It’s the holiday Monday, but that can’t stop The Watchtower!

There have been about a million Secret Invasion tie-in books released over the past 2 weeks, but I have battled the completeist withing me, and managed to actually stop myself most of them. Not to worry, there’s still quite a few to choose from.

And remember, a new episode of The Watchtower is just a few hours away, and we’ll have even more news and reviews, plus everyone’s favourite exercise in futility, Donnie Does Trinity!

FINAL CRISIS ROGUES REVENGE #2 (OF 3)
The second instalment of this Final Crisis tie-in has one central theme. Daddy issues. Captain Cold’s got ‘em and he’s got ‘em bad. The appearance of the “New” Rouges was fun, though short-lived, and the brutality with which they were dispensed was enough to keep me on the line for part three. This series is actually more fun that Final Crisis, so maybe I should have just skipped the FC book itself, and bought all the tie-ins.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #18
JSA s still one of the most consistent books out there, in spite of them tearing apart my precious Kingdom Come. We are privy to the rise of Magog in this issue, as well as some cracks starting to show in the foundation of the JSA. Clearly Gog’s presence is as divisive as it is helpful. There are enough cool story lines being weaved through this book that I am sold until this dream team goes its separate ways.

SUPERMAN #679
Oh Superman, really? Not only does Atlas hand you your ass, as well as Supergirl, but now we are led to believe this is all a way to bring Krypto The Super-Dog into the fray? Really? C’mon, you’re better than this. If I wanted to hear a Dog’s inner monologue, I’d be buying Disney comics featuring Goofy. ‘Cause that’s what this is.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #569
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did Peter Parker just acknowledge the events of One More Day? At least Ben Urich’s shot was a little more subtle! New Ways To Die part 2 was just as good as part one. Full of action, and aside from cryptic references to bad storytelling here and there, the dialogue was great too. Also, does anyone draw a better Spidey slinging his way across the city than JRJ? I think not…

AVENGERS INITIATIVE #16
The Skrull Kill Krew is in full effect, and we get some insight into the legacy of the 3-D Man. If either of those things is important to anyone, I would be shocked. What was pretty cool was Skrullowjacket establishing Camp Hammond as the Skrull home base on earth.

MIGHTY AVENGERS #17
And speaking of Skrullowjacket, this issue of Might Avengers was all about how the Skrulls had to replace him on more than one occasion. I found it a little strange that Hank Pym, the pill-popping wife-slapper is supposedly so moral that the Skrulls impersonating him keep being overtaken by his goodness, but it made for an interesting story at the least. Terrible cover, but interesting story.

NEW AVENGERS #44
This issue was supposed to reveal how the Skrulls invaded the Earth. Apparently, it was because they cloned Reed Richards a whole bunch of times, and he told them too. In a rare miss for this title, I thought the premise was weak, and the story was poorly executed. Maybe I will eat those words in future issues, but all this did was make the Skrull invasion seem like a fluke.

SECRET INVASION AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1 (OF 3)
I actually bought this book my mistake. I thought I had removed it from my pile, like most of the terrible Secret Invasion tie-ins from the past couple of weeks. I mean, I barely care about these characters in Amazing Spider-Man, why would I care about them here? The only think halfway cool was the Super-Skrull with the powers of the Sinister Six. Aside from that, a Spider-Man book without Spider-Man just plain doesn’t work.

RUNAWAYS 3 #1
I have always been a big fan of Runaways, and I was bummed to hear that the series was going to be facing a re-boot. My spirits picked up considerably whey I found out that one of my favourite writers, Terry Moore, and one of my favourite artists, Humberto Ramos, were taking over. These two industry heavyweights are able to give us the Runaways with the humour underscored by darkness that brings me back to when the series first launched. I love these kids, I love that they live on the fringe of the Marvel U, and I love this team on this book.

ULTIMATE IRON MAN II #5 (OF 5)
Finally we can put a bullet in this terrible series. Sometimes I actually wonder if Marvel is purposely producing bad Ultimate stories so that when the Ultimatum shake-up happens, we won’t miss the Ulitmate U. Either way, let us pray that it does not result in an Ultimate Iron Man III.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #125
The shining beacon of good in the Ultimate swamp these days continues to produce a great story with terrific art. Much like Amazing Spider-Man, we have Venom making his return to Spidey’s world and in a big way. It’s a great book, but I must say, I’m more excited for the Annual that is dropping next month.

ULTIMATE X-MEN #97
The source of Banshee revealed! Colossus changed forever! Wolverine really, really mad! For a story that started off so strong, this one ended with a predictable whimper. Even the Ultimatum “tease” was pretty weak. The book was saved however, but the excellent pencils of Mark Brooks. I really hope more of his work start showing up in Marvel books.

WOLVERINE #68
Old Man Logan continues here as we get some insight into the true motivations of Hawkeye’s daughter. We all know this is going to end with Logan going bat-sh*t berserk and the best part is that I’m still riveted by the story, even though I know that. McNiven’s pencils are stellar as always, and this story will become a classic in the legends of Wolverine.

X-FORCE #6
Blood, guts, and wings in this the final issue of the opening arc of X-Force. I was kind of hoping that Archangel was going to be sticking around for a while, but given the body count he left in his wake, I’m OK with his departure. This issue had a great last page, and I’m still sold on this series. With no disrespect to Clayton Crain though, I am looking forward to seeing this team in other artist’s styles.

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