I was looking at this, you know, checking out the cover and the summery. It looked to me like a corky comedy series with a little fun and a little craziness. Something that you don't take seriously. But it turned out that this was a horror comic? What? 
 
So here's what's up... I didn't read this when it first came out. I didn't even buy the hard copy. I read this book on digital comics (I know a lot of people hate Digital Comics for that reason... sorry). Yeah, so anyway, I read this on digital comics, instead of actually buying the book. To my suprise, this was not a comedy thing at all, it was like a horror story. Unfortunatally, the art here was pretty sad, the story was well... too stupid and the lettering, something that people usually don't care about, was exceptionally subpar in this instance. 
 
Don't bother with this. I read about I dunno... nine (I think) pages into it and I decided to stop reading. I didn't even bother finishing the story. It was too boring. 
 
My rating is... suckit! You don't get numbers!

He tells us the end of the story only soon after he told us the begining. This in continuity story dives into the future of the Batman story and foreshadows shit that's going down later on. 
 
I wasn't particularly entertained or blown away by this issue, but the contents of it are important to the overall direction of this series in the future. Essentially, what we're getting here is a statement, "this is what the Batman series will be about in 15 years." Now to actually do something like that is insane. First of all, it will be a hard task to follow a pattern emerging at this end result for the next fifteen years, but we've already seen Grant Morrison developing towards it. 
 
For example, about three or four arcs before the Battle for the Cowl and already, we learn that Dick has been Batman at one point. Damian, (the Batman in this future world) states that both his father as well as Dick Grayson have both been batman. Sure enough, anyone smart enough to visit the current Batman and Robin series or the current Batman series can see that this has come true. 
 
Already, two years before Batman Reborn and already, Grant Morrison is telling us what's happeining in that arc. 
 
Clearly, he has a huge plan going! Introducing villans, concepts, heroes that haven't even been revealed until 2009 in this book... he's following a path. 
 
Belive me when I saw that Morrison is planning out these Bat books for the next ten or so years and this book, Batman #666, is the end result. I'm not even lying. He has it all planned and that is frankly something that's astounding. 
 
Art - 7/10 
Story - 7.5/10

Admiral Gar Stazi... a freedom fighter... a visionary... and a natural leader. He's done quite a lot of stuff since the Galactic Alliance was disbanded. He's raided the Empire and rallied other freedom fighters across the galexy. Infact, he's become something of a symbol. Like Cade Skywalker, Gar Stazi has now become more than just a man, but an idea. A symbol which would help lead the forces of the Galactic Alliance against the Empire. 
 
So this dude's quite the hot-shot. But after years of mere raids and small combat, it's time to turn the intrest elsewhere. It's time to begin the ultimate raid... the raid of one of the Empire's own vessels... the Imperious . 
 
That was all last issue. In the previous issue, we saw the setup to this ultimate robbery and we saw the begining of a gigantic space battle. Ooh! Aah! Well anyway... where was I? Ah yes, well it turns out that this whole thing is a trap! Wow! But who is doing the trapping and who is being trapped? 
 
Unfortunatally, it's our wonderful friend Gar Stazi who is being trapped. But luckily for him, he has learned from the past. He has forseen this trap being set and has brilliantally prepared countermeasures. In this case, he's got a plan and it's super nasty. 
 
I don't want to give anything away becasue I know that people read reviews for one of two reasons. Either they want a second opinion on a story that they already read, or because they are debating whether or not to read it.  Well if you just want a secon opinion, then you already know what's happening and if you want to read this story, I'll just tell you to quit reading this review and buy the damn book because it is EXCELENT. 
 
But alas, here I go... 
 
The battle plays out really well. Ostrander knows how to write this type of stuff. He moves the fleet and the different positions like pieces on a chess board. His way of displaying battle decisions is both inteligent and riveting. 
 
But what's even more amazing is the way that the different characters respond to the motions and actions made by the other characters. 
 
My final statement on the plot is coming up and then I'll start discussing the art... 
 
The final parts of this story are astounding. Let's just say that a certain sacrifice is made to deliver a certain blow to the Empire. One person doesn't want a certain other person to make that sacrifice and sacrifices himself for this other person... wait... whaaaat? Well anyway, it's awsome. The ending is so good that it will make you feel something. Ostrander can dive into your emotions and that's true evidence of a strong writer. 
 
But don't take it from me... read this book and see how much of a true genius Ostrander is. His writing is flawless and brilliant. 
 
Okay, as promised, now it's time for art. 
 
Unfortunatally, I'm not much of an art critic, but that doesn't mean that I don't have high expectations. Infact, I have very high expectations and often times turn down a comicbook for poor art, even if the writing of that book is exceptional. 
 
In this case, the art was very good. Dursheema's art isn't present here, but the fill in artist does a very good job in terms of imitating her style. So that's a good thing. 
 
All in all, here's my star rating... 
 
Art - 7.5/10 
Story - 9/10

Let me just start off by saying that this is not a comicbook, it's a short story. With that said, it is incredibly important here to change your perspective when reading this issue. 
 
Now for one thing, this short story with pictures concept was really new and really innovative.This medium of storytelling really allows us to get into the minds of the different Batman characters such as the Joker for example. We learn how they think, how they feel, their motives. We can be placed inside of their shoes in a way that was previously unatainable through the comicbook medium. So essentially, writing a short story rather than a comicbook which mainly moves plot along through dialog, can give us a brand new perspective and display a completely new type of story. 
 
So as expected, we get tons of stuff here that we've never seen before. We can get into the minds of the characters and see things in a precise detail that we can't get from comicbooks. So that's totally a plus. 
 
On the negative side of things however, this medium makes for a very slow story and to an extent, I actually got bored. The story in this book could have easily been told in 1/3 the amount of pages if it were done in a comicbook format rather than a short story format. So things are slow, and very dragged out. 
 
But as I said earlier, there are still many plus sides to writing books in this format. So you have positives and negatives. 
 
I can't jugde the art here because there were only a few images. All of these images were strangely computer generated. The Joker looked like something out of a video game and HarleyQuin looked like some sort of glass doll from an antique shop. 
 
And unfortunatally, I can't jugde the writing either. This type of storytelling was far too unconventional and really shouldn't be reviewed as a comic. Frankly, I don't even classify this story as a comic. 
 
So even though you see a half star in my rating, I actually give this NO RATING. Simularly to Wensday comics, I can't judge this comicbook the way that comicbooks are judged. It's far too distant from the regular installments of this medium. 
 
There are good things and there are bad things but overall, here's what it comes down to. 
 
If you're a Joker fan... you DEFINITALLY need to see this book.

"Arg! I am evil sith man now! Look at how evil I am!" - Cade
"Oh no! We need to save Cade!" - Corde
"I'm Darth Talon. I'm going to kiss Cade now! Muahahaha!" - Talon

I like this issue, but it seams to me that Ostrander can't come up with a new concept. If anybody read Star Wars: Republic, then you are obviously familiar with Ostrander's Quinlan Vos story, where Vos acts like he's going to the dark side to decieve Dooku, but actually ends up turning to the dark side. Essentially, the same story is being told here with Cade Skywalker rather than Vos. They even have a part of this comic where Darth Krayt comes out and says something like "a simular event happened a long time ago during the clone wars." Obviously Ostrander recognises that he's telling the same story twice. Oh well.

None-the less, it is cool to see how stuff is playing out. l like how they used the Vong bugs and how Darth Talon is gettin' the hots for Cade. But that's all a trick right? "Deepening the bond". Yeah, suuree...

Anyway, I'm not sure how the jedi on Ossus can help with this Cade situation and I'm not particularly understanding the whole story with Moff Calixte (the most ugly character ever). But l'm sure it will work out sometime soon if not in this arc then in the next arc.

Writing - 8/10
Art - 9/10 (Cool art of Cade's mom as Sith. That was cool.)

What Star Wars Legacy has been bombarded with in the past are tales from the Fel and/or Cade point of view (With the exception of issue #4 and some Imperial perspectives). This issue isn't much of an exception as the majority of this story focases on Cade's trials in the sith temple. But what is interesting in this issue is that Ostrander starts to flesh out the sith characters like Nihl and Krayt.

I liked the scene where Nihl was forced to stay outside of the gate. I've always liked Nihl. I thought he was a badass character and I've always been fond of his weird-ass lightsaber staff thingy. He feels like since he's not a pureplood sith, that he isn't respected by Krayt and the rest of the sith purebloods. This is very interesting because later on in this issue, we discover that Krayt himself isn't actually a pureblood. Infact, he used to be a jedi.

The end of this issue has a strong suprise. It isn't much of a twist, but it is definitally a cliffhanger. It wasn't so much of a "Oh $#!&" moment but more of a "What the hell?" moment. It was interesting to see Krayt's true identity and I was suprised to see how much he had fallen. Afterall, he was one of the people who tried to pull Anakin back to the lightside during the Clone Wars. Now look, he's the Dark Lord himself.

So strong sith characterization here. I also liked how Cade could heal himself from the deathsticks. It's fun to see him go back and forth from light and dark, but scary at the same time.

I'm looking forward to seeing what's gonna happen with Skull squadron and I'm also looking forward to seeing more of Cade's mother. Not to mention that next issue is supposed to deal with the Kenobi legacy. That will definitally be awsome. So yeah, can't wait for next issue. That's gonna rock.

Art in this was nice too. As long as Jan Durshema does the art, I see nothing wrong.

Art - 8/10
Story - 8.5/10

It's Bucky Cap' vs 50's Cap' on the rooftops. We have a cool dynamic here. Bucky's all brains and Mr. 50's is all brawn. As fun as it is to see two dudes dressed as Captain America (neither of them being the real Captain America), beating the crap out of each other, the end where they start to calm down is cool. Bucky starts wondering just who this masked man is, and he finds out... oh $#!% It's Steve Rogers! For several seconds, there is an interesting reaction. Bucky is horrified but confused all the same. When asked  why they are fighting, 50's Cap' replies "you killed Bucky", which is when Bucky lifts up his own mask and reveals himself.

Seeing as their faces are identicle. Steve's face to Steve's face and Bucky's face to Bucky's face, I love the confusion that follows. This is the Captain America from a different era, and the Bucky from a different era, crosssed together at last. What follows is complete confusion. Bucky thinks he's found Steve back from the grave. Steve thinks he's found Bucky back from the grave.

But like the snap of the finger, this awsome moment was interrupted by Faustus. Bucky quickly figures out what's going on and this "slow motion time" moment exploded as Bucky jumps off of a rooftop to avoid getting clobbered. That moment was pure beauty. Just this "two second" moment of time was breathtaking.

Pure storytelling gold. A+ Brubaker.

Art - 9/10

Story - 10/10

I wasn't crazy about the art. I'm gonna come right out and say it. Torre may have been excelent on Iron Man: Director of SHIELD, but this is frankly a whole new game. Steve Epting style art is all that should be allowed to be put into this series. What I saw however was nothing of the sort.

But let's get out of this. So far, Brubaker's "Death of Captain America" arc has been astounding. I can be quoted on this. The Death of Captain America is the single greatest story arc I've ever read in comics. This is for several reasons.
1. Strong characterisation
2. Consistanly high quality
3. Excelent storytelling
4. Not too "old reader friendly"
5. Not too "new reader friendly"
6. Good art

Wait... what was #6? Oh yeah... good art. Well that was missing here. Oh well. Fortunatally, the rest of it all was here so that's good. Frankly, I've been caught being critical of him in the past (see some of my earlier reviews) but to be completely honest, Brubaker is the king. Whatever sillyness or bizzare treats that we may encounter gets completely justified in the end by being made super significant. Just use my previous reviews as an example. In one instance, I reviewed a classic WW2 story as being irrelevant. That of course proved to be completely false as it gave the origin story of Lukin.

The bottom line that I'm trying to get across here is that Brubaker knows what he's doing. And in this case, he surely has delivered a twist that I'm completely fond of.

Bringing 1950's Steve into the mix! Aha! This idea was wonderful if you ask me. Making the dynamic between the dead Steve/Bucky/50's Steve all "being" the true Captain America is a GREAT concept. Another thing that I like about this arc is just how phsycological Big Red's plans can be. He manages to completely cripple America, but not by sheer brute force. He gets the citizens to start riots and lead rebels! But those days are long gone because the rebellions have stopped by this point in the story. It was time for Big Red to move on with his next devious plot... the Third Wing! Ooh... scary!

What we have here is the Red Skull using his witts and his goons to GAIN AMERICA'S SUPPORT (hence: the man who bought America). It is truly a fascinating concept and Brubaker makes it even more interesting by making Steve Rogers (not the REAL one) back up this fake contendor. Ah! So evil is on top. What's even more amazing about this story is that you can tell this concept was thought up from the beggining. Bucky killing Jack in issue #7 finally came full circle last issue, managing to convince 50's cap that Bucky was the bad guy.

Planting seeds and planning out 39 issues in advance is amazing. I cannot believe how great of a storyteller Ed Brubaker is! With that said, I'm gonna take back everything bad I've ever said about him. If any of you guys have read some of my past Cap' reviews (the earlier ones, not the more recent ones) then discredit me for I was mistaken then. I have now seen the light and it is glorious.

Art - 6.5/10

Story - 8/10 (Twas a little slow this issue)

This is the 90's so comics are kinda dumb. We still see many elements of comics that cauesed its decline back in the day. Go figure that this is part three (I think) of "The Death of Superman" story. So yeah, there's that.

Though comics in this era aren't known to be particlularly good, I really liked how well Doomsday's invoulnerability was handled. The writer (don't know who it was) did a good job illustrating how this dude could take ten billion punches and then give ten trillion back.

Doomsday is one badass motherfucker and that was very well illustrated here. Unfortunatally, the rest of this issue is pretty poor. What we see here is one giant battle and the most annoying and rude teenage kid in the world. God, l hope he dies rather than getting saved.

The art was meh'.

Art - meh'
Story - Lame

I liked this crossover. The first three parts were good and funny and I enjoyed them (Last issue's "love drama" was hilarious). This issue however, demonstrates a classic example of how final Deadpool installments seam to lose their touch. Issue #5 of Deadpool had a simular issue. When a story arc ends, too often the comedy seams to end with it.

I liked seeing how the Thunderbolts team interacted here. Headsman got some credit and Norman Osborn's final speech in the Thunderstrike was awsome.

The comedy wasn't there though. The action was kinda' stupid in this case, and l just didn't like it. Even the credit card joke was okay. It just doesn't compare to the rest of the crossover. Jokes like "yes, this is a gun in my pants" don't show up here. The only attempt at comedy that I can see are the "shot through the heart" joke and the credit card thing. Unfortunatally, neither of those were nessisarily comical.

So the first three parts of this crossover are great though.

Art - 6.5/10
Story - 6/10 

I bought this for the Deadpool, not for the Thunderbolts, but i was suprised to find that I quite enjoyed the Thunderbolts (I usually don't like reading "team" books). Anyway, Magnum Opus part one was kinda' okay. The only real "good" joke was the jack-n-the beanstalk halucination, which was still okay. This story however, did not feature very much comedy, but still managed to keep me very well entertained.

The joke about the teleporter "being a good plot device" was funny, but besides that, most of this issue simply was mindless action. Normally, I don't go for that. Normally I'd say "woo! We need more story and less stupid action!" but in this case, the action was suprisingly entertaining. Good for you Andy Diggle.

Anywho, this was fun to read. I'd heard how Thunderbolts was super dark, changing the plot around, messing with things. I thought that perhaps I would be slightly confused when reading it. However, I managed to follow the plot super well and I really liked reading this story. It may not have been super funny. It may not have had much depth. But it was entertaining, and that's all I ask.

All you comic creators, you get points for making a good book.

Oh yeah, and the art was buy Bong Dazo (great name). He draws the KOTOR comics, (which rock) and I like him. This style seamed really different though than his regular style. Fortunatally, it really works here, so I can't complain. Good art.

Art - 7.5/10
Story - 7.5/10

Looking forward to seeing the next issue, but I'm not super crazy about this whole "Deadpool is in love with Widow" thing.

Just read the title of this review. Deadpool is finally not funny. The first 4 issues displayed comedic talent far beyond my comprehension. At last, this issue came and it was dumb.

That's all.

On the plus side, the art was cool.

I dunno if he was getting complaints about being not serious enough or something, but l only had one little ounce of laughter and it was when he escaped and we didn't know how. He says something like "You know l'm gonna get out of this somehow," and the next guy says, "I don't see how you can possibly escape" and then the next pannel says 12 hours later and shows him escaped.

That was the funniest part, and then Way goes and kills that funny joke by actually telling us what happened and how he managed to escape.

Oh well.

Issue #1 had about one good joke. The whole "oh shit" in Skrullese joke was good, and I love how it kept popping up. Unfortunatally, that was about the only good joke in the whole issue.

This time, we have less mindless action and more hilarious goodness, which in my opinion, makes this issue superior. The whole "Now speak into the translator" joke was hilarious and the "Resist following a stupid request" joke was great too. Deadpool sure made me laugh. Fortunatally, this issue doesn't have as much of that crazy inner monologe. I hate that inner monologe. It isn't funny.

Anyway, this is a great issue and the art rocks. I love when he shakes the professor's hand "Muahahaha!!" and then the skrul says, "Excuse me?" that was EXCELENT! Pure comedy gold.

Art - 9/10
Story - 8.5/10

Great issue. Keep comming!

This is pure gold right here. All this beurocratic betrayal, double crossing alliances is so interesing because John Ostrander is excelent at writing this. For all of you guys, not aware of what this issue is about... here's a summary.

This takes place in the past, before issue #1's flashback. This is before the massacar of Ossus and then part of it is immediatally afterwards. This story explains the events leading to Roan Fel's rise to power and then Calixte's double crossing actions to warn him of the mutany. We see that her motives this whole time are self preservation and we realize how cunning she really is. Infact, this entire issue is just the best thing l've ever seen in terms of beurocrats double crossing and making these deals and stuff. It's so good.

But this super awsome issue couldn't have been pulled off without Ostrander. The regular artist was gone, but this person did a great job too. Bottom line... this issue of Star Wars Legacy is GREAT!!

Art - 6/7 out of ten

Story - 9/10 out of ten

For someone who has read every Cap' issue prior to this one, I anticipated this outcome. I was in no way suprised that Bucky became cap, like other people were. If any body has read all the 33 issues before this, you'd see it coming from a mile away.

So bottom line, I've read all the previous Brubaker isues. All 33 of them. What l liked about this story was not that Bucky became cap, but alll the backstory of Red Skull. I happen to love that Bucky is being cap now, unlike lots of people who don't support it. Brubaker is awsome, and anything that he writes turns into perfection and solid gold.

Think about it. If you were told three years ago that Bucky would be brought back to life and that Steve were to get killed, you would probably abandon comics forever. But Brubaker somehow manages to take a story like this, one that's so outragous, and make it brilliant. That's what I love about Brubaker, and his sheer amazing story telling abilities come through in this issue.

The Red Skull has turned America into chaos. Riots break out all over the country and the suprise ending is so awsome that I gasped outloud.

I thought the setup to this issue was a little rushed. He could have expaned the period between when Red Skull started his plan and when chaos suddenly reigned all across the country. Oh well. He did what he could in the time period that he was given. But besides rushing the setup, l can't think of much that Brubaker did wrong here.

Brubaker's run started off a little slow and a little shaky, but these past several issues have been perfection. I love his work and give him the best of wishes.

9 out of ten for story

8 out of ten for art

Hey there guys. This issue is fantastic! Yeah! Spider-man's corny and a little forced Brand New Day stroy + Iron Man's recent Five Nightmares story come together in this awsome and hilarious issue.

Following up on the events that crippled Stark Industries, Tony Stark sets out to ruin the black market underground that he uncovered by tracking pieces of Stark equipment that were sold around. As he goes out on his mission, Spider-man comes along and starts bothering Iron Man. They quarrel a bit but ultimately Tony realizes that he can't escape from Spider-man.

So this duo goes around fighting crime. It's really a classic issue and the contrast between these two characters is fantastic. This issue is so wonderful and it reminds me of the good old classic days, but without the corny stuff and without the bad art. In all honesty...

I give this issue a 10/10 in all aspects.

Writing - 10/10
Art - 10/10

Good job guys! Great issue.

What we see in this issue is really the forces of The Red Skull making their moves and manipulating all the world and the characters. There is a brief page or two orbiting around our heroes, Falcon, Iron Man, Widow... but the rest of the story is all about The Red Skull using Dr. Faustus's abilities to do evil things.

One of those evil things that's really cool, is how Faustus is manipulating Bucky's memories and changing the events in his mind. For example, making Steve Rogers kill all his allies or have Steve Rogers leave Bucky behind on purpose to sacrifice him for the mission. These mind tricks seam to have no effect on Bucky, who is strong enough to resist Faustus's mind powers.

The other thing that we see here is the Red Skull/General Lukin rallying a bunch of mind controled Kronas soldiers for some sort of huge battle. All we got were vauge hints of "ruining America". Therefore, this has got to be something big and mysterious.

But overall, this is a slow issue. It seamed like they were trying to recap a lot of the events that happened so far. lt had lots of great moments and a wonderful suprise ending.

Plus, we've got to give a high five to Steve Epting for that dark but awsome artwork.

Art - 8/10
Story - 8/10

I liked this issue. The first issue was made essentially to introduce the characters like Zayne and Gryph, which is just another way of doing issue #0. I liked issue #0 because it introduced the characters as well as much of the conflicts in the Universe, like the Mandalorian war for example (mentioned often throughout the KOTOR video game series).

Issue #1 ended where the real story began. The first part of the issue just re-introduced the characters again, but towards the end, we saw the jedi ceremony and then at the very end, the big twist happened... and that twist was so cool and so awsome. So after that monumental ending, I was completely intruiged. Issue #1 was totally slow and uninteresting until the last two pages. Those two pages were enough to get me super interested in this story.

"Commencement" seams to be coming together now as Zane is a fugative on the run, with his criminal friend Gryph. This awkward placement is fun and it is so cool seeing them burst out of the jedi temple with the jedi Masters chasing after them. The action is a plus. The adventure is a plus. The plot is a plus, but the only thing that bothers me is the comedy.

All in all, I liked this I give the art a big plus because it was awsome.

Art - 8/9 out of 10
Writing - 8 out of 10

l've got to say. This is probably my favorite Iron Man cover ever. l'd just like to throw that out there for you guys. It may be a more "fitting cover" for issue #31, in terms of matching up with the plot, but frankly that's irrelevant. This cover is one of my favorites.

This "With Iron Hands" story arc didn't catch on at first. With the introduction of a new writer, the cast got shifted around. All the big Iron Man characters seamed to have gotten killed off in the last arcs. Happy Hogan died during the Civil War tie-ins. Captain America died shortly afterwards. Then came Sal, who died by a bilogical weapon shortly after Captain America did. Then in the previous arc, Maya Hansen died. Now all that's left for Iron Man's supporting cast is Maria Hill, Pepper Potts and Dugan. To make matters worse, Pepper hasn't made a single appearance in this series since the Civil War, so now she's kicked off of the list too.

So starting at issue #29, there weren't really many characters besides Iron Man and his band of SHIELD agents. At first, l didn't like the whole "restart" direction that the Iron Man series was going for. But l like this new arc starting now, on issue #31. At last, l'm enjoying it.

The previous two issues of this arc were designed to basically lay down the foundations for this current issue. While reading them, l kept wondering why the plot was split in to two different parts and why it required such a long setup. Well now l know. Those previous arcs were designed to set up for this super special ultimate issue where the Overkill mind goes on a spree and rips SHIELD appart.

Forget supporting cast, all you need here are freaked out SHIELD agents and a monster who kills everything in the world ever. Iron Man comes in and makes matters more awsome and all of Earth explodes as vampires eat all the fruit from trees. Okay, well that last part didn't happen. Just kidding there.

But it is a good issue... really good. The art could be better though.

Story - 8/10
Art - 7/10