Giant Size Review # 6: The Women of All-New Marvel NOW

Marvel has a great history of strong, popular and well-selling female characters. Storm, Jean Grey, Rogue, Kitty Pryde... Wait, hold on a second. Those are all X-Men.

Review # 134: "Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman Omnibus Vol. 1"

Reed Richards has gone through the ringer lately, with several writers suggesting that Mr. Fantastic is not so fantastic after all. From the horrific zombie Reed Richards in "Marvel Zombies" to the fate of Ultimate Universe Reed to nefarious "Planetary" analogue Randall Dowling, there is potential for great evil in the leader of the Fantastic Four.

Review # 114: "Fantastic Four - Doomed" and "FF - Family Freakout"

The fate of Matt Fraction's dual run on "Fantastic Four" and "FF" turns out to be an interesting case study on creative team changes. Yanked from the title to write "Inhumanity," his plots are handed to new scripters. One switch works well. The other does not.

Review # 92: "Fantastic Four by John Byrne Vol. 2"

If you look up a summary of John Byrne's career and come across the section on the Fantastic Four, you'll get a list of all the major changes he made to the title during his time as writer and artist. What you won't find is any mention that he peaked before any of those changes happened.

Review # 48: "Avengers - The Children's Crusade"

"The Children's Crusade" had every reason to succeed: it thrust the Young Avengers into a prominent role in what should have been a major arc - the redemption of Scarlet Witch. It brought back the original "Young Avengers" creators Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung to put it together. It has an All-Star cast: the Avengers, the X-Men, Magneto and Doctor Doom. And yet it falls flat.

Review # 47: "Infinity Gauntlet"

"Infinity Gauntlet" was Marvel's first great event comic of the 90s and may have been the best of what was to become an overinflated decade. It had the right man at the helm for a Thanos story - his creator, Jim Starlin - and George Perez, still benefiting from the commercial windfall of DC's "Crisis on Infinite Earths," returning to Marvel to do pencils. While Perez was forced to bow out part-way, replaced very effectively by Starlin's recent "Silver Surfer" partner Ron Lim, the result was spectacular.

Review # 41: "Fantastic Four - New Departure, New Arrivals" and "FF - Fantastic Faux"

The Fantastic Four have been on a hot streak when it comes to writers lately. Mark Waid's forced departure led to a fan backlash that extended his stay. Jonathan Hickman stretched the team to its limits, bringing characters like Spider-Man into the fold. Unfortunately, the run of his successor is being cut short as the red hot Matt Fraction is leaving a double 16-issue arc to pen a series about the Inhumans. He will still be plotting, just not scripting.

Review # 30: "X-Factor - 'Invisible Woman Has Vanished' and 'Second Coming'"

Revisiting these books after hitting such a high point with "Time and a Half" and "Overtime," I was expecting a lull. I'd forgotten how good these are, completely underestimating Peter David's ability to throw in great twists. I should know better.

Review # 28: "X-Factor - 'Time and a Half' and 'Overtime'"

These two volumes represent a major turning point for the X-Factor series as its scope becomes far more ambitious. The plots become bigger (and surprisingly more mystical,) notable relationships develop while others fall apart and character conflict goes into overdrive. Thankfully, Larry Stroman is gone and Valentine De Landro - X-Factor's first definitive artist - is back for what I consider a masterpiece.