The Weekly Round-Up: 10/20/10

Hey there, anybody awesome enough to read this; it's time for the Weekly Round-Up! What's the Weekly Round-Up? It's where I get every comic I've read this week, pick out a few, and write a short review for each one because I'm too lazy to write up a full review for each individual comic! Now let's get started shall we?

This week saw the release of Kick-Ass 2 #1, the first chapter of the sequel to Mark Millar's crazy comic which got turned into one of my favorite movies from this year! This issue has us looking in on the current situations of both Kick-Ass and Hit Girl after the big finale from the first series. Kick-Ass is trying to step up his super hero game, which include getting training from Hit Girl as well as looking into joining a super hero team. Hit Girl, meanwhile, is trying to get back into living life with her mother and new step father, which means she might just have to give up her life as Hit Girl. Story wise, it's a slow start back, though it is a first issue so it's not like I was expecting anything huge to happen. Still, much like last book, we're given a small taste of what's to come towards the beginning of this issue and what's to come looks amazingly awesome. Mark Millar, you have me ready to buy issue two, so please don't let me down with this one! Art duties are still held by John Romita Jr. and I wouldn't have it any other way. The guy draws some great violence and he draws a pretty good showdown between Kick-Ass and some thugs. There's also a nice little thank you letter from Millar himself as well as a look at how one of the pages from this issue was made, which is always kind of cool to see. I'm still on the fence on whether or not I'm going to buy all of this volume in issues: if I'm going to be waiting 2 years for 6 issues again, I'll just wait for the collected version. But if you liked the first one and you want at least a taste of what's to come this time around, pick this issue up!

This week also so the release of Carnage #1 by Zeb Wells and Clayton Cain. That's right, Marvel decided that it was time to bring Carnage back! Okay, I know how horrible that sounds; I'm not a fan of the guy either, but I picked this issue up because it's being penned by Zeb Wells, the guy who wrote the fantastic "Shed" story in Amazing Spider-Man a few months back. If he can make the Lizard awesome again, I have no doubt he can make Carnage into something other than a crap relic of the 90's! So does this first issue have me sold on this series at all? I'm still not sure, myself. The dialog here is good enough, and it's not too bad a start, but this issue has heavy reference to Maximum Carnage, which I've never heard anything good about (except for the SNES game based on it; that was awesome). We've got the Spider-Man doppleganger showing up and Shriek even shows up towards the end. Spider-Man even recounts a small bit of what happened in Maximum Carnage and how Carnage has the ability to make people go crazy. Wells already visited something like this in "Shed", so to see him maybe bringing an element like this into another one of his stories so soon is a bit alarming. And at $4 an issue for a mini bringing back a character I'm not sure should even come back I really need to be sold before I can recommend this to anyone else. So if you're really looking to feed that itch for Carnage, give this one a look. For everyone else, give this a small skim through at the LCS. I'm probably coming back for issue two, but I'm not sure I'll be going much farther than that.

Speaking of characters I wasn't sold on getting redemption: Jeff Parker's Hulk #26 is out this week and the big red jerk is actually proving to be a really good read! We start right back where we left off last issue with Rulk and Iron Man facing off with the cyborg drones from last issue. That doesn't last too long, as Rulk gets that solved rather quickly. We also get to see Thor smack Rulk around for a bit before the two are sent off into space to stop two comets from crashing into earth and doing some serious damage. We've also got the A-Bomb back-up which isn't too shabby itself. Parker is doing a great job writing this series so far and I look forward to seeing where he's going next.

Meanwhile, over at DC, Grant Morrison's Batman and Robin continues this week, with the penultimate issue of Morrison's run seeing release this week. This issue starts us off with Robin kidnapped by the Joker, Batman captured by Hurt and his cronies, and Gotham on the brink of destruction thanks to Hurt's plan. This issue has Robin kicking some ass, Hurt almost taking the win, and a final page that has me excited to see where this final issue of the run is going to take us! Not to be out done by the writing, Frazier Irving does a magnificent job on the art duties in this issue; I may still miss the glorious styling of Frank Quietly, but with Irving around I think I can live. Hopefully next issue isn't delayed too long, because I'm ready for it already, as well as the final issue of "The Return of Bruce Wayne". Add on top of all that the promise of the upcoming Batman Incorporated, and I'm as giddy as a school girl!

Finally this week, we've got Darkwing Duck #5. This is the start of the book's second story arc, and is the perfect jumping on point for anyone who hasn't done so yet. Negaduck is back and he's looking to take Darkwing down. This time, however, he's teaming up with a powerful ally that Ducktales fans might recognize: Magica de Spell! Their plan: destroy Darkwing's reputation by hypnotizing various Darkwings from alternate worlds and having them wreak havoc! To say that I'm loving this book would be a huge understatement: this is the book I find myself looking forward to more than any! It's funny, it's well written, and it isn't afraid to be a comic book, and I love it for that. And on top of all that, this is a comic that can be entertaining while still being for both kids and adults. There's only a handful of comics that can say that and as far as I'm concerned, this is the best of them! If you're planning on picking up only one comic this week, this is the comic you should be buying! I know how much wank I'm writing for this title, but it deserves every last bit of that wank and it deserves every last bit of praise and money I can give it.

And that's if for the Weekly Round-Up! But before I go I do have one last thing to add: DC Comic Presents: Batman 100-Page Spectacular is out this week and it's got some fantastic Batman reprints from none other than Ed Brubaker. It's an $8 book, but it's damn good and if you've got the money to dish out for it, get it! It's awesome. I'm also going to write up a full review for Strange Tales 2 #1 at some point in the next two days, so look for that!