Taskmaster #1- Thank god for Fred Van Lente. Someone who can actually tell a fun, humorous, action packed story and actually make you feel like you got your $3.99 worth? Very few of those guys in the industry right now. If you’re a Taskmaster fan, then you’ll be happy with the treatment here. It’s a good concept and a great execution. If you’re unfamiliar with the character, then this is a great jumping on point as well. Seriously, worth checking out. A-

Nancy In Hell #2- Man, Emo Lucifer sure is emo. While I’m continually impressed bu Juan Jose Ryp’s consistent level of detail and his ability to maintain a schedule, I would like to really see him do something better than this. The scripting just kinda meanders around and attempts to make this biblically epic yet clever and a good turn on normal Horror conventions, and by the end of it you’re pretty much just waiting for it to be over and trying to enjoy the art in the meantime. I will say it’s a fairly dense read for 24 pages and it’s priced decent at $2.99. C+

Freedom Fighters #1- Palmiotti and Gray can turn a good superhero story, even though in the longterm all of their Freedom Fighter stories have been kind of superficial for me. I have a hard time really giving a crap about the characters, and combined with the in-house style of art that really doesn’t stand out and the series almost feels lackluster. The actual plot though is intriguing and I enjoy seeing the team step up their game and take on planetary threats with ease like in the start of this issue. I think if the creative team can just knock it up a notch and work on characterization a little then they could really have something here. B

Marvel Universe VS The Punisher #3- This issue didn’t do much to redeem the series for me after the last issue, but I will say I absolutely love Goran Parlov’s art. I’m pretty much ready for normal zombies and crazy plague zombies to take a vacation for at least a year now.C

Thor For Asgard #1- My, what a mighty phallic cover that is. Anywhos, I was expecting Simone Bianchi’s are to ignore the living hell out of me in this but he’s stepped up his game. No useless layouts! You can actually tell what the hell is going on! And it’s pretty at the same time! I enjoyed Robert Rodi’s Loki series a couple years back, so I figured he could churn out an interesting alternate take on the mythology and it looks like he’s right on track to deliver a good story. This actually is a nice package and worth the $3.99. A-