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This is when you really get to see what Brian Michael Bendis can bring to the story. The first arc was all about the origin story. It established who Peter Parker was and how he became Spider-Man. This arc is more about broadening the character, making him a little more real. We see Peter Parker trying to come to grips with the loss of his uncle and Spider-Man trying to come to grips with the fact that despite being a superhero, he is still vulnerable.

What really makes this arc great is the interaction between Mary Jane and Peter. It's very realistic in terms of two teens relating to each other and how they deal with the beginnings of a relationship. I think the proof of the power of Bendis' writing comes in the last chapter of the trade which has no fighting or costumes or anything. It's just a great scene between Mary Jane and Peter.

I didn't want to like this book. I really didn't. I'm a purist in most things and I didn't think that you could just hit the reset button whenever anything goes wrong (I think Crisis on Infinite Earths and Zero Hour help prove my point). However this book is just so darn good that you can't deny it. Yes, this is the book that should convince anyone that Marvel's idea to restart their universe, by creating the Ultimate line of comics, was a good one.

I'm going to have to say the thing about Brian Michael Bendis that everyone says: he has a great ear for dialogue. I know that it's become almost cliche to say that but that doesn't make it any less true. Bendis takes him time, stretching out story points, not rushing through anything, savouring each moment. His characters act and speak like real teenagers, making their story all the more engaging and exciting.

Bagley's art is energetic and fits the tone one hundred percent. My only complaint is that sometimes he draws Mary Jane as if she were sixteen and sometimes as if she were twenty-five. Since one of the hardest things to draw is children and teenagers, however, I find it no great insult to Bagley's top notch work to say that.

Winick's writing continues to be star quality. He maintains his characterization and beautiful small moments but in this book he proves he can also do epic battles and large moments as well. Besides the good storytelling there is also a display of his nerdy talents: like his knowledge that Mimic gets radiation sickness when in close contact with the Hulk. Winick makes like Emeril and kicks it up a notch. In this trade, he got me to care about Thunderbolt, a character I thought I'd never really been able to identify with before.

Calafiore takes over the art chores for the first part of the book. His art style is a little more cartoony than McKone's, who returns for the second part of the book. Despite any of this cartoonishness, it fits Winick's style well. The only problem is that his talent is a little underdeveloped. McKone returns and provides his usual mediocre work. It's okay but nothing amazing.

This trade contains the "Nuff Said" issue. For those people who are unaware, "Nuff Said" was a challenge issued to all the comics that were running that they have one issue that would be completely silent without any word balloons or captions, the thought being that the creators would work harder to tell their stories visually. While I stand behind this idea of trying to utilize the visual narrative of comics, what I couldn't stand behind was forcing the creators into such a marketing gimmick. However, Winick manges to work it in well and gives us a better view of each of the characters.

My only real complaint of the book is the introduction of Weapon X. While I appreciate Winick trying to deepen the struggles and create ramifactions that might follow them past each world, there is something about this team that seems uneven. It seems like they're exiles just like the protagonists, but it also seems like they're trying to capture the Hulk and convert him to their side which makes no sense. Perhaps it will make sense further down the line.

Busiek's writing skill continues to amaze me. This trade has no grand overarching plot but instead tells small human stories which lay the groundwork for his universe. The trade also contains a great peek into the creation of the city including character sketches and the building of the city.

Astro City is really an ode to New York. It's a superhero title where the protagonist is the city itself and Astro City is just one large homage to New York City. Not suprising when you think of how much of Astro City is an homage. Every character represents another character, such as the Superman-like Samaritan. This is not to say that Busiek is copying pre-existing charcters. What he's doing is making archetypes, which he then making them human. You can really tell that this series is Kurt Busiek's brainchild. Brent Anderson puts in a lot of effort and turns out a sufficient product. The writing is typical Busiek: tight, well-written and classic. His situations are creative and his prose is insightful. In his book, Busiek shows us superheroes in their everyday routines and everyday people put to superhuman tasks.

The thing that I love about Erik Larsen is that he is a perfectionist. He could just slap together the mini-series that he made into a book and leave it be but he cares far too much. Instead he has snuck in stories about the making of the Dragon, the usual cover gallery and pages of sketches with little captions describing page layouts and character designs. He doesn't stop there he also rearranges the series into a chronlogical order (the original mini-series was told in a sometime confusing flashback fashion) and adding new scenes. It makes for a seamless and enjoyable read.

To reference Jerry Maguire, this series had me at the first splash page. Savage Dragon represents a fairly realistic hero, a hero who can be injuired, who is vulnerable. Despite his appareance, this is a character who is extremely human.

This trade is also the beginning of the Savage Dragon universe and no other series works so hard to establish such a large universe so early on. Larsen also tries hard to incorporate the newly found Image universe with appearances by Spawn and Bedrock, neither of which feel gratitutous. It is reminiscent of the early Marvel days when another character would briefly pop up to reinforce the idea of a shared universe.

B+

This book was my introduction to Grant Morrison. It would in no way prepare me for his particular brand of insanity found other ventures (Invisibles, anyone?) but what this book did do was make me like DC Comics. I'd been a Marvel Zombie for years when I came across this book (in issue form at the time). I'd always felt that their characters were too boring, that they were too mythic and not human enough. I purchased the first issue on a whim and I fell in love.

Porter's art is good, his heroes look heroic and he has good panel layout and pacing. He manages to reflect Morrison's story being either dark or silly depending on the moment. But the true star of the book is Morrison. He gives the team a real challange that is deserving of such a crew of superheroes (hard work considering this all-star line-up). Also, impressive is that he got rid of all the weak links of the chain and brought out DC's big guns ("the Magnificent Seven" as Guy calls them when he's feeling clever).

The real triumph is how he writes character interactions. In particular between Superman and Batman as well as between Flash and Green Lantern. He nails these complex relationships. Superman and Batman, with their competitive best friend aspect while the Green Lantern and Flash act more like siblings as they bicker, tease and try to get more attention.

As part of the generation that grew up on Sliders and Quantum Leap, the concept behind this comic is nothing new or amazing in and of itself. To compensate for this, Winick tries to prove that in this first arc that events will have reprecussions and that nothing can be taken for granted. Besides the evolving group dynamic there is also a death and a turncoat that no one saw coming. Winick doesn't do these things just for the shock value, however, instead everything feels like a natural part of the storyline while at the same time heightening the drama of the series.

I've already gone on the record as being a large Judd Winick fan and if I wasn't already one, this book would be enough to convert me. Winick's humor and creative situations is what keeps this book going. His dialogue is witty but to me the true gem is in his captions. He has the ability to use the dry narrative voice with an amazing ability to either touch us or make us laugh.

I only wish I could be as complimentary of the art as I am of the writing. Mike McKone is good (his drawings of Morph is actually on par with if not better than Winick's words) but he's just not great. His figures aren't as dynamic as they could be and sometimes its hard to read the characters' expressions (there's a panel where Magnus [the son of Magneto and Rogue] learns of his father's presence and is shocked, instead it looks as if he just has gas). Also McKone has some consistency issues in terms of character designs for Blink, Thunderbird and Nocture [the daughter of Nightcrawler and Scarlet Witch]. Despite these set backs though, his art is quite nice.

This book is a good read. What Mark Waid does in this trade is similar to what Alan Moore did for Swamp Thing. He managed to change the direction of the book without altering the core character (it's true that Waid lacks some of the finesse that Moore has but if we compared everyone to Alan Moore than our selection would look pretty drab).

Captain America before this point was sucking. He was feeble, living in an Iron Man style suit, everytime he used his power he was slowly killing himself. In several pages, Waid turns this all around and brings back the Cap we all know and love, the super soldier with the can do spirit.
We also get the Red Skull and the mysterious return of Sharon Carter, yet another time when Waid's extensive knowledge of a character's history has managed to bring back long forgotten story elements to weave back into modern continuity.

Waid was born to write Captain America just as Garney was born to draw him. His Captain is athletic and fit without being too muscle-bound. He looks like a man at the peak of physical perfection without any hint of over-exaggeration. His only real flaw seems to be the nailing of the Red Skull whose physical apperance seems inconsistent throughout the book. However, his art flows nicely, giving it a good movie action feel.

I don't usually read children's books but I have a soft spot in my hear for Neil Gaiman. So despite my own preferences I gave this book a read. It was good. It was a cute little story told very well. However, the thing that made this book was its art. Dave McKean, who's work always impresses me, is at the top of his form in this book.

This book is about as close to tripping acid as a six year old can get with its wild visual styling and odd logic. The only stigma it must overcome is that it is techinically a children's book and not a comic but I'd argue (and I have many times) that this is a comic that's geared towards children. My advice is to buy it for any child you know and then give it a quick read yourself. The child will enjoy the story and you can enjoy the art.

It examines the guys of who Batman is: a brilliant detective, a self-made man, a driven man. It then takes those concepts and turns them on their head. It's a story where Batman becomes addicted to a performance enhancing drug (the now famous Venom), going against his very nature of hard work and dedication. Through the book we see as the drugs rob him of his intellect and how he suffers from his addiction. It's a very human and engaging tale of the Dark Knight. This is not the urban myth version of Batman, this is a weak and vulnerable man who's trying to prevent any more families being broken.

O'Neil writes in his introduction: "Nobody ever becomes an addict to ruin his or her life. Addiction always begins with a desire to be better. Stronger. Smarter. Suaver. Richer. Braver. More. The promise is always of less pain and greater fulfillment, and the promise is always a lie. It's a lesson millions of people are learning, particularly on the streets of our cities -- an agonizing, intensely human lesson." These words are eloquent and as true now as when he wrote them.

This book proves what we knew all along: Batman's one of the toughest hombres of all time.