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SuperMegaSpeed Reviews

Well, i've got Halo: Reach to play, so i'll make this short. I know, only two years behind the times, but that's what happens when you're old. Typer195 got me a free copy, and i'm really enjoying it. I feel like the controls are better and it's easier to do headshots. Not that i still wouldn't be instantly killed by 9 years olds if i went online -- what? Oh, right. Comic books...

Avenging Spider-Man #10 - I know min had some problems with the fact that Ms. Captain Marvel's power levels seem to be ignored just to stretch out the story, and i agree with that but i think the writing here is generally fun, with the Robyn Hood robot being an interesting new political villain in the spirit of Firebrand or Flag-Smasher. I'd like to say that i've read the actual Captain Marvel book by now, but sadly we're having distribution problems again.

Avengers vs. X-Men #9 - As predicted, Wanyas and Bob (and the internet generally) did me a major favor by trashing this issue thoroughly before i read it. It's all an expectations game, folks. So clearly i'm going with "Not that bad". Some caveats... there's got to be an in-story explanation for Colossus being so dumb. Forget the water breathing whales; how else can Spider-Man manipulate the two Rasputins into fightings so easily (i'm taking it for granted that at this point Illyana is so evil she'll attack even her own brother in a bid for more power)? The Professor X bait-and-switch was disappointing and the Panther/Storm annulment definitely read like someone was checking off "unrelated significant event" from their to-do list, but otherwise... yeah. I thought the Spider-Man "everyone has their moment" bit was set up well, and Aaron wrote Spidey well. It's all a bit undermined by the fact that Cyclops - who in some scenes seems to still be the most reasonable of the Phoenixes - shows up in K'u'n L''un', so Hope won't have a chance to really soak up that "lesson", but whatever.

Daredevil #16 - We're definitely going a little darker with Daredevil. Even assuming that someone is setting Matt up, we're still getting back into familiar "terrible things happen" territory. Which is fine; just saying. The praise for this series has generally focused on it being a "fun" book that emphasizes DD's swashbuckler side, so it's interesting to see Waid not keeping the book firmly in that theme. I still like the book, and the bit of bonding with Pym was done well. One pet peeve of mine is how nowadays every super-character is also an expert in their non-super profession. Iron Man specifically said he called in Doctor Strange for his surgical skills. Ummm... really? A guy that basically gave up surgery several decades ago is who you go to? (I know, and don't care, that they've had Strange going back into surgery more and more in recent years. Even in his origin story, he was a good, successful surgeon, but that doesn't make him the best in the world, especially now.)

Peter Parker Spider-Man #156.1 - What's the story with the numbering on this title? Anyway, i'm a Roger Stern loyalist so i picked this up. And... well... look, at a basic level it's just a straightforward "Spider-Man saves some people from drowning" type of story. There's nothing wrong with a basic "Spider-Man does heroic stuff" story every once in a while. But... well... i mean, we know this was a 50th anniversary celebration, so it was going to be a bit referential. But going back to the warehouse where Uncle Ben was killed seems a bit much. And tying it into a Stern-written Brand plotline from 30 years ago seemed odd as well. I dunno. I'd like to see Stern on a regular title. I know he can still write; this is a guy that got me to enjoy Captain America Corps, for god's sake, even with the atrocious art. But this wasn't the greatest.

X-Factor #241 - I liked it. This is a very strange title but PAD makes it work. The only thing i didn't like is when Captain Deathlok called Dormammu "Smokey the Bore". I know it's an alternate universe character, but a universe where Captain America and/or Deathlok speaks like a generic Peter David character is one i don't wanna know about.

Avengers Academy #34 - I guess the Avengers Academy kids aren't reading the Avengers Vs. X-Men series. Because the Molecule Man's son's criticisms of that book were dead on, and anyone reading it would be happy to join him in order to end it. This is a great book and i sure hope that the very obvious fact that this arc is called "Final Exam" and the fact that Hazard and Mettle have been cured and the fact that Marvel is rebooting all their titles but nothing's been said about this one doesn't mean what i think it means. My one regret is that X-23 and Finesse's battle in the Savage Land wasn't expanded upon. That T. Rex has arms!