New comics 7/7

House of M #3 (Brian Michael Bendis/Olivier Coipel, Marvel)
This is the issue that was going to "crack the Internet right in half"? Because Hawkeye shows up at the end? Man, how stupid is that? Not necessarily that Hawkeye shows up, because this is an alternate universe, and characters like Gwen Stacy who are dead and will, presumably, remain dead when things go back to normal, have already shown up, but that Bendis and Joe Quesada really thought this would drive fandom so crazy that it would metaphorically crack the Internet in two. I mean, the arrogance is just ridiculous. Either this is just a temporary resurrection of the character, in which case it's a needless baiting of fans, or it's a more permanent return, in which case it really cheapens the death that Bendis wrote only a few months ago. I didn't read Avengers Disassembled, so I can't say whether or not Hawkeye's death was a good story, but if Bendis has any conviction at all in what he's writing, he'd leave Hawkeye alone. That moment (and it really is just a moment) aside, this is another mediocre issue of a mediocre series that continues to be completely unexceptional. It's a decent alternate reality story with some nice art, but it doesn't make a case for its alleged overwhelming importance, and it's paced so slowly that it loses all sense of urgency.

Ocean #6 (Warren Ellis/Chris Sprouse, DC/Wildstorm)
Well, that was anticlimactic. After an extra-long wait, this finale is just confusing. There's a bunch of fighting, which is somewhat interesting, and then a bunch of stuff explodes and Ellis wastes like four pages with giant panels that show, um, stuff exploding. And then everything is somehow fine. I don't know. There was this whole build-up to how the creatures in the ocean were the savage ancestors of humanity, and then they don't even do anything. I feel like this weak ending syndrome has plagued many of Ellis' recent mini-series; they often start strongly and then peter out to nothing. This in particular was a big disappointment.

Y the Last Man #35 (Brian K. Vaughan/Goran Sudzuka, DC/Vertigo)
Vaughan has really been piling on the pathos for poor Yorick in recent issues, and in this one the supporting characters actually have to ensure him that not every woman he comes in contact with dies by naming specific characters who are still alive. The high seas story ends in a bloody fashion, and we get a potentially interesting new supporting cast member. It looks like next issue will bring back the Israeli commandos, which would be more exciting if I had a better recollection of what they did the last time they showed up.