Alien Legion: Uncivil War (@ComicsTitan)

I'm a big fan of the Alien Legion franchise, created by Carl Potts (with Alan Zelenetz and Frank Cirocco).

I've been wanting the franchise to come back in a big way for a looong time, and even had some minor insider knowledge that it was incoming (which made it harder to wait, to be honest).

Now it's here, and I'm happy.

Sure, Carl Potts is a draw for me with the series by himself, and he's giving the book inks ("& soul"). But then you add Chuck Dixon for the story, Larry Stroman for pencils, Thomas Mason for colors, and Gabriela Houston for for lettering (it reads like an Alien Legion book), and I get a book that feels current, and comfortable and homey, a la the original run in Marvel's Epic Comics imprint.

The first ish is set up, and without giving anything away, the pace I feel is intentional to lead up to the last two pages.

Sarigar? Check. And while I'd like to see more of him, what is there is that encapsulation of leader and tactician. Though I'm looking forward to badd-assery in future issues.

Jugger Grimrod? Yeppers. He may have been busted down from Captain, but he's still the non-coddling boots-on-the-ground leader new recruits with a minimal life expectancy deserve.

I'm really looking forward to more from the team and the series. And while people might be quick to dismiss Titan Comics as a boutique imprint, I think recent transmedia success with Snowpiercer isn't a fluke.

Get to it, ya damn bospors!

Uncanny Avengers (@Marvel)

I'm really digging Uncanny Avengers, the in-Marvel Universe attempt to bridge the Avengers and X-Men teams (and therefore humans and mutants) to the larger fictional public.

The two factions have had a rough few years - Largely culminating in the Avengers Versus X-Men crossover arc that reset all the positive PR and goodwill mutants had built over the years.

It's a solid book, and bridges deep mythic concepts, universe-wide stakes, and the internal group dynamics and relational muddiness of bringing several former teammates and enemies together and trying to make it work, while balancing idealism with the unavoidable practical veneer work, politics, and public relational messiness.

Writer Rick Remender is doing a stellar job, with my only criticism being a few of the setups and dialogs feel a little artificial as he moves decades-long relationships in slightly different directions. But you'd have to have read all of his Marvel work in the past few years to see that pattern, and to be fair, even then it's arguable that that's what's happening.

Art-wise, whether it's John Cassaday  early in the series or Daniel Acuña later, this is stellar stuff to look at.

It's a gritty, thematically rough title - Definitely not your Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes younger-reader-friendly. That makes it great, though, as Marvel serves a more mature, core fan audience (though it's not Marvel MAX mature).

Very much a recommended read, and I'm liking the stuff Remender is setting up in the first 6-8 issues that probably won't see fruition for 6-8 more. I like costs, the "not-clean win", and the long games in storytelling.

Captain America: Reborn

Just finished Captain America: Reborn number 4 of the time - tripping - we - may - get - Steve - Rogers - Captain - America - back mini-series (though I've been great with Barnes as Cap; the writing is that good).

It's been a wicked slow build to number 4, but now I'm on board. Ready for the mighty conclusion in no. 5, but suspect / and am worried it'll be a long-tail kickoff, a la the "Dark Reign" shenanigans.

But, hey, it's Ed Brubaker -- he had me at "hello".

(Oh, and Guice (Jackson? Butch? Mheh.) and Bryan Hitch rock, too; though I'm least crazy about the art in this particular ish, for some reason.)

Reading Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter

Reading Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter #2. Dear Marvel, Please stop selling me reprint titles I've already bought as "backup stories".

Captain America

Reading Captain America #601 - vampires, courtesy of Gene Colan.

X-Men: Dark Messiah

I'm weeks behind in my comic book reading.

Among the things I read today was the X-Men: Dark Messiah one-shot / lead-in to the most recent X-book crossover.

I was going to wait and catch this later in trade format, but Ed Brubaker continues to amaze me (why do I not automatically read everything he writes?). It feels kinda "Mutant Massacre"-ish, which is maybe my previous favorite X-arc.

I may have to re-add the X-books to my pull list. This is dangerous; things go on my pull list, but they never come off ...

Moon Knight

I just read Moon Knight #13.

What the hell just happened?

If the title had been pulling like this throughout the tailing of Charlie Huston's run, maybe there wouldn't have been a tailing to Huston's run.

You might remember Huston and I traded words, and he copped to his part in the Moonie decline, and encouraged me to stay with character for writer Mike Benson, and artist Tomm Coker.

Problem is, starting with issue #14 it's writer Benson and artist Mark Texiera. I like Texiera (dude has come a long way since the nineties), and though Benson's an unknown quantity to me, that's not the issue.

The issue is Huston plus Coker in MK #13 equals a new level of amazing. Seriously, for me this was like a mini Daredevil Frank Miller / Bill Sienkiewicz graphic novel.

And now Huston's leaving.

I take back the "nice guy" stuff I said about him. He puts out work this high bar and than leave me wanting more. Jerk.

Sub-Mariner

Sub-Mariner #5 is on its way to finishing out "The Initiative"(ish) tie-in miniseries, and I'm OK with the arc.

I picked the series up on a lark, and even though this issue was a bit lighter for me on the impact side, I've been pretty pleasantly surprised by the run.

I can see where #6 can go, and it's boring, so I hope I'm wrong.

Reading the Incredible Hulk

The Incredible Hulk #111 is better than World War Hulk #5.

But it doesn't occur "between World War Hulk #4 and 5" -- it occurs during World War Hulk #4 and 5.

And it should be called The New Champions, and I'm good.

Now let's see if they can pull a Captain America. But they don't have the Brubaker factor.

(I missed the Champions.)

World War Hulk

"This ... is how the (Hulk) ends."

Just finished World War Hulk #5, the "end" of the World War Hulk saga.

Pffft.

John Romita Jr. art is great, but Hulk versus Sentry is no Thor versus Iron man (my new king of throwdowns), and this was just a generally unsatisfying ending for me.

The Order

I just read The Order #3.

It's Matt Fraction's book, so I'm going to support it. Dude's talented on the art front, and putting himself out there on the writing front with this book.

Though I'm not sure why there's no connection between issue #2 and issue #3. I'm confused.

Keeps me reading, though.

Avengers: The Initiative

OK, Avengers: The Initiative kind of snuck up on me, and started not sucking pretty quick. At least enough to keep me reading.

Issue number six is a self-contained one-shot with a twist I didn't see coming.

The issue makes a massive jump in art style -- Steve Uy's art is so anime-like (down to the cell-shaded coloring vibe), that I think I dig it. I'm still deciding.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight

Just read Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight #7. Brian K. Vaughan hasn't missed a beat picking up scripting from Joss Whedon. Brilliant. Yay, Faith (/Hope)!

Sub-Mariner

Reading Sub-Mariner #3 and #4. Not bad. I'm along for the ride.

Captain America: The Chosen

I just finished reading Captain America: The Chosen #2.

Interesting. Not enough between issues number one and number two to know what's going on (so far I feel like this six-issue arc should be four or five issues).

And too early to tell if this is something "important", or Chuck Austen.

I like Mitch Breitweiser's art. The story is too minimalist for me at this point to feel one way or another about writer David Morrell.

I can see one way this story could go, and I don't want it to go there.

The Astounding Wolf-Man

I'm reading The Astounding Wolf-Man #3, written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Jason Howard.

I've been fan of Kirkman's for a while. Even so, his The Astounding Wolf-Man started out a bit slow for me in issue #1. Number two bit me (sorry) in the last panel, and issue three gets smartly complex, with great visuals and composition.

There are some domestic scenes that I'm not sure why I find so compelling; maybe it's because they juxtapose so well with the supernatural backdrop.

Dialogue layout continues to be a little wonky, with a few balloons laid our weirdly so that I'm not sure which to read first. That's a basic that should be fixed, because it yanks me out of story-mode, and into critical mode.

Otherwise, it's a great series so far.

World War Hulk: Frontline

Reading #4 (of 6). This is probably a series with which I could have done without, but now I'm in it for the completist factor.

I do like the John Watson cover art, though.

World War Hulk

World War Hulk #4 continues the solid, up/down ride of the series, and is, frankly, a better part of the series than the mainline Incredible Hulk book.

Greg Pak is writing some top-notch scenes, and John Romita, Jr. and Klaus Janson's art is pretty. Gritty pretty, but pretty.

And we get some more "sideline Sentry" moments (and a little more info as to why he's sidelining), and the last two-page spread is one of the better "to-be-continued" spreads I've seen in a while.

Marvel Comics Presents

Marvel just relaunched their Marvel Comics Presents series, and issue #1 has a potpourri of three too-short prologues, the first installment of a Hellcat (Patsy Walker) story by Kathryn Immonen (and art by Stuart Immonen), the first of a 12-part Weapon Omega story by Rich Koslowski (art by Andrea Di Vito), and Spider-Man (Stuart Moore / Clayton Henry) and Thing (Nelson / Dave Sharpe) one-shots.

It's a bit a slow re-start for the series, but I'll probably hang out to see if it picks up.

The prologues are, again, too short, with only prologue #2 piquing my interest (thanks to the last panel).

I like the Hellcat story -- I think Kathryn Immonen's feminine writer sensibilities come through in a cool way, and the Stuart Immonen art is sharp and poppy.

"Weapon Omega"? Mheh. I mean, the Omega Flight limited series just didn't get anything done, and this series doesn't seem to be doing any more on that front. And I really don't like U.S. Agent (the Guy Gardner of the Marvel U he's not, no matter how hard they try).

The Spider-Man story is fun, if a bit throw-away, and Henry's work is really slick, and the Sotocolors ... colors ... are well-done. Moore's dialogue is spot-on, too, and the whole story is playful enough.

The Thing story is well laid out, wtih good use of panels, framing, and flashback devices, with a good sentimental vibe. I think it would have been better served as an additional story in a Fantastic Four annual, though.

So, the series gets another couple of issues to grab me.

The New Warriors

I didn't see this title coming, and I certainly didn't expect to be taken in by it.

But I just finished issues three and four of The New Warriors, and the story, art, and vibe continue to be pretty compelling.

Kevin Grevioux keeps the plot and dialog pretty tight (though some of the training banter is a little stilted), and I like the clean art and layout of the panels and perspectives from Paco Medina (and inked by Juan Vlasco).

So I'm now four issues in and comfortably along for the ride.