Isn't every month Brian Bendis Month? Marvel has released its February solicitations, and, well, hmm. A few observations:

*Move over, black history. Watch out, groundhog. Out of the way, Cupid. February is "Brian Bendis Month." So says Marvel, for whom he's churning out seven titles that month. The family-friendly followup to "Alias," with the unfortunate name of "The Pulse" debuts Feb. 18, with Spider-Man on the cover.

* "4," Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's take on the Fantastic Four, debuts with two issues in February. Remember him? He was the guy tapped to take over "Fantastic Four" when Mark Waid was "fired." When Waid was rehired, Anguirre-Sacasa was sent to Marvel Knights with his FF premise. Steve McNiven's art is beautiful, but Marvel uses the word "edgy" in the solicitation copy, which makes me wince.



* You know Marvel has its finger on the pulse of young America when it references Bono in the solicitation copy for "NYX."

* "X-Men Unlimited," the bimonthly anthology featuring "new" writers, debuts. "Spider-Man Unlimited" follows in March. Tick, tick, tick.

* The cover of "Venom" #11 makes me queasy. I have a feeling the story wouldn't do much for me, either.



* As I mentioned previously, "Namor" and "Sentinel" end in February.

* To add insult to injury, this is the cover of "Epic Anthology" #1 (also known as the one-shot):



On the plus side, the price tag is $5.99 for 72 color pages, not $8.99, as it said in Previews.