Getting ready for the holiday took me away from reviewing comics for a few weeks, so to catch up, here are my encapsulated opinions. Feel free to email me for deatils.

X-Infernus #1: Strong start with diabolical subplots. I’m hoping this leads to a reincarnation of The New Mutants. A

Dark Reign #1: Oh noes! Another event!! In its favor, however, is its short run (three months according to the checklist). Working against it is that it’s another event.

Secret Six #4: Simone’s idiom of gelling disparate elements borders on vaudeville at times, but it continues to intrigue. A-

Action Comics #872: “New Krypton” continues by adding more useless characters to the board (“Creature Commandos”? Really?) while finally touching the main conflict. B-

Final Crisis Revelation #4: DC’s treatise on the Nature of God is one of the most disconcerting comic read of the year. Loves it. A+

Final Crisis #5: DC’s Millennium + 20 years = Final Crisis #5.

Supergirl #36: The penultimate chapter of “New Krypton” finds Alura being a horrible mother and a krytpo-centered, myopic slattern. I wish this had actually happened back in chapter 3. A

Manhunter #37: While I normally don’t like “X years later” jumps in plots (the atrocious A.I. still haunts me), Andreyko’s jump gives me a sense of continuity that will extend beyond the last (next) issue. A+

Hellblazer #250: Old-fashioned holiday fun the way they used to do it in Hell. A

Wonder Woman #27: Gail Simone loves these characters as demonstrated by the rich textures and motivations and interactions she gives them. Her Genocide scares me way more than her Junior. A

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #20: Cool idea, but after the pointless “Return of Fray” storyline, do we really need another break from the Big Bad’s arc? My magic eight ball says, “Definitely not.” C+

Runaways #5: I’m starting to find the “the best way to end a conflict is to just end it” idiom to be a fun one. It let’s the story move on to more interesting problems. Other than that, not much happens. B

Thor #12: Loki continues to rise as my favorite transsexual villain as he and Hela make plans to rule everything. A+

X-Men NOIR #1: Ugh. They did it better on Smallville‘s “Noir” episode (and that sucked eggs).

Ultimatum #2: It seems the Wasp can’t get a dignified death in any universe A-

Hellblazer #243: This is the first issue of Hellblazer I’ve ever picked up and it was a good place to start. Of course, now I want all the back issues. Dammit. In the sacrament of “Corporeal Confession” (i.e., “fucking like bunnies”) a priest inadvertently lets a succubus loose in the Vatican. I’m sure stranger things have happened in real life, but we’ll never know. GREAT story! A+

An aside: Hellblazer has a preview for some piece of garbage called Young Liars. Someone at Aintitcoolnews.com called it “A firecracker of a book,” but someone must have blown him real good for those pretty words. Who writes crap like, “Sadie Dawkins. The most amazing, beautiful, exciting, smart, funny, amazing (did I say that already?). gorgeous, smokin’ hot, kick-ass, cool, so so cool woman that ever was or will ever be. The girl I love.”? Adjectorrrhea aside, how did Sadie go from being a woman to a girl in less than a sentence? F

Secret Invasion #2: And a street.. ok, jungle brawl breaks out because superheroes think with their fists and not their brains. Jeez. So, this is how Captain America will be brought back. and Phoenix as well? God forbid! Uh.. so, it was a Skrull that was killed by Magneto three years ago? Why would a Skrull impersonate Phoenix? I mean, seriously, can they wield powers on a cosmic scale? Would an impostor be spotted too quickly so it had to be killed off as soon as humanly possible? And where has everyone been for the past three years or so? Grr. I can’t figure out if I like this book or not. Oh, but bonus points for Mockingbird being alive. I always liked her. But, then again, whose soul is being tortured in Hell if not hers? Grr… B-

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight #14: I enjoyed the issue, but, like tonight’s Brothers & Sisters, the story that should have been the centerpiece (B&S: Kevin and Scotty’s wedding.. and by the way, how did Kevin not get his ass kicked for walking out on their honeymoon night? And why didn’t they get a nice hotel room instead of going back to their apartment? Who wrote this episode???) seemed rushed. “Wolves at the Gate” could easily run a few more issues, but it’s all going to be tied up in #15. Oh, and one spoiler: the “Rule of Joss” is in full force this issue. Sad. B+