Comics Roundup for 6/13/12

Batman #10 - Holy crap, but this was good stuff.  Scott Snyder is writing stuff that's just as epic as Grant Morrison's, but without the trippy, somewhat confusing aspect.  Anyway, there's a big reveal in this one, as we find out who's been behind all the Court of Owls shenanigans in Gotham City, and it's a pretty good surprise.  While much of this is due to Scott Snyder's writing, much of the appeal is from Greg Capullo's art - in particular, his layouts and storytelling skill.  I remember years and years ago Capullo did a column for Wizard where he explained how to draw comics, and he would often focus on that aspect of the art, which was ironic because you didn't get to see him utilize those skills all that much while he was drawing Spawn.  I guess he got a pretty hefty paycheck for those books though.  Anyway, I hope that this is a team that will stick around for some time.

Batman and Robin #10 - Between Batman and the recently relaunched Batman Incorporated, it's kinda easy to forget that this is also an awesome Batman book.  Peter Tomasi's stories haven't disappointed yet, and we get another good setup with this one, as Damien Wayne, the current Robin, challenges all the former Robins in a determined effort to prove that he's the best of the lot of them.  Tomasi is really doing something great with Damien in this book, and it was hard to believe that somebody other than Grant Morrison could pull that off.

Captain America #13 - Nothing too special here, but it's a solid entry in a pretty engaging storyline involving a new Scourge of the Underworld.  Patrick Zircher's doing some pretty good artwork here.

Batgirl #10 - I always rave about this Bat-book as well, even though it's not about the original Bat-character.  This was another solid issue - not quite as Earth-shattering as the first storyline, but Gail Simone manages to introduce a pretty nasty set of despicable villains.

Green Lantern #10 - As always, there isn't much interesting to say, as we basically just have another solid installment of a great series.  The Indigo Lanterns who represent empathy?  Yeah, turns out they're all a bunch of psychos, and the lantern basically acts as therapy/recovery for them, which explains why Black Mask joined their ranks.  However, he managed to get out, die again, and once again become a Black Lantern.  Oh boy, not those guys again!  Looking forward to what comes next.

The Amazing Spider-Man #687 - This is a pretty good wrap up to the "Ends of the Earth" storyline.  Supposedly, somebody's dead at the end, which is hard for Spidey, who recently swore that "nobody dies" under his watch.  Somehow though, I doubt that this death will be permanent.

The Avengers #27 - They're definitely doing a good job of weaving stories within the larger story of Avengers Versus X-Men, and this issue was another good example of that.  This story deals with The Protector (lame name) whose loyalties are split between protecting The Earth and what the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree wants.  About time they did something interesting with him.

Avengers Assemble #4 - Seems like the even numbered issues are more interesting than the odd ones.  I wonder what will happen to this series when Bendis leaves the Avengers books?  It feels a bit perfunctory, but it's always good to see Thanos up to his old tricks.

Spider-Men #1 (of 5) - I'm REALLY far behind when it comes to the Ultimate comics, and I haven't even read anything with the new Ultimate Spider-Man, Miles Morales.  I was tempted to just wait for the trade on this one, but I was a bit too curious to just pass it up.  So far, we have a pretty good setup, and I'm eager to see where it goes from here.  (The two Spider-Men don't meet until the last page.)

What am I passing up?

I haven't picked up any of the Before Watchmen books, not because I'm protesting them, but it's just too big of a commitment to get seven new books a month right now.  I'll probably gradually pick them up once they're all in collected editions.