piratescratch on the Marvel comics for the week of October 29th.

Amazing Spider-Man #575 - I really dug Bachalo's art back when he did that Mayan diety arc, I'm glad to see him back drawing for the new Hammerhead arc. Fun enjoyable issue, well paced, good writing and of course lovely art, definitely looking forward to next issue. Also jeez I really like the cover for this issue, I'd kill for a poster sized print of this (please Marvel please!).

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (35) - We finally get to find out who's behind the mask, Jackpot that is. Wow what an issue, what a dissapointing issue. Big revelation is that Jackpot ...
/SPOILER/OD's at the end, yep she just carks it at the end. Yeah what a way to kill her off. I know she was just some Brand New Day floozy but still I was expecting something more out of her character, dissapointing indeed. Issue ends with hints that Sarah might take up on the role as Jackpot./END SPOILER/

Avengers: The Initiatve #18 - Another jam packed issue. Back following the new Skrull Kill Krew and their Initiative team road trip taking out sleeper agents. I'm glad we're seeing some older graduates, Cloud 9 to be more precise though I must admit I do miss the naive strawberry panty wearing Abby that we got to know.

Giant-Size X-Men: First Class #1 - And we wrap up volume two of X-Men: First Class with a giant-size. Well this is one mediocre forgetful issue, evil plants and UFOs. The only thing I enjoyed out of this giant-size was the cooky Xavier short. Oh and please don't throw in some stupid Skrull secret invasion fluff at the end. Dissapointing end for such an enjoyable run.

Immortal Iron Fist #19 - Ahh always nice to see the other immortal weapons again. "Fat Cobra. Deadly. Fat." Brilliant writing or brilliant writing?. Other then that it feels like not much progress was made in this issue, we're left with a cliched cliffhanger.

Secret Invasion: Thor #3 - And with this we wrap up the Secret Invasion: Thor mini series. Story unfolded like any other Secret Invasion tie in but it's forgiven as Thor is seriously badass in this. I know the way they dealt with the super Skrull was extremely overkill but my god was it an awesome way to kill her off.

Secret Invasion: X-Men #3 - Boring. Ugly. Forgetful. Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four was my least favourite Secret Invasion mini series but this might take that spot. One more issue left for this, let's see what comes out of this.

Thor #11 - It's been how long since we've had an issue of Thor? Well it was worth the wait. Talking to Captain America, only JMS with Thor can pull that off without turning out like some cheap thrill. Oh and Thor walking down the side of a satellite, very cool. Once again another solid issue of Thor.

Wolverine: First Class #8 - Second part of the Zone of Alienation story. Typical First Class fluff here. This whole story was pretty average, I mean I liked that bonus short at the end more then this whole thing, then again I have a soft spot for Colleen Coover's art.

X-Force #8 - A bit more light hearted compared to the previous X-Force issues. Here we have the team hunting Vanisher which is quite a fun read, I really liked the hospital scene. Also nice to see Domino and I wonder if Elixir will end up staying as permanet or semi-permanent member of the team. I'm liking where X-Force is heading, sure the gruesome grim dark opening arc looked lovely but I must admit it was a bit hard to swallow.