• Amazing Spider-Man #511
• Powerless #3
• Astonishing X-Men #4

• Flash #213
• Marvel Knights 4 #9

This is the middle chapter of the Sins Past story arc. The story is building very well, and the creative team has meshed nicely while regular artist John Romita, Jr. is taking a short hiatus. While I miss Romita’s art, I have always liked Deodato’s work and I don’t mind him filling in while JR Jr. takes a break.

The story advances this issue with Peter not believing what was revealed to him at the end of last issue. He found out that Gwen Stacy was pregnant when she left for France shortly before she was murdered by the Green Goblin. That was not all, though; apparently, Peter was the father of the children. This issue he’s out to prove whether or not his two assailants are Gwen’s children or not, and is forced to do so in a rather gruesome manner. At one point during the story he manages to capture the female of the pair, unmasking her - only to find that she is the spitting image of Gwen. Peter had tried to hide what has been going on from his wife, Mary Jane, but underestimated her resolve to help him. The issue ends with a shocker that I won’t spoil here; just let me say that Mary Jane proves her worthiness to be helping Peter in his “night job.” I’m very anxious to see how this plays out, and with only two chapters remaining next issue stands to be turning up the heat on our hero quite a bit…-TMC-

This issue of the Flash is a standalone story, but also serves as a prologue to the next arc, “Sins of the Father,” which is a tie in to the Identity Crisis limited series. Johns again shows his talent and versatility here, going from a scene where Wally West is being grilled by the police to a battle with the Slowest Man Alive, the Turtle, and back to the grilling again flawlessly. Johns continues to show that he can write both super-heroics and human interest, and mix them with no difficulty.

Also in this issue is a continuing subplot involving Ashley Zolomon, wife of former-Rogue profiler / friend of the Flash-turned-super-villain Hunter Zolomon, currently incarcerated at Iron Heights (or is he…?). At the end of last issue Ashley was involved in a near-fatal car accident, and Wally is being accused of rigging her car in an attempted murder. Ironically enough, her hospital room is the exact same one occupied by Linda Park after she was attacked by Zoom (during the Blitz story arc in issues 197-200).

Johns has several balls in the air at once here, so to speak, but he has proven repeatedly that he can handle them all. In the end, the detectives (Chyre and Morillo) don’t have enough to hold Wally for murder charges and let him go. It’s only when he gets back to the garage where he now works that he discovers something very disturbing…and also ominous…about Ashley’s car accident and what caused it.

All in all another great issue by the team of Johns, Porter and Livesay. I didn’t really comment on the art since it’s pretty much the same as always: really great. I’m looking forward to the next arc, “Sins of the Father,” where Wally will apparently discover that his hero may have had feet of clay…I guess we’ll see how it plays out.-TMC-

I had been debating over whether I should pick this book up or not. Having read this issue, I should have followed my instincts and gotten the book from the start. I’m not completely lost in the story, although there are some details that would obviously make more sense if I had read it from the start. The story itself is well-crafted and very gripping; I found myself drawn into the story from the very first page. The art is solid, but is done in a kind of film-noir style that reminds me of the art in the Earth X trilogy of books. It’s not really my favorite by any means, but it’s still good and doesn’t distract from the story at all.

The premise of this story is to show what life would be like for certain of Marvel’s pantheon of heroes if they had not been heroes and had not had superpowers. The main focus of the book is apparently on three particular people: Matt Murdock, Logan and Peter Parker. Matt is still a blind attorney (who is defending accused murderer Frank Castle), Peter was bitten by a spider (but instead of giving him powers it just caused his arm to shrivel up and atrophy; he is also beset by industrialist Norman Osborn) and Logan is still an amnesiac drifter (as well as an assassin with external steel claws). They are tied together in this “reality” (or whatever it turns out to be, I’m not really sure how to read the clues) by a psychiatrist named William Watts. He had been in a coma until weeks ago, only to awaken in a world that doesn’t feel quite right and to dreams of a world where these people he has come to know all have extra human abilities (apparently he’s dreaming of the Mainstream Marvel Universe). Not having read the first two issues (but I think I’ll get the inevitable trade paperback when it’s released), I get the feeling the idea is to prove that some people are heroes no matter what the circumstances. If that’s the goal I think they are definitely getting it done, and I look forward to reading the series in its entirety when the above mentioned trade comes out. I’ll most likely be back next month for the next chapter, and will most likely finish out the series even if I can’t locate the first two issues.-TMC-

Here again I find myself with a review copy of a book that I should have been getting from the start. This is the first time I’ve heard the name of this book’s writer, but I have to say he’s got my attention. His story is well written, and he appears to have a firm grasp on the personalities of each of the main characters. He’s added quite a bit of depth to the Fantastic Family as well…apparently Sue is now teaching school and Johnny has, ironically, decided to become a fireman. I do really wonder why the Watcher is featured in the book; will he have something to do with a major arc coming up, or is there some other reason why he’s narrating the book?

While this story begins with the battle between Reed Richards and Namor (over the affection of Sue Richards again, Namor just won’t give up apparently), the other subplot is much more important. I won’t give away any of the details; suffice to say that hostilities are set aside by all parties to try to avert a tragedy, and that one of the featured characters shows a VERY uncharacteristic soft side.

The next story arc is set up at the end of the issue, involving a foe from the team’s past that we haven’t seen (to my knowledge) since John Byrne’s run on the book years ago. Should be interesting to see how he’s handled by this creative team. As I said first thing in my review I should have been picking up this book from the start. Maybe it’s time to start now, especially if it’s consistently this good.-TMC-