Ultimate Spider-man #115 – Great art, Immonen is really working well here. Great writing, Bendis understands his characters and knows how to get the best out of them. —4 out of 5

PULL LIST 10-24-07 Ultimate Spider-man #115 Casanova #10 Umbrella Academy #2 JLA Classified #45 Green Arrow Year One #6 X-men #204 Green Lantern Corps #17 The Killer #5 and 6 Blue Beetle #20 Fear Agent The Last Goodbye #4 Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman Prime Warhammer 40k: Blood and Thunder #1

Casanova #10 – Still crazy, still fun, still awesome. Fabio Moon‘s art is I feel easier to follow than Garbiel Ba‘s art was one the first bunch of issues. You can tell this is Matt Fraction‘s baby. —5 out of 5

Umbrella Academy #2 – Meanwhile, Ba is the perfect match for this book, and I think the colors from Dave Stewart really help bring the work to life. Builds on the promise of the first issue. —4 out of 5

JLA Classified #45 – Martian Manhunter deals with his crazy mental clone of a brother who killed all the other Martians and is no trying to get the Manhunter to kill himself or be killed by his friends. Read it for Rick Leonardi‘s art which is great. The story is kind of crap though. —3 out of 5

Green Arrow Year One #6 – Bringing the mini to and end in a good way. Jocks art is great; the problem with the series though is that it took a few issues to get going. Check out the trade though and hope for Diggle and Jock on Green Arrow Year Two.

X-men #204
Lots of wrap up from the last arc and lead in to the crossover in this issue. I may be in the minority, but I used to love the quiet issues of X-men so this one was right up my alley. There’s a nice moment with Cyclops thinking about the death of Cable, but it losses a bit of its edge since we know he’s coming back shortly. There’s also a nice bit between Iceman and Cannonball which helps to highlight the friendship between the two. Any way, this is it for me and the X-men for a while, as I’m sitting out the crossover. Hopefully it goes well. —3 out of 5

Green Lantern Corps #17
The Sinestro Corps War continues here as we actually reach into the home stretch. There are some great fight scenes in this issue, particularly between Kilowog and his opposite number in the SC, making good use of his surroundings and his powers. I was glad to see some attention given to the characters who thought that just because they can use the rings to kill now, doesn’t mean they should. The art isn’t very good though and the deadlines may be getting to the team. There are 4 separate pencilers and they have some very different styles so it doesn’t match up well. The action saves it though. —3 out of 5

The Killer #5 and 6
Man, when the French get something right they get it really right. The fries, the kiss, the toast, and this here comic. My advise to Archaia would be to release all future issues two at a time, since these two issues were originally released in one book and it’s nice to read a whole stories worth at once. This is a great series that everyone should be checking out. Smart, mature, literary, it’s everything that comics should be. The art is lively and the colors perfectly fit each scene. Check out the recent hardcover and get caught up. —5 out of 5

Blue Beetle #20
Giving this a try on the strength of it being a Sinestro Corps War tie-in, and while it wasn’t particularly bad, I don’t know if it makes me want to come back. In the issue, a yellow ring finds its way to the Peacemaker, apparently, his deal is never really explained. The only thing is he’s already got a scarab from a group called the Reach, another group of characters not really explained, and Peacemaker becomes some kind of evil hybrid, until Blue Beetle and a random Green Lantern beat him up. The arts not bad, but it’s kind of indistinctive and there are a few weird moments in the storytelling. The writing isn’t bad as well, but it doesn’t really bring a new reader up to speed. Decent but inconsequential. —2 out of 5

Fear Agent The Last Goodbye #4
This mini has brought the series back to what I really enjoyed about the first six issues or so. High drama, lots of action, crazy aliens, well drawn and fun. Heath Huston and the rest of the Fear Agents take the battle to the enemy Dressites with bloody results and just when things look bad, Heath manages to turn the tide, but in a really horrific way. Writer Rick Remender answers a lot of questions in completely logical ways while making the reader connect more with the characters. Tony Moore‘s work is a wonder as he handles the action and the quiet moments, as well as the humans and the aliens. Terrific. —4 out of 5

Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman Prime
I checked this one out due to the creative team, namely Geoff Johns, Pete Woods, and Jerry Ordway. It’s decent and enhances the story some, but a lot of it is recap of Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis for the umpteenth billion times, so that part drags, but I suppose could be helpful to new readers. The plus is, it does look really good, with Woods providing art on the modern parts, and Ordway doing the art for the flashbacks. The fight is pretty decent as well, although it doesn’t really hold up to logic, so just go along with the ride. The back-up story is another focus on a Sinestro Corp member, this one another darn creepy guy. You have to give it to DC for setting these new characters up as legitimate threats. I wouldn’t really recommend it though. —2 out of 5

Warhammer 40k: Blood and Thunder #1
Now admittedly, I’m a fan of the 40k universe, and these books have been totally geared towards fans, so my opinion is a bit biased. Also admittedly, I have an Ork army, and this new mini is focusing on the Orks, so add another bit to the bias. While this isn’t the greatest book ever, I had fun with it. The Orks are at war again with the humans, and the situation is grim for the outnumbered defenders. No one can stand before the almighty horde!! The art and colors are too muddy and make the story a bit hard to follow. The writing is fun though, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the story. —3 out of 5