Star Wars: Shattered Empire

This is a journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens for one character in particular.  If you have seen the movie & Poe is one of your favorite characters of the new movie then listen up.  This is the story of Poe's humble beginnings more importantly this is the story of his parents.  Poe's parents fought with the Rebellion at the Battle of Endor alongside its main heroes.  We see how Poe's parents react to working with each of the heroes of the Rebellion in different situations & where this life leads them in the wake of the Battle of Endor.  Poe does not actually appear in this book but he is mentioned, this is more of a focus where he comes from.  Now that I have seen the movie I want more, more Star Wars!

Avengers / X-Men: Utopia

I just finished reading Avengers / X-Men: Utopia, I can't say it was a great crossover in fact it was really a little less than OK.  The beginning of this crossover is really a weak basis for involving the Avengers a riot between mutants & humans in the streets of San Francisco.  Really the whole purpose of this event is for Norman Osborn to make his own team of X-Men to gain control of the mutant population in the United States.  Osborn running the Avengers & H.A.M.M.E.R. is scary enough but imagine if he control the X-Men as well.  This new team of X-Men is lead by Emma Frost other members include Namor, Mimic, Omega, Daken, Mystique, Dark Beast, Cloak & Dagger.  The story goes where Osborn is trying to discredit & arrest mutants that are not part of his X-Men on site.  This leads to Cyclops & company to take drastic steps which culminates in the raising of Asteroid M from the depths of the San Francisco Bay & renaming it Utopia.  The main difference between Osborn's teams & the real Avengers or X-Men is that they don't fight as a team.  That is more apparent than ever in this book as the X-Men defend Utopia from the Dark X-Men & the Dark Avengers in front of the whole world.

Avengers the Initiative Vol.4: Disassembled

Secret Invasion is over but the initiative is in shambles they are trying to rebuild but all of the sudden the Skrulls left something behind.  There is a fare amount to like in this volume everything from Ragnarock coming online to tear apart Camp Hammond to all the drama that was created by Skrull Pym,  Hardball has defected to Hydra but all is not what it seems.  Enter Norman Osborn his answer is to retool the Initiative to fill it with villains.  Not only that but he shuts down Camp Hammond he blackmails certain staff members into staying while turning others into fugitives.  The new initiative home base is set up in New Mexico, Camp H.A.M.M.E.R.

The New Avengers Vol. 6

This volume takes place concurrently with Dark Avengers volume one, so much in fact that some of the dialog & scenes are even repeated.  The great thing about this is that a person is not required to pick up both Avengers titles to get the whole story.  However if your a fan of Brian Michael Bendis's Avengers run then you are already picking up these two Avengers titles.  This title shows a shift in the Avengers team as the new Captain America makes his presence felt, the Cage family enlist the Avengers help in tracking down the Skrull who stole their child.  Clint Barton is given field command of the team in this book.  The second story in this collection shows the Avengers helping Doctor Strange take down the Hood with the help of Daimon Hellstrom & the new Sorcerer Supreme Brother Voodoo.  Brother Voodoo is essentially Marvel Comics version of Shadowman from Valiant Comics.  I like where this is going Marvel has made some great changes with characters overtime the thing about those changes is that they rarely stick for a great deal of time.  So it is only a matter of time before Strange is back as Sorcerer Supreme.

A Song of Ice & Fire: A Storm of Swords

The third book in A Song of Ice & Fire series has out shined the previous two books by a mile & then some.  There is so much that happens in this book it eclipses the events of the previous ones.  Where the first book set the stage while the second book broadened the playing field & the cast of characters.  I loved this book there was a lot of heartache in this book not a single family was safe.  The Starks are still getting put through the ringer but the Lannisters are getting their just desserts as well.  This book reveals how several major players bite the dust & several major conflicts along the way.  I would dive into more detail but even the slightest explanations would spoil the story for those that are unfamiliar with the tale, again read before you watch the show.

Dark Avengers Vol. 1: Assemble

The Skrull Invasion is over they lost the earth won but it wasn't the heroes who scored the victorious blow to end the invasion.  The Thunderbolts made themselves known & one man was there to reap the reward, Norman Osborn.  This book reads like a Marvel nightmare, Norman Osborn aka the Green Goblin has taken over as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. from Tony Stark.  He has taken over the Avengers & the Fifty State Initiative.  Osborn's first act is to rebrand S.H.I.E.L.D. into H.A.M.M.E.R. while his second act is to fire the majority of personnel & replace them with a selection of former S.H.I.E.L.D. & Hydra agents.  Osborn even rebuilds the Avengers from the ground up since Ms. Marvel refuses to work with Osborn he replaces her with Moonstone, he brings in Venom to stand in for Spider-Man, Daken Akihiro is brought on board to replace Wolverine, Noh-Varr is released from prison to become the new Captain Marvel & Bullseye is standing in for Hawkeye.  All of these additions join the only two members who decided to stay after Osborn took over, Ares & the Sentry. To say this new team of Avengers is scary is an understatement Osborn even goes as far as he can to dress them up like the characters they are supposed to be portraying.  However with all of Osborn's planning the symbolic heart of the Avengers is still missing until Ghost opens up Stark's vault & refurbishes some of the Iron Man suits into Iron Patriot.  All seems to be going well their first mission is a success but when Osborn is in charge you just know he is going to self destruct it is just a matter of time & by the end of this first volume it looks like the first cracks are appearing.