Quick reviews

Bulleteer #1: Fantastic start for this miniseries. I really like this angle on the reluctant superhero, and Grant Morrison delves into the world of superhero porn, which has only really been touched upon before in little bits (She-Hulk and Jade spring to mind), playing with the 'superhero as celebrity' angle that he used a bit in New X-Men. Of the remaining Seven Soldiers miniseries, right now, this one has me the most psyched. "Frankenstein" awaits, however, and I do love Mahnke's art.

Firestorm #19: Yep, that's definitely Professor Stein out there in space. Anyway, is it bad that I feel like I've never seen the soul patch best friend kid before? I like that Lorraine Reilly decided to drop by again, and I really liked Jason's apparent schizophrenia, and his friend's comments about DC's buxom super-babes. I do hope this all goes someplace soon, though, because this issue still felt too much like filler, and this series remains the least memorable issue-to-issue series I buy. Maybe I just have a mental blind spot against Jason. A mediocre issue of an otherwise above average series.

Jonah Hex #1: Preacher's Saint of Killers was based, in terms of personality, on Clint Eastwood. Now, Jonah Hex looks to the Man With No Name for visual inspiration, looking like Eastwood with Hex's gruesome scar. I'm not entirely sure what the symbolism is of having an Eastwood look-alike kill a James Dean look-alike in the opening scene of the book, but I'm sure it's saying something. The art's top-notch, and the story's interesting, gruesome, tragic, and generally moving. Off to a nice start for a book I wasn't planning on picking up.

JSA #79: Wait, this storyline isn't over yet? Just as they got the plot headed to what I thought was a conclusion, the book ended. It was a good issue (though I still don't understand why Jakeem went nuts, or what happened to Johnny Thunder's spirit), but way too short.

Spider-Man: House of M #5: Aside from showing just how ridiculously awful and moronic the organic web-shooters are (more on those in a day or two), this was a pretty good issue. Actually, the fact that it showed just how stupid those things are was pretty good, maybe Mark Waid hates them as much as I do. A good wrap-up to an interesting story.

Spider-Man Unlimited #12: The only thing that could have made this issue better is if Tom Beland had done his own art. Christos N. Gage's opening story is a Dan Slott-esque romp which introduces "Vil-Anon," the supervillain rehabilitation 12-step program. That's awesome. Then Beland gives us a touching story about the Marvel universe's many orphans. Top-notch on both counts.

Pick of the week: A lot of good stuff this week, but I have to put Spider-Man Unlimited at the top, for being such a great Spider-Man story in the middle of this "Other" storyline.