Nightwing 116

Publisher: DC
Price: $2.50
Cover date: March 2006
W: Devin Grayson
A: Wellington Alves & Marcos Marz

Synopsis: Bludhaven has been destroyed, and Nightwing risks certain death to save the survivors of his city.

Thoughts: This issue embodies everything I hate about comics: a terrible story by a good writer; a thin story (regardless of the writer's résumé); a shameless, unproductive cameo (two, actually); a switch in artists partway through; bland art that struggles to convey the action; the hero attempting to save a villain, because choosing who lives and dies isn't "a decision I get to make" (and subsequently ignoring all of the good people in need); an ancillary tie-in to a companywide crossover (especially when it doesn't actually tie-in); and, worst of all, a cover that has nothing to do with the story.

Ares 1

Publisher: Marvel
Price: $2.99
Cover date: March 2006
W: Mike Oeming
A: Travel Foreman

Synopsis: Ares, the God of War, has shunned his bloody past for a quaint suburban life. But he's forced to take-up arms after his young son is kidnapped.

Thoughts: I bought this for one reason and one reason only: DCBS sold it for 50% off. At that price, I really couldn't pass it up. That said, I didn't expect to like it, but I did. Seeing Ares as a former-warrior-turned-loving-father is a very interesting take on the character, especially after having played God of War last year. At the start, Foreman's art is rather cluttered, but this is due to the number of panels he needed to cram into pages two and three. After that, once Ares has retired to the suburbs, the art seems to hit its stride.

What If...?, Captain America

Publisher: Marvel
Price: $2.99
Cover date: February 2006
W: Tony Bedard
A: Carmine Di Giandomenico

Synopsis: Set during the US Civil War, a dying Stephen Rogers is reborn as Captain America and rises up to fight the racist White Skull.

Thoughts: Say what you will, but I've never hid my love for What If...?. So these annual fifth week events are a real treat for this fanboy, and this issue astounded me. Sure, the Civil War was oversimplified and the climax was rushed, but there's so much potential here. Much like What If...? (vol. 2) #105 spawned its own universe thanks to the wildly popular Spider-Girl, I can easily see this alternate version of Captain America doing the same thanks to the Civil War-era politics / history (alternate and factual) one can bring to the title and the Indian mysticism.

JSA 81

Publisher: DC
Price: $2.50
Cover date: March 2006
W: Geoff Johns
A: Dale Eaglesham

Synopsis: Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E. aide the rest of the JSA as they attempt to get Liberty Belle's powers under control. And Stargirl broods about her deadbeat daddy.

Thoughts: Yeah. This issue really didn't entice me one bit. Lots of comic book readers hail this title as one of the greatest reads out there, but, until now, I've never given it a chance. (Superheroes who were fighting crime during World War II, sans Captain America, really don't interest me. Especially when they look older than my grandmother. The dead one.) Now that I have, I can't say I'll be giving it another. Stargirl's fatherless childhood was neither sad nor interesting. It's commonplace. And her inability to accept her loving stepfather, until the end of course, is all too clichéd.