A month has passed already? *sighs* A lotta comics out there. It's gonna be a long summer. Let's get to it! OTHERWORLD #1-3 (Vertigo/DC) -- I've been meaning to comment on this the past few months, but haven't gotten around to it. Now most folks think of George Perez, perhaps, when they see Phil Jimenez's art. However, Mr. Jimenez has nothing on Perez here. The artwork is easily the best and finest, so intricately detailed, than ANY other title I've seen this year. The story is pretty good (not as good as the art, though) but moves a little slow. A group of young adults is whisked to an "Otherworld" where they battle beings called Psiborgs. It's more interesting than it sounds. Some of the language is coarse, but it's realistic. There is some mild nudity as well. This is a VERY underrated book, in my opinion. JLA #115 (DC) -- Maybe the MUST read this past month as the fallout from Identity Crisis comes to fruition. I had feelings this book was gonna suck and have some implausible mess going on. But. No. This was really, really well done and an excellent read. The artwork wasn't bad either. I hope Catwoman's appearance is more than just a cameo. GRAVITY #1 (Marvel) -- Terrible. Nothing we haven't already seen with young heroes starting out. This is taking the Peter Parker angst/superhero thing about two levels from the top floor. ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #19-20 (Marvel) -- I'm a sucker for revenge stories. Here, Mike Carey takes over for Warren Ellis and tells of a female prodigy not accepted into a Think Tank that Reed Richards got into. Carey updates the Mad Thinker and his awesome android here and does a good job. The artwork by Jae Lee is amazing, with some pages looking like frameable pop-art pieces. THE NEW AVENGERS GUEST STARRING THE FANTASTIC FOUR (Marvel) -- Have you heard about this? This had a print run of 1,000,000 but was distributed just to the men and women of the U.S. military. Copies have trickled to ebay and the secondary market with prices going from $5 to $15. I think I know why this was a giveaway though. Brian Michael Bendis writes an astonishing boring tale (Pity, because I really like Bendis) about our heroes unearthing a spacecraft and encountering some old Kree warriors. CATWOMAN #44 (DC) -- I had looked forward to Will Pfiefer taking over the writing chores on this book. That said, I didn't quite like it as much as I had hoped. There are some flashes of Selina being her old tarty self in character, but too many of the old boring trappings are still present. Oh well, the Adam Hughes covers will be pretty to look at. TOP COW TRIPLE PLAY #1 (Image) -- This is a 99 cent book with three featurettes which introduces future titles. My favorite was Freshmen, which was co-created by actor Seth Green. It sort of had the Legion of Substitute Heroes feel to it set in the present day. The other features were Necromancer and V.I.C.E. As far as trial books go, this was good and a bargain. My recommendations for kids: Amazing Fantasy (Marvel) -- think tv's "Alias" meets "X-Men." Teen Titans Go! (DC) -- the stories are amusing and there's riddles between panels. Son of Vulcan (DC) -- I was very impressed. I DON'T recommend Batman Strikes (DC) though. I think the stories are a bit unimaginative and in the current issue, a college psychology class takes a tour of Arkham Asylum with inmates present. Hmmm . . . I think not.

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