113 Extraordinary X-Men Vol 4: IvX

The latest era of X-Men is coming to an end.  I'm not disappointed.  The whole Terrigan Mists era of X-Men feels like it was more a placeholder than anything else.  Like, "we just came off of the Bendis run but we don't know what to do with the X-Men.  Let's push our Inhumans hard, poison the air and let the X-Men figure things out while we try to find a direction for the book."  That's what the last year or two have felt like to me.  But it's ending.

This book has a lot going for it.  Lemire!  It's an Inhumans vs. X-Men tie in, but it has almost nothing to do with that series, which is fine by me.  What we have here are four stand alone character driven stories, focusing on a different X-Man.  Forge, Storm, Old Man Logan and Magik.  Jeff Lemire makes it work in the context of the big, awful crossover.  There's really nothing he can't do.

Also included in this book is X-Men Prime, the latest version of "let's start things all over again."  Kitty Pryde is back and she's in charge of the team.  I hope this leads to a strong direction for the X-Men.  It's something they've been lacking for a while now.

Extraordinary X-Men Vol 4: IvX

Writer: Jeff Lemire, Mark Guggenheim, Greg Pak, Cullen Bunn

Artist: Eric Koda, Victor Ibanez, Andrea Sorrentino, Tom Palmer, Ken Lashley, Ibraim Roberson, Leonard Kirk, Guillermo Ortego

Marvel Comics

083 Batman/Wildcat

I love this kind of compilation book.  Unlike a book that collects a specific story arc or run by a particular creator, it's a book that takes a couple of mini-series and pads it out with some spectacular bonus material.

This book collects the Batman/Wildcat mini-series, the Catwoman/Wildcat mini-series and all the Batman/Wildcat stories from The Brave & The Bold.  And it's glorious.

The two mini-series are nothing to write home about, but they're solid and an enjoyable read.  The first mini-series is yet another take on the Fight Club cliche.  The second is another Vegas/Mob story.  Neither are original concepts by any stretch, but like I said before, decent enough reads.

The real treasure here is the inclusion of the Brave & Bold stories.  I'm currently reading the giant Brave & Bold Omnibus at work and have come across some of these stories recently already.  For some reason, DC decided to team Batman and Wildcat up despite the fact that Wildcat was an Earth-2 character.  No mention was ever made of it, so clearly this is an Earth-1 version of the same character.  I don't think he ever appeared anywhere but these select issues, which is too bad.  Not that it matters anymore.  After Crisis, there was only one Earth, so only one Ted Grant.

I'd love to see more books along the lines of this one.  Such fun to read.

Batman/Wildcat

Writer: Chuck Dixon, Beau Smith, Bob Haney

Artist: Sergio Cariello, Art Thibert, Danny Miki, Jaime Mendoza, Tom Palmer, Irv Novick, Mike Esposito, Bob Brown, Nick Cardy, Jim Aparo

DC Comics

079 All-Star Batman Vol 1: My Own Worst Enemy

This book was great.  In spite of John Romita Jr's art. (I'm really not a fan.  I don't hate his art, but I don't really like it either.)  It was non-stop action from cover to cover.

I'm guessing this is the Rebirth interpretation of Two-Face.  I don't really remember his being exactly like this previously (so if he was, my bad.)  He's more Jekyll & Hyde than ever before.  Harvey and Two-Face being two distinct people sharing the same body.  One emerges as the other one subsides.

The backstory is new, as far as I can tell.  Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent were childhood acquaintances and have a deeper history now than ever before.  

The story itself is nuts.  Two-Face has offered the fortunes of the top three crime bosses in Gotham to anyone who could take Batman down.  This all happens as Batman is taking Two-Face on a road trip of sorts in order to put an end to the Two-Face side of Harvey for once and for good.  And it's a great excuse to fit as many A, B, C and D-List villains into the story.  It's brutal, but it's fucking great.  I had a hard time putting this book down.  I love Scott Snyder's Batman.  

All-Star Batman Vol 1: My Own Worst Enemy

Writer: Scott Snyder

Artist: John Romita, Jr., Danny Miki, Tom Palmer, Sandra Hope, Richard Friend

DC Comics