Review # 177: "The Trial of Captain America Omnibus"

Nearly every great comic book creative run has its low points. They may not necessarily be bad, but for every peak there must be a valley.

Review # 143: "Captain America LIVES!"

As much as I like Bucky Barnes as Captain America, he truly is better as Winter Soldier. Still, he was a great Cap and kudos to Ed Brubaker for not screwing him over when Steve Rogers was brought back to life.

Review # 124: "Captain America - Red Menace"

One of the more underrated performances in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" comes from Frank Grillo as he takes on the role of Brock Rumlow. But it wasn't a performance I noticed at first. Despite my knowledge of comics, I had no idea that Brock Rumlow is the real name of the assassin Crossbones. It was only after seeing the film that I put two and two together.

Review # 106: "Captain America - Winter Soldier"

Ed Brubaker will be remembered most for killing off Captain America. But first he had to bring someone else back to life. "Winter Soldier" is the story of the return of Bucky Barnes who - for decades - had been "Ben Parker Dead." Resurrection is clearly a common event in comic books, but there are just some characters that are untouchable. There was no way Cap's old sidekick was ever coming back to life. The idea of a story that would make it worth doing so just didn't seem possible.

Review # 96: "Immortal Iron Fist: The Complete Collection Vol. 1"

I am really hopeful the new Iron Fist Netflix series is a huge hit. I'm talking "needs a feature film" huge hit. Why? So Harrison Ford can have his last, big action film hurrah.

Review # 59: "Uncanny X-Men - Divided We Stand"

"Messiah Complex" went madly off in all directions, so it should be no surprise that its follow-up moves in a straight line. Well, two straight lines to be exact. The "Uncanny X-Men" portion of "Divided We Stand" focuses on two stories: Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Colossus taking a trip through Europe and Cyclops and Emma Frost taking some downtime of their own while simultaneously trying to locate team members who have disappeared.

Review # 58: "X-Men - Messiah Complex"

After what seemed like an endless wave in the 90s, massive crossovers had fallen out of favour at Marvel. They'd become bloated, overly contrived and generally a pain in the ass for collectors. They just plain needed to go away for a while. So they did. The X-Men franchise, which had been the centrepoint for most company crossovers, abandoned the concept for close to a decade. Series like Grant Morrison's "New X-Men," "X-Force/X-Statix," Joss Whedon's "Astonishing X-Men" and Peter David's "X-Factor" stuck to their own stories, and the line enjoyed a creative renaissance.

Review # 56: "X-Men - Deadly Genesis"

"Deadly Genesis" is a bit of a placeholder story after "House of M" despite some major repercussions within its pages. It tightens up the loose end of Professor X's whereabouts but doesn't do much in the way of forwarding the M-Day storyline.

Review # 51: "Daredevil by Brubaker and Lark Ultimate Collection Vol. 3"

Time to bid goodbye to Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark as they wrap up their time on "Daredevil," leaving Matt Murdock in a weird place in the process. Their final story is a bombastic romp. Unfortunately, there's other stuff to slog through first.

Review # 50: "Daredevil by Brubaker and Lark Ultimate Collection Vol. 2"

After escaping jail and having the FBI backtrack on their (true) allegations that he's Daredevil, Matt Murdock is in a pretty good place at the start of Volume Two. Of course, it doesn't last. While the Man Without Fear patrols the city at night, his wife Milla waits worrying at the window. Their marriage is being held together, it seems, by blind love.

Review # 49: "Daredevil by Brubaker and Lark Ultimate Collection Vol. 1"

Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark had the unenviable task of directly following Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev on "Daredevil." While Lark's artwork isn't quite as eye-catching as Maleev's, it's still excellent. Brubaker, meanwhile, takes over writing the life of "The Man Without Fear" without missing a step.