Avengers vs. X-Men #1 of 12

Writers: Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman, & Matt Fraction
Artist: John Romita Jr.
Company: Marvel Comics

Okay, let's get this thing out of the way. Let's be honest. Avengers vs. X-Men #0 was a letdown. It felt meandering and if memory serves correctly, you don't want to start your Summer extravaganza with whimper, you want to start it off with a bang. Something the encompasses the blockbuster of movies, something that captures audiences' attentions and is fun. Avengers vs. X-Men #1 is that kind of book. It's the first Marvel crossover that has occurred in the past few years that right out of the gate has my attention. So yes, if you found #0 to be a tedious page turning snore, wipe that from your memory banks and step up to this bright and shiny number one.

Week in Review 3/30/12

Daredevil #10
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Paolo Rivera
Company: Marvel Comics

It's tough to come up with new ways of saying, "Buy this book," but writer Mark Waid doesn't seem to be able to stop coming up with new ways of illustrating moments of brilliance and awesome, so I'll just say it once more with feeling: Buy this book. Daredevil is exciting. It takes what you expect and turns it on its head. With this issue, Daredevil takes on Mole Man and is reminded of the reason why he does what he

Wednesday Number Ones 3/28/12

Wednesday Number Ones is a weekly feature here at Top 5 Comics. We take the books that are premiering a first issue from that week and give a quick opinion on them. From time to time we may also include more than issue number ones in this feature. If a noteworthy one-shot or the first issue of a new story arc is released, we may talk about it in this feature as well.

This week, we will cover:  Bloodstrike #26 and The New Deadwardians #1 of 8.

Avengers Versus X-Men #0

Writers: Brian Michael Bendis & Jason Aaron
Artist: Frank Cho
Company: Marvel Comics

Cross-over. Hero versus hero. A battle to save the Universe. A battle to save a Species. That's how this event has been spun. Well, the whole Hero vs. Hero bit has been pushed a bit more than the whole saving the Universe bit, but that's just how these things work. Still, what does this zero issue have to offer? Does it lead into the main event? Does it fall on its side and beg to be forgotten or does it exceed all expectations and have that feeling that we have hoped every Marvel Event would have? I guess the best question is this: Does it deliver?

Week in Review 3/24/12

Wonder Woman #7
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Artist: Cliff Chiang
Company: DC Comics

Azzarello doesn't skimp on the all encompassing darkness and threads of sheer unhappiness with this issue. He also doesn't skimp on the makings of a particularly great story. Wonder Woman, a character and comic that typically has been a passenger on the up and down roller coaster of less than stellar (the Perez and Rucka runs notwithstanding), has jumped that hurdle and landed in a puddle of brilliance. The

Week in Review 3/16/12

Green Lantern #7
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Doug Mahnke
Company: DC Comics

After the less than stellar outing last month, with art that did more to drive interest down than anything, Green Lantern gets back to what it does best: Make you care about Sinestro. It's a strange truth, but Sinestro is the better character compared to the somewhat bland Hal, and with the focus shifting more in his favor the story definitely sees an uptick. This issue also begins to hint at what and who

Saga #1

Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Fiona Staples
Company: Image Comics

There are a lot of reasons for fans to be excited in the land of comics these days. It's almost as if we've seen some sort of resurgence in creator owned properties and there's no doubt that people are out there, craving and hunting for the next book that's going to knock their socks off. When word first hit about Saga, the excitement that I felt was off the charts. There was no doubt that a bit of worry was mixed in there, but even the possibility of a failure couldn't sway me from the simple and awesome fact that Brian Vaughan was coming back to comics. The man is responsible for some of my more favorite series and he's one of the few writers that seems to tackle any and every genre with a sense of gusto. With Y the Last Man we got our

Fairest #1

Writer: Bill Willingham
Artist: Phil Jiminez
Company: Vertigo

There's no doubt in my mind that the main Fables series will forever remain one of my more favorite titles from the last ten years or so. It regularly found a way to breathe new life and an expansion on characters that only lived in literal fairy tales. Not only that, but it simply told great stories that had a way of captivating a reader and transport them. It has a great concept. This new spin-off, the third one that has appeared (Jack of Fables & Cinderella being the other two), focuses on the female cast members. It is supposed to explore their hidden histories in the same way that the stand alone tale Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall did. But the biggest question that needs asking is this: Does it do that?

Age of Apocalypse #1

Writer: David Lapham
Artist: Roberto De La Torre
Company: Marvel Comics

To those that never expected to see the Age of Apocalypse again...Well come on, this is comics. We all expected it. Rick Remender rocketed us back to that world of dark depression, a place where Xavier died and Magneto took up the charge of unifying Humans and Mutants. Not that it went well or anything, what with the nuclear explosions and most everyone killing each other. Still, Remender's continuation hit pretty hard on the throttle of fun, mainly because he continued to allow the world to evolve. That and he made Wolverine the new Apocalypse. It's the little things like that, people, that get the old heart pumping with adrenaline fueled anticipation. That said, writer David Lapham's career isn't filled with success after success.

Week in Review 2/29/12 - Part 2

Angel & Faith #7
Writer: Christos Gage
Artist: Rebekah Isaacs
Company: Dark Horse Comics

This one takes your expectations and turns them on their head. Writer Christos Gage knows a thing or two about story construction, evident by the exploration and expansion on the Angel and Faith characters that he has consistently given us over the course of these seven issues. The "Mother Superior" arc continues to offer up a lot of surprises and fun moments. The reveal of our villain, which I of course won't spoil, feels