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The books I picked up this week were DC Universe Holiday Special 2010, Incredible Hulks #618, Invaders Now #4, Red Robin #18, Star Trek: Khan Ruling in Hell #3, and Widowmaker #1.

The Good

Incredible Hulks #618– Penciller Paul Pelletier joins writer Greg Pak on this issue. I’m not familiar with his work, but like what I saw. Team Hulk is returning to Earth receives a message from Doctor Strange informing them (and the reader) of the events of the Chaos War. The Hulks land in New York and are attacked by Demons and the newly returned (and augmented) from the dead Abomination. I won’t give away the cliffhanger, but I didn’t see it coming. The only thing that sucks about this issue is that it’s a Chaos War tie-in.

DC Universe Holiday Special 2010– Six tales to spread the holiday cheer. I remember when it used to be called the Christmas Special. The Jonah Hex, Superman, John Stewart, the Spectre, Legion of Super Heroes, and Anthro were the stars. I liked it overall, the only exception being the Anthro story. The best (IMHO) were the Jonah Hex and Superman stories. I would recommend this book if you want to get in the holiday spirit.

Invaders Now #4– The Invaders are trying right a wrong back from their days in World War II. With the help of Marvel’s brightest scientific minds and a little magic, the team may have the way to break the spell that is over the small village. The only thing that stops them is Arnim Zola and…the demon Shuma-Gorath! I’m digging the classic team being back together. I hope they stay together after this mini-series is over.

Red Robin #18– I’ll just come out and say it, I love the writing of Fabian Nicieza and glad he’s writing Tim again. Red Robin is in Russia investigating Viktor Mikalek, a Russian executive of possible ties to the Society (of Secret Villains). Money-Spider is also investigating the Unternet, a communications grid for villains. It’s great to see Red Star again, acts like Batman. Tim (in civilian identity) meets with Mikalek regarding his Neon Knights project when a female terrorist (?) bursts in swearing that Mikalek will answer for his crimes against the people. Red Robin tracks the “terrorist” down and hears her side of the story when Red Star appears. Let me just say something is wrong in Denmark, or actually Moscow.

Star Trek: Khan Ruling in Hell #3– The chronicles of Khan Noonien Singh and his small army of superman marooned on Ceti Alpha V by the crew of the Enterprise in the classic story Space Seed continues. In this issue, they are trying to survive the effects of the destruction of Ceti Alpha VI. An opposition group has formed against Khan’s leadership and his belief that Captain Kirk and crew would return to save them. Crewmembers have died due to creatures that live underneath ground but have surfaced searching for food. Joachim, Khan’s right hand man studies them and realizes that before the madness and death the victim is susceptible to mind control. Meanwhile, the opposition group, led by Tamas has kidnapped Khan’s wife McGivers and places a creature in her ear to control her with orders to kill Khan. The attempt fails and she goes mad and dies soon after. Everything is setup for a huge battle in the next issue. Scott and David Tipton do a great job of capturing Khan’s voice that I can almost hear Ricardo Montalbán speaking. I’m not thrilled with the art by Fabio Mantovani, but it doesn’t really affect my reading enjoyment.

The Not So Good

Widowmaker #1– To be fair, this was more of a “meh.” I wanted more out of this start of the Hawkeye/Mockingbird/Black Widow mini-series. Hawk and Mock are investigating the murders of several spies and find out that Mockingbird is on the list. The trail leads them to Russia and the Black Widow who chastises them for not questioning the source of their information. Their investigation is interrupted by the Supreme Soviets who capture Hawkeye because the leader who’s behind the murders is using the Ronin identity. If you remember, Hawkeye was using that identity when he came back from his self-imposed exile. I wanted to like this story more than I did. Jim McCann wrote the story (also wrote the short-lived Hawkeye and Mockingbird series) and the art was by David and Alvard Lopez. Don’t know if I’ll try issue two. We’ll see.