Avengers: Initiative #11 - Well, at least that's finally over. I feel like the potential of this series was seriously derailed by this KIA story, which went on forever and took the focus away from the "new recruits at the academy" theme of the book which is what i was interested in.

Ms. Marvel #26 -For me, this book was right on the cusp of ok/bad, so i decided to give it another try during the Secret Invasion crossover. Again, this... wasn't terrible, but wasn't great, but it's unclear how this fits in with Secret Invasion, which, for me, is important since i deliberately bought this due to the crossover and i like to know how everything fits together (used to be that it was understood that the stories had to fit together; now i'm reduced to saying it's just my preference.). Also, i like the "Nextwave" version of Machine Man but i hope this doesn't mean that they think Nextwave is in continuity.

Iron Man #28 - "As I recall, you specifically directed me to play it 'Nick Fury' dirty." Heh. Pus the return of the Silver and Red armor, a great battle with the Mandarin in which Iron Man winds up wearing his rings, and an always welcome auto-amputation scene. They should've kept him heel-less for a while just to make the sacrifice a little more meaningful, but that's ok. I was also sure that this arc was going to de-Extremify Iron Man, bringing him back down to Wanyas-approved technology levels, but apparently they're sticking with it. In any event, this book is always good and probably doesn't deserve to be so low on my reading list.

X-Force #3 - Hard to judge this one as it's just a "gathering of forces" issue for the bad guys. It's definitely a little slower than the previous two, and it didn't have a lot of impact for me since many of these guys come from X-Men stories from the 90s when i wasn't reading the books. Disappointed that they're not actually waking up Magus, but i guess a Black Ops team doesn't have much hope of defeating an adult Technarch. I love the body count page, but should Bolivar Trask really get credit for every mutant killed by a Sentinel?

Annihilation: Conquest #6 - My feeling is that Warlock and his ward should have been a lot more integral in stopping the Phalanx - especially his ward since stopping the Phalanx is a prime function of adult Technarchs (who would have thought that in 2008 i'd be reading about Technarchs in two completely unrelated books?). Still, i understand since they weren't really part of the series to begin with (the Nova books weren't even labelled as a Conquest crossover) that it's not fair to use them prominently, and Warlock did free Adam Warlock from Ultron's control, so it's not like they were ignored. Otherwise, all i have to say is this was a great ending to a great series, and Groot and Mantis better recover and join up with the Guardians of the Galaxy after a few issues of that new series, which i'm looking forward to.

Hercules #116 - There's a lot to like about this book. Continued character development for Hercules. His impatient "I know who you guys are, you're the Eternals, i've met you a bunch of times". The continued examination of the similarities and discrepencies in myths. Athena's guidance of Cho, steering him away from the super-villain path. Athena keeping a decapitated Skrull head in her back pocket to show the other gods. On an unrelated tangent, i hear some of the X-Men are in San Fransisco, too. I wouldn't have minded a little crossover/cameo.

Captain America #37 - Epting is back on art and the book is looking beautiful again. This continues to be great. Waiting to see where they go with the Cap 'clone'. I liked everyone showing up to tell Bucky that they'll be watching him in his new role as Captain America. In the old days, each of those appearances would have resulted in an issue long fight; here it was handled maturely. Best surreal line of the month: "Cap! Cap! Look out for the internet!"

Mighty Avengers #12 - Ugh, Maleev. Well, this issue, dealing with Nick Fury's covert stuff and icky Skrulls, mostly suited his style, but his Spider-Woman is awful. It's nice to catch up on Fury. I'm actually surprised that Bendis decided to do it so overtly instead of just having Fury return and dropping a few hints as to what he's been up to. So looking at the people he circled - those are the Skrulls? (Well, Hulkling - duh. ;-)). I notice that it's Lockjaw and not Blackbolt that was circled - that was interesting (And i wonder if it's a way to solve the John Byrne/Peter David feud over whether Lockjaw is an intelligent Inhuman that got mutated or just a funny looking dog). And yeah, let the Spidey who made a deal with Mephisto turn out to be a Skrull!