Considering the last story arc was so heavy, they decided to take a break from the angst and violence with this issue and give a few happy endings to some noteworthy people.

In “Comings and Goings”, Sonic and Tails head to the Zone to find a Chaos Emerald towake King Acorn from his coma.  Following that, Tails’ uncle Merlin uses the Emerald to rescue Tails’ parents from Argentum, the alien planet they’d been stranded on.  In the back-up story, the whimsicle “the Island of Lost Badniks”, Sonic dsicovers one of the original Dr. Robotnik’s secret islands where his Badniks would go for repair or retirement.  Sonic then faces Pseudo-Sonic, his very first evi doppleganger!

An upbeat issue to off-set all the depressing stuff that happened in the previous arc, though not ignoring those events (Sonic visits Tommy’s and Sir Connery’s graves).  Not any actual conflict in the whole issue, but it provides a breather.  The back-up story is the most fun, with Sonic finally facing off against Pseudo-Sonic who appeared waaaaayyyy back in issue #9 and was never seen again.  Done mostly for humor, but a fun story never-the-less.  We also get the return of the “Off Panel” comic strips, which they haven’t done in while.  Not the funniest stuff in the world, but it’s alright.

“Autumn Leaves”.  An excellent one-shot story, though it takes a few too many cues from the Ninja Scroll film.

Jubei happens across a woman working with the Tokugawa samurai.  They are trying to deliver a mysterious box to the Hoji Mountain temple when they are attakced by ninja.  Jubei saves the woman, only to learn that she is dying of a mysterious ailment, and agrees to help her complete her final mission.

The woman, Kaede, bears a few too many similarities with Kagero, the kunoichi from the Ninja Scroll film.  Still, what saves this story is Kelley Puckett’s perfect portrayal of Jubei.  Jubei’s just as witty as ever and gets in a surprising number of memorable lines for just 22 pages.  At least one good monstrous villain shows up at the end, though he is vanquished a bit too quickly. 

A really fun one-shot story, though I’d like to see a story arc, soon.

So the conclusion to the most epic arc of the entire Spawn run has come to pass.  Was the climax everything I had hoped for?  Yes and no, I’m afraid.

My one greatest fear was that the effects of Armageddon would be fixed with “the Big Reset Button”.  Sadly, yes, that partially is the case.  However, enough of the effects of Armageddon have remained to make things truly different.  The last pages also leave several naggign questions as to the future of this book (if there is any).

“Armageddon” has been the most ambitious storyline in the entire series and, honestly, more than what I’d hoped it would be.  While I’m not 100% satisfied with the conclusion, I remain impressed.  The epilogue next issue should be impressive.

“Unstoppable part 1”.  Finally, everything is really coming together.  All that stuff about Colossus and the Breakworld mentioned way back in the first arc of the series is at long last coming to fruition.  We finally get to see the Breakworld-itself and get an idea of the trouble it’s in.

Basically, the X-Men and their enemies, Ord and Danger, have been “kidnapped” by S.W.O.R.D. (an off-shoot of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and are being taken to the Breakworld.  Colossus is supposedly destined to destroy the Breakworld, and their ruthless military forces are willing to destroy Earth if anything bad happens.  Then everything explodes.

More of Joss Whedon’s snappy dialogue and plenty of Claremont-era nostalgia (only written well this time around).  Astonishing remains the essential X-Men title on the racks.

Jeez, I forgot I was even reading this book.  Well, the story is moving along at a snail’s pace, thanks mostly to it being a 12 issue miniseries set at a “bi-monthly” release schedule.  I can hardly remember what has happened.

Anyhow, “Ultimate Challenge of the Superfriends” still looks just as pretty as ever thanks to Alex Ross’ artwork.  The story is a bit convuluted; I found myself having to reread expositional inner-monologues over and over and figure out what the heck they’re talking about.  I’m sure, once completed, the book will read much more coherently.

As for the story, Brainiac has taken control of the Marvel Family and sicced them on Captain Marvel-himself.  Meanwhile, Sinestro has given Gorilla Grodd one of his yellow power rings and forced him to face a team of heroes.  While that’s going on, Dr. Magnus and the Metal Men forge armor for the remainder of the Justice League to protect them from Brainiac’s mind-controlling nano machines.

Thankfully, the fight between Superman and Captain Marvel is short.  I mean, it’s nothing we haven’t seen Ross do before in Kingdom Come, and that fight won’t ever be topped.  Ross’ designs for the JLA’s Metal Men armor look especially cool and that two page spread was one of the better parts of the issue.  Overall, this is still a title I’d recommend you wait for the trade paperback on.