All-Star Superman. A Superman book that even Donnie can love comes to an end this week, as well as War Machine usurping Iron Man’s title in the name of Secret Invasion.

Romance blossoms in Titans, and the Punisher does what he does best, and it ain’t knitting.

And don’t forget! We’ll have even more reviews and news on this week’s episode of The Watchtower, as well as a look ahead at what’s worth your four bucks this coming week.

ALL-STAR SUPERMAN #12
Superman has become a character that is often almost impossible to write. After the better part of a century, how do you make the Man of Steel not only relevant, but interesting? It’s a question that many in comics have struggled with, but it took Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely to answer it. The complete opposite of its Batman counterpart, All-Star Superman takes everything that is great and fantastic about Superman, and showcases it brilliantly. Like The Man of Steel miniseries, and Superman For All Seasons before it, this story will go down in comics history as a defining Superman book. The story and art are both brilliant, and the book itself is so much more than the sum of its parts. Fantastic, and not at all hard to see why it’s an Eisner-winning title.

IRON MAN WAR MACHINE DIRECTOR WEAPON OF SHIELD #33
Thanks to the worldwide failure of Starktech, Jim Rhodes has to step in here and both Earth’s protector and the focus of this title. It’s not a bad book, but it kind of bugs me that it’s based on events that happened 6 months ago. The Marvel U timeline has slowed to a crawl with Secret Invasion, and while I like that in terms of the overall story, it doesn’t make much sense to change a book’s main character this way. We saw the same thing is Incredible Hercules. If you want to re-start new titles, then by all means. But having other characters step into the lead role just seems like they’re trying to cram b-listers down our throats.

MIGHTY AVENGERS #18
So, Nick Fury is a jerk. This is another book this week that focuses on events of months ago. We see Nick Fury training his new Commandos, and it’s one of those books where nothing is what it seems, and that includes “interesting.” With Secret Invasion ramping up to its climax, I have to say I just don’t care about these looks to the past. A rare miss for Mighty Avengers.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #572
New Ways To Die continues here, with the Norman Osborn moment that we have been waiting the better part of a year for. The Green Goblin is back! That alone makes this book one of the best of the week for me. Throw in some great Bullseye action, and you’ve got another part of a great story. I can’t wait to see how this one plays out, especially in light of the imminent Thunderbolts shakeup.

TITANS #5
Romance is in the air, and Starfire is in the pool. So I guess there’s something for everyone in this issue. Raven and Beast Boy attempt to have a romantic evening on a pier, but in an incredibly un-surprising turn, her demonic past rears its ugly head. I have to say, in spite of some predictable plot turns, this book is way more interesting than the Teen Titans title, and DC should probably shelve one, and focus on the other.

PUNISHER MAX #62
Greg Hurwitz had big shoes to fill when he took over this book from Garth Ennis. So far, those shoes must feel pretty comfortable as the Punisher shoots, stabs, and tortures his way to some answers in this second instalment of Hurwitz’s inaugural story. This book has lost none of its edge in the team change, and remains a favourite.

Related posts

• The Starting Gun - Titans #1 (0)
• The Starting Gun - Secret Invasion #1 (1)
• The Checklist - Week of June 9th (0)
• The Checklist - Week of June 2nd (0)
• New Dark Reign Trailer From Marvel (0)

Tags: Avengers, Iron Man, Punisher, Superman, Titans

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