Avid comic readers know there’s one undeniable truth to any crossover or event featuring Marvel’s merry mutants: prepare yourself for the worst and hope for the best. For every Age of Apocalypse there’s a Utopia, Necrosha or Schism just waiting to drag you down. Tentatively, I dove into last year’s X-Men: Battle of the Atom crossover to see which side of the fence I fell on; the initial fan feedback was divisive, to say the least.

A 10-chapter arc weaving through X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine and the X-Men and All-New X-Men and bookended by two one-shots; Battle of the Atom starts with the original, time-displaced team of X-Men deciding (arguing) whether or not they should leave the present day and return to their era. But why settle on past and present when you can have not one but two different X-Men teams from the future join in?

Welcome to the first edition of The Pull List Comic Reviews for 2010! This week both Blackest Night and Siege took center stage with numerous titles, but don’t worry as the Caped Crusader and the Wall Crawler make appearances, too. As always, WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

PULL OF THE WEEK:

Blackest Night #6 [of 8]
DC Comics – $3.99 US
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Ivan Reis
Score: 9/10

When we last saw our heroes, well… let’s just say that some of them were no longer heroes. As black rings zoomed towards the Flash and Green Lantern, their friends and allies who had suddenly switched sides surrounded them. Superman. Wonder Woman. Green Arrow. And so on. With the universe slipping precariously into a never-ending pool of black, a new group of Lanterns have risen to the cause, and you won’t believe your eyes when you see who they are.

I’m starting to think that Geoff Johns should have been a major league pitcher as opposed to a writer, just with the sheer number of curve balls he’s thrown at readers throughout this series so far. Clearly outdoing himself, Johns put together a new group of Lanterns consisting of some of the most inspiring choices to date. The story beats keep pumping along, making the rapidly approaching ending all the more bittersweet.

Artist Ivan Reis continues to weave his magic in this series. Classic speedster moments? Check. Glorious double-page spreads? You bet. Jaw-dropping panels for significant moments? Of course! All this, and a slew of costume re-designs for the new Lanterns, just in case you didn’t know that Reis is drawing at a level that’s almost peerless. The art in this issue, and the series overall, can be summed up in one word: unparalleled.

The fifth installment of this mini-series received a Pull of the Week and a spot on the Best of 2009 list, so I wasn’t expecting an encore performance with this latest chapter. Shame on me. Both Johns and Reis raise the bar once again, and let the record show that, if this upward trend continues, I might not survive the series in its entirety. For sheer comic brilliance – and Lex Luthor! – this was easily the Pull of the Week.

Just because Monday happened to be a holiday, those lazy postal workers made us all wait an extra day to get our comics. How dare they use Labor Day as an excuse? But the wait was worth it as there were a slew of great titles hitting the shelf this week including this week’s much awaited Pull of the Week: Kick-Ass #7. (Don’t worry, Marvel’s Models Inc. was a close second Matt) Make sure to let us know your thoughts on this week’s The Pull List in the comments section as well as other books we didn’t get to review this week.

Pull of the Week:

Kick-Ass #7 – Icon – $2.99

Score: 8.5

Well it’s about time someone said it. “Red Mist was a *expletive deleted*.” I never liked the kid or trusted him and the end of last issue proved why. Last issue, Kick-Ass and his partner Red Mist teamed up with Big Daddy and Hit-Girl to take it to the mob, only to be betrayed by Red Mist. As a result, this issue starts with Red Mist bashing his partner in the back of the head with the butt of a gun. Hit-Girl spells out for Kick-Ass why Red Mist betrayed him.

Spunky as ever, Hit-Girl tries to defend her beaten father only to be shot out a window by mafia leader John Genovese. And if shooting a little girl wasn’t enough, that’s when things somehow get even worse… like when Kick-Ass has to get interrogated by Bobby Bull-Buster’s shock treatment and yes, it is as brutal as it sounds. In addition, the issue gives the true origin behind Big Daddy before a few more astonishingly violent pages and ultimately the tag at the end reading “To Be Concluded”.

The only thing that I don’t like in the issue is hearing that this story is coming to an end. Yes, I know it sounds weird that I was fine with the little girl getting shot but the story feels so gritty and real for a comic book that I can let the adolescent violence slide. Every time you pick up Kick-Ass you forget it isn’t your standard superhero cape and tights story for just a moment. And then within the first few pages, someone is bloodied to a pulp and it reminds you that this isn’t Superman or Captain America in here. As much as someone can enjoy Mark Millar’s work on super hero stories with his work in books like Marvel’s Civil War, he has shown he shines in tales like Kick-Ass or Wanted.

Deadpool: Suicide Kings #5 – Marvel – $3.99
Score: 8.0

Don’t let the cover fool you, that’s not Zombie Deadpool’s head that Tombstone is holding. That guy’s only appearing in Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth for now. Instead of guest starring Z-pool, this issue picks up with the guest starring Spider-Man as he and Deadpool square off against the Wrecking Crew. (Side note: One small favor for writers working on the Wrecking Crew going forward, please have them stop mentioning they have fought Thor in every book they appear in. It just gets lame and repetitive, especially after everyone they say it to who isn’t a Norse god kicks their butts. ‘Kay. Thanks. End rant.)

Obviously physically undermatched to take on villains who have tangled with Thor, Spider-Man and Deadpool take a different approach and get by with a little help from the Punisher who has taken using past villains weapons to the extreme in this issue. As ridiculous as the Punisher looks in this issue, it somehow fits with the overall Deadpool tone. Deadpool takes off ahead of Spider-Man and Punisher to face off with Tombstone where he ends up getting his hand bit off Hannibal-style by Tombstone’s viscious pet pigs. From there, Deadpool sets out to prove why he called Tombstone a “Punkass gangsta wannabe”.

This book does a fantastic job of capturing just what people love about the Deadpool character. It is filled with his stereotypical wisecracks and uses the thought balloon conversations he has with himself in happy moderation. There isn’t any overkill from any of the style jokes that sometimes are unbalanced. One of the best “breaking the 4th wall” jokes of the past few years comes in this issue as it isn’t even Deadpool commenting to the reader but instead a reader being told to come down for dinner before it gets too cold. Deadpool also isn’t treated as a complete joke in the issue as well. He shows how intelligent and skilled a fighter he is and doesn’t depend on his wisecracks to get him through the encounter. He proves that he is the second best at what he does to Wolverine.

Pull of the Week:

Blackest Night #2 – DC – $3.99

Score: 8.0

As mentioned yesterday in Dave Press’ Weekly Comic Book Recommendations,  this was a big week for DC’s Blackest Night event between Blackest Night #2, Blackest Night: Batman #1 and Green Lantern Corps #39. A previous Pull of the Week with issue #1, Blackest Night #2 continues the eerie first chapter of this horror tale.

After Hawkman and Hawkgirl have been attacked and killed by the Black Lanterns Elongated Man and Sue Dibny, the Atom desperately begs for Hawkman to pick up the phone unaware of his fate. Over in Gotham, Commissioner Gordon stands atop the police headquarters next to the Bat-Symbol with his daughter Barbara awaiting sunrise before Hal Jordan lands on it as a result of his fight with Martian Manhunter.

In Amnesty Bay, Mera and Tempest, the wife and son of Aquaman look to move their king’s remains to the sea only to find the grave desecrated. Thinking they are witnessing a graverobbing, the duo along with guards from Atlantis are attacked by the resurrected Black Lantern Aquaman who has retained his control over the creatures of the sea as seen in a bloody attack on the guards.

Blackest Night #2 feels a lot like it is the part of a movie where the team is being formed. The foundation has been laid out in issue one and now the Black Lantern corps is being built. While the biggest reveals happened in the first issue, these other players are obviously going to be key components to the story moving forward, especially since writer Geoff Johns took the time to give so much attention to their Black Lantern reveals. A perfect example of this is Deadman who already appears in Blackest Night: Batman (which will be reviewed on tomorrow’s edition of the Pull List). Along with that, the two major fight scenes are great glimpses of just how powerful the Black Lanterns can be.