Writer: David Michelinie
Penciler: Ron Lim
Inker: Bob Layton
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Rating: Fifth Gradish
Price: $2.99

It is understandable that Marvel is pumping up the Iron Man hype with the movie mess coming full speed ahead. It seems a bit unusual, however. We are use to the X-men and Spider-man getting an amazing amount of love. But Iron Man has always seemed sort of boring to a lot of us. Let's be honest. The only reason we even think Iron Man is interesting is because Marvel has done some amazing things to his character. The armor that he wears isn't important anymore. It is who he is. He's the head of SHIELD. He is the leader of the Avengers. He is a jerk and he killed Captain America! So it is cool that Marvel is giving us some great Iron Man one shots. Some of them, however, aren't so great.

Why would Iron Man hang out with Dr. Doom? It is like the Black Panther fighting Wrecking Ball from the Wrecking Crew. Black Panther is black. Wrecking Ball is black. Iron Man has armor. Dr. Doom has armor. There the similarities stop. Yeah, yeah. I know all about the story where they go back in time. So what? Just because one story with them was good doesn't mean anything to me. Yes, the Mighty Avengers story with Doom was awesome. This one shot isn't. Doom tells Iron Man do work for him, to go somewhere with him, and Iron Man does, without questioning anything about it. It makes no sense to me. Iron Man just follows along as if everything was normal. He is far too trusting of Doom, and that alone makes the book annoying.

Is this comic worth picking up? No, not really. It has Mephisto in it, for God's sake. Has any comic in the last 100 years been any good with Mephisto? Not everything that glitters is gold, fan boys. I know the movie is going to rock socks, and the regular series is great, but there isn't anything special about this mini-series, so don't feel bad about passing it up.

RATING: 3/5

Writer: Keith Giffen
Artists: Lee Garbett and Trevor Scott
Colorist: Ramov Mayor
Publisher: DC/Wildstorm. Duh.
Rating: Mid-Teen angst
Price: $2.99

Something strange is happening to the Wildstorm Universe. There are some incursions. A tower has suddenly appeared that looks like a giant "T". There is a big island in the Atlantic. A space ship has landed in Russia. With Stormwatch and the Authority dancing around trying to figure out what is going on, these aliens are doing their best to fix what has been broken. Why does the DC universe care about the Wildstorm Universe? And will it destroy both in the process?

I've been noticing for some time that something crazy is going on with Wildstorm. Hints have been dropped that changes are in the works. But what is going to happen? And how? Two universes battling it out isn't anything new, but I really like the way this book is being handled. They are treating it like the DC universe is trying to over take the Wildstorm universe, on purpose. All the DC characters act like they know exactly what they are doing, and how they are going to do it. It's almost creepy. At the end, Superman stands over a young boy and says, Never again. Never again what? These aren't the modern DC guys either. These dudes are fresh from the Seventies. The Legion of Super-heroes is a very unexpected bonus.

I would love it if the Wildstorm was really going through some real changes. I'm not sure what they can do, but the Wildstorm characters are rich and interesting enough to do some real work with them. Using Warren Ellis and Mike Carey's work as a model, maybe this mini-series can up the interest level among fans. Let's not get our hopes up. We've seen great things turn to garbage before. But, for now, this mini-series is off to a great start.

RATING: 4.5/5

Writers: Mike Carey, Craig Kyle, Chris Yost, Skottie Young, Matt Fraction
Artist: Jamie McKelvie, David LaFuente, Skottie Young, Sana Takeda, Brandon Peterson
Publisher: Marvel
Rating: Freshman in High School
Price: $3.99

Are you sick of the X-men? I am sometimes. They have all these fancy powers and can do all this stuff, and yet they still complain about their lives being SO tough, and they have all these problems. What I like about the "Divided We Stand" story line is that we finally get to see the X-men in a completely different light. These guys have a right to be angry now. Cannonball is going through Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Nightcrawler is all preachy all of a sudden. The New X-men that are left are completely lost, with a home but without guidance. And then there is Magneto, ready to pick up all the pieces.

The events of last year have hit the X-men extremely hard, especially the young ones. I'm glad the writers are looking at this, as they should be. If you put a bunch of kids in a war situation, when they have to fight the devil, they aren't going to come out of it normal. So many of them died. And they saw and did so many horrible things. It is realistic that they would be worse because of it. When you look at it like that, as if they were kids in a bad place, then disbanding the X-men and starting all over makes wonderful sense. I like the way Cyclops leads the X-men, somewhat, and I'm curious about the future. This book is great. The writing is good and the art is phenomenal.

The price? Not so much. This comic costs four dollars. That is insane, and not worth it. There is a reason why I post the prices on this information above the reviews. I want readers to start thinking about how much these books cost, and whether it is worth the money. I know, comics have always been pricey. But, really, Marvel can afford to sell a book for less money, and still make a profit. I doubt, very seriously, that Marvel is hurting for dough. The X-men books sell wonderfully, and fans never question picking them up. I think we should start to question it, a little. This book is great, but not worth the money, and that's the first time I've ever thought that.

[Editor's Note: The book probably costs $3.99 because there are 38 pages of story, compared to a standard page count of 22 in an average $2.99 comic book. So instead of paying 13.5 cents per story page, you're paying 10.5 cents per story page, which makes this book a better deal than the two other books Jarvis reviewed this week. That's okay, though, because Jarvis is an English major so I can't expect him to work out the math.  This review is still better than CBR's, though.]

RATING: 4.5/5