Comics Roundup for 1/20/10

I skipped going last week, as there were only two books out that I wanted. Here are those two books plus this week's haul:

Captain America #602 - I'm not entirely thrilled that there's a lame "Nomad" backup that brings the price of this book up a whole dollar, but considering that the main story is as good as it is, I don't mind too much. I'm guessing that while the Steve Rogers Captain America is going to play a bigger part in Siege, the Bucky-Cap is going to play a bigger part in the regular series. I'm fine with that, as the character has really grown on me. Also, I like that we're finally catching up on the third Captain America, the one from the 1950s who's a bit on the crazy side. Plus, it's nice to see Brubaker using some current events in this, and we even get a "Tea Party" rally with somebody holding the "no government in my Medicare" sign. (The villains are taking advantage of the discontent in the country.) This whole saga continues to be amongst my current and maybe even all-time favorites.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #8 - Another guest writer? It's a decent issue, and it's nice to see that Dustin Nguyen is still on board for the art, giving it a consistent look. Still, I was really into Paul Dini's current storyline. It looks like this will be a two-parter, so it'll be a little while until we get back to that. Oh well, not a big deal. Like I said, it's a decent story, plus I'm getting into the "Manhunter" backup storyline, so I wouldn't want to miss that.

Batman #695 - I was hesitant to get this one, as the last issue was a bit of a mess. This one was much stronger, and I need to sit down and read all of Tony Daniel's issues in one sitting. One thing is for sure, this is definitely some of his best artwork that he's done for this series. Why couldn't it have been this good when he was drawing Grant Morrison's scripts?

The Amazing Spider-Man #617 & #618 - They continue to bring back the old villains, with The Rhino making his appearance in 617 and Mysterio popping up in 618. The art in the Rhino issue was decent, but the Mysterio story, which will run for three parts, I believe, is being drawn by Marcos Martin, easily one of my favorite artists right now. His Spider-Man is a great blend of Ditko and Romita. Plus, his Mysterio captures the goofy awesomeness that is that character. I'm glad they didn't try to update his costume like they've done so many times in the past. Anyway, it's only somewhat clear how all this stuff ties together, but supposedly this series is building towards something pretty big. I'm sure I'll be there for the ride.

Spider-Woman #5 - Yup, still getting this one. I think that if it weren't for Alex Maleev's art, I wouldn't bother. I'll definitely say that the story picked up a bit in this issue though, and the last panel ends on a nice cliffhanger. This series seems to be a "one damned thing after another" situation with old Jessica Drew. That can be good, but it's difficult to keep up the momentum.

Dark Avengers #13 - I've never been that keen on The Sentry. I don't know why, he's a decent enough of a character, and his personality problems make him more than what he seems to be on the outside, which is simply a Superman clone. This issue shows that he might be even more messed up than we thought. I guess I'm a bit more interested. Also, Marvel recently announced that this series, along with all of the Avengers-related comics, will be canceled at the end of the whole Siege storyline. That sounds like the right decision to me, as this series especially won't make a whole lot of sense after that story goes down. I'm just pretty curious as to what they're going to do to replace them. Hmmm...