Villains For Hire #.1 - I like Abnett & Lanning's space stuff and New Mutants, but something about their Heroes For Hire series wasn't working for me. But when i heard it was becoming Villains For Hire, clearly i was going to try it again. In fact, the assumption was that i was going to like it so much that i was going to have to scramble to get all the HFH issues that i skipped. But so far, i think we'll just be going forward, and tentatively at that. I'm not so intrigued by Purple Man as the evil counterpart to Misty (i would have preferred Sidewinder, actually), and i still see a lot of the things i didn't like about the series: Misty is still behind a desk, and Paladin is still... in the series. But we'll see where it goes. On paper, i should love this book. It's Marvel Team-Up x 10 with a good creative team. Some geeky comments: 1) Don't try to sell me on the idea of a more powerful Stilt-Man because s/he has "serious tech upgrades". The original was given an adamantium suit and rocket launchers at one point. It didn't help. 2) When your power is teleporting and you're facing a guy wearing body armor and holding a gun, i recommend teleporting, not lunging at him unarmed like a doofus.

Avengers Academy #21 - When i expressed hesitation about all the new students showing up, i didn't realize that one of them was Lightspeed from Power Pack (i thought she was Ultra Girl). Now that i know the truth, i'm 100% on board. Plus this issue continues to focus on the core team and does a great job with characterization. A little disappointed that we're going to be dealing with the students' future-selves again, but i have have faith.

Hulk #44 - Yeah, i don't know what happened before, but i'm really enjoying this book again. The Hulk/Machine Man interactions were great, and i'm enjoying the plot. I was kind of expecting a big-headed Rigellian as the last page reveal, so Sultan Magus was a little bit of a let down, but that's ok.

New Mutants #33 - I guess the cover is deliberately invoking the Brett Blevins period, but it's a little weird and i'm glad the interior art doesn't look like that. Inside, i appreciate that i'm getting the bullet points on Schism (or i guess Regenesis) without having to wade in to any of that stuff. This book is leaps beyond XXX For Hire (and Earthfall) in terms of characterization and basic writing and i don't know why that is, but at least this book is good. Looking forward to the team continuing their "X-Men's Loose Ends" remit next issue. But what happened in this panel?

Penciler thought thought the inker would fill in Dani's face and the computer screens. Inker thought the colorist would do it. Editor asleep at the wheel.

Fear Itself #7.1 - I told you people if i didn't read it, it didn't actually happen. And therefore Bucky never died. This was good, and i'll enjoy a Winter Soldier series (is this in addition to the upcoming Winter Soldier stories in Captain America & Bucky, or was that whole series just a stalling ruse?).

Omac #3 - Psi-Fi Man who is also giant brain-stem man. Ambient Tech. Midget in a Max Rebo keyboard ring. Omac.

for the sake of everyone who is enjoying these titles - i hated all of it. you hear that Marvel??

fnord12 convinced me to give Avengers Academy a try again. i hate time travel stories.

why does every x-title devolve into a drawn out discussion about their feelings? it's always so maudlin and sappy, too. i suppose i should just be happy it's not cyclops and wolverine moaning about jean grey.