The 7-issue mini-series isn’t the most interesting thing about Marvel’s Civil War event. I think what happens after Civil War will be more entertaining and interesting than the event itself. The whole Marvel landscape will be radically changed, and the status quo will be a world of uncertainty, just the way I like it.

With Marvel’s May solicitations, I find myself impatiently craving for the arrival of the post-war stories. Heroes will mourn one of their own after the events of next week’s Civil War finale. New heroes will enter the neverending battle through the 50-state Initiative. A new Fantastic Four will come in the form of the Thing, the Human Torch, Storm, and the Black Panther. The Hulk will finally be on his journey towards home, presumably to kick everyone’s ass. Two Avengers teams kick it to high gear. Nova, after the events of Annihilation, will come back home to a completely changed world. Plus a whole lot more. And that’s just for May. It’s going to be a good time to be a Marvel fan after Civil War.

And now, with SPOILERS included, this week’s haul:

52 #41: Nice to see Starfire having more lines and personality in this issue. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a great eye candy, but it’ll be nice if her complexity is shown everytime the story focuses on her and Adam Strange. Speaking of the space heroes, they are saved by a couple of Green Lanterns, one of which is a planet. Yes, Green Lantern Mogo is a planet. Imagine a planet wearing the Green Lantern logo. That’s just badass.

Ralph Dibny takes a wheel off of a cripple dude’s wheelchair while the dude’s still on it. Awesome.

Oh, and Renee Montoya hits on Wonder Woman. That’s just hot.

I give this 4 out of 5 space bounty hunters.

Astonishing X-Men #20: One of the perks of having a pull list at my local comic shop is that I get nice copies and, like with this issue, I get variant editions without me asking for it. The regular cover looks awesome though.

I can’t stress enough how I love Joss Whedon‘s writing. Sure, the over-all pacing of the story is kind of slow, but each issue is a real kickass page-turner.

This issue seems to be the birth of a new X-Man. Hisako wears one of Kitty Pryde‘s costumes. She impresses Wolverine, enough for him to want her on the team. I’ll take Hisako over Jubilee anytime. I just hope Joss lets her live after this arc.

I give this 5 out of 5 telepathic cups of tea.

Justice Society of America #3: That’s a pretty cover by Alex Ross. A fitting tribute to Maxine Hunkel‘s re-christening as Cyclone.

I greatly enjoyed the battle between Hawkman and the Fourth Reich. Kudos to Dale Eaglesham for the great art. Aside from drawing intense fight scenes, he also draws mighty fine women.

Sand enters the fray and he creeps me out. He sheds some light into what’s happening. We get to see the big bad in this issue, Vandal Savage. Groovy.

I’m dying to know how Wildcat‘s son can turn into a human-wildcat hybrid. That’s just too awesome.

I give this 5 out of 5 hits from Hawkman’s mace to the face!

New X-Men #35: Now here’s the last villain I expected to see this month: The Owl. With his appearance, X-23‘s ties with the Kingpin is explored further, which is awesome.

It’s so much fun to see the students and teachers of Xavier’s School interact. Surge threatens to sic Rockslide on the Sentinels, which Kitty Pryde interrupts by saying “Hey! X-babies! Knock it off and come inside.” Kitty’s so cute.

Poor sexy naked Mercury. After being tested upon by jerk scientists, she becomes a tool to enhance the already dangerous Predator X. I would assume that this monster will be facing off against the New X-Men next month in the final chapter of Mercury Falling. Predator X will probably eat all of them kids. Except for the hot nubile ones, I hope.

I give this 3 out of 5 x-23′s in school girl outfits.

Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #12: I have been reading comics for a little more than a decade now. I have seen a lot of the good, the bad, and the ugly in comics. I’ve only witnessed a handful of insanely funny ideas. If I had a top 10 list of those insanely funny ideas, this one would probably be at #1: a baby M.O.D.O.K. was created when a M.O.D.O.K. and a M.O.D.A.M. made sweet monkey love by the light of a rack of Worlds of Warcraft servers. Genius!

If I was drinking milk while I was reading this, I would’ve shot it out of my nose. That’s the kind of fun that I will terribly miss since this is Nextwave’s last issue. I would like to shed a tear, but I’m still finding myself snickering after finding out the identity of the main antagonist and why he did the stuff he did. Devil Dinosaur hates monkeys.

I give this 5 out of 5 random explosions.

Thunderbolts #111: After last issue’s slow start, this issue states what should be the obvious: the Thunderbolts are scary motherfuckers.

Seriously, whoever thought Jack Flag can escape these psychos is trippin’. Jack got beat up big time. Explosions courtesy of Radioactive Man. Roughing up courtesy of Venom. A sai stab to the back courtesy of Bullseye. And finally, insult to injury courtesy of Swordsman.

Aside from Mike Deodato drawing Norman Osborn as Tommy Lee Jones, I think the art is pretty and matches the mood of the story and Warren Ellis‘ writing.

I give this 4 out of 5 ways to manipulate the media.

I think I’ll go ahead and get the first TPB of Nextwave because it’s just so fuckin’ awesome. I mean, really. A baby M.O.D.O.K. in a pink hover chair. That easily makes Nextwave one of the greatest comics of all time! Or not.