Shadowman Vol. 1: Birth Rites

This is another awesome title from Valiant Comics.  Shadowman is like a cross between Blade & Doctor Strange set in New Orleans.  The beginning of the book shows a showdown between Darque & Shadowman in what looks like a fight to the death.  Lets move forward a couple of years Jack is trying to figure out who he is where he came from.  His search brings him back to New Orleans where he finds out about who his parents were but not the whole truth.  Jack has a run in with some of Mr. Twist's agents who try to execute him but he is saved by the Loa.  The Loa turns Jack into the Shadowman.  Jack meets up with Dox & Alyssa who offer to train him to become the Shadowman.  The final showdown between Shadowman & Mr. Twist takes place in the Deadside & what looks like a victory for Shadowman could also be seen as a victory for Darque.

Sex Criminals Vol. 1

This book was just plain weird I don't even know what else to say.  The beginning is really kind of straight forward as to how Suzie discovers her superpower.  By the end of this first volume not only does she find that she is not alone in the world.  The highlight of the book is seeing how the two main characters play off of each other even to the point of robbing a bank.  This first volume has a slow build providing lots of back story for each of its characters & how they found out about this new found power.  But it doesn't seem like there are any other powers other than stopping time.  This is the first Image comic in awhile that hasn't made me want to immediately pick up the following volume.

The Avengers: Disassembled

I was into superheroes as a kid but not really comic books my introduction came from Saturday morning cartoons, movies & Batman: Knights End.  During my first year of college I picked up Avengers Disassembled, this was really my first foray into the comic books.  From this first title I jumped headlong into the paneled pages of Marvel Comics which brought me into DC Comics which finally lead me into the greatest area of comics the creator owned stuff from the lesser publishers.  Since early 2005 I have been an avid comics reader thanks to this book, however this is the book that also kicked off Brian Michael Bendis's epic run not only as the architect for the Avengers & the Marvel Universe as a whole.  David Finch's art work is top notch in this book showcase old costumes & classic characters.  Several characters are killed off in this book Vision, Jack of Hearts, Ant-Man & Hawkeye.  The big bad of this book is Scarlet Witch, several other Avengers villains show up in this title but they are all insignificant to Wanda's powers.  Bendis sets up a lot of story threads with this book; first he creates a clean slate to build his Avengers run on.  This book also foreshadows Bendis's next major Marvel Universe event House of M in which the Scarlet Witch becomes public enemy number one to the mutant race.

Thief of Thieves Vol. 4: The Hit List

What can I say it has been awhile since I last revisited Redmond & his crew especially since he was incarcerated in Venice.  This volume is built on revenge for something that happens as part of con to get out of the game.  There is a nice creepy reveal to who Lola is & how he came into his own it also leads to my biggest gripe about this volume.  For this con to work Redmond would have had to have some prior knowledge of Lolita  Without her involvement this con would have backfired however if this doesn't reconcile Redmond with his family I don't know what will.

Danger Girl Deluxe Ed.

Ah the 90's a great decade of comics work & a time in which comic books became their own worst enemies through art & stories.  Danger Girl is a cross between Charlie's Angels, Indiana Jones, V.I.P, 007 & G.I. Joe.  Abby Chase is the main character of this beautifully drawn but totally unrealistic objectification of women in comic books.  This has everything that made comics either good or bad in the 90's over the top action & scantily clad women outrageously rendered.  The beginning of this story starts off like Raiders of the Lost Ark with Abby procuring a gold plated skull from a bad guy after which she is recruited into the Danger Girl unit to look for ancient artifacts all the while taking down the evil Hammer organization which is an offshoot of the Nazis  Agent Zero is basically a rip off of Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe without the vow of silence he has a showdown with a Shadow impersonator named Assassin X, but the real cliff hanger of this story is that he has some sort of history with Abby Chase.

FF Vol. 4

The other final volume of Hickman's Fantastic Four run is here in FF Vol. 4.  In the first issue of this volume we get an inside look at what a day in the life of Johnny Storm & Peter Parker looks like as roommates.  This was set up in the previous volume but it plays out beautifully here.  When I first heard about this I thought it would be a great turn for Peter since his last roommate was such a bitch but everything that happens makes perfect sense.  They are the ultimate odd couple, anything & everything that can go wrong does from adding a door to the negative zone in Pete’s closet to Johnny putting the moves on MJ, to the final page reveal its easy to see why this wouldn’t work out.  Three of the stories tie in with events that happen concurrently with stories in Fantastic Four Vol. 6.  The final issue of this collection sees Future Franklin preparing his younger self for his destiny.  Due to Jonathan Hickman's spectacular run on this series I am really looking forward to Matt Fraction's run on the Fantastic Four.

Fantastic Four Vol. 6

This final volume of the Fantastic Four is just the icing on the cake of Jonathan Hickman's run.  The first issue in this collection sees Nathaniel & Reed travel into the far future to discover that Ben Grimm outlives all of the members of the Fantastic Four causing Reed to realize how much he loves hanging out with his best friend.  Most of the stories in this collection are one & done stories showcasing the various characters.  The team travels to Wakanda in which the return of the Phoenix Force & the flooding of the African nation are foreshadowed; both of those events happen in Avengers vs. X-Men.  Many other things come full circle Bentley confronting the Wizard & Doom's fate & eventual rescue.  What this volume & the accompanying volume of FF do it to establish a new status quo for the next creative team on the world's greatest comic magazine.

FF Vol. 3

Everything is coming to an end in this volume, just like in my previous review of the Fantastic Four this volume should be read back to back with it or concurrently if possible.  The children of the Future Foundation have teleported the top three floors of the Baxter Building to Latvia seeking out the help of Uncle Doom, Other Reed & Grandfather.  After using the Bridge to try & send the Other Reed home they run into the Celestials.  The Other Reed winds up dying from using the ultimate nullifier & it appears that Dr. Doom sacrifices himself to save the children.  The Celestials make it to the 616 Universe looking to destroy Reed Richards they wind up in the middle of the battle with the Kree, Inhumans & the Annihilation Wave.  Galactus arrives & confronts the Celestials who wind up killing him with their combined power.  It is only during the final showdown between the Future Foundation & the Celestials that Future Franklin & Future Valerie show up to save the day.  Not only do they save the day but they Franklin resurrects Galactus as well.

Fantastic Four Vol. 5

With this new volume of the Fantastic Four everything comes to a head.  This collection is best read back to back with FF Vol. 3 as both books cover the same event back with back to back chapters.  First off this marks the return of the Human Torch to the land of the living and it even showcases how he came back to life.  Frankly the Human Torch's return is even grander than the returns of Steve Rogers or Bruce Wayne.  The kids on the other hand have traveled to visit Uncle Doom & move the final chess pieces into position for this upcoming battle.  Johnny Storm has taken control of the Annihilation Wave from Annihilus.  The Kree Armada is waiting to destroy earth in hopes of also destroying the Inhumans.  The battle of the four cities is just the tip of the iceberg as the real battle is between the Fantastic Four & the Celestials.  Even Galactus falls in this battle, it is only due to the return of the Future Franklin & Future Valerie that the Celestials are finally beaten.