Necessary Evil #2 (Desperao Publishing)

The premise: There exists a special hidden school of supervillainy. Jacob and Miller, twin sons of the Matriarch, have just joined the school. Miller is totally intoit, but Jacob is not sure he wants to be a supervillain.

This is an amazing title and in two issues has climbed into my top 10 ongoing series.

Issue 2 opens with the first day of school with classes like History of Supervillainy, Avoiding Forensic Experts and Mystic Weapons. In the last class of the day, Anti gives them an assignment entitled The Death of Innocence. Jacob, Miller and a few others work together to solve the riddle. Jacob discovers the way through a mystic portal to a forest glen. On a pedestal, sits a baby and a knife. As a girl picks up the knife, we cut to a base in the sky and a gathering of heroes. Dr. Daylight has confirmed the existence of the school and put his sidekick, Sunrise, undercover.

Maintenance #6 (Oni)

The Premise: Doug and Manny are maintenance men for TerroMax, inc., the world’s largest organization dedicated to helping mad scientists and evil geniuses conduct their research. Doug and Manny have to clean up after the scientists when their experiments go bad- from babysitting a Man/Shark hybrid to being shrunk to microscopic size to take care of intelligent bacteria living in a toilet bowl.

Yes, this is a comedy series. A slightly dark comedy series.

In this issue, the heating system is on the fritz an all the scientists and employees are meeting for an office party in the lounge. Except for Doug and Manny. They have to report to a scientists lab to clean up a coffee spill. What they don’t know is that the coffee spilled onto a batch of chemicals and is now alive … and hungry. It devoured the scientist and nearly devoured Doug and Manny. They pursue it throughout TerroMax, only to see it run into the lounge. As it begins devouring scientists left and right, it heads towards the secretary who handily captures it in a thermos.

I cannot stress how much fun this series is. While so many comics are being dark and serious, this title is a refreshing change of pace.

Justice Society of America #10

This issue starts the Kingdom Come arc in the JSA. The Kingdom Come (aka Earth 22)’s Superman is questioned and detained by the JSA as they try to figure out just what is going on. During all this Superman is content to answer their questions as he voices his own. As he tells part of his story, we see snippets of pages from the Kingdom Come series created by Alex Ross and Mark Waid. As the JSA try to figure out what to do with him, they lock him in their conference room. As they continue to debate, Superman listens in until he hears the sound of a girl about to jump off a building. Of course he busts out and saves the day. Power Girl is having a hard time with his appearance – he reminds her of her cousin Kal-L’s death at the hands of Superboy-Prime.

Ultimate Spider-Man #115

Bendis’ latest Goblin arc marches along with Peter in Shield custody. Kitty sees this and goes into action to free him. This leads to the revelation that Carol Danvers was holding Peter as bait for Norman Osborn. As the issue marches on, Norman is going after his former lawyers and associates looking for his fortune they have embezzled from him. Shield drafts Peter and Kitty – property damage ensues.

I’m still not used to the art change. I am really missing Mark Bagley’s art on this book. Immomen’s Aunt May looks like she aged 20 years overnight.

Powers #26

We continue to see the fallout from the Powers virus running rampant through the populace.  Now Deena is a suspect.  Turns out Walker’s new partner is actually an Internal Affairs plant lloking for dirt on Deena and Walker.  This title is consistently my number one pick when it comes out.

This is not for kids.  And the price has recenty risen to $3.99 a copy.  But Bendis and Oeming are giving us extra pages of content to go along with the price increase.  As well as better cover stock.

Hack/Slash (Devils Due Publishing – Tim Seeley)

Cassie Hack and her large hulking friend Vlad hunt Slashers – think Jason Vorhees or Michael Myers.  This series is awesome.  It started as a bunch of mini-series and one shots (get the trades!) and is now an ongoing series.  And as you will see mentioned on the cover of every issue  Soon to be a Major Motion Picture.  God I hope they don’t screw it up.  I hope it’s more in vein with Batman Begins than the Fantastic Four movie or heaven forbid the Hulk.

Necessary Evil #1 (Desperado Publishing)

Jacob and his twin brother discover their single mother’s secret job in the worst possible way – seeing her death portrayed on the evening news. Turns out their mother was a Super Villain. After 10 years bouncing through the foster system, they receive a note and map. The map leads to a top secret Super Villain school. This title is simply amazing. I love the concept and how they setup the initial dynamic between the two brothers and their future classmates.