Writer Kurt Busiek closes out his run on the Man of Steel with a big fight with fanatical alien priests, a power-copying villain named Paragon and a gigantic Galactic Golem.

Renato Guedes provides the art and as I have said in past reviews, this guy is a great artist for Superman. The art is detailed and he is able to convey great emotion in the characters’ faces. The story itself is just okay. I really expected Busiek to go out with guns blazin’ and give us a story to remember, at least till he returns to write the character again. But, it’s decent enough and that Alex Ross cover sure is “purty”! Grade: B

Marvel Comics: Avengers – The Initiative #11

This is still one of my favorite Marvel titles and they do it all with C-list characters. Dan Slott writes one mean ass battle royale as evil clone K.I.A. (yes, that’s the name) keeps dealing out the gruesome death to the recruits of The Initiative. Stefano Caselli continues to be an artist that, if it was at all possible, I would be happy if he was penciling all of Marvel’s books –he’s that good. Some of the big guns of the Marvel Universe show up to try and save the day but there seems to be no stopping the supremely powerful and sadistic antagonist. If you haven’t bought an issue of this yet you really need to get off your butt and do it…pick up the first trade and back issues and jump on this book. It’s great! Grade: A+

Marvel Comics: Captain America #37

While there are cool moments in this issue this is still the weakest issue since the death of Steve Rogers. We are right in the middle of a storyarc covering an apparent “hostile takeover” of America so I can give writer Ed Brubaker a bit of a break since a lot of stories have some sag in the middle but for the most part this guy has delivered on every issue. Steve Epting is still kicking ass at the art but the most exciting thing in this whole issue is Bucky training with Cap’s shield. This title almost always finds itself near the top of my read pile but this week I regret putting it there. Grade: C

Until next time–Peace…