Doomwar 2, SWORD 5

So I'm getting a little behind on all the books I want to review, and as a result I think I'm going to devote the next few posts to less in-depth reviews for books that (for various reasons) I don't feel capable of talking about at length. And I plan to throw up some stuff that's not review related in the near future, as well. At any rate, let's begin!

Doomwar 2
I haven't been following Black Panther at all, so it's tough for me to talk to much about this book. I'm familiar with T'Challa, but not so much the other characters associated with him or recent events in his book. As such, I'm a little out of my element in this series, but nevertheless I've enjoyed what I've seen so far. X-men I can handle, though; it's always fun to see Logan, Kurt and Pete out in the field doing what they do best, but I hope we get to see more of Ororo, she's a bit out of her element as the damsel in distress. Having not read Black Panther, it's not 100% clear to me if Shuri's bloodlust is par for the course or foreshadowing of something more sinister to come, but it seems to me that if Wolverine's telling you you're going to far, you may have a problem. It'll be interesting to me to see if this somehow results in T'Challa's eventual reclaiming of the Black Panther mantle. Eaton's art has been quite enjoyable thus far, though some of the action sequences can get a little muddled. The only thing that really bugged me was Doctor Doom threatening T'Challa's mother with a gun; has Doom ever held a gun before ever? He can shoot lasers out of his hands, but he's holding a Glock to a woman's head. At any rate, I'm looking forward to future issues, and I hope the rest of the series can keep up the pace these first two have set.

SWORD 5
SWORD, we hardly knew you. I think it's safe to say I loved this series, and I'm sorry to see it end prematurely. Gillen's writing has been superbly enjoyable, as he does "space cowboy" to a T, and his dialogue is quite amusing. I'm sad that we won't get to visit the more intriguing characters more in depth, particularly Death's Head and Unit. I was even warming up to Sander's art, long faces and all. This issue gives a solid send off to this splendid series; Henry Gyrich receives his just deserts (as usual), the Drenx are roundly thwomped, and half a dozen (literally) out-of-this-world Marvel characters get cameo treatment (particularly Beta Ray Bill). If you haven't been reading it, I'd strongly recommend picking up the back issues or TPB (if we ever see one).