What I Read This Week

Batman #691 -- Two-Face has broken into the Batcave, and he is certain that "Batman" is not the Batman he tangled with before!  Winnick and Bageley wrap up their opening arc in solid fashion here.  Nothing too spectacular but fast-moving, entertaining and sensible.  Winnick continues his habit of ending his stories by planting the seeds for the next one, which I really like.

House of Mystery Halloween Annual #1 -- Gone missin'.  Apparently shorted by Diamond.

Red Robin #5 -- Tim lies bleeding to death after being assaulted by a member of the Council of Spiders... so either he gets help from an unexpected side or this is a short issue.  The new threat is fleshed out and the relationship between Tim and the League of Assassains is further investigated in this issue, which admirably sets the stage for the next storyline.

The Shield #2 -- In Bialya, The Shield and Magog find themselves clashing not only with each other, but brainwashed American soliders!  Then, the Inferno tangles not only with Green Arrow but Black Canary as well.  The lead feature is excellent.  Trauttman and Rudy have hit the ground running and this has quickly become a favorite.  The same goes for the backup, which has quite a lot going on despite being only ten pages.  Very strongly recommended.

Iron Man: Iron Protocols -- Shellhead (back when he was the Director of SHIELD) heads to the Arctic to investigate a rogue AI which has taken a zoological research station hostage.  We laos have a backup bringing back a character from the hallowed antiquity we call "the late 90s."  I am not sure what the purpose of this comic is, seeing as the main story takes place before the current "status quo" (and as we all know, "status quo" is everything in Marvel), but, that being said, I rather enjoyed it.  Of course, I enjoyed it mostly because it was a fun pair of Iron Man tales which didn't linger over how absolutely awful the character is, but, my friends, we take it where we can get it.

Re-Read Pile: The Shield

The Pick Of The Pile is The Shield, which really was excellent and had a heck of a cliffhanger.

So, what did YOU read this week?