Happy New Year! We're back after our lovely holiday break and ready to kick off 2012 with a bang. What better way than with an absolutely huge week in comics?

This week, DC Comics began to (once again) rewrite the origin of Superman in Action Comics #5, while also offering up a mind-blowing chapter of one of our favorites, Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette's Swamp Thing.

Over at Marvel, Brian Wood returned to the X-Men in a new Wolverine and the X-Men mini-series, while Rick Remender took another trip back to the Age of Apocalypse in Uncanny X-Force #19.1.

As always, we grade on a 20-point scale from 1-10, with a longer analysis for the most anticipated books of the week.

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Written by Grant Morrison | Art by Andy Kubert

"There comes a time in every Grant Morrison story when you stop reading and you go, 'Wait a minute, something's going on here.' A little later, you usually say 'Oh! So that's what it was all about!' Issue #5 represents the former for my experience with Morrison's run on Action Comics. There have certainly been many plainly marked pieces placed on the chess board earlier in the series, but, with Morrison's first chapter of Superman's origin story, we get a better sense of the scope of Morrison's run and the direction in which it will move." -Poet

Click to read the entire review!

Final Score:

8.0

Written by Jeff Lemire | Art by Travel Foreman & Steve Pugh

"Since its first issue, Animal Man has been a journey equal parts mesmerizing and terrifying. With issue #5 -- the final issue in the series' first arc -- writer Jeff Lemire continues to show why this series is one of our favorites spinning out of the New 52 relaunch, balancing a touching story about family sacrifices against the backdrop of a grotesque, horrific monster invasion." -Erik

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Final Score:

8.0

Written by Judd Winick | Art by Ben Oliver

"Holy crap. Judd Winick just goes straight for the jugular, doesn't he? The first two pages of Batwing #5 reach out and grab you by the throat while explicitly establishing David's motivation for becoming a vigilante hero. Batwing teams up with Batman here to run security at an event honoring The Kingdom as well, but, things don't go as expected." -Poet

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Final Score:

8.5

Written by Tony Daniel | Art by Tony Daniel & Szymon Kudranski

"Detective Comics #5 is a very disjointed beast. The book features two stories -- one twelve pages, the other eight -- that never cross paths and feel like they're getting in the way of one another rather than complementing each other. This makes Detective Comics #5 a strange reading experience that I'm having a hard time putting into words. It's not what I expected from the issue, and I definitely didn't put down the book feeling satisfied with either story, or my purchase as a whole." -Erik

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Final Score:

5.5

Written by Keith Giffen | Art by Dan Jurgens & Ray McCarthy

"If you were hoping to dive in deeper to Oliver Queen's world and character by now, keep hoping. Five issues in, there's nothing new to be learned about the man called Green Arrow that we didn't get at face value in issue #1. Instead, co-plotters Keith Giffen and Dan Jurgens throw another villainous obstacle in Ollie's way, making for some fun action sequences with a big brute of a bad guy, but leaving it there and never really attempting to push for anything other than safe, by-the-books, and oftentimes boring superhero storytelling." -Joey

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Final Score:

5.5

Written by Sterling Gates | Art by Rob Liefeld

"For any step forward this series seems to take, it apparently must take one back as well. Hawk & Dove #5 deserves credit for addressing what has been one of the major flaws of the series so far -- Hawk's poor characterization. By focusing on a scene with Hank and Dawn out of costume, the book finally offers a glimpse of Hank as something other than a raging, loud-mouthed buffoon. A book like this lives or dies on the strength of the dynamic between the two leads, and until now it's been pretty weak." -Jesse

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Final Score:

4.5

Written by Paul Levitz | Art by Marcus To

"As much as I'm enjoying this mini-series, at this point, it begs the question of why it's 6-issues long. For the past three, it feels as though Helena has only inched closer to her target, the hunt drawn out in a way that could have been condensed considerably. Regardless, at least writer Paul Levitz revels in the slow pace to indulge in the characterization of Huntress, both in costume and out. While the complexity of the plot still feels unnecessarily fabricated, at least Levitz takes a character-first approach to our lead character, despite my decreasing care for the situation she's involved in. By nature, we know that human trafficking is evil (at least, I hope you do), but the stakes haven't been upped since issue #2, giving the series an emotional flatline." -Joey

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Final Score:

7.5

Written by Dan Jurgens | Art by Aaron Lopresti

"In a vacuum, this series – and this issue – is a nice read. It's wholesome, dimple-cheeked fun of a Captain Planet sort that casual comic book readers of all ages can enjoy. The problem comes in that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense in the larger context of DC's relaunch or modern comic book zeitgeist. Huge chunks of the planet are flying into outer space and our only hope is a team recently and reluctantly pieced together by a bunch of countries that don't always like each other? Not likely." -Poet

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Final Score:

6.0

Written by Ivan Brandon & Patrick Scherberger | Art by Tom Derenick & Dan Green

"Ivan Brandon continues his look at Sgt. Rock and his small band of troops. The unlucky soldiers continue to find themselves pitted against superhuman combatants, in this case consisting of seemingly immortal soldiers dating back to the 19th Century. The juxtaposition of cold, hard reality and the larger-than-life elements of the DC Universe remains appealing. And if neither Rock nor his men are terribly deep, they remain endearing and sympathetic characters." -Jesse

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Final Score:

8.5

Written by Dan Didio | Art by Keith Giffen

"In O.M.A.C. #5, we get an extended look at two of DC's odd ball powerhouses throwing down with one another. O.M.A.C.'s nemeses employ Frankenstein in an effort to capture him, but Brother Eye executes a plan to turn the tables. As expected, there is much destruction of public property." -Poet

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Final Score:

7.5

Written by Gregg Hurwitz | Art by Szymon Kudranski

"Penguin: Pain and Prejudice was one of those little surprises I didn't really expect too much from. A mini-series delving into the psychology of Gotham's shortest citizen who also happens to be a crime boss? Okay, I guess that's cool, I'll give it a shot, I thought. But it took only one issue to really fall in love with what Gregg Hurwitz and Szymon Kudranski have created here. Some around the internet compare Penguin: Pain and Prejudice to Alan Moore's seminal The Killing Joke. I'm not sure it's there just yet -- there's still one issue left to go -- but I will say it's pretty damn entertaining (and depressing) in its own right." -Erik

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Final Score:

8.5

Written by Peter Milligan | Art by Ed Benes

"Krona's corpse has disappeared and Atrocitus suspects Bleez is responsible as part of a scheme to overthrow him as leader of the Red Lantern Corps. Considering the large cast, the extremist nature of their rage power, and the mysteries surrounding Ysmault, it is a shame that this title has become content with focusing on Atrocitus's increasingly irrational inner musings instead of one of those more interesting aspects. Those topics get addressed, sure, but readers are short-changed thanks to Atrocitus's paranoia." -Joshua

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Final Score:

6.0

Written by Scott McDaniel | Art by Scott McDaniel

"I've never been completely thrilled with the execution on this latest volume of Static Shock, so I was looking forward to issue #5 with equal bits trepidation and eagerness. This is the first issue to be both written and drawn by Scott McDaniel. Luckily, the shift in creative team seems to have worked out in the book's favor. Issue #5 is more readable than the preceding four because McDaniel addresses the overabundance of dialogue and exposition. Action scenes aren't quite so burdened with unnecessary words. Virgil is generally more likable than before, and the use of science to explain his various crime-fighting techniques is handled more elegantly." -Jesse

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Final Score:

7.0

Written by Paul Cornell | Art by Miguel Sepulveda

"We've come already to Paul Cornell's penultimate issue of Stormwatch, and still the team is in a state of flux. Cast changes are made alongside upheaval in the leadership. But if the book is taking overly long to solidify, many of the component parts make up for the lack of a cohesive whole." -Jesse

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Final Score:

7.0

Written by Scott Snyder | Art by Yanick Paquette

"It's getting harder and harder to review issues of Swamp Thing. Month in and month out Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette -- or whoever is filling in on art duties -- produce some of the most shocking, enthralling and entertaining issues hitting stands on any given week. If I had to describe this creative team with one word it would be "consistent." There hasn't been an issue of Swamp Thing yet that has disappointed, and that makes reviewing them all the more difficult. So thanks, Scott and Yanick, for making my job hard as hell." -Erik

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Final Score:

9.5