The tendency with any Batman-related crossover these days is for one writer to tell the actual story and all the other writers to be saddled with pointless, superfluous tie-ins. Death of the Family is proving to be no exception so far. Suicide Squad #14 has more direct connection to the event than the first issues of Batgirl or Catwoman did, but it still does a poor job of either adding something meaningful to Death of the Family or furthering its own plot threads.

This issue is bookended with Harley Quinn-centric scenes as Adam Glass explains what happened to her immediately before and after her appearance in Batman #13. If that information sounds inconsequential, that's because it is. Glass doesn't add anything new to the Joker/Harley relationship during their interaction besides re-establishing Mister J as very much the abusive husband. In between these scenes, the script visits each surviving member of the Squad in turn, providing a brief status quo update following their recent battle with Regulus.

With the issue neither adding much toe the Death of the Family equation nor doing anything at all to further the books other plot threads, the series is stuck merely spinning its wheels. Glass has to almost bend over backwards to justify why Waller wouldn't retaliate against Joker for his attack early in the issue. For all these reasons, a more fleshed out standalone issue focused squarely on Harley might have been the better option.

Fernando Dagnino's art is generally solid, with plenty of moody, shadowy visuals that fit the somber tone of this post-battle installment. The one element that stands out is Harley's choice of funeral attire. It seems she now dresses like a Suicide Girl no matter the occasion, and her revealing dress manages to rob the funeral of whatever emotional weight it might have had.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

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Detective Comics fills a niche right now as a Batman book that allows itself to be more free and more fun than the others. The tone of the series under new writer John Layman is not unlike Batman: The Animated Series, with its copious assortment of iconic Bat villains and a tone that isn't too dark or too comedic. It isn't ambitious or ground-breaking, but it achieves what it sets out to accomplish.

Though Penguin's quest for legitimacy is still the overarching focus of Layman' first arc, Poison Ivy hogs more of the spotlight. Layman attempts to fit his issue into the confines of the other at books, referencing both Scott Snyder's Death of the Family material and Ivy's recent defection from the Birds of Prey. Unsurprisingly, this continuity wrangling does nothing to actually serve the story, and I wish Layman could maintain a more continuity-light and editorial caption-free approach. The interaction between Bruce and Damian also seems odd and unnatural, partly because of the pointless references to other books, but also just because of the odd tenor of Damian's dialogue. But eventually the script shakes free of these shackles and focuses on the conflict at hand. Layman adds further spice to history with a surprise revelation at the end, one that is effectively fleshed out immediately after in the backup feature.

Both Jason Fabok and Andy Clarke provide attractive visuals to round out the solid script. Fabok's art play like a looser but still impressively detailed version of David Finch's style. Clarke's intricate line-work and moody panels stand out equally well. My only complaint is that Fabok's depiction of Poison Ivy's already underwhelming new costume is a bit weak compared to Clarke's.

I won't say that if you only read one Bat-book, to make it Detective Comics. It isn't the strongest of that pack by any stretch. But it still has its definite strengths, and when it isn't forced to reference pointless bits of continuity, it succeeds at offering a nice standalone adventure with plenty of familiar faces.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

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Having just wrapped up the Breaking Points arc, writer Peter David focuses his title on the littlest of X-Factor members, Pip the Troll. Although the character has been known to frost the edges of David’s scripts with entertaining bits of sarcasm, he has had scant few opportunities to factor in as a major character since the Infinity Gauntlet saga. Here, Pip’s given the spotlight, and an amusing diversion builds into a major turn of events in the history of the character.

Admittedly, X-Factor #246 gets off to a slow start. David goes with a tongue-in-cheek noir style to capture Pip’s unique personality, and, while it works on more than one level, it appears – initially, at least – to signify nothing more than a momentary departure from the title’s rolling bundle of threads. Add to this the misshapen faces and variable proportions of Paul Davidson’s art, and you have a setup that does the job without inspiring slack-jawed admiration.

Things begin to turn around when we see Pip back in his natural environment at X-Factor Investigations. The glimpse of his secret contributions to the organization are interesting and amusing, but the interlude's biggest contribution is in serving as an effective separation between the story’s beginning and its ending. By the time the conclusion rolls around, the story feels nicely rounded, with Pip successfully filling the role of a sympathetic lead.

As the cover to X-Factor #246 suggests, the pieces of Peter David’s puzzle are slowly coming together, and Pip rises to a significant role. The story is good without being great; however, its contributions serve as an emotional touchstone for the series and a deepening of the title’s intrigue, making it well worth a read.

Poet Mase is a regular contributor to IGN who is happy to see Pip getting a little lovin' (if not from the ladies, then from the writer). Follow Poet on Twitter @PoetMase, or post a message on his IGN profile PoetMase.

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Writer Seth Peck steps up to the plate; Brian Wood’s glorious stint on X-Men couldn't be a tougher act to follow. He plays it smart by distancing his first issue from the team drama and focusing on just Domino as she takes a vacation -- a term that for her means infiltrating a super villain casino -- and crosses paths with Daredevil. Peck has clearly been influenced by Mark Waid’s upbeat take on Hornhead, so much so that I had to double check that Waid wasn’t a co-writer. He goes so far as to have the pair flirt as they beat up baddies, immediately bringing Daredevil #8 to mind, where Daredevil had a steamy team-up with Black Cat. Even though the writing flirts with imitation at times, Peck does enough to make this an enjoyable new direction for the title.

Artist Paul Azaceta stands out as the top reason to buy this book. His style looks loose and fluid while retaining a street-level realism. With the color palette from Rico Renzi full of loud pinks, heavy purples, and a twilight turquoise, the book will leave a lasting impression on your eyeballs. Azaceta not only nails the hard-hitting casino brawl, but the smaller moments of Domino’s subtle luck powers.

The plot steadily builds an interesting mystery before jumping into a fun action scene, but the witty banter that was enjoyable at the beginning wears thin by the end due to repetition. A sense that Peck could have gone further with the material can be felt. Despite my misgivings, this was a good book that has entertains with both lead characters, all emphasized by impressive art.

Joshua writes for IGN. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl or on IGN, where he will air-bend, Force-push, and optically blast his opinion into your brain.

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Via Deadline, the co-writer of Skyfall, 007's 23rd film which is already garnering critical praise and smashing box office records overseas, along with the film's director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) are teaming again for a TV drama. But it's not another globe-trotting spy adventure.

John Logan (already signed on to write Bond 24 and 25) and Mendes have already sent out a script to premium cable networks for a vampire hunter "origin story set in the 1800s London in the vein of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," starring such characters as Van Helsing and Doctor Frankenstein, who would be tracking down and killing vampires.

Mendes, with Daniel Craig, plotting how to take down a nest of vamps.

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A few months back, we learned that Spider-Man was getting a sidekick. Later, we learned that his name was Alpha and he was a total douche. Now, beginning in February, writer Joshua Hale Fialkov and artist Nuno Plati will do their best to change our minds about the character in a new 5-issue mini-series from Marvel.

Fialkov, who recently wrote a spectacular back-up tale in The Amazing Spider-Man #692 with Plati (not to mention that he writes the always rad I, Vampire at DC), told USA Today, ""He was a freak and then he became famous, and now he's infamous and powerless essentially as far as the world knows. He's that creepy kid who used to be on a sitcom when he was 5."

We'll meet up again with the depowered Alpha before his mini-series in The Amazing Spider-Man #700, the events of which will lead directly to the Alpha mini-series. "It's a classic Marvel situation where you've got a kid with power who is making some wrong decisions," added Spidey overlord/editor Stephen Wacker. "That's an inherently dramatic story, watching someone screw up and learning along with them and seeing how they change."

Alpha will move to a new city -- Pittsburgh, PA -- in Marvel's further efforts to spread their heroes, particularly of the spider variety, outside of New York. Why Pittsburg? "Look, any way I can ingratiate myself back to my hometown city and somehow inspire a free trip and free Primanti Brothers sandwiches, I'm 100% behind," joked FIalkov. "It's actually a city about reinvention. It's a city that has transformed itself over and over and over again."

As for Alpha's levels of super-douchery, Fialkov told the paper, "I genuinely believe that Alpha is not a [jerk] like everyone says. He literally is just us. The tragedy in his life is that he was given this great gift and then it was more or less taken away from him. So let's explore what that means and what that does to a kid."

For more on the new Alpha mini-series, head on over to USA Today.

Joey is IGN's Comics Editor and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. He loves superhero pets so hard.

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The Oscar-winning co-writer of Pulp Fiction and the producer of the Silent Hill movies are teaming up to bring the classic video game Castle Wolfenstein to the big screen.

In an announcement made at the American Film Market (AFM), producer Samuel Hadida and Panorama Media said they've tapped Roger Avary (who also scripted the original Silent Hill movie for Hadida) to write and direct Castle Wolfenstein.The filmmaker had been attached to the project (then titled Return to Castle Wolfenstein) a few years ago before his prison sentence for gross vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving.

Here's the official boilerplate on the movie via today's press release: "Castle Wolfenstein is an action adventure film in the vein of Captain America and Inglourious Basterds.  The story follows a young US Army Captain and a British Special Agent on a top secret mission to Castle Wolfenstein, where Hitler will be for the unveiling of a new secret weapon.  After reaching the Castle, our heroes are confronted with Himmler’s SS Paranormal Division and must fight, not only for their survival, but for a mission that could alter the course of the War."

“With Roger at the helm, we expect everyone will join us for a wild and fun cinematic ride that will grab contemporary film audiences with the same irreverent, hip, over the top approach that Roger brought to Pulp Fiction and the other films he has either written or directed," said Hadida. "It is a big action adventure but also strongly character driven and based on a very solid story. ... The film involves a classic assault on the bad guys, who are nominally Nazis, more evocative of Inglourious Basterds than the actual World War II. It is a vaguely futuristic retro world as fun as Captain America, which has recently been reintroduced to the world audience with great success.”

Said Avary in a statement, “I’ve been playing the Wolfenstein games since I was a kid, and feel that their outlandish sensibility has deeply influenced my own writing and directing throughout my career.  I have always thought Wolfenstein, transformed and opened for the screen to wider audiences not familiar with the games, would be a major cinematic experience, which is why I introduced it to Samuel.  He bought the rights, and I could not be happier that we are now embarking on this adventure.”

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As Skyfall opens in the U.K. today, James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson have quietly hired Skyfall writer John Logan to pen not one but two 007 films.

According to Deadline, the writer pitched an original two-movie arc while Skyfall was in production, and he has already begun writing the scripts.

A successful playwright, Logan has also worked on such films as Gladiator, Hugo, The Aviator, The Last Samurai and Star Trek: Nemesis. He also wrote the screenplay for Darren Aronofsky's forthcoming biblical epic Noah, starring Russel Crowe.

Skyfall hits stateside theaters stateside on November 9.

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love by following @Max_Nicholson on Twitter, or MaxNicholson on IGN.

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