funnybook of the week: January 25th, 2011

At what point to I stop being surprised when The Sixth Gun wins?

7 - Walking Dead #93 (last issue - 6 out of 10 books)

Kirkman did a lot of solid work here establishing the kind of leader that Rick has become in the face of everything that this world is. Untrusting, harsh, and looking out for his people above all else. He does an outstanding job of showing how that kind of leadership might not be the best thing in the world for everyone involved.

The problem is how little it takes for all of that to get about-faced for an abrupt tone-shift that might make a lot of sense for the series’ next step, but represents a large character problem. The hardened leader becomes the man whose ideas and ideals change on a whim as his high-minded talk about what their town could be a few issues ago seems to be lost.


6 - Secret Avengers #21.1 (last issue - 1 out of 7 books)

Sometimes when you want to tell an entire entry-level story in a short amount of pages, you have to take shortcuts. So believe me when I say that this issue didn’t start out at its strongest. Cap psycho-analyzing Hawkeye didn’t ring true (although suave villain-pretending Hawkeye did), and the story of the failed first mission seemed was understandably missing beats.

The second half, though, introducing the new Masters of Evil and picking up Hawkeye answering for all of the shortcomings Captain America wanted to hang on him in the first half of the book, came on very strong. We’re talking about laying down the thesis for Remender’s entire run in just probably 11 pages.


5 - Fantastic Four #602 (last issue - 2 out of 14 books)

There are layers on top of layers wrapped in layers to this issue. Everything is falling on top of itself, each page and beat of Hickman’s time on the title has built to Reed Richards calling in Galactus for help in the face of an intergalactic war that just might claim Earth.

The problem here is that we’re bystanders, in the game to watch it happen rather than experiencing it with the characters. Even the characters themselves seem to act more as narrators than active participants. The character beats that are there (most notably the Thing scolding Reed for Sue’s idea and the aftermath) are breaks in the story rather than whole parts of them.

Still, there’s a lot of good story in here. We just need the Fantastic Four to be a part of it.


4 - Suicide Squad #5 (last issue - 10 out of 11 books)

Well, this is more like it. A few payoffs to plots seeded in the first few issues, sure, but the character work in this issue was outstanding. Deadshot showing the one thing he does care about, El Diablo getting a major character beat to show what he’s all about, and King Shark eating a guy in some of the creepiest yet saddest panels I’ve seen in a while.

Sure, the mystery didn’t fool anyone, but the out-and-out action in this issue made up for that little bit of shortcoming. This is the kind of storytelling that keeps you on the pull list long enough to make the list on the week you actually come out.


3 - FF #14 (last issue - 3 out of 7 books)

There are layers in this issue, too. The difference being that they’re wrapped up in the characters. Val, Franklin, Evil Reed, Future Daddy Richards, and Uncle DOOM all get some quality character time in even as the angry Celestials come knocking on the front door.

This had all the intelligence that this week’s Fantastic Four came with, but brought so much more heart.


2 - Justice League #5 (last issue - 12 out of 14 books)

Speaking of more like it, this is the kind of thing that brought me into the Geoff Johns fan club what seems like ages ago. The Green Lantern showing what Jim Ross would have called “more guts than brains” against Darkseid before bringing us back to where this all began: the two guys who are still just men when the costumes come off with super powers.

Batman and Lantern had a moment as Bruce Wayne does something so big that even if you’ve never read a Batman comic in your life, you understand the significance. Really nice work here.


1 - Sixth Gun #18 (last issue - 3 out of 6 books)

We have a Drake sighting! And he’s found his moral compass for sure, rather than just being hinted at! So of course, that new moral compass is put to the test immediately.

Meanwhile, Becky gets in deep. Whether its the gun she’s carrying or the scars of what she’s seen and experienced since this series started, we’re now officially dealing with a much harder character than some girl who happens to be able to take care of herself. She’s graduated into the kind of girl who just might bully her way to finding her missing friend.

All this, and golem Billjohn, who I’m always inexplicably happy to see.

funnybook of the week: January 18th, 2012

The top four this week are all incredible reads for very different reasons, and ordering them was as hard a time as I’ve had in a while. Also this week, I learn just how important the artist is to a creative team. Again.

11 - Nightwing #5 (last issue - 11 out of 14 books)

I’m not so sure what I just read here. I get that we’re trying to show Dick on the road with Haley’s circus before things come back full circle, but this issue and the last have been more distracting than helpful. Then the not-at-all-surprising twist at the end of this one doubles back and negates any of the emotional stakes that were raised in the last issue. This series started out strong, but needs to do more to keep me in the fold.


10 - Suicide Squad #4 (last issue - 5 out of 10 books)

And one looooong day for the Suicide Squad continues. This was an odd sort of transition issue from the end of one mission to the beginning of another with some cute twists and the first sign that Harley Quinn might be in this for more than cheesecake and teenage goth girl fantasy #6.

Still, though, the too-quick introduction of Captain Boomerang to the squad leading to the next thing leading to the next left me feeling less like I wanted more and more like this was the transition issue of a disjointed story more than something that could ever stand on its own.


9 - Avengers #21 (last issue - 4 out of 14 books)

The good guys get taken down a little bit at a time, as Osborn has become the Batman of villains - showing exactly what he can do with prep time. Fun to read when you read it like that, but we didn’t get those wonderful “My diabolical plan is coming to fruition” panels that have been the hallmark of H.A.M.M.E.R. II: Electric Boogaloo across both of Bendis’ Avengers titles.

On top of that, the dialogue was uncharacteristically clunky for Bendis. Clunky dialogue is probably a risk you run with Protector and Vision, less so with Spider-Woman (whose voice Bendis practically dragged into modern comics). Probably a better comic than this, but if you’re going to charge me $3.99 for 20 pages, I’m going to hold that book to a higher standard and that standard wasn’t met this time.


8 - Uncanny X-Force #20 (last issue - 12 out of 12 books)

Eep, I’m not a huge fan of Greg Tocchini’s work here. Secondly, I’m not a huge fan of magicy stories. So that anything worked for me with this issue is probably a testament to Rick Remender’s incredible talent. While I don’t care for the nebulous reasons that the Captain Britains kidnapped Betsy and Fantomex (or rather, their nebulous jurisdiction to do so), I think the character work here is still outstanding.

AoA Nightcrawler showing Wolverine just how different a World Without Xavier can make a man (refusing to be called “Elf” is a fantastic touch), Betsy struggling with family and their knowledge of what manner of badness she’s been associated with, and Fantomex’s bravado in the face of dire charges were all pitch perfect.

Let’s just get the plotting and the art back up to par, shall we?


7 - Venom #12 (last issue - 10 out of 14 books)

The grand thematic for this issue was definitely there. Flash gives in to his inner demons one at a time when he’s pushed to the edge by an insane pumpkin man who’s clearly dealing with issues of his own stemming from how his father treated him. Got it.

it’s the execution that pushed it down the list. It read as a little too easy to both lose and gain control of the symbiote. Also, I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t thrilled even a little bit by what the package Flash was sent after contained and will be reliably frightened of when that’s going to peek its head out in this series again.


6 - Wonder Woman #5 (last issue - 3 out of 14 books)

Once again, a different artist is holding a book back. After one issue, I officially feel that this book suffers when Cliff Chiang isn’t around. With that off my chest, this was still some very good work by Azzarello & crew.

The introduction of more of Wonder Woman’s new family comes in a mysterious and playful form even as we see her starting to adjust to her new definition. We’re shown what’s at stake to keep us firmly rooting for the Wonder Woman who would protect us from the whims of the gods (which we are also reminded can be petty and vengeful).

I’m really impressed by how carefully and wonderfully Wonder Woman and her mythos are being eased out for those of us who were never able to buy in before, and I hope that longtime fans are just as pleased.


5 - Avenging Spider-Man #3 (last issue - 8 out of 9 books)

Not kidding, the Red Hulk’s reaction to Spider-Man’s day-saving prowess is worth every bit of cash you can spend on this issue. Every bit of disrespect Spider-Man absorbed in the first two issues pays off in a huge way in this issue with some good laughs to boot.

It was a little too cute in some places, but overall this was an incredibly fun read that I now officially look forward to reading more of. The Spider-Man family of books is looking really strong right now.


4 - Caligula #6 (last issue - 6 out of 6 books)

The thing that’s been worrying me since I decided that I was actually going to start rooting for Felix to fall down the awful hole that Caligula had been digging for him was that we were never really going to find a satisfying conclusion for the revenge tale that we thought we were getting in the first issue.

When the time comes, there’s a catharsis that’s not the one we envisioned at first, but couldn’t be more horrifyingly perfect for the character that we’ve gone on this journey with. Brought to his absolute lowest, screaming out “Mine!” in a fantastic panel, Felix (now a very facetious name indeed) reaches the only conclusion he could have.

I wouldn’t have expected anything less nihilistic but engaging from David Lapham.


3 - Amazing Spider-Man #678 (last issue - 9 out of 14 books)

Dan Slott uses one of my favorite holes in time travel nerding to set the scene for this little two-part adventure, which is played with as much fun yet somehow simultaneous pathos as something premised on a literal door to the future can can be played with.

Slott gives us an issue of snappy dialogue while a desperate Spider-Man tries to repeat everything Spider-Man did in a world where Peter Parker’s breakroom of the future never happens. Julia Carpenter astral projecting, Jonah kissing Silver Sable’s royalness, and the gang at Horizon Labs all dropped in a just immense fun.


2 - Batman #5 (last issue - 13 out of 14 books)

I didn’t love this at first, but I’ve had some time to digest and I’ve almost done a 180 on it. That, in and of itself, is a remarkable thing for a comic these days.

Well, this was something. If Ed Brubaker is making Captain America question himself by making him question his relationship with America, then Scott Snyder has Batman questioning himself by making him question his relationship with Gotham City. The big difference is that Gotham City is a character in the Batman mythos to the point that something like the Court of Owls having existed in it makes Batman question his relationship with the character he’s closest to.

The result is a madness-fueled trip around a maze where Batman, referring to himself by his real name in his inner monologue in a way that wouldn’t be startling for any other character but is super startling for this one, is still trying to convince himself that none of this is real. The one crazed eye look from Capullo stands in a remarkable contrast to how his Batman looked in issue #1, when he was far more sure of his city and where he stood in it.

“Batman R.I.P.” may still be relatively fresh in our heads, but this there’s more to this wandering rambling Batman than a weird costume and Batmite. There’s the legitimate idea that even when he manages to beat the bad guy, some fundamental truths about the character will be different.


1 - Daredevil #8 (last issue - 6 out of 14 books)

Mark Waid saves the good heist movie stuff for the book he actively writes. Shrewd move, Mr. Waid. If the opening chapter was a little too playful and unfocused, this chapter of the two-parter put everything in its place in the context of the larger Daredevil story while also putting them in just the right place for the story.

I went back and read Amazing Spider-Man #677 and, sure enough, it reads wonderfully now that I have the rest of the detail. In this issue, we get the climax and the chicanery of the falling action that a good heist story is supposed to deliver (once again making me wonder how hard it would be to get a solid crime writer on a Black Cat ongoing and make that comic sell) along with some great chemistry between Daredevil, Spidey, and The Black Cat.

Emma Rios brought it hard (she would also be perfect for the afore-mentioned Black Cat ongoing, Marvel...I know someone is reading this who can make this happen, right?) and brought just the right shade of awesome to match the crime story feel in superhero clothes.

funnybook of the week: January 11th, 2012

10 - Secret Avengers #21 (last issue - 1 out of 7 books)

If the last issue was inspired super hero work, this was so run-of-the-mill that I could have replaced just about any of the characters with almost any other character. Heck, in the sense of Captain Freaking America trying to have it both ways on torture, it would have made more sense to have another character in there.


9 - Captain America #7 (last issue - 7 out of 7 books)

So, once again, the problem is that everything hinges upon these doubts that were seeded in Cap’s head two issues ago. Except those very real, very concrete doubts in #5 have been replaced by vague “what if I’m not such a super soldier” doubts that don’t seem as urgent or ring as true. Follow that up with a bunch of sci fi gobbledygook about madbombs, and it’s the second disappointing issue in a row for this series.


8 - Brilliant #2 (last issue - 1 out 14 books)

Something is missing here, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. The group of kids messing around with this stuff makes sense. The suspect money-raising methods make sense. The infatuation and secrecy around the project kind of make sense. At the end of the day, though, the dots didn’t quite connect in a way that made me care about the characters involved or the horribly non-specific problems that are keeping them from realizing...a vague goal. Maybe it was the space between issues?


7 - Journey Into Mystery #633 (last issue - 2 out of 10 books)

The cleverness was there, but the story seemed less so. Don’t get me wrong. I think I could probably read Gillen write a comic about Kid Loki and Leah moving furniture without dropping the title from my pull list, but it would always find itself rated in the bottom half in spite of itself.

This time, there was just a little too much meandering and foreshadowing without any real meat on the bones of the story. As always when quality titles have down issues, though, the setup for the next issue is very promising.


6 - Amazing Spider-Man #677 (last issue - 9 out of 14 books)

Mark Waid certainly has fully embraced “it sucks to be Peter Parker again” in the opening act of this issue, showing just how lame a bad breakup can make someone. The introduction of the mystery at the heart of the story and Daredevil to the story was a nice little maneuver, and Emma Rios’ art is a thing of beauty.

There were a few odd clicks, including an awkward quazi-outing of Matt Murdoch by a guy who - especially given recent events - should be a little more cautious about such things and a strangely transitioned trap, that kept this issue from really hitting the mark, but it was still a good time.


5 - Suicide Squad #3 (last issue - 8 out of 12 books)

There were some high water marks here, like Deadshot dealing with his possible infection and making sure that everything works out for him (or at least trying to), King Shark in the woods, and the budding friendship between El Diablo and Black Spider.

There were some low water marks as well, though. Harley still seems to just be a stand-in for an adolescent fantasy and we were reminded about the nanite bombs roughly 100 times in 20 pages (though one of them was a fun bit of dialogue from Harley - so things weren’t all bad).

Still some interesting work being done here. Still not entirely sold on the series yet either.


4 - Scarlet Spider #1 (last issue - n/a)

I’m going to be honest. I wanted to hate this. I wanted to be able to say I didn’t like this book and that I was going to put the tragic history of 90’s-era Spider-Man behind me (in spite of how much I love Venom right now). The tag line at the top of the cover, “All of the Power, None of the Responsibility,” seemed to drive home that what I was about to drop $3.99 on was an attempt to capture the weird 90’s anti-hero for a modern audience. To make Peter Parker a brutal jerk by removing most of his moral compass.

So imagine my surprise when this book picked up with Kaine right where Dan Slott left him off...struggling with the idea that he wasn’t literally a monster anymore, and wondering if that means he can stop figuratively being one. He is not Peter Parker. This much was established in “Spider Island.” Here, though, while on the run, Kaine accidentally gets himself involved in something that will make him question if he can’t try to be.

There are moments where he falters, both in summoning the will to be a hero and in the actual heroics. Here, Chris Yost lets us know that this is going to be more about the journey than the destination. Suddenly, I’m on board for the journey.


3 - Wolverine & the X-Men #4 (last issue - 1 out of 14 books)

There aren't many covers that so accurately give you what you're about to read.

It would have been very easy for Jason Aaron to just write another Wolverine book where there was a strong supporting cast of X-Men. He could still saunter around talking about how he’s the best there is at what he does...but this book is actually about the school. And Wolverine is not the best at being headmaster.

Following up on the initial failings from the first arc, we see some very school-specific problems. Most of these are pure gifts for this title stemming from the recent events in Uncanny X-Force, which provides a nice juxtaposition to a role where Wolverine may actually be the best there is at what he does.

There are still a few gaps. Beast and Iceman seem a little too cool with letting X-Force go on, and Aaron re-introduced almost the entire cast of characters here as if we hadn’t yet met the kids. It provided some fun moments (particularly with Quire and Broo - quickly becoming the stars of this book), but seemed a little unnecessary.

By and large, though, this continues to be everything I want out of an X-Men book. I adore the focus on the school and hope it never quits.


2 - New Avengers #20 (last issue - 4 out of 10 books)

No matter how many times we see Heroes vs. Weird Versions of Themselves, I never find myself unable to enjoy it. So Bendis and Deodato could have phoned this one in. Neither did. The action popped and fell into itself (rather than getting boring, isolated one-on-ones) all while Osborn pushed the plan and the public reacted accordingly.

Little chestnuts like Spider-Man’s Bugs Bunny line and Luke Cage’s unfocused rage were just bonuses to an already amazing issue to show that you can accomplish so much more than just splash pages in these knock-down, drag-out issues.


1 - Severed #6 (last issue - 3 out of 10 books)

The thing about episodic stories is that occasionally you’re treated to the one installment where absolutely everything that’s come before suddenly makes total sense. This is that issue. Snyder and Tuff followed through on every thread - answering nearly every question.

The most important question, especially. We know why our monster has been toying with Jack. We know why he’s passed up every opportunity to just end it. We get a payoff for character beats like replacing the salesman. We even get a payoff for the introduction of the bear trap into the story.

The reveal at the end, the true nature of the game being played, added the true horror element to this story and gave as emotional and scary a climax as can be given in a comic where we all know where thing have to go eventually.

funnybook of the week: January 4th, 2012

Enough nostalgia for the year that was, let’s see what’s doing it for me here in 2012!

If you guessed that it was supernatural crime books, you'd be right.

12 - Uncanny X-Force #19.1 (last issue - 7 out of 14 books)

So, you remember when then red-hot Dan Slott did Rick Remender a solid by writing a point one issue of The Amazing Spider-Man that acted more as an issue #0 for Venom, but it didn’t matter because it was great and drummed up interest in the new title?

Well, here red-hot writer Rick Remender attempts to do David Lapham a soildi by writing a point-one issue of Uncanny X-Force that acts more as a #0 issue for the upcoming Age of X. Except the concept doesn’t work here. This issue is about literally removing everything that was fun about the original “Age of Apocalypse” storyline and replacing it with less interesting characters, the leader of whom has abandoned a religious zealotry in favor of an atheistic, anti-mutant zealotry that’s still kind of bat$#!% crazy.

It doesn’t work. Even as we’re shown what a bad thing mutants are in what’s left of AoA (and effectively taking care of anyone that might prove contrary), the scripting here doesn’t entice me to root for humanity and certainly doesn’t beg me to find out more. If I want to support a new David Lapham endeavour, I think I’ll stick with this week’s Ferals.


11 - Action Comics #5 (last issue - 6 out of 9 books)

I’m not saying that this wasn’t well-done. It was. Jonathan and Martha Kent, shown at a moment when they’re about to give up on having a family discover an alien baby who was launched away from a dying planet as his biological parents’ last resort. The problem is that everyone knows this about Superman. Heck, most people even know about the Phantom Zone. There are fun twists to the old tale. Pa Kent’s “Space Man” he presents to those inspecting the crash site. Krypto showing a dog’s loyalty while getting a free ticket to show up again. All fun little additions.

In true Morrison fashion, there is more here, as well. Mysterious evil ambiguously time-traveling to a point in time we’re not quite sure of (though the LOSH shows up, so there’s that) on a mission for some fake science Kryptonite...you know, Morrison stuff that so abruptly moves around and assumes the reader knows things to the point that I was almost certain that I missed a few pages in the reading.

It’s been a while since a Morrison story did that to me, and it always makes me feel like the problem is with me rather than the storytelling...but I think this time the problem was the storytelling.


10 - Wolverine & the X-Men: Alpha and Omega #1 (last issue - n/a)

Brian Wood writes a fun Quentin Quire, there’s no doubt about that. The teenager who thinks he is the revolution and the answer to all the world’s (re: his world’s) problems, only actually may possess the power to do something about it that Grant Morrison gifted the Marvel Universe is on full display here. The arrogance mixed with the dorky hormones that only a teenage boy can have. Because of this, I’m sticking around for another issue.

The downside is that much of this issue is played out in the supremely well-worn and (to me) slightly boring X-Men trope of “Character A is having his mind messed with by Psychic Y and will have to realize it before it’s too late.” Wood gives a go at trying to find an interesting take, showing how hard it is for an omega-level novice to keep this construct in check, but that’s still not nearly as interesting as the character’s reaction to having to work that hard.


9 - Avengers: X-Sanction #2 (last issue - 5 out of 10 books)

Lots of posturing and explaining to each other how and why Iron Man and Cable are getting the upper hand. This type of stuff is why I never end up reading an Iron Man comic for very long.

There’s a point where Cable begins to grill his Avenging prisoners about what they want with Hope before she’s on the Avengers’ radar and how they got things they still don’t have yet that’s either brilliant (Cable admits that his mind is going during his inner monologue) or full-on ridiculous. Loeb’s track record, particularly with Marvel, has me believing there’s an equal chance of it being one or the other. Until I can figure that out, I can’t put this issue any higher on the list.


8 - Suicide Squad #2 (last issue - 5 out of 14 books)

Not quite as strong as the debut, but still a sneaky good issue. As ridiculous as the premise of a stadium full of techno-virus infected people that need to be dealt with is, we did get a lot of nice character beats in the form of the reaction to all of that. We’re shown proof that these high stakes missions are as dangerous as the name of the book implies, just not always for the reasons we’d expect.

The art was inconsistent, ranging from expressive Harley closeups (the good), to some very cartoony action scenes that stood stylistically in contrast to the story that was being told (that can work, but it didn’t here).


7 - Swamp Thing #5 (last issue - 4 out of 9 books)

The Rot had a good week this week, which is of course pretty bad for our hero and his girlfriend (except she’s all “you aren’t my boyfriend, my boyfriend was a vegetable garden who thought he was you.). Honestly, all kidding about the weirdness of the Alec/Abby relationship aside, this is a pretty touching issue about how two people whose very beings tell them that they shouldn’t be together can find each other in the place that doesn’t fully belong to what’s inside either of them.


6 - The Boys #62 (last issue - 3 out of 9 books)

The action is ramping up, the characters are all in place, and every little action means something bigger than what’s being shown. We’re given various characters and being shown how close, yet how far, they are from the final preparations for the showdown everyone has been working since issue #1 to avoid.

Ennis even uses anti-climax for Hugie and his Herogasm experience to show not just the gravity of the situation, but to give a definitive statement on the nature of superhero team books. No one can do the things The Boys have to do and come out on the other end as tender moments people.


5 - Animal Man #5 (last issue - 5 out of 9 books)

Things get darker. The race to save Buddy’s family, the introduction and explicit nature of the Rot, and some truly disturbing visuals all come together for a horrifyingly wonderful build to the lowest point for our heroes yet.

Lemire manages to balance all of this out with some lighter dialogue that works to diffuse the hopelessness and terror, even if it lasts for just a moment. Turning that humor (most of it directed at Buddy’s resentment of Socks the Talking Cat) and then making into a genuinely powerful moment where Buddy shows the cat that his family is more important than the Red connects as a powerful character beat. Series is running full speed towards a truer crossover with Swamp Thing.


4 - Avengers Annual #1 (New Avengers Annual #1 - 5 out of 8 books)

Part II picks up with some angry Avengers and an odd amount of standing and talking given the stakes, the players, and the tone set by the New Avengers Annual from a while back. It still all works when its put together though. Big things like Simon’s “The Avengers must be stopped” point of view, which was a little too easy to sympathize with the last time around, is portrayed as more clearly from crazy land with a hint of truth. All of this while going at the public with that crazy, matching up oddly enough with what Osborn will be doing later (re: now - this story is almost certainly pre Fear Itself). If I didn’t know any better I’d say Bendis was playing a long game here.

And the last few pages are just ominous enough to make me thing that long game has something to do with a very hyped super hero brawl event coming to a Marvel Comic near you...


3 - Ferals #1 (last issue - n/a)

David Lapham, I didn’t know that what I really wanted right now was a comic that took the Stray Bullets crime chops and married them to the gory supernatural bent of Caligula. It has the sketchy characters, all of whom are hiding something, none of whom seem to be able to be trusted beyond any particular moment.

Oh, and some big violent werewolf action that’s left people limbless and otherwise creatively maimed and killed. All connected, somehow, to one man’s pain and anger (in case you wanted a little Young Liars tossed in for good measure). I’m excited about this one.

2 - Fatale #1 (last issue - n/a)

Speaking of crime and the supernatural, Brubaker & Phillips’ latest collaboration hit those notes even harder and better than Ferals managed on its first time out. The prologue written to set up a mystery in a far futured place from where the mystery exists (though I’m certain the mystery will touch our initial character again), but gives only the faintest hint that there’s more to what’s going on than a typical, grounded crime story.

Even as we then flash back, only the startling resemblance and shared name which suggest we’re likely not dealing with a grandmother at all hint at something larger and more sinister until the last few pages, when the scope opens to some manner of Lovecraftian horror. I’m looking forward to seeing where this is all headed.


1 - Rachel Rising #4 (last issue - 1 out of 8 books)

More Supernatural Crime Drama!

Holy crap Terry Moore, this is seriously disturbing and wonderful stuff. Our mystery lady, creepy little girl, and balding douchebag really steal the show at the end of the issue here with a scene that doesn’t tell us much in terms of story, yet manages to show us so much about what’s going on in that end.

As for Rachel and her friends, there was still a wonderful piece of work in the morgue as those who love her the most finally realize what’s happened to her. Rachel, it seems, has the hardest time with it in a scene that is wonderfully reminiscent of Strangers in Paradise. This title has everything going for it right now.

funnybook of the year: 2011

DC didn't have very long to compete. The lead-up to relaunch was mostly creative teams scrambling to tie up their loose ends, which produced few stand-out issues and nothing that felt like the best one of the year. So then came the DCnU relaunch, which pushed out some new quality titles. Even among those, though, only two issues of Action Comics, #1 with the introduction of Social Justice Superman and #3 with the debut of Clark Kent: Angry Journlaist felt close. They just felt that way, though.

It was a rough year for non-Big Two books on my pull list this year. Some old favorites faltered and were dropped from the list, some new ones disappointed, and few were able to overcome my admitted capes n' tights bias. Terry Moore launched a brilliant new series in Rachel Rising and The Walking Dead continued to find new ways to play with what should by all rights be a limited theme. Still, though, nothing that hinted towards being transcendent. There are projects I'm looking forward to in 2012, but 2011 is not the year an indie book breaks through.

Really, the whole thing came down to three incredible offerings from Marvel. Ultimate Spider-Man #160, featuring the heartbreaking death of Peter Parker following an intense battle that jerked emotions around and gave us character-defining moments by the boatload was one of them.

Uncanny X-Force #18 was another. It gave us the heartbreaking loss of Warren Worthington following intense battles and character-defining moments for Psylocke and Fantomex.

Both of those offerings were brutally real, zeroing in on emotion and loss in a way that hasn't been achieved since last year's ultimate winner, Secret Six #22. However, in the end, my true winner gave me something different from heartache. It gave me character defining moments, a huge and intense battle, but replaced the heartache with a sense of triumph that put a spring in my step for days after reading it...and then for days after re-reading it.



The Amazing Spider-Man #672 is everything a comic book should be. Wonderfully kinetic artwork, a tight story driven by characters, something unthinkably fantastical, and pure escapism for the reader. You can see from the previous annual winners that I certainly have a soft spot for darker stories, but this one was so far to the opposite of that, so unbelievably uplifting and wonderful as an issue, that I remembered why I started reading superhero books to begin with.

We have an issue that tied a bow on an epic story, tied a bow on the first act of what seems to be a very long Spider-Man plan, and yet seemlessly catapulted Peter Parker into the next phase all at once. It's Peter Parker saving New York with a big, dorky grin on his face as he does it. It's Kaine showing the difference between Peter Parker and every other comic book character ever. It's the relationships in Peter's life pushing him to be better.

This book is why Spider-Man is my favorite character. How can it not be the funnybook of the year? So let me thank the creative team for delivering such a wonderful issue in the face of what could have been an awful premise.

Writer: Dan Slott
Pencils: Humberto Ramos
Inkers: Karl Kesel & Victor Olazaba
Colorist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: Joe Caramanga
Editors: Axel Alonso, Tom Brevoort, Ellie Pyle, & Stephen Wacker

funnybook of the month: December 2011

In an attempt to nail down last year's best funnybook, I will whittle down the contenders by month. Why? Because the year has ended and a year-end list is what people do.

The Winner: Uncanny X-Force #18

What I said then: "Nothing overexplained or taxing, Remender lets Jerome Opeña’s flawless art just tell us the concluding story to an arc that turned into so much more than a trip down memory lane."



Why it's still awesome now: From the opening sequence of Fantomex goading Warren to come out of Archangel to the heartbreaking finale showing that only Angel, not Warren or Archangel, only Angel remains. Everything in between was just as flawless, even something as ridiculous as a killer cyborg choosing love. Absolutely wonderful storytelling from both writer and artist (with a huge assist form the colorist).

Was it close? Absolutely, it wasn't.

funnybook of the week: December 28th, 2011

Just in time for me to put the finishing touches on the funnybook of December 2011, here is the list from the last week of the year. The funnybook of the year is being debated in an inner monologue battle for the ages, and I honestly don’t know what it’s going to be...though I do have a final three.

One of which is even from December.

7 - Captain America #6 (last issue - 4 out of 7 books)

The promise of the previous issue, which is reviewed later down the list because Captain America double-shipped and I liked #5 more, is made good in this issue as Cap starts to lose sleep over the doubts planted in his dreams.

The problem is that the laser focus of the doubt from the last issue is removed and given a far more generic (later I’ll complain that the previous issue’s laser focus might have been a little too much so - clearly there’s no making me happy here) bent, meaning that a potentially great moment turned into another mind-altered riot six seconds after we were finally done with Fear Itself.

There was nothing wrong with this issue, there just wasn’t a lot that was terribly right.


6 - Frenemy of the State #5 (last issue - 7 out of 14 books)

This was a quick read. The sporadic scheduling didn’t help. Basically, by the time you remembered who the players and what the stakes were, the meat of the plot was finished and everything was tied up into a cute, easy bow. Thus ends the origin story. I’d like to see more of this title, because I think Rashida Jones and company are onto something, but the next arc needs a little more bite to keep me on board during the gulfs between issues.


5 - The Cape #3 (last issue - 2 out of 9 books)

The recap in the front tells us who Eric has killed in a nice summary and ends with “you wont’ believe what he does next.” The thing is, I did. Was I shocked at the scope of it compared to what he’d been doing? Yes. Was it a perfect illustration of just how deeply into crazytown Eric has descended? Absolutely.

I wish this hadn’t been so quick a read, and spent more time showing Eric playing with his brother Nicki in the present rather than the past. Sure the splash pages were effective, but I wanted more story than I got here. But holy cow, the story I got was good.


4 - Captain America #5 (last issue - 5 out of 11 books)

We know that Ed Brubaker likes to play the long game when it comes to Captain America. So when we see that this opening arc of the latest series is merely an opening salvo, we shouldn’t be surprised. The weakness of the title hero is preyed upon perfectly, because the villains are hitting him with some pretty undeniable truth that anyone living in this country would allow for being at least partially true.

I couldn’t go much higher than this because maybe the rantings of the bad guy were just a little too on the nose and depressing for what I want in my super hero escapism stories. At least, though, it’s being used well and as part of a larger and far more comic book villain scheme.


3 - FF #13 (last issue - 2 out of 3 books)

Don’t look now, but Jonathan Hickman has successfully spun off a book about Sue & Reed Richards’ kids. We all knew that Franklin and Val would be the focus of FF going forward from Fantastic Four #600, but I thought it would be an ensemble thing with Reed still running the show as the b-book.

This issue, though, proves that Val and Franklin are front and center. Conspiring and scheming with lost grandfathers, Uncle Dooms, and alternate “evil” dads. Getting some angry Celestials’ attention with god-like power. Racing towards danger in the spirit of adventure that founded the parent title. Everything works, and I love it.


2 - Kick-Ass 2 #6 (last issue - 5 out of 6 books)

There’s some serious catharsis in this issue, played with the same delightful mix of over-the-top violence and down-to-earth raw emotion that made this series great to begin with. You never think you’ll want the nerd to brutally beat up his bullies or the foul-mouthed girl who was on the path to a normal life literally go back from whence she came...

...but oh my stars, I am. Next issue should be big, silly fun. But this was the true climax of Kick-Ass and Hit Girl’s journey. Like the premise of real people trying to do super heroic things, it won’t end up in a nice little package but will severely damage these kids for years to come in ways they - or we the people pulling for them to go further into this madness - will never understand.


1 - Secret Avengers #20 (last issue - n/a)

Maybe I misjudged the Ellis one-in-done run when I ditched it a little bit ago. I mostly picked this up because the Ellis/Maleev combination was too good to resist. And it did look wonderful, better even than Maleev’s Moon Knight work. Warren Ellis got a ton of mileage out of the Black Widow, resulting in some of the best character work I’ve seen out of him in a long time.


In many ways, Natasha was perfect for this time-travel romp. Ellis emphasized the grey area that she lives in by putting her in the kind of paradox-avoiding circumstance that, say, Spider-Man couldn’t have executed due to his feelings on letting people expire because that’s the way it’s supposed to have happened. She was also the perfect character because she finds the particulars of Ellis’ sci-fi as boring as I usually do (I say “usually” here, because I’m a sucker for time travel sci-fi). This let Ellis use that other grand writing muscle of his, the grumpy main character.

You know, Remender is just around the corner. I may as well stick around until that run gets here.