I got a lot of good comics to cover this week, so I’m going to just go straight down the line in the order I listed them in last week’s preview.

Batman #687. Judd Winick jumps on Batman with this issue. Winick is not a favorite writer of mine, his recent Green Arrow/Black Canary was a pretty weak offering. However, for this issue at least, I’m happy to see Dick Grayson in the bat-suit. The parameters of this comic are set pretty clearly when Dick tells Alfred, “I’m not quite on solid ground, yet. Damian can’t see me second-guess myself. There’ll be times when I’ll need to go it alone.” It looks like Winick’s Batman will be operating well clear of the events in Morrison’s Batman and Robin. Like the aforementioned Green Arrow/Black Canary series, I’ll probably read this for a few issues, and then drop it.

Booster Gold #21. Booster keeps chugging along, what can I say?

Flash Rebirth #3. This series has officially confused the hell out of me.

Green Lantern Corps #27. Going strong.

Red Robin #1. With the apparent death of his adopted father Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake is again orphaned. Richard Grayson has taken up his mentor’s identity as Batman, and christened Bruce’s son Damian as the new Robin. So Tim hits the road, heading off to Europe and taking on the identity of Red Robin, last used by the ever popular Jason Todd. Boy, how do you like that Bat-Continuity? They really know how to give old Tim the business, don’t they?

Amazing Spider-Man #597. American Son sucks. You heard me.

Fantastic Four #567. As the Hitch/Millar run comes to an end, I think it is safe to say that it was a bust. The stories have not compelled me, and the art just isn’t that strong or consistent, every issue has three or four inkers, what the hell? At first I wanted to reserve judgment and not hold this team’s first project after Ultimates to too high of a standard, but this was just an average run, high standards or not. Maybe the ending will blow me away, but I doubt it.

Thor: Tales of Asgard #2. These are cool old Kirby/Lee reprints, worth picking up.

Uncanny X-Men #511.Eh.

Wolverine #74.Awesome. This issue wraps up the two-part stories we read last issue. The story by Jason Aaron and Adam Kubert, A Mile in My Moccasins is especially good, Spidey hunts down Wolverine in a bar to confront him about his manic schedule.

X-Factor #44. Still good. I’ll have to write more about this series sometime soon. Don’t you want to see what the Cyborg Scott Summers from the near future is up to?

X-Men Forever #1.The last time Chris Claremont wrote anything good was X-Men #1-3 with Jim Lee, back during those crazy, pre-Image days of the early nineties. Since then, Claremont has churned out so much garbage that I was surprised that X-Men Forever got the green light. For those who don’t know, X-Men Forever picks up where X-Men #3 left off, with the Blue and Gold X-teams, Jean is still alive, the Danger room is non-sentient, etc… Now, I’m nobody’s fool, but I got a little nostalgic reading this comic. The art sucks, but this was the X-roster of my youth, and Wolvie makes out with Jean, which is always cool.

Next Week:

Cable #15.

Captain America #600.

Dark Rein Fantastic Four #4.

Fantastic Force #3.

Incognito #4.

Invincible Iron Man #14.

X-Men Legacy #225.

Yours Truly,

-Ronald Rosebud.