Well I promised to start reviewing comics starting with last week's haul. I guess running 6 days late counts as a failure.

But not to worry. I'm going to push on regardless. I promised reviews and reviews I shall deliver.

Thunderbolts #126

The first post-Secret invasion comic released by Marvel is also one the the best comics they've released in months. The issue doesn't give much of the SI storyline away. It reads much like one of the "downtime" issues from the 90's era X-Men. Except instead of playing baseball, Songbird and Swordsman are moping around and burning their dead, the really evil characters are busy being evil and Norman Osbourne faces up to a government committee hearing on his role during the Skrull invasion.

This issue marks a new creative team: Andy Diggle on words and Roberto De La Torre on pencils. I'd never read any of their previous work so I came in sans preconceptions. It's a credit to this team that I didn't actually notice the change in roster until well after I'd finished reading the book. Provided they keep to a regular schedule (something Warren Ellis wasn't able to do) then this should become a top 20 book.

Uncanny X-Men #504

I'll say one thing about Matt Fraction. Dude has created some of the best "ohmygod" moments I've read in comic form this year. Nikola Telsa fighting a demonic JP Morgan, Iron Fist exploding a train with one punch, and, with this issue, reintroducing the eccentric Dr Nemesis to the Marvel Universe. He of the guns that fire science!

Half the issue consists of Beast and Angel trying to convince Dr Nemesis to join the X-Men, in between fighting off tube-grown supernazis. The rest of the issue has Emma Frost taking a psychic stroll through Cylops'...well, I guess you'd call it his spank bank. A hotel full of X-Women, both past and present. Psylocke; Rogue and two Storms, both classic and mohawked. But strangely no red-heads.

The art, by Terry Dodson, moves along at a cracking pace. Had the issue being "drawn" by Greg Land (the other penciller in the Uncanny X-Men stable, then a lot of the great kinetic interaction between Beast, Angel and Dr Nemesis would've been lost.

Complete pull list:

Angel: After the Fall #14
Ex Machina #39
The Flash #246
Trinity #25
Thunderbolts #126
Ultimate Fantastic Four #58
Uncanny X-Men #504
X-Factor #37
X-Men: Legacy #218

It's the little things that make you happy. Like a girlfriend waking you up one Saturday morning ago to show you the USB stick she found buried deep in a pile of junk under the stairs.

Now that I've got it back I thought I'd show you my effort from this year's Script Frenzy. I'd originally set out to write three separate stories totally 100 pages, but only ended up getting one out. An episode of Heroes set in an alternative season three.

About halfway through I started getting a bit worried about how I was portraying some of the characters. After seeing how badly they're all being portrayed in the real season three I'm happy I at least managed to keep them consistent.

Had I read a few scripts before hand I would've seen that most scripts are bulked up with large blocks of notes from the writer(s) to whoever is directing the piece of distraction. Everything from what colour a car should be to the number of clouds in the sky. My script doesn't have a lot of that, so comes off a bit anorexic. Lesson learned for next year I guess.

Have a read of the script and tell me what you think. Any comments and/or criticisms are welcome (but keep it constructive, please).

Heroes - "Fifty"

1. Take my time setting everything up. When I'm not allowed to touch anything in the house I start getting "creative" with my time, Like turning the courtyard into a chapel.
2. Don't drink more than the guests.
3. Catering services kick ass. They prep, cook and then clean the entire kitchen. All we had to do was eat.
4. If I'm going to be standing out in the sun for 5 hours I really need to drink water every now and then.
5. There's some things that people just don't need to hear.
6. There's only so much liquid that a toddler can drink before "spill over" occurs.
7. When someone pours me a drink that begins with four shots of bourbon I should mention something.
8. Wear sunscreen.

I'm thinking about revamping this regular post. Half the time I'm reviewing the previous issue or just rambling about the comic as a whole. Maybe I should be reviewing the issues after I've read them. If anyone is actually reading these, what would you prefer?

Booster Gold #14

This isn't the cover originally solicited. I'm not sure why they changed it, but I do prefer this one. I'm also happy that this is the last issue written by Rick Remender. Sure he's a decent enough writer, but he just doesn't fit into Booster Gold's style.

Green Lantern Corps #30

There's been a lot of hate on the internet about this whole "War of the Light" thing, but you know what? I'm really digging it. I guess I'm just a sucker for Geoff Johns' Silver Age stuff.

Trinity #24

Trinity has been a weird book to talk about here. When I mention that I really like an issue, the next one is invariably boring. When I point that out the following issue improves greatly. Despite these oscillations the books - at it's worst - is still far, far better than Countdown at it's best. However it's still nowhere near the level of 52.

I've picked up my books one day early this week. I'm having a long weekend to sort out Ange's birthday, so I probably won't have the time to read the comics. Despite it being a smallish pile.

Final Crisis: Resist #1

I didn't mind Submit all that much. It was a nice little distraction that tied into the greater FC story the way Rage of the Red Lanterns didn't. This book being the counter point to Submit I'm sure it'll read just fine.

Secret Six #3

Quickly becoming one of my favourite DC books. Except for Green Lantern that is.

Trinity #23

They've spent a few issues now establishing the new "rules" of this world, but haven't done that much with it. We seem to have hit a slump story-wise. and we're not even at the midpoint of the series.

Avengers: Initiative Special

I don't know why they didn't label this and the Ms Marvel book below 'Annuals'. The Ultimate Captain America book last week was an Annual and that character doesn't even have his own book.

Ms. Marvel Special: Storyteller

Should be a decent enough book. From the sounds of it it revolves around a minor character who only appeared very briefly at the  beginning of the Ms. Marvel series. Could be good. Could be bad.

Ultimatum #1 (of 5)

With any luck this'll be the last Jeph Loeb series I ever read. While he was a goodish writer in the past (the 90's X-Force title notwithstanding) something seems to have snapped. He seems to have ignored any previously established personality traits in favour of driving a story forward.  See Ultimates 3 and the latest season of Heroes.