Saga 10 = ★★★★★
Magnificent issue: Izabel, the pink ghost, is found and the family (plus The Will) encounter a planet-sized timesuck  ("astrologic super predator"). There's a great effect where the timesuck (and, earlier, creatures called the midwives) fires black inky stuff from its eyes that is really creepy.
Rocketeer: Hollywood Horror 1 = ★★★✩✩
Being a MASSIVE Rocketeer fan, I can't help but enjoy any new Cliff Secord stories. I found this a hard read, though. J Bone's cartoonish art doesn't seem to fit the tone of the pulpy 1940s adventure Langridge has written. The Lovecraftian element to the story is certainly welcome in the universe of The Rocketeer (last time it was dinosaurs).
Aquaman 17 = ★★★★✩
A solid, enjoyable issue. Arthur has returned to the sea and works at being the king over the Atlanteans (who barely trust him) and supporting anti-whaling activists (who barely trust him). Paul Pelletier draws amazingly and I think he has to be my favourite artist on this title so far. There's a fantastic double splash page where Aquaman stands at the bottom of the ocean and promises the teeming sea life that he won't let them down again. I'm looking forward to some sea-based Aquaman adventures so I'm hoping this is what Geoff Johns has planned.

Batman Inc 8 = ★★★★★
I've been on the verge of dropping this comic for months (the idea of "Incorporated" doesn't work for me - I'm no fan of the Neal Adams' Batman) - but glad I didn't as this issue really is great. Leviathan have struck at the Batman Family and Robin (Damian) joins the fight in a team-up with Nightwing. The ending has been incredibly spoiled this week - though the cover probably gave a clue about what was going to happen. It's brilliantly camp in places.
Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan 4 = ★★★★★
As much as Minutemen was a great retelling of an aspect of the Watchmen universe, my favourite has been this Dr Manhattan storyline. It's captured the abstracted voice of Manhattan impressively. There are some great touches in this final issue of the mini-series: the British Museum scene from the most recent Ozymandias is shown from Manhattan's viewpoint. There's also a fantastic sequence where the symmetry between Manhattan and Ozymandias is visually depicted and, for a series of pages, the comic has to be turned upside down (during which the narrative voice switches to Ozymandias). The issue ends on a cosmic note. I can't over-emphasise how stunning Adam Hughes art is.

The Flash 17 = ★★★✩✩
Barry takes on Grodd in the (anti)climax of the gorilla war. This issue ends the story arc that seems to have taken ages to resolve. And not before time, too. I'm loving Manapaul's art (especially the colouring) - but isn't The Flash looking a bit chunky? Do I detect some longings for Iris even while Barry's holding Patty? This title either needs a kick-ass or weird "classic" silver age-type story rather than what I feel is a rather bland storyline.

Justice League Dark 17 = ★★★✩✩
JLD are in some other dimension where the rules of magic are subverted and a technocracy rule. This is one of those issues where the heroes escape interrogation just as a battle's about to commence. There's a great Frankenstein moment when he breaks his shackles and declares "Nothing is impossible!" and Constantine is given some cryptic predictions. Have to say that I'm going to drop this title unless it actually gets "dark". It could be a fantastic supernatural/horror comic mixed with superheroes. At best it's fantasy-lite.

FF 4 = ★★★✩✩
I just gape at the Allreds' poppy art and enjoy whatever storyline Fraction is dealing. The main storyline, involving an aged Jonny Storm returning from wherever the Fantastic Four are (I'm not reading the other FF comic) and wanting to kill Dr Doom, is a minor part of this issue. Instead, the focus is the way that the love-struck moloids try to ruin She-Hulk's big date with Wyatt Wingfoot. There's some mischief by Medusa. But who cares? It looks amazing.

Guardians of the Galaxy 0.1 = ★★★★★
Origin story. In some respects I thought I'd read this in last week's Nova #1: disbelieving boy, issues at school, arrival of aliens. Still, it's a great read and, at the end of the comic, where Star-Lord is talking with Tony Stark and you get to see Star-Lord's crew, it is awesome. Threre's something big-budget and epic about this comic. Really impressive art by Steve McNiven.
Uncanny Avengers 4 = ★★★★✩
Conclusion of the fight between the "Unity" Avengers team and Red Skull and his S-men. There's a great scene where Red Skull tries to convince Cap that the America he's fighting for is a capitalist wasteland and very different from the forties image Cap has in his head. I like the colouring on this book a great deal (Laura Martin and Larry Molinar). There's a sudden change of gear in the last two pages following a "Three months from now" caption: the (presumably) corpse of Xavier plus Onslaught appear.




SCORING

✩✩✩✩✩ = Awful.
★✩✩✩✩ = Poor.
★★✩✩✩ = Average.
★★★✩✩ = Good.
★★★★✩ = Very good.
★★★★★ = Excellent.