Comic book review roundup (slight spoilers)

1. The New Avengers: Powerloss by Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen: Every few years I forget how much I dislike Bendis's writing, and start to feel an urge to catch up with the Marvel Universe's major team. Well, consider me reminded, and mystified as to this guy's success. Moments after finishing the collection, I couldn't remember a single noteworthy moment or line of dialog. Immonen's art is solid, but wasted. Please team him up with someone who knows how to make use of his skills. Available for $8 used at B&N, which sounds about right.

2. Uncanny X-Force: The Apocalypse Solution by Rick Remender, Leonardo Manco and Jerome Opena: I'm totally out of touch with anything that's happened to the X-Men since Whedon and Cassaday, so I have no idea why Archangel can sometimes look like regular Angel, and why Apocalypse looks like a regular little boy. But so what. This was a lot of fun. It's the perfect mix of classic X-Men soap opera drama and fast paced (and beautifully illustrated) action. I especially liked the new Horsemen of the Apocalypse. $13 at B&N and well worth it.

3. The Nobody by Jeff Lemire: Fine, I guess. I'll probably try other books he's written since I hear so many raves about him. But this one was definitely not worth the $15 cover price. $7 used at B&N.

4. Human Target: Chance Meetings by Peter Milligan, Edvin Biukovic, and Javier Pulido: The plot's a little darker than I like, but the art by Biukovic and Pulido has a sort of lightness that prevents the story from being too disturbing. Biukovic was one of my favorites during his brief career, and I highly recommend everything he's drawn, especially Grendel Tales: Devils and Deaths. Chance Meetings is $7 used at B&N. Devils and Deaths is less than $4 used.

5. Secret Six: The Reptile Brain by Gail Simone, Paul Cornell, J. Calafiore, Pete Woods, Marcos Marz, and Luciana Delnegro: Obviously I didn't like New Avengers: Powerloss, but at least it was a coherent story. This comic was so poorly told that I thought it was missing panels or even pages. On the positive side, the covers by Dan Luvisi were kind of nice, in a sterile, digital manner. Available at B&N, but not worth it at any price.