Hope you all had a good Memorial Day, enjoying the time off work, the start of summer, all that jazz. I spent the weekend watching movies, Monty Python, and my beloved Detroit red Wings demolish the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals. Oh, and I read a bunch of comics, so here we go.

PULL LIST 05-21-08 Amazing Spider-man #560 Avengers: Initiative #13 Mighty Avengers #14 Captain America #38 Justice Society of America #15 End League #3

Amazing Spider-man #560
Another fine issue by Dan Slott and Marcos Martin, continuing the story from last issue, as Peter follows a famous celebrity around, working as a paparazzi, and fighting said celebrities oddly powered stalker. Same as with issue #559, this has great art from Martin, and a fun script from Slott. Martin’s art work reminds me of part Tim Sale, part Darwyn Cooke. It’s very classic looking, but with modern sensibilities. Slott inserts a pretty surprising last page in with the return to the series of a pretty famous character, and it was nice to see that return handled well. These issues have gotten me very interested in Spider-man again, and I couldn’t be happier about that. —5 out of 5

Avengers: Initiative #13
The little series that could begins its second year, showing us the next set of recruits to enter the Initiative training program, and while they may be scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of Marvel’s character backlog (I think I’ve only ever heard of one of the new recruits) writer Cristos Gage creates an interesting new character and crafts one hell of a poignant story around him. Meet Butterball, who’s got the power of invulnerability, the only problem is that his body won’t change from the condition it was in when he gained his powers, mean he’s weak and out of shape for the rest of his life. He’s got the enthusiasm to be a hero, but not the ability. What follows is a pretty charming story of what it means to be a superhero. Taskmaster continues to be a great character in the series, adding lots of great lines, and every character gets a good moment. This series feels more like an Avengers title than either New or Mighty Avengers, what with the great character interaction, and the enjoyable action scenes. After the last few issues of those series, I would recommend this series over them any day of the week. —4 out of 5

Mighty Avengers #14
Speaking of Mighty Avengers, here’s the next issue. The best thing I can say for this series is I do enjoy the bi-weekly schedule that Marvel is using. I just wish the stories were more interesting. This issue continues the Secret Invasion tie-ins, this time focusing on the Sentry, and the Skrulls plans for him. The Skrulls lay out their plan of how to take care of the Sentry, then we get a bit of explanation of what happened in Secret Invasion #2, and finally we see a bit of the next step of that sub-plot. A lot of people will hate this issue, just for the focus on Sentry. He’s not my favorite character, but I don’t hate him, and I think they found an interesting angle to take with the final page. I wasn’t impressed with the art by Koi Pham in this issue, and there’s nothing I can really say about it being bad, it just wasn’t particularly interesting. It was just an odd issue in an increasing string of odd issues for the series. I just want them to get back to you know, the characters of the book. —2 out of 5

Captain America #38
I kind of hate coming to Cap in my list of reviews every month, not because it’s bad, but because it’s so consistently good. If the quality dropped off every once in a while, at least I’d have something to write about, but I haven’t seen that yet. So, here’s the best series that Marvel is putting out these days. This issue keeps the trains rolling, as we find out who the Steve Rogers look-a-like that Sharon Carter found is, and then we get some good moments with Bucky and the Falcon. It’s all good stuff, expertly told by Ed Brubaker, and gorgeously drawn by Steve Epting. Every month has me looking forward to the next issue, and that’s about the highest compliment I can give it. I’m giving the issue a point off for being mostly exposition, and not enough actual plot development, so it gets — out of 5

Justice Society of America #15
Leaving Marvel, we come to DC’s most consistently great title, Justice Society of America. This issue continues the saga of the JSA verses the forces of Gog, as the big guy makes his first appearance. What may be the highlight of the issue is another one page preview of the next year’s worth of story, much like they had in Justice Society #1. It’s a very cool idea, and I’m glad they brought it back and also that DC isn’t doing it for every series. It makes it a very unique thing for this book, and makes the book feel special. This is just another great issue; with Geoff Johns‘ showing he has a handle on the myriad characters, and Dale Eaglesham doing likewise on the art duties. This issue may even be a bit better than Captain America, since the plot has some good forward motion this time, but all in all, it’s just another good issue. See a full review from fellow Geek of Doom, MajorJJH here. I give it —4 out of 5

End League #3
I’ve really enjoyed the first few issues of the new series from Dark Horse, written by Rick Remender (Fear Agent) and drawn by Mat Broome, and this issue isn’t really an exception, I just wish this was published on a monthly schedule and not bi-monthly as it is now. Reading through it though, I couldn’t remember major details from the last issue, and it made me lost in this one. I’m enjoying the story, a tale of superheroes in a post apocalyptic world who have lost the battle against this world’s villains. The story uses lost of Marvel and DC heroes as archetypes, and it’s been fun to see how they react to the situation. And I really like the art on it as well, which reminds me a bit of Leinil Yu, but with out being over sketchy. (and I just learned that Broome is leaving the series after issue 4.) I wish I could recommend the single issues, but because of the schedule, I have to suggest waiting for the trade on this one. That trade should look nice though when it comes out; I just hope there are enough readers to keep the book afloat. —3 out of 5