Last week gave me a nice break from the usual with only 2 comics on my pull list. It gave me a chance to catch up on all the movies I’ve been buying lately. But now it’s back to the usual 8-12 comic a week range. This week has the extra-long Batman 24, the seventh chapter of Battle of the Atom with X-Men 6, and the last issue of Astonishing X-Men (issue 68).
The other comics I picked up this week are Avengers AI 4, Fearless Defenders 10, Thor: God of Thunder 14, Avengers Arena 16, Batgirl 24 and Red Sonja 4. Here are my first impressions – I’ll add links to full reviews as they’re posted.
Avengers AI 4 was fun. It continues the AI division’s fight against Dimitrios on multiple fronts with some good action, good plot development and some decent character work. Doombot is awesome as always. There’s not much else to say about this one – it’s just fun.
Fearless Defenders 10 was great. It barely ties into Infinity, and instead mostly ties into the Defenders storyline. That’s probably a good thing though. It also introduces a potential new member of the Defenders team in a compelling, but perhaps slightly confusing manner. It may make more sense after a second reading though. The action is fun, the banter is always entertaining, and this series deserves more readers. Check it out.
Thor: God of Thunder 14 was decent. In some ways, this entry feels a little rushed. The story moves very quickly and the action was a little disappointing. It’s still good, but considering how good the Gorr storyline was, I can’t help but think more could have been done with this issue. I’d still recommend it to Thor fans though.
Avengers Arena 16 was decent. The climax has finally begun and while the action below the battlefield is interesting, as was the twist on the last page. I’m not exactly buying all of the individual fights in the arena above though. And as always, you’ll hate this issue if you hate this series as a whole, but it’s definitely worth reading for those who have been enjoying AA.
Batman 24 was great. It’s basically a double-sized issue that concludes Batman’s fight with the red hood gang. The epic climax with Batman’s chronological first appearance makes the 2 month wait worth it. So many interesting developments. Such great art. This is my favourite comic of the week, and Batman fans should read it. And this is coming from someone who was starting to think that Year Zero was pointless.
Batgirl 24 was also great. There’s so much dramatic tension in this storyline, with Commissioner Gordon hunting for Batgirl, not knowing that she’s his daughter. Shooting a boy she’s grown close to. The Knightfall group playing with the lives of street gangs and cops. Gail Simone wastes none of the potential in this issue. Now if only we didn’t have to wait another 2 months to get the next issue as Batgirl 25 is a Year Zero tie-in. Still, this is an easy recommendation for anyone interested in checking out other Batman-related titles.
healed1337 
X-Men was great. A great balance of action and characterization. Psylocke was awesome.
AXM was meh. I’ve never really cared about it.
Avengers AI was great. Dimitrios trolling Vision was hilarious. And the rest of the issue was great.
Fearless Defenders was meh. A disappointment. It was all very cliched.
Thor was cool. Thor was pretty snarky.
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