Comics: 7th August 2013

- All New X-Men #15

- Written by Brian Michael Bendis

- Art by David Lafuente

Love is in the air and it's not who you would have expected.

Bendis seems to be having a lot of fun with the teen X-Men and is writing them as true teenagers too. Full of emotional turmoil and reckless abandon. This issue features kissing, trips to the fair, and breaking things. Can't get much more teenage than that.

With the Battle of the Atom cross-over event looming, this is probably the calm before the storm. Weather-storm might I add, not Storm-the-X-man. And with future X-teams confronting current and past ones, it's going to make writing this thing an even bigger pain in the arse.

Thanks, Bendis.

- The Manhattan Projects #13

- Written by Jonathan Hickman

- Art by Nick Pitarra

I don't know if it's the cold I have, or the crappy day job I've got, but something has me particularly cranky today as I write this. I mention it, as my disposition may be affecting my feelings towards these comics.

I just couldn't care less about this issue. It was such a transitional story. Maybe it's because I don't care too much about the characters. They're mostly horrible people. Maybe it's because the madness of previous issues has desensitized me. Who knows.

I will point out though that I didn't expect to see JFK doing lines of cocaine off the oval office desk. That's something worth paying for, right?

- Avengers #17

- Written by Jonathan Hickman & Nick Spencer
- Art by Stefano Caselli, Marco Rudy, & Marco Checchetto

Here's another one that bored me this week. Nothing is happening. Nothing interesting anyway. I feel like they're killing time before this Infinity cross-over begins.

Actually, I tell a lie, it wasn't all boring. Our bad-guys from the start of the series have been invited to be Avengers in hopes of battling the-thing-that-we-don't-know-what-it-is-or-even-if-it's-really-coming-but-apparently-something-is-happening-so-we-have-to-be-ready-for-whenever-that-might-be.

I'm all for foreboding and impending threats but I think this one has gone on too long. Especially with the doom and gloom in Hickman's New Avengers too. Can't we just fight the bad guy now?

- Satellite Sam #2
- Written by Matt Fraction
- Art by Howard Chaykin

This comic at least has some stuff going on.

The title character is dead, or at least, the actor who plays him is dead. His alcoholic son has found hundreds of sexy photos of ladies in their underwear taken by Sam in his apartment. The show, which Sam is the lead character in, is in a state of flux now that he has died and the station is on the edge of oblivion. And everyone is trying to look out for themselves.

Drama! Intrigue! Sexy underwear! This is how you keep my attention. (You don't even need the underwear, if I'm honest, the first two is fine).

One negative I would give though is that Chaykin draws his men to look very similar to each other and with a black and white comic, it makes distinguishing characters difficult. A pet peeve of mine.