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.
TERRY MOORE’S ECHO #16 - I imagine Mr. Moore took some time off to count his money from selling the movie rights to Echo, but never fear! He’s giving us two issues of Echo in one month to get caught up! Yaaay! Julie, her sister and Agent Ivy are onboard Ivy’s private plane, headed to Ivy’s house to see if Julie can help her daughter, Lulu. Julie has finally realized that the suit’s previous owner, Annie, has somehow transferred a part of herself into the metal and Julie is trying to “make contact” with Annie to help her use the armor’s powers. After a very weird dream talking with Annie and then waking up to words of wisdom from her maybe crazy sister – Julie actually manages to “cure” Lulu. Not a lot of action in this issue but Moore really has started to delve into the lives of the characters – making us care all the more when the action does happen. One of the best comic titles of the last two year just gets better each issue and now I’m absolutely geeking over the possibility of a movie…
Undercover Fanboy Rating: 
DARK AVENGERS #11 - I know it’s not in the long run, but this issue just feels like filler to pass the month(s) until Siege kicks in. Last ish had Norman Osborn and his Avengers team confronting the newly reformed Molecule Man very unsuccessfully. Fighting the Molecule Man is like fighting someone with a Cosmic Cube: you are going to lose. Period. While he is toying with the various Avengers members in his “dream worlds”, Deputy Director Hand struggles with leadership and finally decides to “surrender” to the Molecule Man in real life. We do find out a little more of Hand’s background with S.H.I.E.L.D. After suggesting in writing that Nick Fury had lost his focus in the war on global terrorism, she is shipped off the helicarrier to Portland, OR. Her partner decides she’s had enough of Hand rocking the boat and tells her not to bother to call. But, after the events of today, she gains a whole new respect for Fury’s job. Nothing groundbreaking in this comic, just some character background and messing around in each Avenger’s mind. Great art, great dialogue – but all-in-all: kinda boring.
Undercover Fanboy Rating: 
NOLA #1 – Another BOOM! Studios first issue that I’m can’t decide whether to like it or not. They haven’t steered me wrong yet, but I’m kinda foggy on the ultimate direction of the book. Jumping back and forth between pre and post Katrina New Orleans, Nola is a young black woman having an affair with a rich white man who she discovers doesn’t really love her. He just loves the fact that she isn’t his wife. When she finally understands that he is only using her, she tells him to take her home. Unfortunately, he’s incredibly drunk and drives the car through a guardrail and almost killing them both. He manages to get out of the car with only minor injuries, but Nola is hurt and can’t get out on her own. Not wanting to get caught with another woman, HE SETS THE LEAKING GAS ON FIRE TO BLOW BOTH HER AND THE CAR UP! Flash-forward to post-Katrina and Nola, badly scarred on one side of her face, is now wearing a wrap on her head and a mask over her nose and mouth. She and another woman are stopped by police officers trying to keep people out of downtown New Orleans. When they won’t let them pass and start to rough Nola up, she turns the tables on them and winds up killing them both. And that’s the issue. Obviously this is going to be a revenge story that turns into a legend of New Orleans once she starts helping the survivors – I just don’t know if this will be interesting enough to keep getting. Artist Damian Couceiro stuff is pretty good, I just wish cover artist Erik Jones was doing the interiors. Writers Chris Gorak and Pierluigi Cothran aren’t going to win any awards with this first issue, but I am curious enough to buy the second…
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS #4 – Nick Fury has recruited Tony Stark’s older, less scrupulous brother to assemble a team to bring in the awol Captain America. Cap’s a little upset because he’s discovered that his bastard son is still alive and now the international terrorist called The Red Skull (if you’re going WTF?!? Go find issues #1-3 and come back – good stuff…). Cap’s a little ticked because S.H.I.E.L.D. knew about Red and didn’t let him know. As he’s chase by Gregory Stark’s team of War Machine, Black Widow (Nick’s ex…), Nerd Hulk and Red Wasp; Cap manages to take out Wasp, evade Hulk and Widow and almost completely destroy and embarrass War Machine. They do manage to corner him when he dives into a river and War Machine uses the remaining bit of his power to “shock” the water. Meanwhile, working with Hydra, the Red Skull has decided that instead of working for them, he’ll take over Hydra to gain control of the cosmic cube they are making. Unfortunately, Reed Richards left blueprints lying around for how to make one of the most powerful items in the universe. I could do without the whole cosmic cube angle, but the story with Cap’s son being the Red Skull if fanboy-rific. Mark Millar has once again struck gold with this story and Carlos Pacheco has brought his art up to a whole new level. Ever since Bendis and Millar rebooted the Ultimate universe with Ultimatum; the stories are back to being cutting edge and full of action. Basically what we expect from two of the best writing comics today…
Undercover Fanboy Rating:
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