Happy Canada Day holiday folks. I hope everyone had a wonderful Canada Day yesterday. The weather here in the Nation’s Capital was beautiful. Penny and I made the drive downtown to watch the fireworks display last night. It was worth losing a couple of hours sleep to be in the crowd oooing and ahhhing.

We will be open for business today if you need something to read. I’m glad I’m at work actually, because we’re having some minor renos done at the house and our contractor Keith (not The Comicshop’s Keith) is starting work today.

The Silver Snail Ottawa staff got to see “The Amazing Spider-Man” movie last Thursday and reports that they all liked it. They say it is even worth the extra ticket price to see it in IMAX 3D when it opens this week.

Hit-Girl #1 – If truth be told, then Mindy McCready AKA Hit-Girl was the real star of the two Kick-Ass minis. I’m glad that W-Mark Millar and As-John Romita Jr. and Tom Palmer have given her a 5-issue mini of her own. This story takes place between the two Kick-Ass minis while Mindy tries to adjust to a normal teenager’s life after her father Big Daddy was killed. Not to worry Kick-Ass fans, there will be plenty of mindless mayhem as Mindy dons her Hit-Girl costume to fight the mob.

Before Watchmen: Nite Owl #1 – I haven’t seen W-Michael Straczynski’s name on the racks for a while and here he is teaming up with father and son As-Joe and Andy Kubert on this 4-issue mini. The line-up of good writers and artists involved in all of the Before Watchmen minis is impressive but I think that fan interest is ultimately going to depend on how interesting they make each character. I would rank this number three of the four minis out so far because I felt that they cheated by using Nite Owl’s relationships in the Watchmen as plot points.

Fatima #1 – W&A-Gilbert Hernandez brings his curvy zombie killer to the racks in this 4-issue mini. Many zombies die, again. If this comic book were in colour it would be bleeding red ink.

Spider-Men #2 – Wahoo...this is freaking awesome. Please please please read this comic book. I guarantee you’ll have fun and see what I see whenever I read a great W-Brian Bendis book. He makes all this crazy stuff make sense and A-Sara Pichelli makes this book look beautiful. Second printings for this issue and #1 have already been announced but Silver Snail Ottawa has plenty of first printings left and we will never jack up the price.

American Vampire #28 – W-Scott Snyder starts his six-part “Black List” story in Hollywood with the return of an old foe for Pearl. Senator Joseph McCarthy’s hunt for communist sympathisers had nothing on this.

Hypernaturals #1 – BOOM STUDIOS launches their version of the Legion of Super-Heroes with this Sci-Fi super hero book. Who better than the writing team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning to come up with a new futuristic universe for our reading pleasure. So if you’re tired of Brainiac Five et al, then you should hyper drive on over to this new DnA series.

Amazing Spider-Man #688 – Hey look, it’s the Lizard. Isn’t he the villain in the new Amazing Spider-Man movie opening on July 6? What a coincidence eh. W-Dan Slott starts “No Turning Back” with Spidey and Dr. Morbius turning Dr. Curt Connors back to human from his blood-thirsty lizard alter ego. Little do they know that the change is superficial. As-Guiseppe Camuncoli and Klaus Janson sure know how to make scary faces. I don’t know why they lightened Peter’s hair. Any blonder and I would have taken him for Johnny Storm.

Justice League #10 – This issue made me go from meh to whoa to sad. W-Geoff Johns introduces the super villain Graves but Jim Lee’s pencils are looking a little loose so the impact was way subdued. The Black Adam reveal by A-Gary Frank however got a charge out of me. The last page is a loving tribute to one of my favourite childhood artists Tony DeZuniga, who passed away recently.

Resident Alien #2 – It’s not the murder mystery that I find exciting about this story, it’s the possibility that the alien’s true nature will be discovered by the locals. The small town setting is perfect and I’m rooting for this E.T. to get back home too.

Reset #3 – I wonder where all the Peter Bagge fans went? This is great stuff but they’re just sitting on the racks.

Whispers #3 – Sam comes up with a way to kill two birds with one stone. Waiting over two months between issues is agony though.

Fatale #6 – It’s the start of a new story as Josephine hits Hollywood.

Aquaman #10 – Boy, I zipped through that in about 3 minutes. I appreciate DC keeping the price at $2.99 but you sure don’t get much in the way of story in each issue.

All Star Western #10 – Jonah Hex continues his fight with the Court of Owls in Gotham City but the highlight of this issue was the Bat Lash back-up.

Wolverine & the X-Men #12 – Here’s an AVX cross-over that you should read. This issue adds new combatants to the fight.

Uncanny X-Force #15 to #25 – These are not the mutants that I know and love so I’m benching this book until something interesting to me happens.

Wonder Woman #4 to #10 – I like this dysfunctional Pantheon. I’m going to hang around until the kid is born and decide if I like what I see then to continue reading.

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