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.
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