and Superboy are headed to JLA HQ to plan a counter-attack with the rest of Earth’s heroes. Great dialogue and character interactions from James Robinson and the art by Eddy Barrows is amazing. If you are following Blackest Night, don’t forget this series.
Undercover Fanboy Rating: 
STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC #46 – Why can’t Dark Horse move Brian Ching over to the Star War: Invasion title? It would put it over the top in my book. SW: KotR has been chronicling the adventures of former Jedi Zayne Carrick for over three years now and I can honestly say the book needs to move in another direction before it gets too bogged down. The first story arc of Zayne and his fellow padawans betrayed by their Jedi masters was classic Star Wars material, but since – meh. I still pick it up every month just to see the goings-on in the Star Wars Universe Pre-KotR I. They’ve given us glimpses of Carth, Bastila, the future Malek and Revan, but I think that if this series is to continue, we need to start seeing the lead up to the Mandolorian War and more interaction with characters from the video games to hold reader interest.
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #609 - Ugh. This book gets worse each issue. Why is Marvel even putting this title out so many times during the month? Crappy clone stories, bad dialogue and an artist who looks like he’s stealing poses from Angel Medina, Lee Weeks and so many other artists that I can’t name them all here. Blargh.
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
COWBOY NINJA VIKING #1 – I had to pick this one up just based on the title and the premise. The “hero” is a secret agent suffering from multiple personalities – kinda like Deadpool, but less funny. Each personality has a different set of skills and what’s really cool is that both C.N.V.’s hat and word balloons changes based on who is talking. The artwork by Riley Rossmo is a tad dark in some places but overall fits the books really, really well. An over-sized black & white book layered with zip-tones, grays and blues – Cowboy Ninja Viking has the potential to be a great sleeper hit.
Undercover Fanboy Rating: 
DARK REIGN – THE LIST: HULK - Osborn has decided that Banner (that’s right, Banner – not Hulk, not Skaar…) is too much of a loose end to leave lying about. Not only Banner one of the world’s smartest people; he’s trying to be a hero, which Osborn can’t have. He sends Agent Hand and Ms. Marvel to deal with Skaar and Banner both. Leaking them the location of a H.A.M.M.E.R. facility used to study the “old power” of Skaar, They wind up in a standoff and both decide to walk away. Unknown to Banner, the facility was used the study the effects of gamma radiation and Osborn’s agents have leaked gamma particles into the air around the facility. Paritcles that will eventually bring about the return of the Hulk. Osborn decides that at least the Hulk can be counted on to smash things and be a big blip on the radar, while Banner is too much of a wildcard to leave on his own. Of course Skaar is thrilled to hear about the possible return of the Hulk. Greg Pak has been given a pretty big sandbox to play in the Hulk corner of the Marvel playground, but why can’t Ben Oliver be the regular artist on The Incredible Hulk? His stuff is soooo much better that Ariel Olivetti…
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
AZRAEL #1 – Picking up where the Azrael limited series left off, there’s a new and more deranged Azrael in Gotham. The art and story seems better suited to a Vertigo title than Batman and who thought this character was still popular enough to support his own series? Artist Ramon Bachs has definitely done better art for other titles. Ho hum.
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
DARK AVENGERS #10 – Norman Osborn has definitely stepped in it this time. After crossing Man-Thing off his “List,” he gets call from a senator whose daughter has gone missing. He sends The Sentry to deal with it, but when he arrives, he begins to break down until there’s just a scorched piece of dirt left. Assembling his Dark Avengers and a H.A.M.M.E.R. heli-carrier – they arrive to find that Molecule Man is back. Remember him? One of the absolute, most powerful beings in the entire Marvel U (and not just on Earth! UNIVERSE!) is back and still looking a bit touched in the head. It’ll be interesting to see how Normie deals with this one. The only thing that kept him in check last time was his girlfriend, Volcana (she broke it off…). Previously, he could only affect inorganic matter and organic matter was is weakness. All bets are off. The two-page reveal at the end has him on a throne surrounded by copies (I presume copies…) of Mephisto, The Midgard Serpent, Enchantress and the Beyonder. Grab yer butts and hold on! Might need to call in the FF for this one…
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
G.I. JOE: SNAKE-EYES #1 - The origin of the movie version of Snake-Eyes. The Snake-Eyes/ Storm Shadow parts of the G.I. Joe movie were the only things worthy of the $9 bucks I spent to get in. I even accepted the way their origins were changed. This limited series from IDW plans to go more in depth on the man called Snake-Eyes. Written by Kevin VanHook and Ray “I’m A Bad-@$$” Park, G.I. Joe: Snake-Eyes starts off with video surfacing that shows Snakes killing someone in cold blood – even though he was accounted for at Joe HQ the whole time. As Snakes is given time by General Hawk to clear his name, we are treated to a few flashbacks of his childhood with Storm Shadow. The art isn’t bad and would probably be better if penciller Lee Ferguson wasn’t doing his best to channel Ed McGuiness. What’s with the foil cover IDW? Do you not remember the crap that brought along with it in the ’90’s?!? Personally, after that celluloid abortion I sat through over the summer – I’m sick of seeing G.I. Joe for a while…
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
DARK WOLVERINE #79 – Yuck. I can’t even look at this crap. I know Daniel Way writes a good story, but d@mn this art sucks. Did Marvel have Lenil Francis Yu open a school of art? Stephen Segovia and Carlos Opena on Moon Knight are straight apeing Yu’s art style. Marvel pulled this crap back in the ‘90’s with both Jim Lee and Joe Madureira. Did Marvel not want to pay Yu to pencil the book or has he begun to think that all he needs to do is the occasional one-shot/limited series or a pin-up/cover every month? Bad enough that you give the Wolverine copycat his own book, but don’t hire a copycat to pencil it.
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #38 – Wow. I’m guessing that current writers for the JLA titles either didn’t read or actually liked the “Detroit Years” of the Justice League. When you don’t have ANY A or B-list heroes in the JLA – you’re just signing the title’s death warrant. At least DC is trying to rectify the situation by having James Robinson take over writing duties and “happy team art guru” Mark Bagley handling the art chores. This is a book that Bagley belongs on, not a dark book like Batman. He excels at books like Avengers and Thunderbolts where a lot is going on in one book – kind of like a John Byrne or George Perez (Easy. I said like, not as good as…). The current JLA is being led by Vixen (WTF?!?) and they are licking their wounds at the very first HQ of the JLA in Happy Harbor. Plastic Man is losing his cohesion, Vixen is whiny and has a broken leg and other than those two; the JLA consists of Red Tornado and Dr. Light (John Stewart is otherwise occupied with the events of Blackest Night and Firestorm is a victim of Blackest Night…). I have a feeling that Robinson is planning to combine Hal’s team from Cry for Justice with this group of heroes to make up the JLA – which means a Green Lantern (either Hal or John), Green Arrow, Supergirl, Atom, Starman and Congo Bill could wind up on the new JLA roster. This is a great jumping one point for new readers as they seem to have a direction again for the title.
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
SPIDER-WOMAN #2 – Brian Michael Bendis’ pet project continues with Jessica Drew waking up in a Madripoor police station after killing the Spider-Man Skrull at the end of the last issue. The detective interrogating her obviously doesn’t believe any of her alien stories and plans to transfer to another precinct. In cuffs, he walks her out to his car when they’re attacked by a weaponzied classic Mustang (nice touch Maleev!). Thinking it’s Skrulls and then S.H.I.E.L.D., she’s surprised when it’s revealed to be Viper – Madam Hydra herself has returned to reclaim one of their best agents. I’m still kind of undecided about this series so far. I think it fits better as the webcomic as the pacing is rather slow when read. Bendis and Maleev are bringing a very noir feel to this book that’s cool, but may not be right for a Spider-Woman comic…
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
G.I. JOE #10 – I used to have such respect for Chuck Dixon as a writer. He still writes great dialogue for a military based title, but this story has become sooooo boring. Ugh. The little bit of action that they did have showed Snake-Eyes getting his butt kicked by a lowly Cobra Viper. Wait, what?!? That should be a shot over his shoulder as he’s walking away – not a life or death fight. Fine. This is a “modern” take on G.I. Joe starting from scratch, but don’t b!t@h-up Snakes-Eyes! Artist S. L. Gallant needs to be signed by Marvel, Dark Horse, Image or DC – he’s has some massive artistic potential that could be wasted on a dead-end title like this. I liked the G.I. Joe comic better when Devil’s Due was publishing it…
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
X-MEN LEGACY #228 - I would personally like to see this series focus on a team of X-Men that follow Prof. X back to the East Coast. Right now, it’s a title to give Rogue and Gambit some face time. Mike Carey’s dialogue is great on this series, but Daniel Acuña’s art should be regulated to covers or old “feeling” characters – like the FF, Thor, etc. It just doesn’t work on an X-Men comic. The X-Men Legacy Annual showed the return of Emplate and this issue continues the story. For those who don’t remember, Emplate is the evil, mutant-sucking brother of Monet and Penance. I get that he’s drawn to an island full of mutants, but Emplate? Really? A C-list villain made for a team of teen heroes in the ‘90’s? That’s what you’re giving us? All the newly undead people walking around, all the untapped potential of all the mutants on the island getting along and we get Emplate? Maybe if the art fit better… (Dan, I love your art, especially on Uncle Sam for DC – actually, you could draw any DC character and it would fit…).
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
SWORDSMITH ASSASSIN #3 - One of the great titles from Boom Studios, Swordsmith Assassin follows Japanese sword maker Toshiro Ono on his path to reclaim his honor. Always questioning why his father did not sell his swords to anyone who could meet his price, starts doing just that when his father dies. When his home is robbed and family killed by men he had sold swords to, Ono swears to his ancestors to reclaim every blade he ever made and throw them in to the ocean. This issue has Toshiro finding something that he believed he would never find again: love. This story could easily translate to a TV series or movie – the depth and emotion in this tale should really put writers Andrew Cosby and Michael Alan Nelson on the map. I will say the series would be better if the artist was better – colorist Andres Lozano can’t be made to save the book each month…
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
MIGHTY AVENGERS #30 – First let me say: HURRY BACK KHOI PHAM! I like your stuff. Now, these are the Avengers I remember. While Wasp (Hank Pym for those not up to date…) explores “macro-space,” Stature has called together the Young Avengers, The Avengers Resistance and the New Avengers (before the capture of Ronin… Marvel really needs to work on their continuity this year…) to deal with the threat of both the fake Scarlet Witch and the plot of former ruler of the Inhumans, The Nameless One. Seeing all the various Avengers together again in the current Mighty Avengers HQ was incredible and the scene was made even better when Jarvis came from the kitchen to serve drinks with a tear in his eye. But, that wasn’t the coolest part of the issue. While he’s in “macro-space,” which exists outside of space and reality, he meets the being called Eternity (for those non-Marvel Zombies, Eternity is the living embodiment of the universe…). Eternity tells Pym that he is Earth’s Scientist Supreme. Huh? You’re thinking the same thing both myself and Pym were: “But, Reed Richards is…” Eternity tells him that Reed Richards is The Explorer, Tony Stark is The Engineer – but Pym is The Mage. He uses science to make the impossible, possible. Pym is also told as he goes back that a new Ages of Heroes is about to begin and that he is the champion of all reality. When he arrives back at Avengers HQ, he sets off to fix everything. Writers Dan Slott and Christos N. Gage are writing an incredibly underrated book. This is a true diamond in the rough for Marvel…
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
SUGARSHOCK ONE-SHOT - Joss Whedon really loves comics. Sugarshock is a webcomic that he writes with artist Fabio Moon (twin brother of Umbrella Academy artist Gabriel Ba…). I hadn’t heard of this until now (I prefer to hold the comic in my hot little hands. I’m old-school. sue me…), but I wish I had. Not only was the artwork amazing, but it’s only a compliment to the standard Joss Whedon story, characters and dialogue (by standard, I mean reallllly good…). Sugarshock focuses on a band fronted by the seemingly paranoid/secret agent, Dandelion. Robet Phil plays bass (yes. He’s really a robot…), Wade is a hidden intergalactic princess on the drums and L’lhdra plays guitar and is Wade’s bodyguard. Yeah, see. If you like Joss Whedon and/or The Umbrella Academy series – just go buy this comic or check out MySpace.com/DarkHorsePresents for more…
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
THUNDERBOLTS #137 – If you’re not reading this series, you are seriously missing out. Rick Remender is writing some superb stories of Marvel’s villainess underbelly. The Thunderbolts have been operating as Osborn’s personal black-ops squad from some time now and we are starting to see some members develop morals that begin to drive them to scheme with one another just to stay alive. In this issue, they manage to capture and brainwash Iron Fist to the point he has killed all of the Avengers except Luke Cage in over 3,000 simulations. Osborn decides that his programming is good enough and they catch Cage off guard long enough to bring him into Osborn. There are secret double-crosses, people changing sides and both Danny and Luke score their freedom. I don’t want to give too much away on this book, but if you’re a fan of Dark Reign or just watching and waiting for Osborn to snap – be sure to have this one in your subscriber box every month…
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
AND NOW, FOR THE PICK OF THE WEEK, I GIVE YOU:
STUFF OF LEGEND Vol.1 #2 - I just flat dropped the ball on doing a review for the first issue of this book. Just from the Free Comic Book Day preview I was hooked. Writers Mike Raicht and Brian Smith, along with artist Charles Paul Wilson III and designers/colorists Jon Conkling and Michael DeVito, have managed to create a series in the vein of Hero Bear and the Kid. A true cult hit, The Stuff of Legend is about a boy who is taken from his room into the closet by the Boogeyman. The boy’s playthings (an army soldier, piggy bank, teddy bear, wooden duck, angel/ballerina from a music box, jack-in-the-box, an American Indian Princess and the boy’s puppy) decide to mount a rescue to bring him back home. So, a lot like Toy Story so far, right? When they pass through the closet, they become real and not toy-sized real: life-sized real. The teddy bear becomes a full grown grizzly; the jack-in-the-box becomes an axe wielding harlequin and so on. The only one that doesn’t change is the puppy. Most humans/human-looking toys in this world now work for the Boogeyman as part of his army. While they are only coming out with one issue every 4 months or so – it’s worth the wait. This is an incredible book with amazing art and an original story that makes me want to freeze myself for 4 months until the next issue is released.
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
What do you think about the new rating system? Leave a comment and let me know.
Darkfantasy’s pick of the week (drum roll)…..INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #19 …My boy StarK (sniff) I feel so bad.