THIS WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS @ THIRD EYE 3/25/09

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NEW AVENGERS #51 - "WHO IS THE SORCERER SUPREME?" BEGINS New Avengers #50 left us wondering just when we'd see the big throwdown between the Dark Avengers and the New Avengers that Marvel's been promising. However, we got some exciting set-up story with #50, which apparently carries over into this week's new issue of NEW AVENGERS #51. The real meat and potatoes of what we're pumped about though is the beginning of the new WHO IS THE SORCERER SUPREME story arc that links in closely with DARK REIGN, and some of the events taking place in DARK AVENGERS (you think things are mystical in DARK AVENGERS for no reason?).          So, what's the scoop, you ask? Well, Doctor Strange has failed as the Sorcerer Supreme, and now every single friggin Marvel mystic character is lining up to claim the throne. This story is going to do for Marvel's mystic and magic characters what Annihilation did for it's cosmic characters: make them cool again. And, personally, we can' wait to see how it turns out. New Avengers remains one of our consistently favorite monthly titles here at Third Eye, and when you bring one of our favorite new Marvel villains of this past decade, The Hood, into the mix... then you know we're excited. After the big reveal that the Hood's mystical cloak is posessed by Dormammu, their relationship has become further complicated as Dormammu is pushing the Hood to take up the role as the new Sorcerer Supreme. Throw in a mess of interesting and diverse characters ranging from Wiccan to Ghost Rider to Dr. Doom, and you got your recipe for one of the best Marvel monthly arcs of the summer.         For a preview of NEW AVENGERS #51, click HERE. DARK REIGN FORECAST 3/25/09 DARK REIGN ELEKTRA #1REVEALS THE TRUTH BEHIND ELEKTRA! Secret Invasion dropped some bombshells about a lot of Marvel characters, but one of the biggest was the reveal that Elektra had been a Skrull for an indeterminate amount of time.  So, what's going on with the REAL Elektra? Where has she been all this time? How will Dark Reign impact her? It's a fresh slate with one of the most intriguing Marvel cult-classic characters of all time. Click hereto check out a preview of DARK REIGN ELEKTRA #1! MIGHTY AVENGERS #23 -THOR. IRON MAN. THE END OF THE WORLD? 'NUFF SAID! One of the best new directions for a title to come out of DARK REIGN has been the current run on MIGHTY AVENGERS. An interesting mix of heavy hitters like the Hulk and Iron Man with cult favorite second tier characters like Hercules, Vision and Jocasta has made this book into a fun read. The characterization is dead on (especially the bickering between Pym and Iron Man), and the storytelling has been bigger than life. This is one of those Dark Reign titles that we feel has been slightly overlooked by many in comparison to mega-titles like NEW AVENGERS and DARK AVENGERS, but folks, we're telling you.. Mighty Avengers kicks ass! Things continue to heat up in this issue, as the involvement of Thor and Asgard make things even more interesting. Click here to check out a preview of MIGHTY AVENGERS #23! WAR MACHINE #4 PAIRS WAR MACHINE WITH DARK AVENGERS ARES, GOD OF WAR! The new War Machine series has been seriously one of the coolest new series we've read. As fans of the character, we're really digging the heavy sci-fi/tech take on the character. And now as we come along to War Machine #4, we get to see just what's a bigger deal than calling ARES (of DARK AVENGERS fame) your enemy.... calling him your ally! Click here for a preview of WAR MACHINE #4! INCREDIBLE HERCULES #127 - Hera Aligns With Norman Osborn! The one thing that we love about Fred Van Lente's Incredible Hercules run is how he's able to seemlessly integrate Herc into the mainline Marvel universe without it affecting the overall story of the book. For those of you who aren't already reading Herc (why not?!), this title is one of Marvel's best kept secrets. Solid storytelling, witty characterization, and interesting looks at the pantheon of Marvel Gods, Herc keeps us coming back for more with every issue.  And now, Dark Reign falls on the Incredible Hercules. Hera has put together her own Dark Reign cabal of Olympian proportions, while forging business alliances with Norman Osborn. Sound awesome? It is. Check out a preview of INCREDIBLE HERCULES #127 by clickinghere. CROSSED #4 DELIVERS MORE DISTURBING TWISTS & TURNS IN ENNIS'S SURVIVAL HORROR EPIC! Garth Ennis, writer of THE BOYS & PREACHER, has bee blowing our minds with his disgusting new horror series CROSSED. Let me start off by saying: this is one of, if not the most, twisted comic books I have ever read. AND I'VE READ MY FAIR SHARE OF TWISTED COMIC BOOKS!  Crossed is Ennis's take on survival horror. Basically, it's like a zombie plague, but not quite... a disease infects people and strips them of every shred of decency they may have had. All that's left is a monster hellbent on inflictitng as much pain and misery as possible on the human race.  Unlike traditional "zombies", The Crossed, can still think, plot, and plan. This is what makes them such a deadly threat.  If you're a fan of horror comics, or just enjoy some severely twisted reading, then CROSSED is a must-read. We've still got plenty of all the issues in stock here at Third Eye, in case you're wanting to jump on. As for those of you who're already hooked, you know that no words can properly describe what's waiting in this week's issue #4 of CROSSED. Click here for a link to a short interview with Ennis about CROSSED.   MARK MILLAR (writer of KICK-ASS & OLD MAN LOGAN) rolls outAMERICAN JESUS: CHOSEN TPB THIS WEEK! Another one that we're extremely pumped about this week is Third Eye favorite creator MARK MILLAR (the man behind OLD MAN LOGAN, KICK-ASS, WANTED, & much more!) is rolling out his AMERICAN JESUS: CHOSEN trade paperback. This is a fantastic miniseries collected into trade paperback format for an exremely affordable $9.99 that Millar has said will lead into more Chosen stories.  Chosen is the first chapter of a 9-issue series Millar has been putting together. The next installment, The Second Coming, due out sometime later this year picks up on the big surprise twist at the end of the first arc. Why are we stoked about this? Well, first off, it's AWESOME. I read this when it was firs coming out a couple years ago originally, and it knocked my socks off. The ending of the third issue of this first chapter was like a punch in the throat. If I say anymore, I'll ruin it. So I'm going to shut my mouth. It's basically Mark Millar about a Midwestern kid in the '80s who finds out at the age of 12 that he's Christ returned on Earth. I know we're being tight lipped on the details, but this one is a dark, twisted look at faith by Millar, and trust us, folks. The first installment ends with one hell of a good twist which sets up the rest of the series just perfectly.  For more information on AMERICAN JESUS: CHOSEN v.1 TP, clickhere to read an interview wih Millar about the book. ........ BATTLE FOR THE COWL SPOTLIGHT FOR 3/25/09 COMISSIONER GORDON ONE-SHOT So far, we've been impressed with Battle for the Cowl. It's a return to straight-forward Batman awesomeness, which spans the entire cast of Gotham City.  This week, comes one of the tie-ins that we're actually extremely excited about, and that's the Comissioner Gordon one-shot. Lets face it, Commissioner Jim Gordon is one of the biggest badasses in the Bat-verse. He's been there forever, and we often overlook just how much of a foundation character he is for the Batman mythos. Over the last several years, Gordon has been fleshed out into a hardened old soldier that stands firm against the criminal element of Gotham City through thick and thin. And, this kind of character development has made Gordon into one of our big favorites here at Third Eye.  And this is why we cannot wait to check out this one-shot feauring Gordon holding up a city without a Batman, and how he deals coming face to face with the always sinister Mr. Freeze. Click hereto read more aboutBATTLE FOR THE COWL: COMISSIONER GORDON ONE-SHOT! ORACLE #1 - BARBARA GORDON RETURNS TO GOTHAM! After disbanding the Birds of Prey, Oracle has returned to Gotham, only to drop her Oracle identity. And it's here, in a city without the Batman, she comes face to face with the Calculator in his quest for the remnants of the Anti-Life Equation. Click here to read more about ORACLE #1! THUNDERBOLTS #130 - MAGNUM OPUS PT 2 OUT THIS WEDNESDAY! CONTINUED FROM DEADPOOL #8! What is slowly becoming one of the most popular Dark Reign titles? Thunderbolts! And, who is everyone's favorite Merc with A Mouth? Deadpool! So, when you take the two and put them together in one high-octane, kick to the throat storyline.. you know you've got something to look forward to.  Continued from DEADPOOL #8 *MAGNUM OPUS PT 1*, Thunderbolts #130 shows us that ol' Wade Wilson has the Thunderbolts in his sights, and man, are they ready to deliver a beatdown or what. It's pure carnage just the way you like it with a side of snappy one-liners from ol' Deadpool. Don't miss out on Thunderbolts #130, out this Wednesday! Click here to read a preview of THUNDERBOLTS #130 MAGNUM OPUS PT 2! RETURN OF THE KING PT 2 ARRIVES IN THE PAGES OF THIS WEEK'S DAREDEVIL #117 & LADY BULLSEYE OUT IN TRADE THIS WEEK! It's no secret we're big fans of Ed Brubaker's work here at Third Eye. He's given us our personal favorite run on Captain America, he's delivered two of the best crime comics we've ever read with CRIMINAL & INCOGNITO, and he's responsible (along with Matt Fraction) with the awesomeness that Iron Fist is now. And, that leads us to his Daredevil run which has been pretty friggin' solid. The book really started to kick into high gear with last year's AWESOME Lady Bullseye storyline (available this week in trade paperback), and now it's reaching extremely high levels of awesomeness with the current RETURN OF THE KING story arc.  We're pumped to see what the second chapter of this arc holds in store with the unholy alliance being forged between the Kingpin and Daredevil. Click hereto check out a preview of DAREDEVIL #117 *RETURN OF THE KING PT 2* MESSIAH WAR BEGINS THIS WEEK WITH CABLE/X-FORCE MESSIAH WAR PROLOGUE #1 The best X-Men storyline we've read outside of Whedon's Astonishing X-Men in the past few years was Ed Brubaker's Messiah Complex arc. This was a classic story that returned X-Men storytelling to what made the book great 15-20 years ago... diverse characters put into dynamic situations, and fresh, innovative looks at old villains. It kind of took us back to all those classic X-Crossovers (before they became totally played out into the mid-late 90s) we loved as kids.  The thing that sucked was after Messiah Complex went down, it felt like the X-Titles lost a lot of their momentum. They ran through a pretty lame duck storyline with Manifest Destiny (still haven't figured out if it was an event, a label, or what), and only had brief moments of awesomeness in the current UNCANNY X-MEN title (which has been great with writing by Brubaker and Fraction). In fact, the place where we've gone to get our X-Fix since Messiah Complex has been X-Force, which is in our opinion, the best X-Book coming out right now. And, it looks like Marvel agrees, because they're launching the SEQUEL TO MESSIAH COMPLEX out of the pages of X-FORCE. Starting this Wednesday with the Prologue issue, Messiah War, follows up on the events of Messiah Complex, and it promises to wrap up all those exciting plot threads that Marvel just kind of left dangling at the end of Messiah Complex. After Cable disappeared into the future with the child that could very well be the last hope of Mutantkind, or the Harbinger of it's APOCALYPSE, Cyclops is sending X-Force to bring him in and find out just what the heck is going on.  Click here for a full preview of X-FORCE/CABLE MESSIAH WAR PROLOGUE.  WAR OF KINGS WATCH: NOVA #23, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #12, ANDWAR OF KINGS DARKHAWK #2 ALL HIT THIS WEEK! The War of Kings has been really heating up, and it got off to a great start in the pages of last month's WAR OF KINGS #1. Speaking as a guy who NEVER got into the Marvel cosmic characters until they were re-invented with ANNIHILATION, I have to say that I'm extremely impressed with how Marvel has made these characters not only relevant, but fresh and exciting. If you told me ten years ago that Nova, Guardians of the Galaxy and Darkhawk would all be books I was extremely excited to read... I'd have said you're kidding, but... they really have become big fixtures in my monthly reading.  So, this week, you can expect some great cosmic high adventure all tying into the War of Kings epic in the pages of WAR OF KINGS DARKHAWK #2, NOVA #23, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #12, andX-MEN KINGBREAKER #4