Big things are happening at the Nexus, and this week we talk a little about X-MEN FOREVER, CAPTAIN AMERICA #600 and a timely new crossover courtesy of Bongo Comics & THE SIMPSONS – but the one I wanted to really talk about this time was SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #200 – also, don’t forget I’ll be at the Eastville Comedy Club this Saturday night and I would love to see you there! But for now, come on in!

Think about it; we ALL have Morrison stories that we like, and Morrison stories that we don’t like, so really – what other factor could there be? When Grant Morrison is being reined in where he needs to be reined in, it’s like butter in four colors. When he’s not – say perhaps, he’s been paired with an editor who might be a little too starstruck to do his or her (most likely HIS)job, well…let me ask you this: y’ever tried discussing THE X-FILES with a stroke victim?

Neither have I, but I’ll bet you a Happy Meal that’s what it’s like.

Remember back in January when the news first broke that Spider-Man was being re-singled in the newspaper strip that I was stunned to learn was still in print in the first place? Well, looks like that experiment is over – Stan Lee decided to “bow to your letters” and reset Peter Parker and Mary Jane’s marriage! As much as I’d like to believe that people wrote to the strip in protest of this move, I’m gonna assume that Stan Lee woke up from a nap and remembered, “hey – I CREATED these two!” But thank Stan for small favors all the same. I’d also like to believe that Marvel was paying attention to what happened here, but I’m guessing there’s only the slimmest of hopes that this move will have the same effect on Joe Quesada that it did on Jim Shooter twenty years ago. Ah well – the average Marvel editor-in-chief lasts about ten years, so at least there’s that to consider.

*Checking watch* and wouldja look at that…

Since when does Spider-Man freak out just because he can’t see? KNEE-JERK REACTION THEATRE attempts to answer that question, and we also give props to a fine version of BATMAN: THE END this week on I’M JUST SAYIN’…

I think in this day and age, we as entertainment consumers in general have to accept that not everything we enjoy is going to last as long as we might like. So as much as some of us might’ve liked to have had Dan Slott on SHE-HULK even to this day, it’s better that we had him for as long as we did get, instead of not at all…

…but while we should be grateful for those comics that grace our shelves for just a little while, that doesn’t mean we can’t give a shout-out for those that deserve to be around just a wee bit longer than they will. For example, what about BOOM STUDIO’s THE MUPPET SHOW COMIC BOOK? This one’s only getting four issues, and if you’re a fan of the old TV show like I was, and have read either of the first two, you’re probably thinking the same thing I am: just FOUR?! Can’t we at least get twelve? SUPERMAN: BIRTHRIGHT got twelve issues, and that story DOESN’T EVEN COUNT!

This week is a decidedly non-human edition of I’M JUST SAYIN’…, as we give our props to turtles, robots, cats, mice and radioactive spider-pigs this week – also, I’m testing out a new sig and I’d like your opinion…c’mon in and get some of this, comic book heads! In the name of Stan, I command it!

Hi there folks, my name’s Ryan Andrew Brandt and I’m a friend of Greg’s, due to our mutual love of comics, writing, comedy and wrestling. I bribed him enough money – er, he was gracious enough to let me on here to discuss my thoughts on THE FLASH: REBIRTH#1.

In short: It sucks.

Heydi-hey, comic book heads! We’re here and we’re fashionably late with this week’s edition of I’M JUST SAYIN’……I’d tell you I was having another long week full of crap that kept getting in the way of my finishing up this week’s edition up until now, but the truth of the situation is that I sat on this one for a few days on purpose, just so Part Two of “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” would arrive ahead of SOMETHING. That’s me all over, folks – generous to a fault!

But I do wanna do something a little different; I’ve got a special guest writer for you this time around, as we are not quite done talking about THE FLASH: REBIRTH yet. But first, I wanna get a few things out there…

Now…what can we say about THE FLASH: REBIRTH?…you know how when you were a kid playing Little League, it was your turn at bat, and there were maybe one or two of your buddies in scoring position? And you can FEEL the moment, right? You want nothing more than to get one good pitch hanging right over the plate so you can send that ball screaming into No Man’s Land…but what you actually manage to do is send a dribbling grounder right into the first baseman’s waiting glove?

That’s what THE FLASH: REBIRTH #1 was – a slow ground-out to first.

The curtains to Knee-Jerk Reaction Theatre opens once more as we prep a spotlight for Iron Fist’s fellow Immortal Weapons, and perhaps a return of a certain Avenger on the horizon? Also – I’ll be opening for comedian Todd Barry on the 18th – come get some of this!

Maybe I’ll wait and see how Barry Allen’s return as the Flash turns out, before I start speculating on whether or not this is turning into a Geoff Johns thing. As it is, I’m this close to adding “Geoff Johns’ Paradox” (wherein the event is more entertaining as a hypothetical, than it is as an actual event) to my personal comic book lexicon, along with “The Bendis Approach” (wherein the premise from an event that’s at least seven years old is retold in the present day with thrice as many chapters) and NO GOOD REASON (self-explanatory at this point, but I’ll give you a hint anyway: it involves spiders.)

I’m getting the sense that aside from taking the mission of trying to restore the mutant population as he did to cure the Legacy Virus before, Henry McCoy will become the conscience of the X-Men during this trying time, and for the first time in a while, three of Xavier’s original class have some really interesting things going on with them. All that’s left is for Iceman to get him some of this action in a main X-comic and not just in a limited series like MANIFEST DESTINY, and we’d be all kinds of set!

Alright folks, we have reached Number 52 – or as Manolis called it, our Nexusversary here at IJS!

The first two FANTASTIC FOUR movies, while nowhere in the league of say, SPIDER-MAN/SPIDER-MAN 2, X-MEN/X-MEN 2, BATMAN BEGINS/THE DARK KNIGHT or IRON MAN, they weren’t the worst that we’ve seen, like THE SPIRIT, CATWOMAN, X-MEN 3 and – depending on who you ask – SUPERMAN RETURNS, DAREDEVIL,or HULK. It wouldn’t need much to make a better story – something similar in tone and/or approach to IRON MAN would be a smart move. Well that, and perhaps keeping the Mr. Fantastic/Doctor Doom relationship a little closer to the comics as opposed to that grotesque, almost Ultimate-styled revision.

Through some strange quirk of fate, it appears that we have made it to FIFTY ENTRIES here at I’M JUST SAYIN’…!

I don’t wanna make too big of a deal of this, but I gotta say when Manolis first asked me to start writing for the Nexus, I didn’t think I’d have enough comic book related commentary in me that I’d be here just about a year later. Actually now that it comes to mind, next week will mark my first full year writing this column, and that means I have been talking smack about Mark Millar’s tenure on FANTASTIC FOUR for…yep, just about a year! How about that, huh?

Before we get going, I wanna put a quick note out there – I will be a part of a standup contest in the Village next Tuesday, March 3 at a place called The Pinch Bar & Grill, on 237 Sullivan Street between 3rd Street and Sullivan Avenue. Showtime is at 9pm, no cover and no drink minimum. Just come on in and enjoy you some funny. Tuesdays just hang there in the week, too close to Sunday and too far away from Friday – may as well spend it drinking and laughing, if you ask me! Well, drinking, laughing and voting for me would be nice, but just sayin’, is all!

Mark Waid – the guy most closely associated with adding such layer and nuance to Wally West and the Rogues over in THE FLASH, the guy who gave us our last “definitive” run on THE FANTASTIC FOUR, the guy who wrote the kick-ass JLA story “Tower of Babel,” where Ra’s al Ghul stole protocols for taking down the Justice League from Batman’s computer, the guy turned CAPTAIN AMERICA into a political thriller a good ten years before Ed Brubaker…writing a Spider-Man story with a blatantly recycled premise. Why does that sound so WRONG?

There’s plenty of news from the New York Comic Con – that NEWSARAMA.com has happily compiled right here – and I gotta say, I’m a little disappointed that fans are not keeping Marvel’s feet to the fire with regards to THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN* and this period that should go down in comic book history as The Great Atrocity. My plan is to be at the conventions in both Chicago and Baltimore later this year folks, and I swear on my sainted grandmothers, I will be there with a sign if I must. Oh yes, I plan on getting thrown out of some places in 2009!

What looks to be the ultimate appeal of today’s Big Two mega-events is the volume of discussion and analysis they generate, and there is still plenty to discuss – and plenty of questions – about FINAL CRISIS #7. As a matter of fact, if you’d been checking in periodically on last week’s column, you’ll see that Aaron Glazer and I were throwin’ down pretty heavy over in the Comments section! Seriously Aaron, we gotta hang out sometime – throw back a few, debate some comics, debate some wrestling, throw back a few more, maybe get into a fistfight…it’ll be a blast!

Please forgive me folks, I don’t even know how this week’s entry is going to come off. As I write this, there’s been some big changes at the day job and despite the fact that I’m not even halfway through the week, I am feeling all sorts of wiped out. And it probably doesn’t help that, after reading FINAL CRISIS #7, my brain is now working overtime, so I hope this comes out somewhat coherent. So do bear with me; I promise you we’ll get through this together.