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Well, that was a bit of an uneven week.

First off, the good. And the best, in my opinion, was Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1. Honestly, could you have asked anymore from this first issue? Immediately we're given a super quick recap of how the Baxter Building got to the Negative Zone, explained why Sue and Reed weren't present (which, by the way, a Skrull with Sue's powers?!?), and laid the cards on the table with who Ben and Johnny are up against.

And, while I am a little surprised by how crazed the baddie responsible looks here, it still has the makings of a very good tie-in side story to the "Secret Invasion" mothership. If you're a fan of Marvel's First Family, pick this series up.

X-Men Legacy #211 was also pretty good, as Xavier is out on his own for the first time and beginning to rediscover his life. Again, Mike Carey does a terrific job of only giving the readers bits and pieces of the story, keeping us just as confused as Charles is. What is he trying to discover in the end? Xavier himself probably doesn't know, so why should we?

The only downside was the appearance of a certain someone at the issue's end. I wish this guy would just go away.

From there, we got a whole big bag of "eh." Batman #676 kicked off the "Batman R.I.P." storyline, although the whole thing just felt like a precursor to the big show. We got plenty of possible foreshadowing, with Tim voicing concerns about Damien and the new lady love in Bruce's life, and we get to know Black Glove a little better as well, but overall, this isn't so much the first chapter of the story as much as it is an introduction.

Green Lantern Corps. #24 was equally indifferent. I love the setup to this one, with a cadre of Lanterns trooping down to a planet full of Mongol's Black Mercys ... but nothing quite works as well as it could -- especially with slightly confusing art from Patrick Gleason. The only part that really piqued my interest is Mongol's new plans for his Black Mercys... they don't exactly grant wishes anymore!

Lastly, Booster Gold #9 was decent, but it felt a little rushed, especially after how stalled the story has been over the last two issues. It was pure geek joy to see the Justice League International together again, and Batman provides a great moment as well, but the situation with Max Lord is just resolved a little too fast in my opinion. After how Lord has been played up as the biggest baddie, I would have liked to have a bigger battle before he is taken out of the picture. Instead, it's simply on to the next threat -- a great threat, no doubt, but still, not what I was looking for.