This Week's Five

Another week, another five picks by yours truly. This week I am recommending Mighty Avengers #12, Northlanders #5, Superman/Batman #47, Ultimate Spider-Man #121 and Wolverine First Class #2. The later two were more fun than anything else, but Mighty Avengers was the issue we were all waiting for as Nick Fury returns, sort of.

Brian Michael Bendis continues to masterfully weave his tale of the Skrull Invasion in this week's edition of the Mighty Avengers. This one is a must read for anyone interested in the Secret Invasion. Ever since we last saw Nick Fury in Secret War and later talking to Spider Woman in New Avengers the question on everyone's lips has been, where is Nick Fury? This week, that answer is revealed - a little bit.

Brian Wood dips into the past to reveal some of the origins of Sven the Viking in Northlanders #5. It is a poignant issue as we watch Sven as a child and the events that unfolded that put him in the position he is today. This has been an excellent series and with only five issues out should be easy for anyone to pick up on if they have not taken the jump yet.

The quest for kryptonite continues in Superman/Batman #47. However in this issue all is not as it seems and the end has a huge reveal worth the price of admission alone. Turns out, Bats and Supes were wrong in thinking they had pretty much gotten all the green rocks there was had to on Earth. Now it appears someone has been stockpiling it - right under Superman's nose in a diner in Kansas, and boy do they have a surprise.

And now for some fun, because comics should be fun, right? Bendis' second nod this week is from Ultimate Spider-Man #121. After just finishing the Firestarter arc, this one-shot shows us a day in the life of Peter Parker, ordinary high school student and employee at the Daily Bugle. But if we have learned one thing about Parker, life is nothing but ordinary when your alter ego is Spider-Man. If you have yet to take a chance on the Ultimate Universe, or are just looking for a fun issue to read, this is the one.

Finally, Wolverine First Class #2 rounds out the week. I have said this before, the world was a lot simpler in the early days of the new X-Men. This series revolves around Logan's relationship with Kitty Pryde. The First Class stories (X-Men being the other) are nice one-shots that make me yearn for the old Chris Claremont-John Byrne days, before everyone and their uncle became a mutant, and then lost their powers, and then found out they still had their powers, and then found out they might be a skrull, and then ...