Grading the Comics- week of January 23

Well, it was a pretty huge comics week for me, considering I missed last week entirely. So here's what I thought of this week's crop of titles...

BOOSTER GOLD #6 - Booster teams up with three Blue Beetles to save the life of Ted Kord, against Rip Hunter's begging him not to do it. Um... okay, Booster and Rip have had their differences, but this seems awfully reckless for Booster (who was supposed to have earned some maturity lately). B

COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS 15 & 14 - Superthing-Prime is on a rampage, the Monitors are getting their butts kicked, Mary is not so Marvel-ous any more, Ray Palmer owns up to what he's been doing and Jason Todd gets a makeover. =sigh= At least we aren't getting more of Piper and His Dead Buddy or Jimmy Olsen Makes Out with a Bug. C-

CRIME BIBLE: LESSONS OF BLOOD #4 (OF 5) - Renee Montoya takes on Flay more directly in this issue, which is a change of pace. Disappointing. C

FREDDY VS JASON VS ASH #4 (OF 6) - Freddy's back and Ash gets to relive his favorite chainsaw-related memory, as Jason has his own blast from the past and doesn't get to do much hacking. A moderately Freddy-heavy issue. B-

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #17 - The lead story fell kind of flat for me, though the backup was better (and opens some intriguing possibilities). Split decision: C+.

MARVEL ZOMBIES 2 #4 (OF 5) - The zombies are back and mixing it up, but I'm not feeling it. Where the earlier miniseries was vital, this comes off as recycled and living off its laurels, which isn't what I look for from Kirkman. D.

NEW X-MEN #46 - The penultimate Messiah CompleX issue speeds up the action, with the kids taking on Predator X (with mixed results), as well as a looming showdown over the mutant baby and what exactly was in Mystique's head all this time. Pretty sweet. B+.

SHE-HULK 2 #25 - I'm dropping this book. F.

TEEN TITANS #55 - I'm pretty close to dropping this book too. D+.

ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #50 - The team gets back to NYC, which is encased in a cube-shaped forcefield. Reed's science fair project is acting up, and the Seed 19 team is back to fetch it for their boss. Plus Sue breaks up with Reed. B+.

ULTIMATE IRON MAN 2 #2 (OF 4) - Tony and Rhodey find that the US government isn't all that trustworthy and Obadiah Stane shows he really is the nastiest little supergenius-creep in the Ultimate U. B+.

ULTIMATES 3 #2 (OF 5) - Okay, if anyone can explain this book, I'll give 'em a buck. D.

UMBRELLA ACADEMY APOCALYPSE SUITE #5 (OF 6) - Haven't read it yet, want to do it all in one go when the series wraps. n/a

UNCLE SAM & THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS 2 #5 (OF 8) - Human Bomb's backstory, as Red Bee goes hardcore villain. Honest--she's a bad guy now. Plus the return of the original Ray. B.

X-MEN #207 - The end of Messiah CompleX has some major twists and turns, harking back to the team's glory days of the '70s and '80s. Honest, the book hasn't been this good (heck, this READABLE) in years. Major surprise at the end, too. A.