Ultimate Comics X #2
by Jeff Loeb and Arthur Adams

Shockingly, Ultimate Comics X continues to satisfy. This will be the last time I use this line but here it is again: I liked yet another Jeff Loeb comic. At the end of last issue, we find out that young James is the son of Wolverine. This issue we are visited by more Ultimate X-Men and their villains. I wish they would have marketed this more as the next Ultimate X-Men series from the start; it would have been easier to sell. Yes that is an X-Woman on the cover. I can't end this review without saying something about Arthur Adams' art. Over the years I've grown bored with his art; I felt it's declined from his heyday of doing X-Men annuals and the Longshot mini-series. But this is a return to form for him, the best his art has looked since those eighties X-Titles. He's put real effort into it this time and it shows.

Marvel Zombies 5 #1
by Fred Van Lente and Kano

I thought the Marvel Zombies idea was funny at first and with any Marvel property that has gained an explosive popularity, Marvel has run that title into the ground with mini-series after mini-series, each crappier than the last. So I wasn't going to give this new series a glance. But my minion Andy told me I needed too. Normally I do the exact opposite of what he tells me to do, even if it means my own bodily harm. You have to have principles, you know what I mean? But for some reason I did listen and I read Marvel Zombies 5 #1-- and enjoyed it. It's goofy as hell but it's a fun read. How can you go wrong with Machine Man (the human hating, beer guzzling version from Warren Ellis' Next Wave) and Howard the Duck (yes I said Howard the Duck) hopping dimension killing zombies? And this one happens to be in the old west. See what I mean! How can you say no with those ingredients.