Review:
Marvel Picks Part 2--Hulk #21 Dark Avengers #15 and X-23 #1!

Be sure to check out part one of my Marvel Comic reviews here.  Now on to the rest:

X-23 #1

I love X-23. I'm not afraid to say it anymore. She used to be a guilty pleasure for me, something I read and loved but kept a secret because come on, a female Wolverine clone? But she's actually a fantastic character and not really a clone of Wolverine at all. I mean, she is, but she's not solely just a female version of Wolverine. So when I saw this issue I knew I was gonna read it regardless of writer Marjorie Liu, who I've not always seen eye-to-eye on what makes a comic book story good. But Liu writes a solid story here, not great by any means, but not bad at all. Laura and Logan are in NYC helping out Jubilee when Laura is suddenly drawn away. She's having strange visions from this unknown psychic. Those visions are drawn differently from the rest of the book and the artist must be channeling Bill Sienkiewicz because it looks like something straight out of Stray Toasters.

Between visions, X-23 hooks up with her old buddies from NYX series (the series X-23 first appeared in the Marvel Universe). The story in this issue with the psychic will only be important if Liu writes an X-23 series. If that doesn't happen, the story is throw away as there's no resolution to it. Overall an enjoyable read with a fantastic cover by Alina Urusov. I recommend picking it up if you got some extra room in your comic budget.

Hulk #21

Good God I don't know what the hell is wrong with me, but I really liked this issue. Yes, it's a train wreck, completely and utterly...but I liked it. I may have a tumor or something, I just normally hate anything Jeff Loeb writes. I haven't been reading any of the Fall of the Hulk books, I purposely stayed away from it but I was really bored at work and well, it just happened. And I liked it. Hulk #21 reads like a book totally out of continuity. It's like Marvel said here Loeb, take Hulk do WHATEVER YOU WANT! And he does. This issue, Red Hulk has recruited Banner to take down evil Doc Samson and the Intelligencia (yeah I'm not kidding). But Samson is the man with the plan and uses his Gamma energy siphon to use Red Hulk's power to make an army of Hulks while also "Hulking out" the Marvel super heroes. Yes all the Fantastic Four, X-men, the Avengers and yes of course even Deadpool are now Hulks. Rereading what I just wrote, I have no idea why I like it, besides it God-awfulness. I mean, it has the FF, X-Men and the Avengers (with Thor)--not even mentioning anything that has to do with Siege, Second Coming etc. But maybe Loeb knows what he's doing because he finally sucked me in and I'll probably keep reading...