OK, Ben's asleep, Tzipora's out of the house, I have some time to review, let's do it GAMBIT #1: Perfectly adequate. I don't see the point of this book, however -- there's not enough here to make it worth $3, and, honestly, I don't care for Remy as a character. Anyway, isn't he blind now? Eh.

JUBILEE #1: Also adequate. I got the sense that Kirkman's never really hung around teenage girls (which is, probably, a good thing for a comics writer, but I digress...) -- I think that this, like the similiarly "all ages" MARY JANE isn't going to 1) find it's nominal target audience 2) be well recieved by them even if they found it. Eh.

BIRDS OF PREY #73: Aw, didn't like this wrap up -- the "big fight" was boringly staged, and Babs' dilemma was sub-plotted rather than really resolved. A long way to go for so little. Eh.

ALPHA FLIGHT #7: More involving than the first six, and I'm marginally more interested in the characters now that we get to know them -- but still pretty much a "so what?" book. Can;t see this getting to #13, to be honest. Eh.

HARD TIME #8: The series started slow, but it's become one of my most favorite titles -- strong emotions, clever situations, but if the audience doesn't double PDQ, this book is probably toast. I still ahve a handful of things to read this week, but, considering where I am now, this gets the PICK OF THE WEEK status. Excellent, and I really urge you to sample it now that it has found some "legs" -- this is Gerber as a mature voice, dealing with material he clearly cares about.

KINETIC #6: Also has found it's groove, and is super-strong material. I also urge you to give this a sample because I suddenly think that "Focus" (Now that they've cut the weaker books) is maybe the best "line" in comics at the moment. Excellent.

BULLSEYE GREATEST HITS #1: I gotta give it thumbs up for the yummy Steve Dillon art, but it's kinda a watered-down "Silence of the Lambs". Despite the dramatic need, there's NO WAY the warden would have made that announcement at the end of the book. A strong OK.

MAJESTIC #2: Not nearly as fun and clever as #1, there's still a lot of charm here, and this "Out SUpermans" the current Super-books. A low Good.

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED: Dude, last week's episode had B'wana Beast. B'WANA BEAST, man! Did you EVER think you'd live long enough to see an animated B'Wana Beast? This was a perfectly adequate comic for the kiddies, though Adam should be punched for laboring the pun on page 21. OK.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #65: Bendis pulls a "Breakfast Club" and mostly works around my doubts of the last 2 issues. Where were the teachers, though? I was thrown way out of the groove by "I'm sorry, Gwen" followed six inches away by "Next Issue: Wolverine" *sigh* (Which wasn't aided by the badly placed "verb" ad) Still, besides that awkward beat, let's go with a Very Good.

FIRESTORM #5: Warming to it, yes -- I hadn't expected so much "Wrong thing, right reasons", and that brings a positive moral ambiguity that we don't get enough of in modern comics. Between this and BLOODHOUND, Dan Jolley has suddenly become one to keep an eye on. Good.

DETECTIVE #798: "War Games" Act 2, part 1 -- too talky to begin with, and I'm not sure I buy ANY of Batman's actions (Starting with the Spidey routine -- where's the batmobile? going through the asking a man he doesn't know for the reigns of power) and the last three pages? That seems way way too fast to me. Not bad at all, but not very compelling work.... OK.

INVINCIBLE #15: Great little self-continaed issue. Top notch stuff, and steadily getting better. Very Good.

AVENGURES #501: A little tiny bit of action (mostly leftover from last issue though, and not advancing a thing) and lots and lots and lots of really dull and what seems to me to be out-of-character talking. "Bendis-y" dialogue works GREAT sometimes (I think he captured some real raw feelings in this weeks ULTIMATE SPIDEY), but other times it's just so much leaden crap -- I didn't buy ANY of the blabbity blab here. This issue is pretty much the textbook defintion of "all middle" and I have to give it a pretty resounding thumbs down. Awful.

MILKMAN MURDERS #3: I thought 1 & 2 built some great mood, and I'll hold hope that #4 goes someplace new, but this issue was just Hack and Slash. Foo. Awful.

EXILES #52: Slight but amusing. OK.

THOR #84: God I hate hate hate that font -- and an entire issue of it really made this hard to read. But... well and cleverly plotted, and I'm looking forward to the resolution. A weak Good.

CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #7: Priest drives me nutz sometimes -- there's not a comic he writes that doesn;t have at least one really gripping and clever scene, yet his plots are.. oh, I don't know? Too complex? Not focused enough? something. This "Super sailor" thing isn't a horrible idea, but it's going on way way too long. I'm glad the Wanda thing was dismissed though (Still wouldn't it be nice to see her written that richly in general?). I liked it, it bored me, both at the same time. A confused OK.

HULK / THING HARD KNOCKS #1: Two guys walk into a bar (cafe) and that's IT. Nothing happens, doesn't seem to be going anywhere, and would get a big thumbs down except for two things: 1) Jae Lee's scrummy art and 2) Bruce Jones writing Ben Grimm like he was torn from the pages of TWISTED TOYFARE THEATRE. Which is, let's admit it, how Ben would probably really be. I got some serious laffs outta this, and, well not $3.50's worth, but enough to say OK.

Alright, that's all I've read, back later with more (this time I PROMISE to finish out the week's comics -- I only have like 10 left)

-B