What I Read This Week

Sorry these are a day late... holiday, baby, work, you know how it goes.

Strange Adventures #5 -- Comet, Adam Strage, Eye, and Synnar-in-the-Weird confront the Weird, who has seemingly gone over the edge after his previous run-in with the Demiurge.  Meanwhile, Prince Gavyn broods about what has befallen his people and his world, and wonders what kind of Supreme Being would allow so many of his worshippers to be so cruelly dismissed.  All the while, Bizarro and Coriolis find themselves in an even stranger locale than before, as their fears seem to take shape in front of them.  It's great to see Starlin on art as well as writing chores, for this issue is gorgeous.  The story is building to a climax which should be a real blowout.  A great title and a great installment.

War of Kings #5 -- With their coup attempt failed, the Inhumans unveil their failsafe device for ending the war.  But is their cure even worse than the disease?  Over on the Shi'ar side, Vulcan prepares to unleash his fury in a way the cosmos has never seen before, but even Kings have others to answer to.  This series has almost been too sweeping -- there is so much going on that before you know it, your 22 pages are done.  But I am not going to fault a comic for including too much awesome stuff, as this one does.  The Inhuman's plan is absolutely insane, but not as insane as the last-page promise of a knock down, drag out between the two Kings next issue.

Justice League: Cry For Justice #1 -- In the aftermath of the death of the Martian Manhunter and Batman, Green Lantern Hal Jordan wants justice, dammit.  And he is not alone.  I liked the setup for this issue, but ultimately, I think that is all we got: setup.  I was left with the notion that this was supposed to be a double-sized issue and then got halved at the last second, because it just kind of ends.  Robinson's dialogue rings true to my ear, and Mauro Cascioli's art is as sweet as it was on Trials of Shazam, but I was expecting a bit more from this issue.

Aliens #1 -- When a mining outfit finds an amazing acheological discovery -- a twisting, labrynthine city of unimaginable size -- on a backwoods world, they figure they can double-dip on their profits.  When a scientific research team arrives on-world, though, it seems that the prospectors unearthing the bizarre city have given way to insanity themselves.  What lies inside the city and will anyone be left sane -- or alive -- to discover it's secret?  For a relaunch of the Aliens brand this issue is decidedly short on actual Xenomorphs.  But in a way that sort of works in it's favor -- the pacing is a little slower and the mystery builds and builds, and it makes for a page-turning reading experience.  Scribe John Arcudi has a nice handle on the spookiness, and Howard Porter's art seems well-suited to rendering this desolate planet.  I think I will stick with this one.

Predator #1 -- In Eastern Africa, a bloody civil war rages with no end in sight.  But for the members of the US-backed private security firm Graham Directive Security are in for more than even they bargained for when they discover a cadre of deadly alien lifeforms hunting in the same warzone!  This one, along with the Aliens book, I picked up for my brother as he was a fan of the DH books back in the day.  Where Aliens was mysterious, Predator is more straight forward, building thematically on the FCBD Predator story.  Arcudi and artist Javier Saltares do a good job, but I will probably pass on the rest of this one just because I am more interested in Aliens.  Still looks very intriguing.

The Pick Of The Pile is a toss-up between to the two space titles.  I am having a hard time picking between them, but I am going to have to give the nod to Strange Adventures for being a better "bang for the buck" value -- although the next issue of WoK should feature a battle between Black Bolt and Vulcan which will have more "bang" than just about anything I can imagine.

So, what did YOU read this week?