Here are a bunch of cheers and jeers from me, mostly having to do with this week's new releases!

There will most likely be some spoilers...otherwise, enjoy!

CHEERS to Jeff Parker's opening issue of X-Men: First Class, where even artist Roger Cruz is on top of his game, as Parker delivers an issue of the Invisible Girl teaching Marvel Girl some lessons, and seeing how the rest of the X-Men deal with the possible loss of their teammate. Well-written stuff, and Cruz has some very good moments, artistically, in the issue.

JEERS to Kyle as Parallax. It is especially weird as he's APPARENTLY in other Countdown related books as Ion, so, well, what's up with that? I mean, if it is just for this storyline - then cool beans, but as a longer term thing? Doooooooorky. Also, Superman Prime (I love that he's now SuperMAN Prime...hehe) as a Sinestro Corps member? Isn't that kinda, well, stacking the deck a bit TOO much? There's nothing inherently wrong with making the good guys seem like they are really screwed, but it certainly opens a writer up to a tough situation, vis a vis making the good guys win at the end.

CHEERS, though, to Ethan Van Sciver's artwork on the Sinestro Corps one-shot. Some of his better work. Also cheers to the cool scene where all the rings start looking for replacements. Eerily effective.

JEERS to the ending of Silent War, in the sense that it wasn't REMOTELY in tune with World War Hulk, which, you know, is kinda a big deal, no? How did no one think to coordinate the two books?

CHEERS to the inclusion of Traci 13 in Blue Beetle as the new love interest for the Blue Beetle. Very clever by John Rogers.

JEERSto the whole Monarch thing in Countdown (the whole Monarch thing, period). How ridiculous is it that this is now the SECOND time that a writer has come up with some convoluted way to make Captain Atom Monarch - all in some silly homage to a story THAT NEVER ACTUALLY EXISTED!! So silly. Almost as silly as Captain Atom all of a sudden talking like Doctor Doom.

CHEERS to John Rogers, also, for continuing with his appreciation for the Giffen/DeMatteis leaguers, with a really touching moment where Traci 13 references Ralph and Sue Dibney. Very nice artwork by Rafael Albuquerque, as well!

JEERS to the whole "Wonder Girl and Supergirl side with the Amazons" part of Amazons Attack. Will Pfeifer, please tell me that wasn't your idea!!!

CHEERS, of a sorts, to the backups in Countdown, where Dan Jurgens retells all the old Multiverse stories. It is pretty darn funny to read condensed versions of these old stories, because they come off as so ridiculously stupid. Hearing the plot of Crisis on Infinite Earths squeezed into a couple of pages is absolutely high-larious.

JEERS to this week's Invincible. This issue was some serious meandering, although with some nice character moments mixed in.

CHEERS to Kathleen Webb for a strong opening story in this week's Betty, detailing the things Betty comes across while cleaning her room. Webb does a cute story in the end, too, about past summer romances of Betty's older sister.

JEERS to Disney's Junior Graphic Novel of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. I was really interested in this project, in that I didn't know how they would manage to condense the movie into one graphic novel. The answer to "how they would manage" is "poorly." I cannot even slightly imagine anyone who was not well-versed in the film this is adapted from having any idea what is going on in the comic.

CHEERS to Jeff Parker for a cute story in this week's Marvel Adventures: Avengers, where the Avengers work with a group of villagers from another dimension to teach the villagers how to fend for themselves.

JEERS, though, to Leonard Kirk's artwork, which looked pretty darn rough. Maybe he just did breakdowns? He was listed as penciler, though...

CHEERS to Christos Gage and Andrea DeVito for telling perhaps the best issue I have read so far out of any of the crossover tie-in mini-series Marvel has been doing for their event books.

JEERS to the Hulk being impervious to stuff like telepathy. That seems like a reach.

CHEERS to Chris Bachalo's artwork in X-Men #200. Very nice job.

JEERS to the way the new Witchblade beats the bad guy in the latest Witchblade. She literally just walks into the bad lady's house, knocks her out after like, a half-page fight, then drags her out for her comeuppance. It was one of the most half-hearted resolutons to a plot-line I have seen.

CHEERS to Fabian Nicieza, for handling the removal of one of his main characters with style and grace.

JEERS to the X-Men in Ultimate X-Men being all, "All's forgiven, Nightcrawler!" Uhmmmm...dudes, seriously? He did and said some pretty effed up stuff!

CHEERS to Esab Ribic's sweet artwork in Silver Surfer: Requiem.

JEERS to Craig Boldman's opening story in this week's Jughead. He sets up a scenario (Jughead must win a burger-eating contest or else never return to Pop Tate's), and then fails to give the story a resolution! It was absurd!

CHEERS, though, to Boldman for the other two stories, which were much stronger, including a delightful final tale of the hijinx that occur when Jughead tries to partake in "one of the exquisite joys of summer," drinking from a hose!

JEERS to Robin Furth's lead story in Legion of Monsters: Satana. Wow, so Satana makes a promise with a mortal but ends up screwing the mortal over? WHAT A TWIST!! So silly.

CHEERS, though, to Kalman Andrasofsky's interior pencils. I knew he could draw!! CHEERS, also, to Jonathan Hickman's awesome art on the backup story in the issue.

JEERS to Humberto Ramos' artwork on X-Men #200. And it was an IMPROVEMENT over his past work on the X-Men, but it was still pretty poor.

CHEERS to Alan Burnett for at least trying to get Superman/Batman back on track with the latest issue, although I think, ultimately, it was a bit too disjointed. Schrocken was waaaaaaay too under-developed for a character shown quite often in the issue.

JEERS, too, to the name Schrocken.

CHEERS to Dan Slott's legal work in the latest She-Hulk. I think even my pal Loren will be impressed!

JEERS, though, to even still be addressing the whole "Did She-Hulk sleep with Juggernaut?" thing. People, we all get it, Chuck Austen-penned comics rarely make sense! Just feel free to ignore them!

CHEERS to Garth Ennis for this week's The Boys. The Tek Knight situation is hilarious, but by totally committing to the concept, Ennis is even able to elicit poignancy out of the situation. Very nice work.

JEERS to the coloring on the latest issue of Superman/Batman. The art could barely be seen at times!

CHEERS to the latest issue of Criminal. Another strong, character-driven issue.

JEERS to the same coloring issues on Thunderbolts. Everything is so dark and hard to decipher.

CHEERS, though, to the great work Warren Ellis has been doing with obscure superheroes in Thunderbolts. I love it when a writer does stuff like Ellis is doing here - honest, non-cynical, non-ironic superheroes. Classic stuff.

JEERS to not enough comics out there with Russ Heath artwork. This week's Iron Fist shows he can still bring it!

CHEERS, though, to this week's Iron Fist in general. A rip-roarin' good time.

JEERS to the opener of Endangered Species. Like the Endangered Species one-shot, it was pretty good writing, but it was just an entire comic of the Beast talking to people, about mostly exposition. Pretty darn weak as far as openers go.

CHEERS to Dave Finch's X-Men #200 cover. That was a great idea for a cover for a 200th issue.

JEERS, just because I haven't said this in awhile, to the name "Daken" for Wolverine's son. So lame.

CHEERS to David Michelinie's ability to work Scott Lang into comics without it seeming too dorky. I was always impressed by that. He never gave the impression that he was pushing the character on us.

JEERS, though, for Tarantula in the Bat-books. The pain of reading her appearances never goes away!

CHEERS to the Extremists getting their own mini-series!

JEERS to the idea of Captain Atom recruiting Lord Havok to be his top lieutenant. So Giffen's Justice League run just never existed?!?

That's all I got!