The Weekly Round-Up: 09/29/10

Another week, another stack of comics and this week had some really good comics! So let's get started with this week's first book

We'll start off with a book I didn't think I'd ever be reading: Hulk! Yes, the one with the big red guy. The one that had Jeph Loeb's name on it until very recently. Well, I decided to give Jeff Parker's run on the book a chance; the guy is doing well on Atlas and Thunderbolts, so I can't go wrong here, right? Well, it could, but luckily for me it didn't. The issue itself is a pretty good jumping on point; Rulk's now under the watch of Bruce Banner and Steve Rogers, so that means he's playing on the good guy's side, whether he wants to or not. Of course the real surprise here is the art, which I thought was going to be the delicious Ed McGuinness art on the cover (the cover actually states otherwise, but I'm an idiot.) At first that put me off a little; the art by Mr. Hardman is so much different from the McGuinness art, but after a few pages of comic I found that I actually love Mr. Hardman's stuff just as much. There's also an A-Bomb (and I will go on record by saying that that name is stupid and should go back to the 90's where it belongs) back-up, and a one page story featuring three different hulks. The (ugh) A-Bomb back-up is a fun little story, with nice cartoon-y art by Mark Robinson (writer is still Parker). The one-page hulk story is written by Audrey Loeb with Dario Brizuela on art, and that story will fit right in with those of you who love the mini-marvel stories. Overall, if you've been avoiding the Red Hulk like it was red tide, you might actually find yourself surprised with this one. Give it a shot!

Meanwhile, over at DC, Paul Cornell is tearing it up on Action Comics; his Lex Luthor story is getting more and more fun with each issue. This issue has the mortal enemy of Superman facing down one of the Flash's greatest foes, Gorilla Grodd and what a fight it is! Luthor pulls some impressive stunts and Grodd goes the Venom route and eats brains (FOR THEIR DELICIOUS, DELICIOUS KNOWLEDGE!). And the whole thing ends with a guest appearance that will knock your socks off! (...unless the internet already spoiled it for you.)Of course that's only 1/3 of the issue; there's also the start to what is looking to be one of the most unusual second features yet as Jimmy Olsen, Superman's pal gets his own stories told. No Superman here, though; this story is following the events in the life of Jimmy Olsen during Superman's time on New Krypton! Oh, and Chloe Sullivan from Smallville is in it. One of the few things I really enjoyed about Smallville up to the end was Chloe, so I was really happy to see her showing up here. Overall, this is a fantastic book and is easily one of the best things DC is putting out right now!

Amazing Spider-Man #644 continues the finale of "Brand New Day" with "Origin of Species part-3" and boy does it have some great moments. Spidey continues to face off a huge gauntlet (oh, hey, I see what I did there) of his greatest foes and he does so while protecting a baby! Favorite moments from this include: Spidey getting rid of the Rhino using logic, Spidey beating Mysterio with logic, and Spidey beating up Vulture and Freak with, you guessed it, clever decoys! Okay, that joke was bad, but this issue had some pretty good LOL moments, like Doctor Octopus' "Octo-tracers" and the Chamelion pulling one over on Spidey. With one more issue left in this story, Mark Waid continues to build the grand finale that Brand New Day deserves and I'm excited to see how it all ends.

And finally, Brian Michael Bendis' Powers continues in Powers #6. Bendis' fantastic little series about police officers dealing with super power related crime is a pretty good series, and this issue has flash backs, twists and turns, a dead god, and a last page that will have long-time readers doing a double take. If you aren't reading this series yet, this is a good issue to give it a shot with. If you are reading, then I don't have to tell you twice. If you're only reading this one in trade, then I'm not going to spoil much more than I already have.

Overall, while this is a light week for me, it's a pretty good week. I found a new book, and got three issues of books I'm already really enjoying. And I'm not done yet! I've got the final issue of Atlas and a Pilot Season one-shot from Top Cow to talk about later this week, but for now I've got a cold and I feel like being lazy for a bit!