Hey, it's the editor here to clarify a few statements I made in last week's "TBD's Post-Mortem" piece that I wrote.  Some people have claimed that I came off as "bitter," "spiteful," and "fat."  Well, you know what?  You're right.  See, after Brian Michael Bendis's The Mighty Avengers brought back thought bubbles, I just assumed that everyone could see everything I thought.  It turns out that I was incorrect, and only dogs were capable of seeing my thoughts.  So, here is a bit of clarification of some parts of my article, complete with the thought bubbles that would have avoided all the misunderstandings:

Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Steve Epting
Colorist: Frank D'Armata
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99

As much as CNN, Fox News and MSNBC would like to you believe, the death of Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America, wasn't too unexpected a surprise, at least not for Marvel. A raised cover price of $3.99 (the book isn't any beefier than your average monthly affair) and pre-taped video interview packages with Marvel EIC Joe Quesada prove that the publisher knew they had a sales behemoth on their hands. Of course, what a gift it would've been for the comic retailers, the real lifeblood of the industry, the bastion of folk who get readers into books for the love of the medium and storytelling-why not let them in on the issue's details? Marvel obviously didn't want spoiler info to leak on what transpires in the issue, but retailers were caught completely off guard. (Newsarama's Vaneta Rogers has written an excellent piece about this issue and interviewed several disappointed retailers. Click here to check out the "Talking Shop" article.) True, this issue would've lost much of its oomph if the death was teased for several weeks (as was the death of Superman in the 1990s), and the run on shops-by comic regulars and rarer readers alike-attests to the power of shock value.

For the Marvel title readers out there, those who have followed the events of (at least) the main Civil War miniseries, one big question comes to mind regarding this momentous issue of Captain America: Why the **** didn't this happen in Civil War #6?!?! (My revised plot: big fight in Civil War #6, Cap arrested, then shot, then repercussions and another fight in #7). We were told that the whole series would be complete and understandable if you only followed the main title, but alas, Civil War continues now in the "Initiative" titles. Civil War hasn't ended yet, folks.

For all the ballyhoo and pomp regarding the series, its allegories, its drawn-out and delayed schedule, its sheer epic nature-what really happened? Heroes needed to bleed (they did) and heroes needed to die. But, who bit the dust? Black Goliath, at the hands of a cloned Thor, or Clor (a more awesome excellent name). It was a significant death...for Marvel diehards. Who else really cared? Civil War clicked with a larger populous early on (and garnered mainstream media attention, as Cap #25 has done) because of Peter Parker's public reveal. It was a pop culture moment. But Civil War fizzled out like a limp sparkler. Marvel was perhaps stretching their income projections yet another month into yet another title, hoping that readers would climb on the Cap series with its crackerjack writer, Ed Brubaker. Maybe they'll succeed. We won't know that for a little while, but we can reflect upon this issue. (Finally! Forgive me my editorializing indulgences...)

This book is a keeper. And if you want to keep the proper cover, keep the Steve Epting glove cover. Now, that's some tragic art. The issue opens in familiar Civil War fashion: a recap brining everyone up to speed. We start pretty much where Civil War #7 ended, which Captain America having been arrested. New readers also find out that old Cap villain Red Skull is alive in the mind of an ex-Soviet general, conspiring with other mad geniuses out for revenge against Cap once and for all.

This is a lovingly written issue. Brubaker shows his affection for Cap's legacy by recapping how Steve Rogers became a WWII hero. A reporter also reviews what has brought Steve Rogers to federal courthouse steps. While two compatriots-long-time #2 Bucky and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter, both directed off-screen by a still-MIA Nick Fury-attempt to spring him, there's something more dangerous afoot. We all know where this is headed...

Brubaker's accomplishment here is enthralling. While he respectfully deals with the assassination death, he manages to forward the story by following the Falcon and Bucky as they hunt down the shooter, Crossbones. This issue isn't an end; it's actually a "part one." Brubaker throws out enough twists and meandering roads to be trotted down in the arc to come. This is comic storytelling in the hands of an absolute pro.

Steve Epting's art is moodily rendered. The panels are dark and expressions are harsh. Epting's inking provides an ominous tone, a dirge to what has happened. Not only is this the death of a hero, but it's the death of a dream, of a less-cynical time (the 1940s) when good and evil were more clearly delineated between. The style here provides for a noirish, haunted experience that gracefully paces itself between the flashbacks and immediate narrative moment.

This is a hallmark comic issue. It demands to be read. Is Steve Rogers dead for good? It's a comic book, so my money is on "not a chance." He may be dead forever in Brubaker's version, but as soon as another writer comes on board and wants to play in Cap's sandbox, he's as good as resurrected. Steve Rogers may be down, but somebody will take his place. Cap is too important to be out of the game.

RATING: 4.5/5

Writer: John Layman (consulted by Robert Kirkman)
Artist: Fabiano Neves
Colorist: June Chung
Publisher: Marvel Comics/Dynamite Entertainment
Price: $2.99

Marvel Zombies shark-jumping was bound to happen. The story was too popular, the covers too iconic, and the art too fantastic for the series to be one-and-done. A Marvel prequel to the original 2005-2006 miniseries, entitled "Dead Days," is due in May (the chronology of that 48-page one-shot will run concurrently with the events in this series). Before that, we get this crossover event, one which has to be one of the most unexpected and strange to come in some time. Marvel knows they've got a ridiculous premise on their hands with the zombie superheroes, and they'll ride it until the wheels fall off. And since I'm a zombie fan, I'll be willing to ride shotgun. It's an inspired decision to mash-up the zombieverse with that of Ashley J. Williams ("Ash") of Evil Dead fame. But this mini also screams the possibility of a seismic crash and burn. Too lame for words, perhaps? A misbegotten misfire?

First off, how the hell did we get here? In the proper Army of Darkness series, Ash died. It doesn't really matter how (the two-issue death arc was fairly weak), but that's what happened. When he walked into the light, he ended up being transferred to this zombieverse New York City in familiar fashion to Army of Darkness fans. It's not that direct a move, but it's not for me to spoil the surprise of which hero caused all this nastiness. As Ash's modus operandi tends to be, he's trailed by the Deadites, slaves to the Necronomicon, the Book of the Dead. Once Ash touches down in the New York, he's witness to a fight between Daredevil and Thunderball. Ash wants to add his skills to the fight, but he's not sure who the bad guy is. He figures Daredevil is evil because he's dressed as the devil.

It's this sense of humor that permeates this series, and sets it far above substandard marketing-induced events. Once Ash realizes that familiar undead evil is afoot in town, he heads to the Avenger's place, home of those "costumed clowns," to enlist some help. They're less than accommodating, and they laugh at him. The Scarlett Witch zaps him out of sight, and that's when the bad mojo comes down. We get to see many heroes transition into zombies.

Writer John Layman deserves much credit for the success of a miniseries that would otherwise come off as a lame cash-in attempt. Marvel Zombies creator Robert Kirkman, who's a close consultant on this book, should be glad that his humorous tenor and focus on the fun is completely in tact. Ash isn't the goofy stooge he tends to be in the ongoing Army of Darkness series. He's merely a conduit to give us the zombies, and I can't wait until he takes them on with his chainsaw and boomstick.

The fans of both comic properties should be pleased. While nothing may replace Sean Phillips' stylized zombie design, artist Fabiano Neves crafts a similar tone. There's gore, but it's not overused and when it is shown, it's to great effect. Regular Marvel Zombies colorist June Chung delivers the exact palate of the original series, and it's a muted, hazy pleasure. Not much of anything is lost in transition to this new story.

Zombie fans and Marvel readers rejoice. The flesh-eating capes are back, and they're just as hungry (and funny) as you remember.

RATING: 4/5

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Frank Cho
Colorist: Jason Keith
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99

Who would've guessed that the best stories to come out of Civil War would've come out AFTER Civil War? We've got the 50-state initiative (on which there's already been plenty of chatter concerning which states have been shortchanged with Z-grade heroes, like Texas), the return of a heroic Omega Flight, and the launch of other inspired new superhero teams. The first of which is here, with the newly formed Mighty Avengers (who will be patrolling New York-Tony Stark gets home field advantage). Brian Michael Bendis-when does he sleep?-lends his word processor to this new ongoing that blissfully welcomes a return to classic bash-‘em-up comic storytelling accompanied by the pitch-perfect art of Frank (Liberty Meadows) Cho. This is one hell of a debut.

After an opening page that shows the entire team entering into some action on the first day of the Avengers Initiative, they're thrown right into a fight, (Leisure-Suit) Wonder Man, the androgynous Sentry, the Wasp, the god Ares, Black Widow and Iron Man-all led now by Ms. Marvel, who proves herself throughout the issue to be a competent, level-headed leader. Immediately after the establishing intro, we're tossed right into a "training exercise": the Mighty Avengers taking on an army of subterranean monsters. Seriously, there's no doubt that this series is starting off by tossing off the extraneous thought bubbles and letting the art do the heavy lifting. Frank Cho is more than up to the challenge. We all know the man can draw pretty ladies (and he does a fine, fine job with Carol Danvers), but I for one had no idea that he's be so capable of crafting a dazzling, quickly paced superhero team book. Perhaps Cho's achievement is part and parcel of the storytelling as a whole.

Bendis has taken a tongue-in-cheek-that- is-then-punched-by-a-balled-fist approach to this story, and it looks as if Mighty Avengers could shape up to be the closest we get to a new Nextwave book until a new Nextwave book. Iron Man, fresh into his job as the new S.H.I.E.L.D. director, gifts himself with a new Helicarrier, inspired by Iron Man by way of McDonald's. In terms of launching a new team book, this one succeeds where the first issue of Brad Meltzer's Justice League of America crashed and burned into boredom. Bendis lets his heroes do the name picking (and actively, at that), but also get their first taste of team action. Tony Stark and Carol Danvers discuss what makes a good team. At one point, Tony says, "The people we fight don't get that intimidated. Crazy people don't get intimidated. Intimidation and firepower isn't all we need." And this is what leads to the construction of the team. As the major battle rages, Frank Cho uses the left panels of each splash to provide background on each member. It's a smart way to keep the action rolling along while also allowing for brief exposition. Without revealing too much, this issue ends with the return of a familiar villain and a seismic effect that may immediately change the team's make-up for the near future.

With the exception of an art fill-in coming after this current arc, the team of Bendis and Cho are expected to be together for awhile on this title. For fans of superhero exuberance and fun storytelling, this is an excellent thing. Hopefully, we'll get to see miniseries based on some of those smaller Initiative teams, such as the Rangers. Now, that would be funny.

RATING: 5/5

Writer: Jay Faerber
Artist: Mahmud A. Asrar
Colorist: Ron Riley
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.50

It's nice to know that even today comics can still surprise the hell out of me. I wasn't expecting Dynamo 5 to be that great, but hey, I've been wrong before. Dynamo 5 is a new superhero series by Image, and one that's seriously giving Invincible and Godland a run for their money.

What makes this book so interesting is that it takes almost every super-cliché in the book, but combines then in a way that makes it into something completely new. Let's start with a superhero named Captain Dynamo. Let's say this superhero has the powers of laser vision, super-strength, flight, shape-shifting, and telepathy. The only original thing here is his name. This also confirms my belief that there are only two things that Image sucks at: scheduling and superhero names. Imagine that this hero is poisoned to death by some random woman he was currently cheating on his wife with, and found naked in a hotel bed. Now imagine that all of his powers had individually been passed on to his five children, all of whom had different mothers, and were scattered throughout the country, and that Captain Dynamo's widow had to bring these illegitimate children together to form a super-team capable of defending a city. Suddenly your typical Superman story has a good, old-fashioned side of Jerry Springer dysfunction.

When the book begins, the Dynamo 5 are fighting what appears to be an entire battalion of disposable goons, in the middle of a city street. Once again,.originality is suspiciously absent. Throughout the entire issue, it switches back and forth between past and present. Through this series of flashbacks, we start to see the surprisingly realistic and vastly different backgrounds of the five children, (It's worth mentioning that even though I refer to them as “children,” they're not young children; The youngest is an upperclassman in high school.) and how Maddie Warner (Captain Dynamo's widow) gathered them from around the country. Basically, this first issue does nothing but introduce the characters and the situation, as is typical of first issues, but it does it so well that it begs the reader to read on.

The art is nothing spectacular (it's not particularly bad either), and the dialogue can be a bit corny in places, but yet it's hard to pick out these seemingly major flaws, because the storytelling is executed so well. In a way the sheer novelty of this comic makes it worth its cover price alone. In an industry that has seen so many different genres run dry, it's always great to see someone take an existing one, and breathe life into it. At the same time it's also a throwback to the old days, when it was perfectly normal for one superhero to have five incredible powers, and when exposure to large amounts of radiation would give you super powers, instead of melanoma. Anybody who enjoys “alternative superhero” stories (e.g. Invincible, The Intimates, Wildguard, Heroes etc.) will love this. Everybody else will too. -Reviewer Tristan Hoagland is one of the few hoboes to stay behind after the great Hobo Wars, sacrificing his place among the stars to ensure the Earth will be prepared for his fellow hoboes' return.  He also eats pure bauxite.

RATING: 4.5/5

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Frank Cho
Coloring: Jason Keith
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99

It's strange reviewing two titles in one week that are so ridiculously similar and yet so different at the same time.  If you don't know the initial premise behind this new series, then you live under a rock, but even rock-people have rights, so I'll just explain this as briefly as possible.  In the post-civil war climate, the “New Avengers” have gone underground.  The “Mighty Avengers” are Iron Man's new “official” team.  It's going to hard for me to remain subjective a review this book fairly, because I took a fairly strong stance with Captain America's side, so reading a pseudo-political book where all the bad guys come together, for me, is like reviewing a political book written by Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter; no matter how well it's written, it's still going to end up pissing me off.  

This book is almost identical to the first issue of Dynamo 5, which I just reviewed mere hours ago, except not nearly as good.  It basically just introduces the new team by having them all fighting a slew of hilarious creatures including, but not limited to: mole-men, dinosaurs, a giant octopus, and what appears to be a Rancor, all in the middle of the street and using a series of flashbacks to introduce the characters, as well as the selection process. The new team consists of Iron Man (who needs no introducing), The Wasp (who Iron Man refers to as “The Best Avenger”), Wonder Man (You know that guy from high school who you hated?  Wonder Man was that guy.), Black Widow (armed with a gun and unrealistically large breasts), Ares (the only construction worker in the world to be payed forty-four dollars an hour), and last but not least, the hottest girl in the Marvel universe: The Sentry.  Oh yeah, Ms. Marvel's on the team too.  There's not a whole lot left to say about it.  The entire issue is nothing but one giant, stupid fight scene fragmented by flashbacks of Iron Man and Ms. Marvel selecting their teammates and flirting with one another, and then ends on a bizarre cliffhanger.

When you get right down to it, this issues a little disappointing.  Sure, Frank Cho's art is beautiful, as always, and props to him for the picture of The Sentry in the centerfold.  Yeah, the one on the right where he says, “You're welcome.”  And here I thought Aquaman was the prettiest girl in the neighborhood.  But Bendis leaves a lot to be desired in this issue.  The fight scene that encompasses half the issue is so absurd, it borders on parody, and the dialogue feels pushed and unnatural.  However, I'm confident the series will have a lot more to offer as the arc begins to pick up, and I'm not going to base my opinion off this issue alone.  Not that any of this matters anyway; like anything I say here is going to stop hundreds of people from buying this book. -Judging from this review, reviewer Tristan Hoagland is apparently a jewish liberal homosexual communist, and will be censured shortly for his political beliefs.

RATING: 3.5/5

RATING: :(/5