"Van's Report Card"
A quick look at Marvel titles I currently read:

AVENGERS
"A"
Saying I've been disappointed by small things here and there with this series is sort of like saying that I'm disappointed that Mark McGwire's 70th home run last year only barely made it over the wall.

CAPTAIN AMERICA
"C-"
I had such high hopes. And I actually stuck up for Waid's second run on this series long after many of you started panning it. But the recent Skull/ Korvac issues have brought me to the point of dropping the series. Something must be done, and soon.

IRON MAN
"A-"
I'm enjoying what is the most intelligently-written Iron Man series in years. Something about it, though... I'm not sure exactly what, but it seems to be lacking some tiny little thing. It's head and shoulders above any IM issues since the early '80s, and I have the constant feeling that it could just get over the hump and become Shellhead nirvana, if only.... I don't know. If I knew, I'd say. But I'm still loving it immensely.

AVENGERS FOREVER
"A"
I agree with those who say that it should be even better when collected, or when the whole series can be read at once. But I'm enjoying the individual, albeit brief, snippets that we get each month. Something like this will always feel "too short" in each issue, simply because the story is so big. All I can say is, More Genis, More Kang!

THOR
"C+"
The art is okay but not to my taste (damn, I wish Thor would quit biting his bottom lip...) The story advances so slowly... I suppose I'm spoiled by how much Perez and Pacheco manage to fit on a page, and THOR, by contrast, seems awfully... light. I can read the thing in like four minutes. It has potential, and something keeps making me buy it (McClelland's Theorem hasn't kicked in-- yet!) But it could be much better.

BLACK PANTHER
"A"
I never imagined the Black Panther could be portrayed like this, or that such an approach could be so successful and so fun. This is probably one of my five favorite comics each month. Put T'Challa's quiet dignity in the midst of "Tarantino" chaos and watch him react (and the little State Dept guy, too). Great stuff.

DAREDEVIL
"B+"
I love Kevin Smith's writing but it's getting a bit much lately, and dragging on a bit long, and I've never been a big fan of this sort of art-- though I admit it works much better on DD than on most other characters/series. Almost an "A-."

THUNDERBOLTS
"A"
While AVENGERS has the characters I really care about, THUNDERBOLTS seems to have developed the *plot* I really want to follow. This whole series could easily (okay, maybe not so easily) be a loooong running subplot in AVENGERS. The fact that it's a separate series of its own, so that we actually get two full and interconnected Avengers-related issues each month (both from Kurt!) is just gravy. And I say again that IMO, the art has dramatically improved in recent months.

I may be forgetting something, but that's pretty much it, I think. Wow, FOUR "A's" and an "A-" and nothing below a "B" except THOR. This is truly a great time to be a fan of Marvel's characters, because, to a far greater extent than I can remember in many years, lots of them are being handled quite well.

--Van