Comic book reviews for the week of August 25, 2010

Avengers #4 - (Brian Michael Bendis & John Romita, Jr.) - I've realized that I use the word "fun" too much when talking about comic books, but this was a really fun comic. I love time-travel type tales and this has all of that goodness combined with the crashing together of various multiverses in modern day NYC. Especially loved the scene where Thor goes off alone to smash the martian invaders. Lots of good art from JR, Jr. 8.4/10

Curse of the Mutants: Storm & Gambit #1 - This was a fun story, but the all star for me was the art by Chris Bachalo. Bachalo is one of my absolute favorite artists, so any book he does is going to come in pretty high unless the story is completely incoherent. So, this story of Storm and Gambit (a non-annoying Gambit) stealing Dracula's body was fast paced and exciting. 8.4/10

Scalped #40 - (Jason Aaron & RM Guera) - I recently saw sales numbers that showed that Scalped only sells about 4K issues per month (compared to ~80K for Avengers) and it almost made me cry because this was about a pedestrian issue of Scalped as you'll ever seen and it was still almost the best comic of the week. At least go buy the trade paperbacks, people! This issue tells a kind of dual story of Dash and his girlfriend (whose name I always forget) trying different methods to beat their drug addiction. Laying over the top of that is a flash-back story of Gina (Dash's mother). The constant themes of family ties and non-change on this Indian reservation are constant hooks for me. 8.3/10

Lady Robotika #2 - (Jane Wiedlin & Bill Morrison) - This comic is legitimately good and not just a celebrity ego project. How many times have we been able to say that? I'm really enjoying this silly story of Jane writing herself in her Go-Go's persona as she is kidnapped by aliens who worship Earth culture. I really didn't know what to expect with each turn of the page. Love the art too. 8.3/10

Batman #702 - (Grant Morrison & Tony Daniel) - I am finally feeling like I'm smart enough to get part of Grant Morrison's mega-Bat-story. I wish he could have given us some of this info back during Batman RIP and Final Crisis though. This is not a jumping on point at all, but it does fill in some blanks to make his current stories more understandable. 7.9/10

Fantastic Four #582 - (Jonathan Hickman & Neil Edwards) - Talk about not feeling smart enough to understand. Hehe.....I am only kidding. At least I think. Hickman is right on the ragged edge of losing me with this really complicated story he is weaving involving the future actions of Reed & Sue's kids (Franklin and Val) along with the time-hopping exploits of Reed's Dad, Nathaniel. But, what cinched it for me this week was seeing a young Dr. Doom in action. Very cool! You'd like that the way Doom finished off the evil version of Nathaniel would have tipped Reed off that his college buddy might have a screw loose? 7.8/10

Captain America #609 - (Ed Brubaker & Butch Guice) - I feel like Bucky is struggling for relevance now that Steve Rogers is back (even if Bucky is continuing to be Captain America) and that bleeds over to this title. I find myself wondering why Bucky gets a stand-alone ongoing title but Steve only has the Steve Rogers: Super Soldier miniseries. Still......this was a pretty good issue as the psychological battle between the new Baron Zemo and Bucky kicks into high gear and ends with Bucky in a pretty nasty position. 7.5/10

X-Men Legacy #239 - (Mike Carey & Clay Mann) - The only thing holding back Legacy is that it isn't always very impactful. These always feel like the less important events in the X-universe compared to seeing Hope dealing with the newly born mutants in Uncanny or even the fight with the vampires in the new X-Men. And that's too bad because Carey has done a very nice job with this story of Rogue & Magneto going to India with some of the younger X-Men and running into mutants from an alternate reality. My biggest hope for this title is that it can avoid cross overs for a while and develop a stable cast of characters. 7.5/10

Astonishing X-Men #35 - (Warren Ellis & Phil Jimenez) - Do I even remember this story any more? I feel badly giving this a lower score because I actually really enjoyed most of this story-arc from Warren Ellis (one of my favorite writers) but it has been WAY too delayed to maintain any excitement. I wonder what is happening with this title moving forward. I'd heard that Ellis was "done" doing X-stories. 7.0/10

Detective Comics #868 - (David Hine & Scott McDaniel) - Fun middle arc of this story of regular Gotham residents dressing up as Joker and Batman and causing mayhem. I liked McDaniel's art for this type of story too. But, it loses points for not even trying to be epic in any way, shape or form. 6.7/10

Thor #613 - I just think I don't care a lick about Thor. I'm trying and I started reading this mostly because Matt Fraction is going to be coming on as the writer (so I wanted to get up to speed again), but hanging on is really hard. I just don't care about this story taking place in Mephisto's realm with Thor trying to save the souls of the dead Asgardians. 6.5/10

Curse of the Mutants: Blade #1 - This is what you get with X-tie-in comics. Sometimes you get a star like the Storm and Gambit that was almost pick of the week. Sometimes you get this. I don't have any background with Blade the vampire hunter. This was fun, but I found the art to be really problematic and I found myself wondering whether all these buddies of Blade who were getting killed left and right were comic characters who have been around for a long time. 6.2/10

Gotham City Sirens #15 - An okay conclusion to this story of the Sirens facing off with the plant-man from another world. Still, it is straining credulity. Would no other Gotham heroes show up for this? Would Catwoman and Harley really accept Ivy back after this kind of behavior? Incomplete art in places too. 6.0/10