funnybook of the week

funnybook of the week: January 25th, 2011

2012-01-27T06:58:00.003-05:00

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

2012-01-21T23:05:00.002-05:00

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

2012-01-14T10:35:00.003-05:00

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

2012-01-08T14:45:00.004-05:00

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

2012-01-08T00:15:00.001-05:00

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

2012-01-06T09:44:00.001-05:00

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

2012-01-05T19:19:00.003-05:00

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.

funnybook of the month: November 2011

2012-01-05T10:44:00.000-05:00

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: Rachel Rising #3

What I said then: "Terry Moore is doing something that is so tonally different from his previous work while still maintaining his excellent character-work and breezy dialogue."

Why it's still awesome now: Terry Moore - first in Echo or Strangers in Paradise and now in Rachel Rising - has shown an ability to make the strange seem like a slice of life, and this issue is a perfect example of that ability. It's a really engaging piece of work, and you'd be foolish not to be picking up this series.

Was it close? I almost pulled the trigger on Wolverine and the X-Men #2…almost…

funnybook of the month: October 2011

2012-01-04T10:52:00.000-05:00

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: Amazing Spider-Man #672

What I said then: "Fact of the matter is, this was an incredible Spider-Man comic book that played on every strength Peter Parker has. His relationships, his brain, and his dedication to tending both."

Why it's still awesome now: Spider-Man is my favorite character. This issue boils down every reason why. Everything that happened in this issue came down to who Peter Parker is. Using Kaine as the counter-balance to that, showing us every reason for Mary Jane to still be in love with Peter, and showing that Peter is the smartest guy in the room - this was perfect.

Was it close? A perfect take on my favorite character? Not even that incredible issue of The Boys that came out in October could compete.

funnybook of the month: September 2011

2012-01-03T10:11:00.001-05:00

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: Action Comics #1

What I said then: "A young, cocky god who knows that there's something wrong, knows that it's his job to fix it, but hasn't quite learned the most effective way to make that happen. It's the most human Superman has ever been, which is ironic given Morrison's emphasis of how alien he is in this sort of 'Year One' retelling."

Why it's still awesome now: DC has done a lot of things in their relaunch that aren't quite right. Some of it (the violent and dark tone) I love in spite of it possibly not being the best thing for the company. What they're doing right is taking their two most inaccessible characters, Superman and Wonder Woman, and giving them very human qualities by emphasizing the extra-human aspects of each character.

Which brings us to this issue. A guy with all the power in the world, a desire to do something good with it, and no idea how. It's that last part we can all relate to. That feeling that we're supposed to do something important with ourselves, if only we knew what or how to get there. A wonderful start that I hope they can keep up even as this version of Superman discovers himself.

Was it close? A couple of other #1 issues, the debuts of the new Wonder Woman and Bendis & Bagley's Brilliant could have done it - but I'm going to be a sucker for Social Justice Superman for as long as I get him.

funnybook of the month: August 2011

2012-01-02T19:53:00.000-05:00

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: Detective Comics #881

What I said then: "This was the perfect team doing a near-perfect story on the perfect title."

Why it's still awesome now: Dick Grayson being bigger than Gotham City and what it can do to you. This was the culmination of that theme, and a totally perfect story to tell it, as it emphasized the things that are important to Dick Grayson that make him better than the evil of a city. Jock and Snyder worked so hard to make Gotham a character that you forget there was an actual villain to this story. It's really an incredible thing and that team hasn't been duplicated on any bat-title in the new DCU (all respect to Capullo, who just can't set a mood like Jock).

Was it close? Nothing really matched this thematically or form a storytelling standpoint.

funnybook of the month: July 2011

2012-01-01T12:22:00.000-05:00

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

The Winner: Locke & Key: Clockworks #1

What I said then: "Joe Hill nails a dense comic story that immediately gets you to care about the characters involved as well as sucks you into the drama of what's at stake in the present day with barely a glimpse of where the characters are now and what they're doing."

Why it's still awesome now: Anytime you can toss in a one-in-done story that answers this much background while still managing to be a good character-driven story, you've managed something truly special.

Was it close? X-Men: Schism #2 and another issue of Journey Into Mystery both competed.

funnybook of the month: June 2011

2011-12-31T12:21:00.000-05:00

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

The Winner: Ultimate Spider-Man #160

What I said then: "The issue comes to it's close with a serene moment and a creepy last page that would totally serve to end the 160-issue story for good if Marvel wanted to."

Why it's still awesome now: Saving Aunt May when he couldn't save Uncle Ben was such a perfect close to the journey of Peter Parker, especially this version of him, that it managed to overshadow his last stand against Ultimate Osborn and his Ultimate Six.

Was it close? Oh, goodness, no.

funnybook of the month: May 2011

2011-12-30T00:20:00.001-05:00

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

The Winner: Journey Into Mystery #623

What I said then: "This is flawless storytelling, and it's happening in a tie-in to a giant event. Incredible."

Why it's still awesome now: The only good thing to come of Fear Itself was Kieron Gillen's tales of Young Loki, and this issue is exactly why. The young god trying to reconcile himself with his former self going to his imprisoned brother to ask about what he would have done and what he should do is some of the best character work in any book. The fact that it came during the big summer event is just icing on the cake.

Was it close? FF #4 had a shot, but the characterization in Journey Into Mystery can't be beat. At least, not this month.

funnybook of the month: April 2011

2011-12-29T12:15:00.000-05:00

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

The Winner: Secret Six #32

What I said then: "Gail Simone works overtime giving just about every character a well-deserved and well-executed defining moment."

Why it's still awesome now: One of the prime examples of how the now-lost Secret Six was a truly ensemble book. Sometimes it veered towards a Catman vehicle, but mostly it was a book about its individual members. One such member this time around was Rag Doll, whose fear of being loved, going sane, and realizing what he is drove him to accept being the Prince of Hell, was wonderfully odd and perfect. J. Calafiore's between-the-panels work really made this stand out as well.

Was it close? No, just too much good here.

funnybook of the month: March 2011

2011-12-28T10:08:00.001-05:00

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

The Winner: The Walking Dead #83

What I said then: "Horrifyingly well done comics. Set something up as a moral absolute, affirm that moral absolute holds, then threaten to shatter that compass."

Why it's still awesome now: Here's the thing. When I accidentally learned that something truly messed up happened in this issue, I felt like I couldn't be surprised. So the impact of Rick proving that Carl's survival is all that matters by chopping the arm off of his new lover and feeding her to the zombies to ensure his safety was a little diminished. I exhaled, thinking that must be it. Then Carl actually gets shot and Kirkman threatened to remove the moral compass from this series, and my jaw hit the floor.

Was it close? Nothing this month hit me this viscerally. At all.

funnybook of the month: February 2011

2011-12-27T12:24:00.000-05:00

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

The Winner: Fantastic Four #588

What I said then: There aren't many "day after the tragedy" comics worth reading out there. This one might be my favorite one ever.

Why it's still awesome now: Comic book death is so overdone now, and the biggest problem with it is that it's normally done in service to a story's climax or to establish how powerful the event's villain is. This issue used Johnny's death as a launch pad to propel the Fantastic Four into FF and beyond, expanding the franchise and using the question "where do we go from here?" rather than "what does this mean?" as its starting point.

Was it close? The conclusion to Invincible's Viltrumite War story could have been the winner, but considering all that came out of this issue, I wasn't going to overlook it.

funnybook of the month: January 2011

2011-12-25T22:15:00.001-05:00

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

The Winner: Avengers Academy #8

What I said then: Gage really puts you into moral gray area that those kids live in with this issue, and McKone's emotionally spent Tigra pages come across as magnificent gut punch after magnificent gut punch.

Why it's still awesome now: No one was a fan of what happened to Tigra for the purposes of making the Hood look like a big tough guy. To take one of the most reviled plot points in recent comics history and use it to develop these new characters and give us their version of doing the right thing really is a special feat and part of what made Avengers Academy such an amazing title for so long.

Was it close? Detective Comics #873, which did a lot to truly establish Scott Snyder's version of Dick Grayson as Batman almost got the nod. But only almost.

funnybook of the week: December 21st, 2011

2011-12-23T10:09:00.002-05:00

The Holidays combined with Marvel’s double-shipping strategy mean that I’ve actually got 5 defending funnybooks of the week in one haul, while Wonder Woman attempts to be the first ever series to go 4 for 4 (Secret Six managed 3-for-3) starting from issue 1.

Spoiler alert, the New 52 seems to have lost its stranglehold on the top of the list.

14 - Incredible Hulk #3 (last issue - 10 out of 13 books)

Impressive pencil etchings of Hulk punching big things. All to take us to the inevitable in a way that never had us guessing about anything other than what on earth seems to have snapped in Banner’s brain. I just can’t do it. The duality with the Hulk has always been interesting, but it was always Banner underneath. Banner trying to tame the monster, the monster trying to be left alone...you can explore which the monster truly is without going whole-hog mad scientist. The Incredible Hulk experiment has concluded.

13 - Batman #4 (last issue - 4 out of 9 books)

We begin the issue with an odd explanation as to why it’s cool that the freaking Batman fell for something as lame as a tripwire, which set the tone for a book dedicated to how Batman could have been so blind to the Court of Owls’ actual existence. Although, that’s mostly in the context of he and Dick having a long argument about whether or not there’s an actual existence. It’s a little odd, and honestly, I’d have forgiven the weirdness of their existence under Batman’s nose eventually without all of the odd (unless, of course, they haven’t always existed after all...that’s still up for debate, I suppose).

The issue wasn’t entirely off. As awkward as the arguing was, the emphasis on the friendship between Dick and Bruce at the center of that argument was some amazing character work by Scott Snyder. Otherwise, though, this was a bit of a misfire.

12 - Justice League #4 (last issue - 7 out of 9 books)

This wasn’t great. I don’t know if it’s possible for a comic book character to overact. If it is, though, then that’s what we got out of Cybord & father in the opening pages. The weird science fiction and introduction of a “White Noise Cannon” (seriously, does a white noise cannon make its target relax itself to death?) were pretty rough going, as well.

Then we got Geoff Johns’ “hey, don’t make fun of Aquaman” panels, which were only slightly less embarrassing than having a similar theme in a book that actually stars Aquaman. If you want us to stop treating him like a joke, stop acknowledging that there would be a reason to.

The second half of the book picked things up as we got some genuinely playful banter between the members of the newly-formed team, including a maybe too on-the-nose characterization from Hal Jordan, while our heroes tried to strike a balance between saving everyone and being trusted by no one (special cameo by Social Justice Superman was appreciated).

The obvious reveal to anyone who had ever read a DC comic or watched a Justice League/Superfriends cartoon was still quite dramatic (splash pages and onomatopoeia ahoy!) and sets up the rest of the story as being the true coming together of a team well enough to get me to the next issue, but that issue is going to have to impress.

11 - Nightwing #4 (last issue - 2 out of 9 books)

We got lost in an odd little interlude here, as Babs go on the road to visit the circus style of Dick Grayson and get a little Batgirl and Nightwing sub-adventure in with a low-rent Clayface. It may have been a needed nudge for Dick as he pondered his own situation, and it may have helped move things along to a pivotal role with Raya and Dick’s relationship, but it still felt like a distraction rather than a continuation of the story. If I picked up 5 without 4, I don’t know that I would be at all lost.

10 - Venom #11 (last issue - 1 out of 9 books)

Another, slightly better side trek where Flash and his archenemy/road trip bro Jack O’ Lantern take some time alone to learn the sordid history of what makes ol’ Jack tick. Oh, and they even get to play hero for a little while. This diversion, unlike the Nightwing one, served some pretty obvious purposes - not the least of which was to put Flash in a place where he came to understand exactly what his position was and who was responsible.

On top of it, we got constant reminders that Flash was - for however long - very much in the drivers’ seat of the symbiote, but the symbiote is well in control of Flash’s life. It’s an interesting thing to play with, and eventually there’s going to be some serious consequence.

9 - Amazing Spider-Man #676 (last issue - 2 out of 9 books)

Villain’s only! Which means that the cover’s implied promise that purchasing this comic will keep the bad guys from winning is false. Because when the Sinister Six takes on the Intelligencia, the bad guys will win by default. This is an issue dedicated to showing us all that Doc Ock is a very smart dude, and a fun way to show it.

Surprisingly, though, the strange friendship between Sandman and Rhyno on this new team is the runaway highlight of the issue. It makes sense, as they’re the guys who would be on the team for something a little bit more personal than money and power, but it played really well on the page.

Some of the dialogue was silly, and some of it was beyond silly, but I think that might have been more a function of having these over-the-top villains going at each other without the grounded star super hero in the middle of things to act as the baseline. Fun issue, with cryptic promises of things to come.

8 - The Boys: Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker #6 (last issue - 8 out of 9 books)

Here’s the character study we all needed. Not the tragedy that drives Billy to embrace the Butcher, that was easy enough to imagine on our own and kind of boring to discover on the page. This issue, though, was about the subsequent numbness to any feeling at all and how that allows poor Billy to be the man he is today.

A little heavy-handed with the narration, but still, this is the book about our favorite sociopath, how he ticks, and what that might mean to The Boys.

7 - Uncanny X-Force #19 (last issue - 1 out of 10 books)

X-Force comes clean. Officially the security team for the Jean Grey School, we get some realignment on the heels of the epic “Dark Angel Saga.” Most of the issue is dedicate to the number of misgivings Fantomex has about young Genesis and himself (also, how the two are intertwined), but everyone here gets a nice little moment as we gain a new regular cast member and bit most of the Age of Apocalypse gang adieu (until their ongoing starts...which I’m still leaning towards giving a miss even with Lapham’s name on the cover).

Robbi Rodriguez is no Jerome Opeña, but he does a very nice job conveying some of the emotion of the fallout, none better than Betsy realizing that there’s nothing of Warren left in the husk that was Angel. Solid work, but still just moving the pieces where they need to be for what comes next.

6 - Daredevil #7 (last issue - 1 out of 3 books)

The art of the one-in-done issue is likely dying, which makes a satisfying story about Matt Murdock taking a group of at-risk blind kids to a bus crash (not on purpose, naturally) and the subsequent will of the human spirit over cold coldness. There are some sweet moments in that story that I’d rather not even attempt to explain due to spoileryness.

I was thrilled to see the conversation in flashback between Matt and Foggy where we talked about the “Old Matt” and Matt’s assertion that “I hate that guy.” Even in this lighter-toned Daredevil, there are signals of darkness ahead.

5 - Suicide Squad #1 (last issue - n/a)

After being intrigued by an interview with Adam Glass about an upcoming storyline, I decided it was time to break down and give Suicide Squad a try. So let’s get the obvious out of the way, since the internet has finally settled down about it. I also hate the character redesigns. Harley Quinn looks like a suicide girl (and she was probably the one character in the pre-relaunch DCU that didn’t need to change a thing). Deadshot looks like a much clunkier version of his previous (and admittedly flawed) self while losing the signature moustache that would endear him to hipsters the world over now. Amanda Waller now looks like every other lady in comic. King Shark almost got an upgrade, but that tribal loin cloth makes zero sense. So, are we good now?

As for the story, it’s another entry into the more dark and violent DCU. We waste no time showing the team getting tortured, which serves as a surprisingly nice device to individually meet the characters as they exist. Deadshot seems to be Deadshot, by and large, right down the loner mentality. Harley got a harder edge to her typical story that works for her weird new look and the violent nature of the book. Diablo seems to be the team’s “hooker (and by ‘hooker,’ I mean ‘one who burns down houses of his rivals’) with a heart of gold.” The primal nature of King Shark really works as well and...

...by the time we get to the twist at the end to drive home that this is an expendable team, I’ve forgiven those awful character designs almost fully. So well played. We now know the individual members of the team and just how deep they’re all in it. I’d liked to have seen a little character interaction, but it’s a nice hook of a first issue.

4 - Avengers #20 (last issue - 5 out of 9 books)

You know, the deal where Avengers and New Avengers are telling two angles of the same story can get a little annoying (I’m almost certain that this issue took place before the last issue of New Avengers), but let’s put that aside. Because this was a fantastic issue.

Norman Osborn is back in his sheer brilliant madness, as Bendis has a perfect grasp on the character’s insistence that he is in the right. Adding a sullen Hawkeye’s take on Norman’s facts, and suddenly this is a very compelling villain in a way that a simple “psychopath determined to rule the world” will never be. Oh, and he has a plan. A glorious plan. Danger, clever dialogue, great villain...all I want out of an Avengers book.

3 - Wonder Woman #4 (last issue - 1 out of 9 books)

Azzarello continues to work in contradictions. Wonder Woman’s humanity is being expressed in her being the daughter of a god. Wonder Woman’s connection to a complex mythology is being undone by putting her in the middle of that complex mythology. In a lot of ways this has no business working as well as it is.

But it so very much is. Wonder Woman responds to bad news like a real live human being. She finds comfort in the noise of a crowd, she finds a fight to get into (with Strife, who I’m really digging as a character as well), and eventually goes back to the source of her pain to make amends.

In the meantime, huge figures have huge emotions and we get the goddess’ revenge that the cover to the issue promised us. I still love this book, and I’m still surprised by it.

2 - Fantastic Four #601 (last issue - 2 out of 6 books)

If you weren’t absolutely moved by the Thing vs. the Giant Kree Robots, from his resignation all the way to his reaction to seeing a flaming four in the sky, you aren’t human. Totally upstaged the joyous reactions of both the Torch’s sister and Spider-buddy (which weren’t anything to sneeze at).

The return of Johnny allows Hickman to continue to flex his “I write Johnny Storm better than anyone this side of Mark Waid and may eventually pass him” muscle as Johnny introduces the Light Brigade to Captain America (who has a perfectly fun reaction to the talking horse).

Really, this issue is nothing but reason after reason that Hickman was the right guy for the Fantastic Four job. Huge stakes, intergalactic & interdimensional characters, but the family at the heart of it is a family.

1 - Wolverine & the X-Men #3 (last issue - 1 out of 6 books)

Another huge issue from Aaron and Bachalo that’s everything in the world I want out of an X-Men book. Young Quentin Quire’s first turn at heroism (though there’s quite frankly more going on off-panel than meets the eye) amid a Broodling, a young girl, and an alien prince who don’t know who he is (in spite of being a Twitter trending topic...the WWE would hate to know you could be on Twitter and unknown at the same time) was an astoundingly good time to read.

Idie is quickly becoming a fantastic character under Aaron’s watch, and Broo the Broodling having been snatched from Christos Gage’s fun Astonishing run is a funny foil to the over-serious Quire (yes, he cracks jokes, but I know a lot of joke-crackers who take themselves too seriously).

With the cast coming together far more nicely than I’d have imagined given the scope, I’m really amazed at how good this book is on top of all of the ridiculous fun. I hope it can keep up with itself, especially with Bachalo taking the next arc off.

funnybook of the week: December 14th, 2011

2011-12-19T13:18:00.003-05:00

With so little time left in the year, we have a contender for funnybook of the year emerge this week. It’s probably what you think it is.

10 - Avengers Academy #23 (last issue - 4 out of 7 books)

Didn’t do it for me. In trying to make future Reptil’s motives character-driven and weighty, we fell into just a little too much sulking and actually lost the sense of danger for the main plot. Again, the problem seems to be the expanded cast taking movement away from the characters.

The idea to have the old guard accept X-23 so quickly because of their own flaws was outanding, but the execution with the instant forgiveness of one’s own sins and the heightened teenage melodrama didn’t play well.

Then there’s the main event of the issue, according to the internet. It was handled well, Stryker’s coming out, but as a character beat just felt out of place with the rest of the issue. Stock is way down with this title in the post Fear Itself world.

9 - Ultimate X-Men #4 (last issue - 8 out of 14 books)

Kind of a plodding first half, giving us the unnecessary religious nutjob with a strict father origin of Stryker. Quicksilver wasn’t as charming this time around as he had been, either. Things really didn’t pick up until we got to Kitty and her motley crew getting ready for action. Even that, though, was rehash of what we already knew.

After last week, I did the page count even though this issue didn’t feel as fast as the other one. $3.99 for 20 pages. This isn’t encouraging me to try to reconnect with the rest of the Ultimate line, and is going to make me expect more out of the title I’m still getting. And that more didn’t happen in this issue.

8 - Memoir #5 (last issue - 10 out of 12 books)

The shipping schedule has hurt this title, where I found myself having to do some work to get my bearings for the story. We’re getting more intense here as we peel back the layers of this town and how our intrepid reporter fits into things, but it’s a little too late in the story to try and get me to accept him as a sympathetic character to experience things through.

7 - Locke & Key: Clockworks #3 (last issue - 7 out of 10 books)

What if you could go back in time to see your parents had just as much teenage drama as you remember having yourself? It took us a while to get to it, but that’s basically what we’re dealing with here. What they manage to find could be a game-changer, but we’ll have to wait ‘till next time to see.

I did enjoy Kinsey coming to terms with having her emotions back, and the harshness of some of the things they saw served as a fantastically horrible reintroduction.

6 - Walking Dead #92 (last issue - 3 out of 13 books)

Weird amount of borrowing from superhero books here. Not that that’s bad, it’s just weird to see it in this particular title. We get the ol’ mystery character followed by a scuffle and the revelation that it’s all a misunderstanding. Superhero Comics 101 right there. The fact that it leads to the revelation that it does...well, that’s just the forward momentum and world-building that The Walking Dead needed.

I was a little put off by the forced niceties between Abraham and Michonne, but that’s mostly because I don’t think either of them particularly needed those beats. I think they were just there so they could both be looking for a fight. Not a bad issue, but it’s too good a week to land any higher than here.

5 - Avengers: X-Sanction #1 (last issue - n/a)

Well, if you were looking to be surprised, there’s not much for you here. We were given away that the mysterious hooded figure in the first half of the book is Cable. We were given away his motivations when Marvel press-blitzed Avengers vs. X-Men and told that this was the prelude.

But if you were in the market for an epic-looking Loeb/McGuinness story that features a pretty fun takedown of Captain America by a dude who’s every bit the soldier while doing a good job of teasing a few blanks that the Marvel’s press releases haven’t filled in yet, this is for you.

Now if only there were even the smallest chance that I could buy into the issue’s cliffhanger...

4 - New Avengers #19 (last issue - 6 out of 9 books)

Is Norman Osborn a narcissist with multiple personalities or is he a man with multiple personalities, one of whom is a narcissist? This and other great questions (like what happens when Daredevil’s enhanced senses meet Squirrel Girl?) are answered in this issue.

Really, it’s an entertaining piece where we get into the heads of some of the bad guys while reestablishing that Osborn is waging some manner of clever plan and maybe Hand isn’t to be trusted...I mean, her name is Hand...and the new H.A.M.M.E.R...

Typically fun Bendis book, where you have fun without even realizing just how far the plot moved ahead.

3 - Severed #5 (last issue - 5 out of 8 books)

Oh, this is just deliciously evil. We know what the score it. We know that the bad guy has plans for our trusting hero. The opportunity presents itself over and over again and...we wait.

Wow, that description sounds awful. So let me add that the opportunity was presented as tense enough to make the hairs stand on the back of your head, and the waiting has you questioning the motives of our shark-toothed killer even though we all know exactly what they are. Killer storytelling by Snyder and Tuft here.

2 - Journey Into Mystery #632 (last issue - 9 out of 13 books)

On the surface, this is a very fun and very funny story about how a magical god-boy came to have a puppy of his very own. A Christmastime story where a young Loki must get rid of 7 spawns of a hell hound he had kind of set up. And if that’s all there were to this story, it would have been wonderful.

But Gillen is much smarter than just that. This is a story about a god-boy who is hated by all, and how he managed to further forage his friendship with two other outcasts, a handmaiden of hell and an unwanted beast from the same. But that’s not all there is, either.

This is a story of Loki, the mischief god, defying everything he’s ever been. Defying what he was born to be. Making right so that some day he could be looked upon as the greatest of all the gods...all told in the story of how he’s going to raise an unwanted beast destined to become awful to instead become the greatest anagram for god of all time.

1 - Uncanny X-Force #18 (last issue - 6 out of 7 books)

The climax so big and so emotional that Marvel demanded that you demand that they polybag it! Honestly, though, this book hit every note that has been building over the course of 18 issues of this series. Fantomex, Betsy, and Warren (what’s left of him) clash against each other and play with one another’s emotions to an incredible effect. Nothing overexplained (one perfectly ambiguous “damn you for taking him from me” that takes a few seconds to sink in was particularly incredible) 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.

Even Deathlok got a fantastic emotional moment. Seriously!

The last few pages, though, were sequential storytelling at its heartbreaking best, as Betsy and Warren share a moment that’s hard to talk about without getting super spoilery. Beyond that, though, was the coda to that moment. Something that might cause some to call "cheap out," but I don't think the end of this issue validated anything so much as it heightened the pain of Psylocke's false closure. Sufficed to say, it’s a moment that took this from just a great concluding story into a late contender for the best of the year.

funnybook of the week: December 7th, 2011

2011-12-09T15:54:00.003-05:00

The DCnU relaunches have released their hold at the top of the list, but that doesn’t mean they were bad. In fact, they were quite good, it’s just that there was plenty from other publishers that were better. This was a fantastic week for reading comics, though. Aren’t we all glad I got to read them on time?

9 - X-Club #1 (last issue - n/a)

I am skeptical. The first issue of this mini delivered a big fake science mystery that is definitely interesting enough to get me to a second issue, but when the second issue arrives, I’m definitely going to want to see more out of the characters. Everyone seemed more of a caricature (not that Doctor Nemesis wasn’t a really fun caricature) than a full-blooded character. Less Cyclops, more science team. I can read about Cyclops in any of the 20 X-Men ongoings...

8 - The Avenging Spider-Man (last issue - 5 out of 8 books)

I don’t want to undersell the incredible life that Joe Mad brings to this story. I don’t want to undersell the odd couple relationship that Zeb Wells sets up between Rulk and Spider-Man. And I absolutely don’t want to undersell a moment where Spidey informs ol’ Thunderbolt to man up and be a hero.

Something just seemed off with this issue, though. Possibly, it was the old comic stand by of a subterranean civil war where only one-on-one combat can determine who is king. Maybe it was that Wells tried a bit too hard to sell the danger. But I just didn’t enjoy this as a sum of its parts so much as a bunch of individual beats that were, admittedly, quite enjoyable.

7 - The Defenders #1 (last issue - n/a)

And now, the incredible adventures of Doctor Strange and Iron Fist's one night stands! Oh, wait, other stuff happened. In fact, this book isn't about super heroes and the mornings after their casual sex at all. It's about how the Hulk has his own Hulk...and that's a bad thing.

Weird premise behind the bad guy and multiple attempts to show how cool our heroes are aside, this was a fun little peak at the core cast and their coming together. Matt Fraction brought in some sharp dialogue and established a camaraderie between the major players as well as the Hulk. But it was still a "getting the band (back) together" issue, which we all know I'm never fully into.

There is a fun little device that came into play, harkening back to ye olde days of comics. Messages below the page that sometimes told you how many pages of ads before the next story page, sometimes pitching other Marvel books, and occasionally repeating the promo lines for The Defenders that were dropped a few months back. I'm not sure I'm sold on them, but they're interesting and kind of fun. Which kind of describes this book for now.

6 - Action Comics #4 (last issue - 1 out of 7 books)

Brainiac gets to collecting! Steel makes his debut (and then is fleshed out in a backup story so as not to mess with the internal rhythm of the main story - pretty deft move)! Huge plot development! Continued in issue 7?!?!?!

What’s the point of not breaking up this comic with some fleshing out if we’re going to break up this story with an interlude, presumably to do some fleshing out? Weird.

Still, a very fun issue because it’s what we’ve always wanted to see in a Superman movie but were never given...Superman punching and breaking evil robots. Lots of them. Honestly, what’s not to like?

5 - Animal Man #4 (last issue - 2 out of 7 books)

This issue featured the first overt mention between Animan Man and Swamp Thing that the danger our respective heroes are facing is the same Rot. You know, in case you hadn’t figured it out or weren’t reading both titles (you should be).

Buddy coming to terms with his “Little Wing’s” power set and her importance to the fight against the Rot was a little quick, but given what he saw and was a part of at the top of the issue, not at all questionable. It’s a nice twist to see this family so readily accept the challenge given them as opposed to Alec Holland’s refusal to become Swamp Thing.

I was mostly interested in the classic stalker horror story back away from the Red, though, and it didn’t disappoint, leaving me a cliffhanger that will probably land the next issue on the top of that week’s stack of comics.

4 - Swamp Thing #4 (last issue - 3 out of 7 books)

Alec Holland is caught in the middle of something huge, and while one side is definitely rather nasty, we're shown that the good guys may not have the most pure of intentions for the people of earth. In fact, I'm pretty sure that as a flesh thing, I'm uncomfortable hearing that everything "should" belong to The Green. Crazy alliance with the red notwithstanding.

This was a character piece, though, as Alec works to reconcile memories that aren't exactly his with the task at hand...and that doesn't work. Especially given that he remembers feelings for a (potentially) dangerous foe and doesn't want to become the sort of swamp-like thing that could most effectively fight the Rot. Pretty strong inner turmoil, but nothing entirely new.

Sheesh, that kid is creepy, though.

3 - The Boys #61 (last issue - 7 out of 7 books)

New favorite meta-commentary on super heroes: the whiny characters who just keep reliving their origin story over and over again and cannot allow themselves to be happy no matter what. Batman, Spider-Man, Daredevil...they always have dreams of their defining horrific moments. And Hughie opens this issue having the same type of haunting.

In all, this was an issue to check in with some of the characters to remind us of the very human failings at the center of all of this silliness. MM got an especially harrowing moment, and the Vought American villains got an oddly sweet day out of it (that can't be exactly as it appears...can it?). The Boys is suddenly on the yo-yo schedule, and this was the up issue.

2 - Amazing Spider-Man #675 (last issue - 5 out of 7 books)

God help me, I get it now. I didn’t buy Carlie Cooper as the potential love interest for Peter Parker. I only sorta bought into Carlie Cooper as Peter’s girlfriend (just in time for them to split). But I’m totally buying into Carle Cooper: The Ex Who Knows. I got more out of her and Peter’s relationship in this issue than I had in all of the previous ones combined (making a strong case for single Peter, isn’t it?).

That relationship was really the crux of this issue. The Vulture’s new gang of kids was an interesting group, as was the way ol’ Adrian interacted with them. I kind of wish we’d had more opportunity to see that, but they were merely there to facilitate this new interaction and get us to Peter Parker’s Peter Parker sense warning him of a danger at the end most of us can relate to.

1 - Venom #10 (last issue - 12 out of 13 books)

The opening scene is one of the most tense in comics. A conflicted hero buries his father, who he just managed to get right with, while his brand new arch villain stares and smiles letting him implicitly know that this won't be the only funeral if certain things aren't taken care of. If that doesn't set the stage for what Flash is about to do, I don't know what possibly could have.

From there, we're treated to Flash's illegal mission and the journey towards it. That journey is allowing a symbiote he knows is activley bad for him to have on, possibly giving over control to it. Oh, and Captain America (every good Marvel soldier's personal hero) is there to make sure the suit doesn't get on anyone. So, yeah, that works out about as well as you'd imagine.

The whole of the issue - and the series for the foreseeable future - is built around a soldier who's almost literally selling his soul in order to defy his orders and take on a mission he doesn't want just to make sure his loved ones stay safe. Magnificent.

funnybook of the week: November 30th, 2011

2011-12-04T21:47:00.004-05:00

Ah, the holidays. When shipping gets weird and the pull list seems either excessively large or small...

3 - Uncanny X-Men #2 (last issue - 3 out of 9 books)

Gillen is on a roll with charismatic evil. First Mephisto over in Journey Into Mystery, and now a Sinister that comes off as equally witty (though a little more heavy on exposition, but one could say that just points to the fact that Gillen is writing distinct voices for these characters rather than just being very good at writing clever villains) while also giving the character a clarity of purpose that he certainly never had in his 90's heyday (or even recently). Strong villain work here.

The rest was more or less standard heroes walking into a trap that they know is a trap but have to anyway (still played awfully cleverly). Still not all I'd hoped for, but still very good.

2 - FF #12 (last issue - 7 out of 13 books)

This so easily could have been a standard Hickman "see how all of my threads are coming together?" issue. Instead, he focuses on character. Val and her grandfather, plotting and scheming. Victor Von Doom and his son, repulsed by his situation. Evil Reed and and Nathaniel Richards, pressing at a cross-reality father/son tension.

Don't get me wrong, the info dump was very fascinating too. Who's doing what on it's own would probably be a rather good story. But when you add that motivation behind each character, it really makes the book stand out. That's why I'm still reading FF and left The Ultiamtes behind.

1 - Daredevil #6 (last issue - 4 out of 13 books)

If you want to know what comics do better than any other visual medium, please pick this issue up and enjoy Marcos Martin's storytelling and layouts. The nature of Daredevil's senses has given a lot of opportunity through six issues of this series, but this one has some very simplistic yet outstanding looks at it that made me want to stand and applaud.

In the story itself, Mark Waid makes equal use of the radar sense in the big showdown with Bruiser to emphasize all the right things about the way Daredevil fights. The big result of all of the action here sets the tone for the rest of the issue, and Waid clearly has big things coming that will put Daredevil firmly in the super hero realm beyond ninjas. This can only be a good thing.

When I say that the tone is set, by the way, I mean in every way. Much has been made of this departure from the Nihilistic tone that's followed Matt Murdoch since the Miller days. And while Waid has clearly used the events of this story to reign some serious badness on the hero's head, the reaction to that from Matt was shown no less than twice to be a welcoming smile. Welcoming indeed.

funnybook of the week: November 23rd, 2011

2011-12-02T12:31:00.003-05:00

Not a whole lot of books this week, but the quality was incredible. If I were a guy who scored books rather than just ranked them, the top three would all have 5 stars or 10/10 or something...but I rank, so someone's getting treated unfairly. Not to mention those poor issues that were merely very good instead of amazing.

6 - Caligula #5 (last issue - 4 out of 8 books)

Aaannnd...Jesus comes into play. No, seriously. There was an interesting explanation of what Caligula is and how it all came to be, but there was some forward momentum missing that I'd have liked to see. We simply got more of the temptation of Felix. Except the last temptation of Felix seemed to have been entirely undone just so we could see it all over again. Something's gotta give next issue.

5 - Kick-Ass 2 #5 (last issue - 11 out of 14 books)

If the question Kick-Ass 2 is asking is "and then what would happen?" then this series is still humming along wonderfully. Horrifically, violently and wonderfully. Millar and JRJR are relentlessly making Dave pay for having the notion to put on a costume and play tough-guy protector. He's showing what an emotionally unstable child of privilege could really do if unchecked and fixated on being a comic book villain. None of it is good. However, we're very close to things taking a turn for the better. "Better" of course is a relative term, and still will lead to lots of violence.

4 - Locke & Key: Guide to the Known Keys (last issue - n/a)

This little one-shot mostly exists to tell an older story of Keyhouse and the creation of one of the keys (which I hope to see come into play soon). It a very sweet tale and worth the price of admission on its own. The rest is a rather artful and, in some places, clever look at the keys we've discovered. You know, as the title suggests. We get views on these keys from keepers of the Keyhouse over the years, though, which give a new spin while adding history. And the reminder was nice to have as the proper series gears towards conclusion.

3 - Sixth Gun #17 (last issue - 6 out of 13 books)

Show me characters making choices and I'll give you love for it every time. This issue was all about Gord and Becky making their own choices about what is right. What's right when it comes to dealing with the Six, revenge, loyalty...all of it. It's handled so well and so firmly rooted in the characters that you hardly recognize that we're learning new things about them until the very end. This is great visual storytelling and would have won the week just about any other time. This week, though, it stops here because of some tremendous efforts over at Marvel.

2 - Fantastic Four #600 (last issue - n/a)

I like this novel concept of a jacked up price on a comic book giving us extra original content (the former Amazing Spider-Man brain trust says "hi").

Anywhoo, we have a lot of content to cover here. The first bit is non-stop action, except that it seems to keep stopping at just the right time for the characters to be the characters. Everyone gets their moment in, with (once again) the kids of the FF getting the best of them as they discuss what will and won't get them in trouble. In these little character moments, I started understanding more about what's going on than all of the plot-laden road to get to this issue put together.

The ending of the first story leads us directly to the next, a wonderful little tale about what Johnny's been up to since he died. The answer is more dying, but so much more than that. Some would probably notice that there is plenty here that's borrwed "Planet Hulk" (which itself was a rip off of almost any gladiator themed movie ever). What made it so delightful is that I think Hickman has a better handle on Johnny Storm's voice than anyone else in the Fantastic Four, and it was great to see him flex that muscle again.

From there, we get varying degrees of what Hickman has been doing with this series since the "Dark Reign" mini...planting seeds. There's still a lot of interesting and possibly fun things to come. But that Franklin story with Farel Dalrymple's artwork? That's what really got me. Because I think Hickman has his voice even better than Johnny's.

1 - Wolverine and the X-Men #2 (last issue - 8 out of 13 books)

This is more like it. After a so-so first issue, this one had everything I want in an X-Men comic book. Cute (but not too cute) and creative references to the X-Men's colorful history (the big bad - emphasis on big - as well as a couple of not-quite-cameos). Villains with eccentricities and brilliance (still love the new Hellfire Club) that take aim not at the X-Men themselves but at their very core beliefs. Great character work (Iceman...finally...kicks...ass!).

Jason Aaron is cramming two issues worth of humor and character beats into one issue of comics. Add to it Bachaclo's incredibly kinetic artwork and backgrounds, and you have something really amazing in the works here. This is the series I signed on for.

funnybook of the week: November 16th, 2011

2011-11-27T21:26:00.004-05:00

I will catch up, but holidays and life and this economy keep making it difficult to get this stuff out in a timely fashion...

In the meantime, here's this tidbit: the last new series to get its first three issues the honor of funnybook of the week? 13-time winner (and one funnybook of the freakin' year) Secret Six.

14 - Incredible Hulk #2 (last issue - 10 out of 13 books)

I'm not sure I like what's going on here. We're sacrificing any shred of humanity that Bruce Banner once had in order to add humanity to the Hulk, in spite of the fact that the thing that always humanized the Hulk was Banner. I get that we're looking to turn that dynamic on it's ear and examine what the Hulk brought to Banner, but I don't think Aaron is doing it particularly carefully thus far. I'm saving judgment for another issue or two, but this is so far not the series I'd been hoping for with this creative team and this character.

13 - Avengers #19 (last issue - 5 out of 9 books)

Captain America does some recruiting. Tony arbitrarily and without fanfare brings one of the good guys back to life. Storm joins the team. Straightforward issue. Typically fun Bendis framing and dialogue, but no real oomph until the last page.

12 - Avengers Academy #22 (last issue - 4 out of 7 books)

This one was weird. I was ready to write it off with the heavy-handed set up for the X-Men vs. Avengers Academy and the unnecessary attempt to shame a character into coming out because of some pretty awful cues (couched with an assurance that the accusing character isn't a homophobe, so it must be okay). Then we got to the meat of the story.

The relationship between Finesse and Quicksilver is played against the always volatile relationship between Quicksilver and Magneto (nice to see House of M still gets plenty of use this long after the fact) in a way so perfect that I almost forgot how clumsy the first half of the issue was. These relationships should be what this series is about, not the zany circumstances surrounding a school for superheroes. I fear the expanded cast may muddle that type of character work.

11 - The Boys: Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker #5 (last issue - 8 out of 9 books)

We get last issue's reveal spelled out for us (literally), which was wholly unnecessary. After that, though, we did get enough of the obligatory story of how Billy Butcher came to be a part of The Boys to bring me back into the story. We also get a little bonus of finding out that Mallory may be pulling more strings from his side of things than we'd originally thought. Is it weird that, in spite of how we originally met him, that I now read him as having Robert Stack's voice?

10 = Amazing Spider-Man #674 (last issue - 5 out of 7 books)

If they hadn't been plugging the return of the Vulture, and it hadn't been so painfully obvious who the "boss" was from word go, the climax might have been a little stronger. There's still plenty of good bits in here, but most of it is character beat that was covered by-and-large by the fallout issue of "Spider-Island." I'm more excited by what's to come than what was here, though.

9 - Batman #3 (last issue - 4 out of 9 books)

So let's start with the good. Scott Snyder has actually put together a really compelling super hero mystery. Establishing a really cool group of general badness for Batman to go against, because the very soul of his city is at stake. They're quirky like good Batman villains, have resources seemingly on par with Bruce's, and have taken on the identity of a bat's natural predator. Good stuff, right?

So here's what bothers me. It's freaking Batman, and there's one particular part of this Court of Owls' modus operandi that I have a hard time buying someone as classically anal-retentive as he is not catching a pretty major flaw in so many Gotham buildings with his name on them. Then, to top it off, he sets off the kind of trap that's usually resolved for the comedic relief in an action movie. I'm forgiving this for now, but still...wow.

8 - Ultimate X-Men #3 (last issue - 1 out of 9 books)

There's a lot happening here, all of it firmly based in character, which is a testament to Spencer's understanding of the characters as well as the idea that he can do whatever he wants to with the Ultimate versions of them. Sharp dialogue combined with disparate plot points that are slowly pulling towards one another in a way that really pulls you along? This is an outstanding book. But I can't, in good conscience, rank it any higher than this spot.

I almost wanted to comment about how this issue felt really fast, and how that was probably just a by-product of the converging storylines (Stryker, Wolverine Jr., Kitty & Her Amazing Friends, and Quicksilver) and how much there was to do. But then I did something I don't usually do. I counted story pages. 19 pages for $3.99 isn't great, especially when there's clearly so much that can be done in three pages for this title.

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

The issue where we explain what's going on, who the bad guys are, what the bad guys want, and what the big master plan is usually plods along as a necessary but momentum-killing chapter in a multi-part story. It's a down to McNiven's pencils, really, that it simply wasn't the case here. Cap being given and then denied the "American Dream" was presented in all of its utopian splendor/dystopian despair (with a hint of Batman: The Animated Series), the visuals selling the story even as we're told.

That's not to say this issue wasn't without inherently exciting bits. A raid by Team Cap on Hydra gave us some nice action and a meta-line from Sharon that I have no business thinking is as clever as I found it to be. Solid work here, setting up the climax incredibly well.

6 - Venom #9 (last issue - 12 out of 13 books)

The "Spider-Island" fallout issue gives us another glimpse of the symbiote taking control of Flash rather than the other way around. The internal monologue still fresh with the news of his father's death, Flash takes another inevitable step towards truly becoming Venom. The fact that it was so inevitable and yet popped off the page even as you hoped against all common sense that Flash would do the right thing shouldn't be discounted. It would be easy to let a story beat we all saw coming against a throwaway villain and his impenetrable tank just happen. It's difficult to strive to make it matter, and Remender did just that in his script.

It was a little bit surprising that Flash got a few other things in order (minus some nagging guilt) so quickly, and maybe even a little disappointing given how much it could have meant to the theme of losing himself to the monster theme to let that dangle a little longer. That's a small complaint in the face of a good issue that, in spite of how much I enjoyed "Spider-Island," I'm happy to see get the series out from underneath the big event.

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

I can't quite put my finger on what I'm reacting to, but I really enjoyed this issue. The mystery is getting deeper, and while we don't quite know where Dick's new reputation has come from yet, we are getting a few extra shadows cast over who's behind the rumors and Saiko. So maybe I'm reacting to that. Or maybe it's the further expansion of the circus as Dick's estranged family, and all of the emotion that comes with his reunion and sudden ownership of the circus. Whatever the reason, I'm buying what this series is selling.

4 - Justice League #3 (last issue - 7 out of 9 books)

There was a lot of hubbub over the characterization of the over-zealous Wonder Woman in this issue. But let's face it, she was from a different culture and comes to this time in the DCU just as wet behind the ears as everyone else. Which brings me to this: the overlapping characterization behind all of these super-people who are coming together to face a huge threat is that they're all more than just a little cocky. Superman is clearly at the end of whatever journey Grant Morrison is taking him on in Action Comics, but is still not quite the Superman we all know. Green Lantern is still more Hal Jordan the flyboy than the man whose come out on the other side of a lot of bad things with help from his friends. Wonder Woman is learning a new culture and aching for a fight in the way that only a warrior born-and-raised could. Flash seems the most grounded, but still very self-assured in the face of the threat. Batman? He's Batman. Maybe the most cautious, but still firmly convinced that he knows best. Even our first glimpse of Aquaman screams "I got this, who needs you guys?"

So within all of that, the origin of Cyborg is a nice break, and I can already see what he's going to bring to the team when the time comes. Johns is setting up something really great with this opening story.

3 - Severed #4 (last issue - 5 out of 8 books)

This series keeps getting better, and once collected will probably build so well that you need to read it with all of the lights on. Stacking on top of the tension established in the previous issue, Snyder and Tuft use the two viewpoints of our two main characters to drive a wedge in between them even as the audience knows who's right about that wedge and what he wants. Horrifically, they even tease you with a little hope for a hero and a happy ending, but we know where this has to go and the result is terrifying. That terror is mostly based on the knowledge that for all we've seen, we know we ain't really seen nothin' yet.

2 - Walking Dead #91 (last issue - 3 out of 13 books)

Kirkman decides to make us wait to see the fallout from the last panel of issue #90. Even lets time pass. So what we're left with is a very compelling reason that what happens should continue to happen, at least as far as one character is concerned. It's definitely affecting both Rick and Andrea in real, but divergent, degrees of guilt.

Meanwhile, the rest of the township of Zombieville goes about their business, and we see things from the disturbing seeds of mistrust to the mundane. All of it, though, is presented so well and so real that it can't help but draw a reader in. And that's the subtle brilliance of this title.

Well, that...and the kids. Sofia and Carl both get some moments that will send a chill up your spine as they interact with the adults in their lives. Seriously...damn.

1 - Wonder Woman #3 (last issue - 1 out of 9 books)

When news about the "tweak" to Wonder Woman's origin hit early, I was braced to be a little let down by this issue. However, the focus of this issue isn't so much the reveal as how the characters react to it. Azzarello deftly gives us the emotional impact on Wonder Woman of hearing that she's not made of clay, but rather is the daughter of Zeus. Not being made of clay, even as we hear that it's still some manner of sticking point with the residents of Paradise Island, leaves our heroine feeling less human than ever. Ironically, for me as a reader, her reaction to being half-a-god rendered her more human than I've ever seen her in the pages of a comic.

All the while, Chiang's artwork does an amazing job telling the story and selling the emotion behind it all. However, it's the little things in the pages that get me, like the detailing around Strife's expressions and the lightning highlights of Zeus' beard. This team is on a tear and creating something very special with a character that I always thought suffered because of the very mythology that they're using to make her shine.

funnybook of the week: November 9th, 2011

2011-11-11T07:18:00.003-05:00

Look at me, ma! A list up within 2 days of the release of the books!

8 - Point One #1 (last issue - n/a)

Here's the short of it. This tried to sell me at least four series now, probably more later...and the only thing I found interesting was the framing device with the astronauts raiding the Watcher's memory. If that leads to something, I might be interested in that. Otherwise, I'm not buying what this book is selling. Well, that's not all true. I do have Avengers on the pull list, I just didn't see how a glimpse into the future showing a bunch of heroes talking abut how hopeless it is should excite me. I just read Fear Itself.

7 - Ultimate Spider-Man #4 (last issue - 8 out of 9 books)

We finally see Miles' "Great Power/Great Responsibility" moment and, as promised, it does tie into the death of Peter Parker. And I'm not sure I love it. It lacks the personal punch of the loss of Uncle Ben, and honestly seems a little shallow and self-absorbed of the young man. I mean, seriously, his deal is that he feels like he should have started being a super hero as soon as he figured out he had powers so he could have met Spider-Man and maybe kept him from dying. Um, what?

The replay of certain beats from the last volume of Ultimate Spider-Man rang a little shallow, and I'm honestly on the fence about even letting this arc finish before giving up.

6 - Batgirl #3 (last issue - 7 out of 9 books)

This odd little interlude may have been just what the book needed. A sparring partner and former lover showing up to re-establish some confidence in the character after yet another setback. Gail Simone does sexual tension as well as anyone in comics, and she gets right to the heart of the old relationship with Nightwing. I'm still not thrilled that we're three issues in and we're still defining Babs by her former disability. Honestly, it seems like the wheel chair looms larger now than it did for the years she spent in it.

5 - Avenging Spider-Man #1 (last issue - n/a)

Joe Mad drawing a Hulk. Zeb Wells writing Spider-Man's dialogue. There's a lot to like in the debut issue. The mechanism for getting the initial team-up going (Spidey needs a ride back to New York after some Avenger business) set the tone for the antagonistic relationship between our two heroes, who get along as well as a disciplined general with rage issues and Peter Parker can possibly get along. I don't think that this is going to possess the core of Spider-Man as well as Slott's work in Amazing does, but it does play to the strengths of it's creative team and promises to be a fun ride for as long as it's out there.

4 - New Avengers #18 (last issue - 6 out of 9 books)

It's a getting the band together issue, and I have a long and fabled history of not enjoying those. Norman wants to put together a collection of New Dark Avengers (just like the cover says!), and we see A.I.M., Hydra, and the Hand's contributions as well as some very interesting additions to the team that will prove very problematic going forward. I think that, with this group more than the last one, the motivation for everyone in this group seems a little more solid and I'm very much looking forward to where this is going. But this was still just a getting the band together issue. Even if it was a very good one of those.

3 - Journey Into Mystery #631 (last issue - 9 out of 13 books)

There's a new order in Asgard, and young Loki is under direction from the All-Mother to tie up his loose ends. There is some excellent character work in this issue, as the Young Loki is portrayed as a trickster feeling the burden of guilt for all of the double-dealing he did in the name of saving everything. His trust of others based on their trust of him shows as an interesting dichotomy in light of this guilt, and Kieron Gillen plays it very well.

Of course, the trademark humor is still there, and nowhere is it more prominent than in Loki's relationship with Leah. So I was pleasantly surprised to see that Loki had set her up with interesting accommodations so that she could be a part of the series for the long haul. Add that it doesn't look quite like we're done with Mephisto, and we're set for the long haul with some very fun characters.

2 - Uncanny X-Force #17 (last issue - 3 out of 9 books)

If I were to tell you that a majority of this issue centered around Wolverine slashing his way around a giant Iceman, would I have to work much harder to sell you on how fun this issue is? What if I threw in that the ridiculous headgear Psylocke is sporting on the cover doesn't last long?

Alright, fine. How about if we get to the heart of the matter: Fantomex and his previous booking it come to fruition in an outstanding way that pays off the earlier trip to an alternate reality and threatens to pay off the love triangle that's been brewing since word go in this series? There's a ton of things else that happened in here - death being dealt right and left is one of them - that requires some spoilery activity to properly talk about.

Let's just say that Remender still hasn't taken his foot off the gas over the course of 7 issues of this story.

1 - Rachel Rising #3 (last issue - 4 out of 14 books)

I don't know that I've ever read an issue, and then immediately reached for the rest of a series to reread so quickly. But I needed to do that here. Not because I was confused, but because I thought I had figured something out.

And it's true, things are starting to become a lot clearer. The mysterious woman who seemed so unimpressed with Rachel's return from death may not have been explicitly explained, but we see how she does what she does and that she always sticks around to admire her handy work. Rachel herself gets more comments on her appearance as well as having an adverse reaction to a sip of wine that brings the mysterious rope back into play. And the little girl from the last issue makes an eerie appearance.

Terry Moore is doing something that is so tonally different from his previous work while still maintaining his excellent character-work and breezy dialogue. These three issues together are the most fascinating thing to come out of comics in a long time.

funnybook of the week: November 2nd, 2011

2011-11-08T20:43:00.002-05:00

Two pretty big disappointments, some pretty strong issues, and another week where it's not a bad place at all to be part of the DCnU.

7 - The Boys #60 (last issue - 1 out of 8 books)

This was a pretty lackluster follow-up to last issue's tone-setting story. Big things happen, gross things happen, and then big gross things happen. There wasn't a sense of cohesion around these things, and in one particular case not even a readily apparent purpose. Although Ennis does get in a fun jab at everyone's favorite new Mutant Headmaster...

6 - Uncanny X-Men #1 (Uncanny X-Men #544 - 3 out of 9 books)

The highlight of the issue was a fun dialogue about Scott's new Extinction Team (no, seriously, that's what he's calling them) and their brand new chairs. True to Gillen's previous work, it was just clever and funny dialogue that conveyed an honest affection for a pretty scary (as Storm points out, most of them have had a "mostly super villain" phase) collection of talent.

The problem, though, is that the clever dialogue in that one scene was the highlight of the issue. As much as I enjoy Gillen's take on Mr. Sinister, I'm not in love with where that's going. More troubling though, is that Gillen has been given the job of making Scott's agenda sympathetic, and I just don't know that it is.

5 - Amazing Spider-Man #673 (last issue - 1 out of 13 books)

Interestingly enough, after the last issue showed us that being Peter Parker is what makes Spider-Man special, we're given an issue in which someone accuses him of using Peter Parker as the mask that hides a Spider-Man. Kind of brilliant. The rest of the action here is typical (yet, thoroughly well-executed) epilogue stuff. The future is hinted at in a few areas (as well as a new title being teased), Spidey's relationships get a check-in (and one that probably should hurt more than it did), and we Doctor Strange explains how working with a bunch of geniuses will suddenly be a little more inconvenient for Peter moving forward.

The nice little bow on this package was some amusing observation about how transformations, augmentations, and clothing work in the Marvel Universe. A nice little bow on a fun and well-deserved exhale chapter before being dropped into the next big thing for our hero.

4 - Avengers Academy #21 (last issue - 11 out of 13 books)

Well, this is familiar. Like the first issue of Avengers Academy, Christos Gage introduces us to a new group of students and would-be heroes. Like the first issue of Avengers Academy, Gage gives us some slightly stretched reasons for the choices in faculty members. It was good, and the character work was strong (he did take care to tend to the characters he already had). Still, it was just a little too familiar, and for just a second I wondered if we were really going to have to start over.

I should have known better, though. Because, like the first issue of Avengers Academy, Gage gave us a hook at the end that's going to prove very interesting. And if that's not enough, he's tossed in a mystery around Jocasta that you just can't help but wonder about given certain Moon Knight and Avengers issues...

3 - Swamp Thing #3 (last issue - 7 out of 8 books)

This was a far more - and you're going to have to excuse me for this - organic joining of the current status quo with what came before it. We're introduced to Abigail Arcane formally and shown how she ties into the greater mythology behind the Swamp Thing. In the horror movie mode, though, we also meet young William who is haunted by the voice of our big bad: The Rot.

William's story was a welcome break from the exposition heavy work done with Alec Holland and Abigail, pushing the story forward while catching the rest of us up on what we've missed by not reading 25 years or so of volumes of Swamp Thing. It's an eerily beautiful book that did everything right the previous issue did wrong on top of doing all of the things right that the previous issue did right.

Plus, I have a feeling that The Rot may be popping up in another series. Why do I keep seeing potential crossovers with all of Snyder's work?

2 - Animal Man #3 (last issue - 5 out of 13 books)

Pure horror book here, without even a hint of super hero. But that's perfectly fine when it's executed as well as this this issue was. Lemire and Foreman have the tone set so perfectly and the danger and stakes raised so high, you could forget that there was a super hero involved in any of this. In fact, they make no bones about the fact that all of the action here revolves around Maxine and what the Hunters Three want and what the Red means. Buddy's family is stalked horror style as well, and little touches like flies really drive home the creepy factor that's drawn me into this series so hard.

As for Buddy himself, he's trying hard to understand what's happening to himself in the Red as well as what how his daughter is so in tune to it. Incredibly engrossing book on all ends.

1 - Action Comics #3 (last issue - 3 out of 8 books)

I'm going to make a confession. As much as I love Social Justice Superman, I love Anti-Media Corruption Clark Kent even more! I'm probably going to let my political leanings and the fact that everything that Morrison has Clark Kent say in this issue rings incredibly true color my opinion here, but so what? This is relevant, this is fresh, this is a Superman that wants to represent something more than just abstract ideas.

With Occupy Wall Street happening now, a Superman trying to literally fight corruption and a Clark Kent that gets so mad over the corporate ownership of our news media that he can barely stand it hits every single one of the right notes. I'm interested in seeing where a character like Lois Lane, who works for the corporate media, ends up as this story progresses.

All of that doesn't even speak to the widespread paranoia about who Superman is and where he's from as story after story is brought to light to take away the effectiveness of what he's doing (again, just like with OWS). I don't know if Morrison wrote this to be as spot-on as it turned out to be or if the timing is just impeccable, but this is probably the most timely and relevant Superman has been since he was fighting Nazis a million years ago.

funnybook of the week: October 26th, 2011

2011-11-07T09:29:00.005-05:00

It took me a while to get my hands on 'em, but this was an excellent week. Well worth the wait, even if the debut issues I was most looking forward to didn't live up to my every impossible expectation for them...

13 - Captain Swing and the Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island #4 (last issue - 4 out of 11 books)

This book did a kind of disappointing limp to the finish, as if once Warren Ellis had finished exploring his ideas and characters as new things, he just wanted to wrap this up and move on. The finish is satisfying, but still a little paint-by-number (bizarre boss battle aside) and well-fitting to match the fun and wonder of the first three issues. Good wins, evil is punished, and morals are temporarily grayed. Justice, law, and piracy muddle just long enough for revenge.

12 - Venom #8 (last issue - 8 out of 14 books)

A little more Spider-Island action here, but I think this is a rare example of Remender missing the mark. I appreciate the attempt to not only tie into the big storyline, but advance your own narrative using the big storyline as a backdrop. Unfortunately, the bits with Flash getting some closure with his dad didn't quite jive with Venom's large throw-down with The Queen.

That doesn't make this issue a total loss, though. There is a quick time out for Flash to sabotage his personal life in the name of duty and a desperate calling out to his "partner" that both look to haunt this title in a big way going forward, but those are just seeds among an issue that didn't quite do what it wanted to overall.

11 - Avengers Academy #20 (last issue - 10 out of 14 books)

I don't know how many times "end of an era" was actually written in the pages of this issue, but certainly enough times that I get the impression that Gage would want me to point out that this is the end of an era. I don't know that it's necessarily true. Yes, the Academy does lose a student. And if you had to pick one to up and quit, this is the one the story demanded. I'm just not certain that more wouldn't have followed her.

The clearing out of some of the old faculty felt a lot less organic, and more like shuffling the cards because those two kept coming up without anything to make them necessary. So, in the end, we're left with a new direction and a new thesis for the series, but it feels more like a continuation rather than a new era. Nothing wrong with that at all, mind you.

10 - Incredible Hulk #1 (last issue - n/a)

Let's be honest, there's a real hook and selling point to this, but that hook and selling point was in the solicits for months. How extreme the Banner Problem is that the Hulk has to fix, though, was pretty unexpected. Dude seems genuinely unhinged, and we're left to wonder how much of that is the separated Hulk and what parts of Banner be may have brought with him. Still, given the sell, we all knew that the Hulks retirement wouldn't last (that, and we've known the Hulk long enough than to believe that he'll find acceptance and settle down without the past coming for him - that's a Tuesday for this character). Now, though, we're really going to get a good hard look at whose fault that is. And this was a nice, if predictable, peek at the start of a new look at that old dynamic.

9 - Journey Into Mystery #630 (last issue - 6 out of 9 books)

Gillen writes fun comics. Comics that are fun. There is fun to be had in the comics that Kieron Gillen writes. So I ranked this odd little issue probably ahead of where it would go if I were merely ranking them on some defined scale of purpose and perfection. This book is basically two halves. The first deals with how Loki is to be perceived for his role in defeating the Serpent. The second is Volstagg regaling his children with a kid-friendly version of Fear Itself.

On the surface, there's not much new or surprising; but it's the little bits like a god asking his children what they say about Nazis and hearing the unison response "Death to Nazis" that made this issue probably more fun than it had a right to be.

8 - Wolverine & the X-Men #1 (last issue - n/a)

If someone had told me that one of two flagship X-Men books would be centered around Wolverine trying to run a school, I'd have told you that it was a very interesting concept for a sitcom. And I'd have been vindicated by the first issue of Wolverine & the X-men, which introduced us to the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning via a tour given to some decidedly anti-mutant folks from the New York Board of Whoever Decides Schools are Legit. Wacky hijinx ensues, and we even get the crazy neighbor (or, you know first story arc's villain) coming in to literally introduce himself.

For all that it was a little bit hokey, it did introduce us to the cast and the cloud of doubt hanging over Wovlerine & company's ability to keep the school going. New-reader friendly, yes, but I want a little more meat on this bone.

7 - FF #11 (last issue - 5 out of 9 books)

The Future Foundation is in just a tiny bit over its head, so they call in the big guns. Though they may need guns that come in a little bit larger a size, they're at least bringing in guns that don't have a well-detailed history of trying to kill the core of the team. Intergalactic beats further established the major players and what they want, as well as turning up the juice on the danger with an acquisition (though how that acquisition got from point A to point B is a little mystifying, I'll admit) while the good guys rallied.

Franklin and Val stole the show again, and I'm kind of hoping that the relaunch of the Fantastic Four makes room for the two of them at the center of the continuing FF, because theirs is the story that I most want to follow.

6 - Sixth Gun #16 (last issue - 7 out of 14 books)

The supernatural in this book has thus far been the terrifying evil kind, so it's nice to see it used to an oddly heart-warming moment as Becky gets some quality time with the Sixth Gun and her deceased stepfather. Of course, even that comes with a large measure of foreboding...what do you expect from an evil weapon. Then again, some ghosts still carry the kind of classic awful we've come to expect. Gord relives something awful from his past as it's revealed he may be closer to the Six that we knew and everyone's trustworthiness is put into question. Great title here that just keeps moving forward.

5 - Animal Man #2 (last issue - 2 out of 13 books)

Picking up right where the last issue left off, we explore the ramifications of the creepy bleeding and - more importantly - the creepy new friends Maxine made in the debut issue. The concept of The Red to go along with Swamp Thing's The Green is an interesting addition, and through it we're given even more hints at the actual nature of Animal Man's powers.

The horror tone still fits well as Lemire's story finds a wonderful partner in Travel Foreman's art, as Maxine and Buddy tap into their connection to The Red. This issue wasn't as personal as the debut, and the parallels to Swamp Thing continue as we get an odd amount of floating around and discovering more of the mythology than we get character work (though it should be pointed out that the execution here is far less narration-based and far more discovery based - bonus points awarded accordingly). Really strong second issue that adds what it needs to add to the storyline.

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

There's simply not a lot to dislike about a villain who knows who butters his bread. And isn't afraid to show it. Daredevil's latest sparring partner is just part of the wonderful that Mark Waid and Marcos Martin dropped with this issue. The nods to Daredevil's way-back past in tone combined with Foggy's aching familiarity with Matt's recent past to form a cognitive dissonance that's perfectly called out while still allowing us to enjoy a version of Daredevil whose narration sarcastically wonders "What ever will I do?" when faced with easily dispatched foes.

None of that is even the main thrust of the story, though, and it's still pretty incredible. The main thrust of the story is still a tightly-scripted story centering on Matt's penchant for finding people who are waaay in over their heads. This whole thing could be huge, given what's going on in the two big Avenger titles...but who knows?

3 - Walking Dead #90 (last issue - 6 out of 8 books)

The nature of dispair, who deals with it, and how those folks do gets all kinds of page count in this issue. Kirkman has put a lot of characters through the ringer across 90 issues, and some are lashing out while others have just had it. Carl is once again the star here, showing off how growing up in the end of the world has essentially taught him that emotion is weakness. Rick's reaction to this is priceless, as he tries his damnedest to get his little boy back - all the while knowing he probably can't.

It's nice to have these issues where the zombies take such a huge toll on so many characters without even needing to pop up. This is the sort of storytelling I've grown accustomed to in this book. It's not all people breaking down, though. There are seeds of destruction sewn in this issue, once again having nothing to do with zombies and everything to do with human frailty. I love it.

2 - Animal Man #1 (last issue - n/a)

I finally managed to get a copy of this after hearing the rest of the comics-reading world heap praise on it. Praise that, as it turns out, is totally earned. From a line-wide relaunch standpoint, this was as fine an introduction to the great unwashed masses as there's been. We know who Buddy is, what he does, what makes him work, and what's important to him. From a tonal standpoint, we're once again in a very dark and moody horror movie place (joining other relaunch darling Wonder Woman) that pulls you in over a multipage dream sequence that prepares to introduce us to the (I'm guessing here) new mythology behind Animal Man is.

The last page is the cherry on the sundae, giving us a creepy visual with emotional stakes that were 100% earned in one issue. I almost had to make a 3-month-old comic the funnybook of the week, except then this happened:

1 - Amazing Spider-Man #672 (last issue - 4 out of 9 books)

You know, for all the awkwardness of Kaine suddenly having his Parker sense of humor restored out of the clear blue (or, you know, healed by Anti-Venom's anti-venoms), I actually rather enjoyed the little bit of banter we got between the two characters. And really, that tiny inconsistency which turned out to be enjoyable was my only complaint. Fact of the matter is, this was an incredible Spider-Man comic book that played on every strength Peter Parker has. His relationships, his brain, and his dedication to tending both.

The whole point of the story is that Spider-Man is so much more than a set of powers. Kaine even goes so far as to explicitly spell that out for us. In a city where everyone is Spider-Man, only Peter Parker knew what to do. This whole thing leads up to two panels of a grinning Spider-Man that is just...perfect. How many times have we seen the bottom half of this guys masked ripped off over the years? Has it ever served a purpose other than to show that he's really beaten up? I don't think so, yet here Dan Slott masterfully finds a way to breath incredible life into an old Spider-Man trope for a two-page spread that only a soulless monster could do anything with apart from just stare with a big, dorky grin.

Also, I'd feel like a giant tool if I left out how Humberto Ramos brought this whole thing to life. Not just the two-page spread, but the whole of the story and issue. He nailed it over and over again, from the over-the-top action to the smaller personal moments (Mary Jane in that two-page spread is wonderful). I know his style isn't everyone's favorite, but as far as I'm concerned there couldn't have been any other artist for this story.

At this point, there have been two issues that are fighting for the best of the year. This one, and Ultimate Peter's death issue. Maybe it's my unabashed love for the character, but I really think that it's the way I've now twice seen writers dig in and pull out what they feel the very essence of who Spider-Man is under the mask. It really is amazing.

funnybook of the week: October 17th, 2011

2011-10-31T17:24:00.002-04:00

Everything that isn't listed as a mini series really did it's job this week. Everything else? Well...

9 - Fear Itself #7 (last issue - 9 out of 9 books)

Well, the last issue of this series really sums up the missed opportunities of this beautifully-drawn mess well. The thing that worked best in this series was the father/son dynamic between Odin and Thor. What started off so strong got lost and muddled to the point that what should have been an emotional climax felt rushed and confusing. Sin's daddy issues, so prevalent at the beginning had been lost to the point that she doesn't even articulate that what is really lost at the end of the day was another father figure. The father/son dynamic between Cap and Bucky that should have been so strong for was missed entirely. Just missed opportunity after missed opportunity for character-driven storytelling.

But that's okay because this was an event book, right? The popcorn movie of comics, yes? Except what should have been a huge conflict between Avengers wielding Iron Man's Odin-blessed weapons vs. The Worthy turned into a rout that took only a small handful of pages and really exposed how hollow the threat that had the entire Marvel Universe crapping its pants in fear really was. So even the big-action payoff was missed.

But what about the Marvel U's citizens overcoming Fear Itself? Oh, that? It happens, but we lost that thread after the first issue and it turned out to be more of a vague framing device than an actual plot point. This whole exercise was just a frustrating ending to a frustrating event book that could have been so much more. But at least we got some good old-fashioned Event Death™ out of it!

8 - The Boys: Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker #4 (last issue - 7 out of 11 books)

Aw, crap. I thought I had a handle on what was going to happen. I knew it was going to be gruesome, over-the-top, and troubling. But I just kept mumbling "please don't be rape, please don't be rape, please don't be rape..." I know Ennis wants to hold a mirror to super hero comics and show them how hard they rely on certain tropes. I do. This series, though, is background on the characters in that deconstruction. I was hoping for something closer to ol' Billy Boy's soul...something internal more than external (even though we knew there would be some foul fate put upon this poor girl). But rape? Trite.

Though there are points for some very creatively disturbing results. It was gruesome, over-the-top, and troubling.

7 - Justice League #2 (last issue - 3 out of 10 books)

The meat of the issue here is a pretty paint-by-numbers issue of good guys fighting each other because of a basic misunderstanding. The characterization within that fighting (a young Superman's odd combination of cocky and earnest, Batman's rational bully approach, Green Lantern and Flash's friendship) was all top-notch.

The addition of the new (as far as I know) origin of Cyborg is also pretty pedestrian at a glance, but comes with a lot of nuanced character work beyond the simple "Daddy thinks football is stupid, but I love football" layer. Much like the last issue, Johns & Lee aren't surprising anyone with this title, but they are delivering a fun super hero team origin.

6 - Journey Into Mysery #629 (last issue - 6 out of 14 books)

The problem with having an epic journey that's bound to the epic event story is that you have to conclude your epic side-story in a way that ties into the prime epic story and shows how important the story you've been reading in the epic side-story is to the conclusion of the huge event. It came together in a narration, and it was all well and good, I suppose.

It was never going to have the desired ramifications, and read like it was tacked to the existing script rather than an important part of it. The ramifications for what Young Loki did, who he owes favors to, and what's out in the world as a result of all of these heroic deeds (and the way that the same heroic deeds will be interpreted) was far more interesting to me. "What of Asgard?" and "What of Thor?" don't intrigue me, but "What of Loki?" - especially with Thor being in his present state - does.

5 - Avengers #18 (last issue - 10 out of 11 books)

Look gang, Captain America is a hard voice to find. You have to write a dude who was willing, and still is willing to put country before self or agenda in the most earnest, doesn't really exist in anyone under the age of 80 way. You have to do it for one of the most cynical audiences out there in comics fans. And you have to do it in a way that rings as leadership instead of schmaltz. Brian Michael Bendis nails that voice in the rubble of Avengers Tower. He absolutely nails it.

The rest of the issue? Clever dialogue, table setting, and a mysterious character with a hidden motivation and an odd habit. You know, Bendis stuff. It looks like Dark Reign II: Electric Boogaloo is going to show up in both New and Adjectiveless Avengers titles. While I'm excited about that, I once again have to wonder if we truly need two titles devoted to it.

4 - Batman #2 (last issue - 3 out of 11 books)

Batman denying an urban legend is a fun little bit of irony that I can dig. Snyder expands his "Gotham City: The Character" storytelling a little more (which works even better with Capullo's style than it did Jock's) more and more with each issue he gets, now using it as a cover for the bad guys and what they do. Little throwaway lines like "I love killing Waynes" come out that will have so much more meaning down the road(I just know it). Things are firing along well here.

I am a little bit puzzled at the awkward exchange between Dick and Bruce about the fingernail DNA. I knew we want to establish the trust between the two, and the rapport in this brave (and bold?) new world, but to explain it away as nothing seems like trying to hard to convince us to forget about it...so now I just know it's going to figure in as important. Somehow. Somewhere.

3 - Uncanny X-Men #544 (last issue - 9 out of 11 books)

By way of ending an era, Kieron Gillen introduces us to a the newest iteration of Mr. Sinister. That plot devise is strong enough to carry us into and out of the formal breaking up of the original X-Men by focusing on the two who aren't dead, already gone, or currently trying to reboot the world in their image (Uncanny X-Force is so great). So Iceman and Cyclops have one last back-and-forth, showing that neither of them are so very different from the kids that were out in Westchester. It's simply that only one of them is looking for a way to press on. It's a nice ending to the series, even if it really is a renumbering rather than a cancellation or even a re-launch.

Unrelated: when John Cassaday redesigned the X-men for his Astonishing run with Whedon, did he know how long other artists would continue to give Cyclops - now a true leader of men (or mutants, whatever) - an awful and patchy stublebeard for years afterward?

2 - Nightwing #2 (last issue - 2 out of 11 books)

If you're going to relaunch a book with Dick Grayson as the star, why not bring him back to the beginning. And if you're going to go back to the beginning without clogging the shelves with another origin story, why not instead bring the beginning to the star. That's what Kyle Higgins has done here, bringing the circus to Dick and letting it haunt him and show him how it's shaped his life from the very beginning.

The bad guy is motivated and one of the two mysterys is intriguing (even if the other one is obvious). In the meantime, we learn so much more about who Nightwing is and how he functions as a part of and apart from the Batman family. Plus, this member of the Bat family does the majority of his hooking up off-panel.

1 - Wonder Woman #2 (last issue - 1 out of 11 books)

Don't look now, but Brian Azzarello did it. He found something that boils Wonder Woman down to an essence of a motivated hero. Superman stands for the ideals of his adopted home. Batman fights against the corruption in Gotham City that left him an orphan. Wonder Woman fights for humankind when the gods won't. By defining the myth around Wonder Woman and then have her plainly state that she's not so much on either side of that mythological struggle, but rather stands with the people who are used and consumed by either side, she is now firmly rooted as one of ours in a way that I've never read before for the character.

Beyond that quasi-miracle, though, the tone and feel of this book remains pitch perfect. A little violent for DC's premiere super heroine, perhaps. Definitely dealing in subject matter and language that, while appropriately used, may be beyond what a parent wants their little girl reading. None of that kept me from enjoying the dark tone (in both story and coloring) and the twists and turns that can come from so simply yet exquisitely taking advantage of the myths as they are and applying them to a character who wants to protect us all from them.

I dunno, maybe my (theoretical) little girl could find a role model in all of that.

funnybook of the week: October 12th, 2011

2011-10-31T02:38:00.002-04:00

The titles at the top reaffirm my love for comics. At the bottom? Reaffirm my internet fanboy grumpiness. In the middle? I'm sure they reaffirm something.

9 - X-Men: Regenesis #1 (last issue - n/a)

Well, everyone chooses their sides. People beg. The weirdness of some of the assignments is explained. It was fine for that, but I didn't at all dig the primal catfight that was used to frame the story. Really, just an excuse to put an extra thing with "X-Men" written on it.

8 - Ultimate Spider-Man #3 (last issue - 9 out of 14 books)

Goodness, this is progressing slowly. Miles' first act of heroism came and went with little fanfare. New members of the cast were introduced with even less. Things just aren't pushing forward at any kind of pace, and that's getting really frustrating at $3.99 a pop for a standard number of pages. Bendis has earned a benefit of the doubt here, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe Peter's death wasn't the perfect jumping off point for the Ulitmate imprint.

7 - Batgirl #2 (last issue - 4 out of 8 books)

Gail Simone delivers a twisted little raison d'etre for her villain, and that's really the biggest attention-grabber of the issue. In an attempt to placate the people who still believe Babs should be in the chair instead of in the suit, our Batgirl is still rusty and prone to the kind of mistakes that the Oracle we all knew and loved wouldn't have been thrilled with. She seems more handicapped by the chair now than when she was in it, and it's frustrating for me as a fan of both Oracle and the Stephanie Brown Batgirl that I had to give up for this series. I'm honestly on the fence about a third issue, and if it comes, it will be based on the strength of Mirror more than Batgirl.

6 - New Avengers #17 (last issue - 3 out of 14 books)

One battle, two sides. From the side of the good guys, it was all fighting giant robots and fantastic banter and teamwork. From the side of the newly-formed H.A.M.M.E.R., it was all evil plots, personal vendettas (I know it's a simple thing, but I always appreciate the post Secret Invasion Norman Osborn still hates Spider-Man first and foremost), and a logical conclusion to the groundwork laid in the previous issue of Avengers (though, so far, there's nothing in the adjectiveless title you'd need to know to get what's going on here). It seems as though we're on a relatively slow burn to a big happening that will likely include the whole of the Avengers line (and probably a few tie-ins for good measure), but it's been fun enough getting there.

5 - FF #10 (last issue - 12 out of 14 books)

The up-and-down FF is back up in a big way. This is the kind of stuff I want out of a Fantastic Four book. Sure the big ideas and epic scale were still there. A Reed fighting for the survival of all worlds through means of dubious methods, though, was balanced out by an appearance of someone who could temper his strictly by-the-numbers-to-the-point-of-villainy attitude. Another Reed, our Reed, returns to his family to share a moment with his wife amid the grander assurances that times are dark. And sure, there was still an esoteric gathering of alien forces that completely skip me due to my lack of interest in Marvel's cosmic line, but there are also moment that emphasize the relatively small family at the heart of this book. When Hickman remembers those relationships, this book soars.

4 - Amazing Spider-Man #671 (last issue - 2 out of 14 books)

Spider-Island continues to be just a bucket of goofy fun. The character pieces, aside from Mary Jane's sudden case of understanding, were largely absent from this issue as we hit some high and hard plot points at a feverish pace (even for this story, which hasn't let off of the gas pedal even once) to get things prepped for the grand finale (as well as all but give away who the Scarlet Spider is going to be when that launches). We also learn who Horizon's sixth member is, which was a little anti-climactic for me but probably based only on my historic dislike of the character.

My one real complaint for this issue is that, in a story about the people of New York suddenly turning into giant Spiders, the last bit seemed just a bit much for me to swallow. I know, right? It just seemed to be one more needless amping up of the danger factor before blowing this whole thing up in the next issue. Which I am very much looking forward to.

3 - Uncanny X-Force #16 (last issue - 1 out of 9 books)

What Rick Remender and company are doing (Opeña's art still stands out among the great work on this title, by the way) with this series is truly special. This is epic, event-level storytelling with enough time to take care of the very personal stories of Warren, Betsy, and Fantomex (just for starters, though they are clearly the stars of this issue). The result of it all is that we see 16 issues (and counting) of a magnum opus that may well be the highlight of a career full of highlights from Remender. I don't know if I can add anything else. Just pick up the run and start reading already.

2 - The Cape #2 (last issue - 2 out of 15 books)

Just as you get a little closer to the heart of everything, as you see Eric living in the shadow of his brother, you almost feel sorry for the guy. Until Joe Hill and his team do everything they can to show that Nicki's shadow is largely constructed by Eric himself. Making every move our certainly-not-a-hero makes even more monstrous. Taunted by voices he creates. Beset by enemies he chose. Every move a little darker and more twisted as you get absolutely pulled in for the ride in a way that makes all of the inferiority complex somehow more earned even as we're shown again and again not to trust that. The whole thing is as dark, moody, and perfect as Zach Howard's art. The little imperfections bubbling over and taunting you just the same way Eric lets his brother's success taunt him.

You're not rooting for good brother or the loving mother, you're rooting for the bad guy to see how far down this horrific spiral he can go down. You want him to hit bottom so he can figure it out for himself. It'll be too late then, for him, but for the readers? We'll see a redemption of sorts. And I don't know that we're going to get it. And that might just be the most brilliant part of this whole series.

1 - Ultimate X-Men #2 (last issue - 6 out of 11 books)

This is what the Ultimate imprint should look like. Names and a few basic character traits can carry over, but the whole concept of what we've been reading for however many years of X-Men books should be redefined. And Nick Spencer is doing that. But that's the easy part, really.

He's also taking characters that I thought I'd never love as much as I did under Brian Michael Bendis' writing (with all due respect to the initial Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men runs that originally defined them, which I rather enjoyed) and pushing them to their next logical step given the world that's been created while still making sure that I love Aunt May's Home For Wayward Superheroes' residents as much as ever. He's taking on the very meaning of "God" among his characters in an interesting way. He's giving us new takes on classic evil. He's delivering the action with the new world-building.

In short? This month, Nick Spencer came awfully close to the perfect superhero book.

funnybook of the week: October 5th, 2011

2011-10-09T15:31:00.003-04:00

This week, we welcome an old favorite back to its former glory and wonder how a series that started so well can get so little done in six issues...

8 - Moon Knight #6 (last issue - 6 out of 8 books)

This thing is just moving at a glacial pace, as we spend most of this issue with Echo and Marc flirting with each other and the Avengers showing up just to show up and tell Marc how to do what he does (he already has Avenger hallucinations for that). While the character work was solid enough, for $3.99 and 20 story pages, I want more than rehashing what we already know and the typical "show how tough our bad guy is by having him waste some low-level jerks. I honestly don't know if I'm interested enough for issue #7. We'll see...

7 - Swamp Thing #2 (last issue - 2 out of 8 books)

Back story. A lot of it. I know that the DCnU isn't to be a full-on re-launch, but we get one Swamp Thing to another defining what it is to be part of The Green in page after page of hand-holding exposition. As someone who was mostly unfamiliar with Swamp Thing before this began, it should have spoken directly to me, but instead just felt like a desperate attempt to align what we're reading now with all that came before it instead of take advantage of the new platform to wholly redefine the character.

While I think it was a small misstep to dump that much information on us at once, but Yanick Paquette's artwork really stands out to help this along. The un-mentioned, but shown, destruction caused by the big bad of the series did do a little bit of story advancement and kept the horror-movie tone in place during all of the exposition and really kept me engaged. Which is good because the last few pages are wonderfully done horror pages as Alec runs for his life as the forces against him don't seem to care about his ultimate decision. The momentum at the end is definitely enough to carry me to a third issue, which I guess is all it really needs, but I still expect more out of the next one than what I got here.

6 - Walking Dead #89 (last issue - 5 out of 11 books)

It was only a matter of time before things went bad in the new digs, and when they did, I figured that would be that. It seems like it might be so much more than just a "welp, that didn't work either, time to move on" for Rick and company. And the explanation as to why comes early, as we finally acknowledge via one of the characters what a creepy little kid the whole ordeal has made Carl. Some of the issue felt a little too close to routine, but the sense that we're finally acknowledging the changes in Carl and the rest of the crew, it ended anything but.

5 - Severed #3 (last issue - 3 out of 9 books)

The point of showing us all what the danger is up top, before it even gets to our two young scalawags, is so that we can spend this reading the way we do watching a horror movie and scream at them to stop with the trusting. Sam is clearly a little more wary of the mysterious old benefactor, which allows for some pretty solid character work for page after page. Slow and steady storytelling here, but I'm still waiting for the big one here.

4 - Caligula #4 (last issue - 8 out of 8 books)

The indulgence here isn't so much from our evil, titular character so much as forced upon everyone to test loyalty. It gets a little more morbid and a little more dehumanizing as everything continues to spiral towards the "holy crap, did I just read that?" Interestingly and brilliantly enough, though, Lapham allows for Caligula to force one last atrocity at the end. This one, though, isn't to test loyalty so much as to foster it. The implication being clear and the dehumanizing effect actually being far greater because the reaction to it all comes from such a human place. Grossly incredible work here.

3 - Action Comics #2 (last issue - 1 out of 8 books)

Superman: prisoner of Lex Luthor. We establish the anti-alien sentiment in the DCnU Lex to the nth degree, which contrasts against the very human reactions to torture around him (more "social justice Superman," perhaps?). Superman himself, though, is still brash and cocky even as he endures Luthor's texts of what an alien can stand. Morrison great in giving us a lot of information and a lot of story, particularly concerning what Superman and Lex know and don't know about where he came from, while still peeling back the onion slowly on the larger story. Of course, as the last page reveals, this story gets much, much bigger.

I wouldn't have expected any less from Grant Morrison.

2 - X-Men: Schism #5 (last issue 8 out of 11 books)

Something happened in between the incredibly brutal throwdown between Cyclops and Wolverine at the beginning of the book and the telegraphed (well, really, advertised) ending at the end of the book: there was a reasonably good story about a philisophical difference. It really came down to Wolverine looking at that same old picture that Cyclops did in the last issue. Wolverine has been a young man turned into a monster by people who swore they were doing what they had to. Cyclops was raised protected, able to become his own man, and any monster he ever became was by his own choosing.

Wolverine wants to give young mutants that chance. The one he didn't have. It's perfect, really.

So why isn't this number 1 for the week? Because Aaron did in "Schism" what Millar did with "Civil War." They both knew whose side they were really on, so they overcompensated their viewpoints's counterweight to the point that the other guy was probably right if you read the story objectively. So maybe Cyclops won a philosophical difference that Aaron is probably on Wolverine's side of...so what? Aaron has me sold on Wolverine & the X-Men, so his job is done.

1 - The Boys #59 (last issue - 3 out of 8 books)

This is what made me fall in love with The Boys. This issue has every bit of the intelligence and irreverence that Garth Ennis put into the early issues of the series. The meta-commentary on superhero books and how audiences love super-team lineup changes was just funny enough to be seen as playful but just spot-on enough to be biting. Hughie being just a little over his head and being exasperated by the lack of sympathy from the rest of the team was as great as ever. The bad guys being perfectly done in an entertaining way that, in itself, shows us a commentary on the flaws within the superhero ideal (in the end, they're all properties controlled by...oh, you know).

All of it is topped off with a trademark Ennis-style show of over-the-top violence on the part of Butcher that is sits perfectly for the character once you put together where Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker is headed for its conclusion. It's dark, smart, and shows the beginnings of something having finally come loose in Butcher that's going to need to in order for the series climax to show. I'm so glad we're done with World War II and starting to push the series forward again.

funnybook of the week: September 28th, 2011

2011-10-06T21:07:00.002-04:00

Bendis turns in a strong week, but there were a lot of longtime favorites as well. Could one of his two great efforts get another win?

14 - Secret Avengers #17 (last issue - 4 out of 10 books)

Confession time, I'm not enjoying Ellis' one-in-done series of Secret Avengers issues as much as I thought I would. There's too much explaining his sci-fi macguffins up top and too abrupt a payoff at the end of each issue for me to enjoy the cranky dialogue (which comes off as more cranky and irritated than even Ellis' usual). Not helping was the inconsistent artwork from Kev Walker, whose Agent 13 seemed to change the very shape of her face with every panel. This was the right concept, with the right writer, and the right cast of characters...I don't know why it doesn't work, but I don't think it does.

13 - The Ultimates #2 (last issue - 3 out of 6 books)

The usual non-Fantastic Four Hickman complaints apply here. Huge ideas...Fury putting out fires as fast as they pop up, the end of Asgard at the hands of some creepy sci fi emotionless beings. But the problem is that the emotionless beings are the characters that got the most development in the issue. There was a touching too-little-too-late moment with Thor and his son (followed by a what the-?!? moment with some characters I'd loved to have met more than the emotionless antagonists), but it really didn't have reel in that I'm going to need from a book like this.

12 - FF #9 (last issue - 2 out of 6 books)

Consistent storytelling is starting to become an issue here. Who's doing what, for which side, and for what reason are all lost as various larger plot points are made. Hickman has fallen into this trap before with this run, where for several issues of Fantastic Four getting the pieces in place seemed more important than an engaging story. I'm willing to wait for the payoff here, but I'm starting to wonder if Hickman is best read in a longer form than issue-by-issue.

It's not that this was devoid of value as an individual issue. Hickman did keep the hooks in with Val doing what Val does (the Richards Children still being the thing I think he's got the best handle on with this family) and teasing the fate of DOOM (though the one of the Evil Reeds was a little too pleased with himself for outsmarting and outflanking somoene who he's trying to convince isn't a challenge to outflank or outsmart), but overall, I just wasn't feeling it.

11 - Kick-Ass 2 #4 (last issue - 1 out of 6 books)

This was an interesting departure from what JRJR and Millar's creation has been. The violence and overall grossness is certainly well on display as Red Mist, his new crew, and his new moniker are all on display. The problem here is that all of the whimsy and playfulness is gone. Instead, all that's left is something harsh and unsettling. As much as this book is supposed to be a reflection of what would really happen, the over-the-top nature of the action has always been done with a wink and a grin and those just aren't there in this issue.

What is there, though, is the reality. The way that this series of actions is immediately cracked down on wholesale by the law enforcement community that was willing to let it go as long as it was disrupting purse-snatchers and helping old ladies across the street. And the character moment with David and his dad at the end was really good comics. So the good is there, but I was so disappointed in the bad that it hardly matters.

10 - Avengers Academy #19 (last issue - 9 out of 11 books)

We're finally starting to see the light at the end of the Fear Itself tunnel. Unfortunately, this means that we've already exhausted the kids being in war and avoiding a straight-up showdown with the menace from Asgardian history. So the main thrust of the action seems a little finished and then brought back so that our children are forced to make a few difficult decisions (that was handled exceedingly well, in spite of how we arrived there - bit emotional moments for the kids). All that's left to do is blow things up and shake up a lineup.

That is what really won me over in this issue, though. Dealing with the Infinite Mansion, and Veil needing some manner of cathartic meltdown in front of her teachers gave us a meta-commentary on war and heroism that probably should have landed this issue a higher spot.

9 - Ultimate Spider-Man #2 (last issue - 7 out of 9 books)

The developing of Miles' world continues. His moral center, in his father, is in place. His powers are being defined. His best friend is smarter than he is, by quite a sight. It's all being done really well. But boy, decompressed storytelling....

8 - Venom#7 (last issue - 6 out of 11 books)

It's possible that the momentum Remender had been building with this title got a little bit curbed by tying into the very fun "Spider-Island" story, what with the redundant beats from the main story. Maybe. However...

The theme Remender was able to bring in as Flash, the alcoholic trying to get to his alcoholic father's last moment, faced off against Eddie Brock...who admitted that the symbiote is an addiction. Flash's internal monologue even goes so far as to confirm this. It's a nice little bit of writing, but I honestly can't wait to get back to business.

7 - Sixth Gun #15 (last issue - 9 out of 10 books)

We take a further break from the Drake show to give us Becky in hiding with her anti-apocalypse friends. She's having a little trouble, and her desperation to find the only person in the world she feels like she can trust (having been so recently burned with the whole trusting new people thing) plays out wonderfully even as another ally literally visits his past. The supernatural tones of this book are on clear display, veering into a suspenseful horror story and pushing the characters into newer and darker corners of the world Bunn has established. Incredible work.

6 - Journey Into Mystery #628 (last issue - 6 out of 9 books)

Kid Loki's plans begin to come together here as he places himself and his rag-tag group of otherworldly misfits in the middle of the upcoming conflict between Thor and the Serpent. The Desir get to have some flirtations which, like everything else Gillen has done with this title, is wickedly clever and funny. Loki himself continues to have a sharp wit as he seems to be embracing the right things about being a god of mischief while working to save his brother, father, and the mortal plain from the certain doom of Fear Itself. Good times, but I'm almost looking more forward to what's to come after the event is finished.

5 - Astonishing X-Men #42 (#40 - 10 out of 15 books)

And so Kitty, Lockheed, and the Broodling That Resembles ET made their stand against the Brood. Behold, it was fun. Like a seriously good time. Sharp dialogue (from an impatient alien, in particular) great characterization given the history of the cast with this alien species, and a final bit of separation between the good guys and the bad guys all tied this story in a neat little bow. Toss in a reference to the impending Schism in the X-books, and I'm glad I peeked into the Gage/Way joint run for a while.

4 - Rachel Rising #2 (last issue - 5 out of 8 books)

Terry Moore is going for a slow rollout of Rachel's world, but still gives us some hints about what's going on with the once-dead Rachel with some very classic horror tropes. As always with Moore's work, though, the story and the whats and whys just seem to be background while we meet interesting and wonderful characters. Rachel's aunt, the mortician, gets a fantastically entertaining issue here. Her worldview and how she handles Rachel's appearance is played for laughs (which are produced), but it also betrays a certain affection for Rachel while also giving us an idea about the types of folks Rachel is close too. Moore is definitely onto something here.

3 - New Avengers #16.1 (last issue - 8 out of 9 books)

Prison break! Now this is what every point-one issue should have had. An introduction to the players that's still fun to read for the existing audience (the dinner table scene that Bendis is so fond of with this group plays perfectly into that, so it was a no-brainer to use it again here), the introduction of some bad times ahead, and set up in such a way that the next issue will start building off of it all. Sure there were a few holes in the actual story, but that's not what this was about. This was about introducing a title, some characters, and a story in a time where some other company has gotten new eyes into the shops. I don't know if anyone extra picked this up, but it's cleanly going to do its job for anyone who does.

2 - Amazing Spider-Man #670 (last issue - 2 out of 9 books)

I'm going to try to review this issue without pointing out that there's no way something with as goofy a premise as "Spider-Island" should be so good. Oops.

You could hardly tell that Slott was doing hard work with the characters because the plot was getting faster and the stakes were getting higher so fast. In the middle of that, though, Peter's desperation, Jonah's frustration, and MJ's insistance that Peter will save the day were all fantastic. There was maybe a little too strong an attempt to make sure you remembered to care about the tie-in books or to bring their events into importance (I haven't read Venom as of this writing, but I'm certainly looking forward to seeing whose version of events, Eddies or Flash, is closer to truth). Still, this isn't just blind fun, which is what I thought was all we could hope for. This is just good comics over and over again.

1 - Brilliant #1 (last issue - n/a)

Let it be known that I intend, for as long as Brilliant remains on my pull list, to not review the incredible series by Bendis & Bagley as being "simply brilliant," no matter how apt the description my be. And it would be. Youthful exuberance (which, for my money, Bendis & Bagley do best - see Spider-Man, Ultimate) jumping off of the page after being given a clear introduction to exactly what has been "invented."

There's a simplicity in the way we meet everyone, and an intelligence to how we're introduced to what they've been in to. All the while, we've already seen that the ramifications of it push into an area that readers of super hero comics would readily identify as villainy. Then again, who wouldn't do that if they could? Are there lines in the sand being drawn already? Does this close group of friends become divided into heroes and villains? Do they all end up using what they've discovered for a sort of "wish fulfillment?" I already want to know. And that, boys and girls, is how you do a #1 issue.

funnybook of the week: September 21st, 2011

2011-10-03T13:42:00.003-04:00

I do apologize to my small readership about the lateness of this week and next week's entries. I think it's going to be this way for a while, as certain things have come up and it's becoming clear that this purchase won't be as weekly as we'd like. That said, it was an excellent book to be part of DC's new 52. And some other books came out as well!

11 - Ultimate Hawkeye #2 (last issue - 6 out of 10 books)

The thing about having mini-series is that it's okay if you don't fully develop your take on the central character as long as you have an interesting enough conflict built around that character that it can carry you through the series. I think that's what Hickman is doing here. Hawkeye is merely an empty vessel that's cocky and witty (I didn't appreciate the wit, but I understand that the characters do). The conflict around him is built to be complex and engaging, and he's just a central figure we can follow through it.

Except I didn't find the conflict all that engaging. I found it mostly dull, trying to dazzle me with scope and cleverness without finding something personal for me to latch onto (remember, it's not the main character) and assign some level of meaning to it. All of this stuff is just happening. But so what? The last page didn't help my appetite for more, as we get the reveal of Hawkeye's backup...one of whom should just go ahead and change his name to Ultimate MacGuffin at this point.

10 - Avengers #17 (last issue - 10 out of 11 books)

And thusly ends the Oral History of the Avengers (and now Marvel will have to find another way to hide the page count in the Avengers books). This was a clever use of Marvel Boy/Protector, who hasn't gotten much of a showcase since the first few issues and the time machine building. I think the impact of this issue would have been a little bigger if I had at all bought into the consequences of Fear Itself as being especially large. As we've discussed, though, I don't. So the whole thing where they keep talking about how hopeless the fight was and how beaten up they are over whatever happens at the end of the story just fell flat with me.

9 - Uncanny X-Men #543 (last issue - 3 out of 11 books)

Falling action. Again, the major problem with this is that it's a Fear Itself tie-in, and the central conflict needed to be shuffled off to that story's grand finale. Gillen equipped himself well enough, dealing fantastically with the fallout on a character level of Peter's decision to be the new Juggernaut and what that does to his relationships. Or even making certain that Cyclops will be leading a much different and more aggressive X-Men team coming out of Schism. As a single issue of comic, though, this really wasn't there.

8 - X-Men: Schism #4 (last issue 8 out of 11 books)

Well, now we know what they're fighting over. I keep mulling over in my head whether or not it makes sense for Wolverine, proud father-figure to many a young sidekick over the years, would really object to what's going on...and I've settled on yes. The Wolverine who was made into someone else's soldier would of course want to shelter kids from the Summers Army. Scott, with one look at an old picture of the original team, is probably seeing his mutant army as the logical conclusion to what Charles Xavier had been building for so long. Of course, in the end, it's still the love triangle that finally boils everything over.

Unfortunately, the confrontation seems like anti-climax after it's been announced for so long, and instead detracts from the immediate danger of the New Hellfire Club's persistent Sentinel. Our villains are also out of sight and out of mind, possibly for the rest of the series, which comes down as a rather unfulfilling way to keep a 5-part story going, even if Jason Aaron will return to their plans in other series.

7 - The Boys: Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker #3 (last issue - 11 out of 11 books)

Well, we all know where this is heading - which is the problem with any origin story. Finally, though, we get to see something that looks like a real insight to the character when we see young Billy Butcher at peace. With himself, and with his family. One scene in particular where we know for sure that peace gets ruined later shows Butcher seemingly putting his father behind him after a near-violent conflict. It's the spot in this issue where the emotion is at its rawest, and really pushed this book into a better spot on the list for the week. The rest of it was an above-average "love of a good woman helps troubled man" story.

6 - Ultimate X-Men #1 (last issue - n/a)

I kind of wanted to complain that this was mostly setting the table before the verrrry interesting hook at the end of the issue. I mean, I spent $4 a pop on a reduced page count for the Ultimate Fallout series just so I could get to the nitty gritty in these relaunch issues straightaway. Instead, I'm still re-introduced to the former tenants of Aunt May's Home for Wayward Superheroes, Nick Fury, and Quicksilver...all of whom I already knew.

Then again, it was nice meeting Kidverine, son of Wolverine, and seeing what the love-triangle-free Jean Grey was doing with herself since I skipped out on Ultiamte X after being disgusted that the first thing done with the Ultimate Universe after slinging the door wide open was replacing one of those open doors with the same door. I digress, though. I can't complain about being reintroduced to one character set that I already knew from existing comics if I'm going to be grateful for the introduction to another character set from existing comics.

What I can appreciate is what Nick Spencer is doing with the character beats. Especially with Pietro's creepiness and the high emotions of the former residents of Aunt May's Home for Wayward Superheroes. And I seriously love that he's taking the spirit of the Ultimate books and taking a crack at mutants that honestly couldn't possibly be taken over in the non-Ultimate X-books. There's a lot to look forward to here, even if this issue was mostly just letting you know that the real party was on its way.

5 - Captain America #3 (last issue - 4 out of 11 books)

Hi, would you enjoy a comic book if I told you a majority of it was Steve McNiven drawing a giant Captain America fighting a regular-sized Captain America? You would? Well, color me unsurprised. Absolutely nothing to dislike here, as we get some kinetic action sandwiched in between some solid plotting by Brubaker wrapped in the kind of science fiction that catches the imagination without getting bogged down in fake science. I'm sure I'll be making some Freddy Krueger jokes with the next issue, but who cares? It's all in good fun.

4 - Daredevil #4 (last issue - 5 out of 9 books)

I can already tell that this Daredevil run is going to end up punished for being consistently good on this list. There's really nothing wrong with this issue, and I even enjoyed the visual of Daredevil vs. some lions or the way Waid has embraced Matt's out-but-not-out situation to generate story opportunity. But in a week with so many things that demanded my immediate attention with flashy beats and re-debuts, something that's merely very good just doesn't seem to stack up as well.

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

If anyone was worried that Snyder's new Batman run wouldn't be as dark as his Detective Comics run, or that Capullo wouldn't be able to take on the moodiness as well as Jock did, worry no more. This is everything you want out of a book starring Batman. An emphasis on his closeness to the Bat-family, a (potentially) creepy villain, a little mystery, and Gotham City itself coming through as a character. We even got a little twist at the end, which we know won't last but still came as a nice start. Entry-level Batman stuff that even old fans can appreciate. This is probably as close to hitting the exact mark you'd want out of a relaunch like this as DC has gotten. I'm willing to forgive a few rudimentary introductions for the new folks if we get to jump into the thick of things this fast.

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

Kyle Higgins gets Dick Grayson. Working in his history, his outlook, and how he both reflects and differs from Bruce...all woven into his inner monologue in a way that perfectly re-introduces the character to everyone. That's a helluva validation of some faith that I put in a nearly completely unknown commodity. Of course, he did get a ringing endorsement from Bat-favorite Scott Snyder. And like Snyder, he not only understands Dick Grayson, he uses Gotham City as a character in his story. Even better, he uses the Gotham City of Dick's present along the circus of Dick's past in creating his first story.

The secret identity of our villain may not be all that difficult to suss out, but you can enjoy where it came from and what it will mean to this character. Plus, there's the possibility that he and Scott Snyder may actually be overlapping stories. If not, Dick sure has gotten himself into a lot of hot water lately. If so, then Higgins' chapter is actually the better of the two. Not by much, but still...wow.

1 - Wonder Woman #1 (last issue - n/a)

Well, this was an incredibly good read that did almost everything it needed to to alleviate my reservations about reading a Wonder Woman comic book. Azzarello and Chiang put out a moody piece that was every bit the horror tone we'd been hearing about while still establishing a strong heroine in our titular character that deserves her own action-based comic. They smartly embraced the mythology that Wonder Woman is attached to, not by adding needless layers to it, but by showing us that Zeus is up to the same kind of shenanigans now as he was when those myths were first born.

My only hesitation at this point is that we still haven't addressed my main hurdle to any Wonder Woman comic I've attempted...Diana herself. As a character, we don't know much about what makes her after one issue. She seems to want to shun the Wonder Woman title and insists on being called Diana, and she's got wicked evil-fighting skills (Chiang's action sequences were gorgeous), but that's all we get in the opening issue. The effort may be to define Diana by first defining what she's fighting against, and if that's the case then it will show in the long haul and this was a fine introduction. I still don't know if I have a likable and accessible character there yet, but this is still one helluva start.

funnybook of the week: September 14th, 2011

2011-09-17T22:12:00.002-04:00

You know, when my paying gig was working at a comic shop, I used to hate it when people would plunk down an issue of a mini series and tell me "I can't wait until this pile of crap is done." I used to always wonder whether to try to talk them into something else if they didn't like it so much, but wasn't about to talk myself out of a sale either. I did wonder about the mindset behind someone who kept buying something even though it was clearly making that person miserable to read.

I thought about that long and hard before picking up Fear Itself #6. The series has been disappointing me on almost every level, and with books I'm not reading like Animan Man getting so much buzz, I wondered if maybe I wasn't better off letting this one go. And yet...

9 - Fear Itself #6 (last issue - 7 out of 8 books)

As always, there are some moments there, but the narrative doesn't pull together. Steve's insistence that Tony and Thor will come, his tone with Odin, and his rallying the troops in the face of the end of the world were great...but still somehow lacking the gravity and the beat for any of it to really hit like it should.

There's still plenty of flaws beyond that. Odin and Thor revisit the daddy issues theme (as do the Serpent and his offspring) that started out this series so promisingly, but the kissing and making up seem to negate the whole initial conflict between the two. And let's not forget Spider-Man leaving the battle last issue only to be sent back this issue by an Aunt May who had to tell us what we already knew. Mixed bag, but still more wrong than right.

8 - New Avengers #16 (last issue - 6 out of 8 books)

"How did that Nazi stuff turn out?" The question asked by the newest New Avenger 3 weeks after what is supposed to be a foundation-shattering attack that will change the fabric of the...whatever, maybe I'm right not to be buying into the danger of Fear Itself. Daredevil joins the team after taking down a bunch of robots, and poor Bendis feels like preemptively defending his choice for the team. It was fun, but a little too meta and a little too dismissive of the giant event's gravity.

7 - Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (#160 - 1 out of 6 books)

The last time Brian Michael Bendis introduced us to an Ultimate Spider-Man, one of the complaints I kept hearing was that it was a very very slow burn. Since I was late to the party on this one, I got to read it in trade. This time, a single issue comes, and I get to meet Miles Morales and the circumstances which make him. The problem is that we've already met a guy bitten by a super-spider. I could have been given this later, since the question I did want answered was "what's this new Spider-Man like?" Not yet, but it's a slow burn.

Bonus points were awarded for a curveball at the end, and an especially nice commentary on the state of schools in the Big City. Really, you don't even have to read any commentary, it's more of a mirror, but one that's neglected and will probably get more attention from being in the "minority Spider-Man" book than it ever would coming from an advocate group or - God forbid - a teacher. Soap box done now.

6 - Journey Into Mystery #627 (last issue - 8 out of 10 books)

The devil gets his due. Well, a devil gets his due. Mephisto gets an issue devoted to his side of the story, and how the Serpent's hijinx and Loki's reaction to it all affects the assembled devils' advocacy. While I will always enjoy reading Gillen's Mephisto, this issue felt mostly like treading water at worst and an ill-timed set-up for later issues at best. So very entertaining, but a bit of a head-scratcher in terms of having broken the momentum of boy-Loki's journey.

5 - Daredevil #3 (last issue - 2 out of 11 books)

Waid begins this issue with a little wink-wink about what's an "Avengers problem" and what's a "street-level problem" before Daredevil gets to work. This was just a delightfully creative issue and the culmination of a delightfully creative story. That's really what there is to it here. The only thing that kept this from the top was the amount of space devoted to holding the reader's hand and explaining the voices. I really didn't think I'd enjoy a Daredevil book this much so soon after the Shadowland debacle.

4 - Severed #1 (last issue - n/a)

Finally, I get my hands on this after my friendly neighborhood comic shop was drastically shorted and I had forgotten to add it to my list. And, well, I'd been missing out. Artist Attila Futaki actually manages to outshine Scott Snyder (darling of Funnybook of the Week) in setting the tone and stage for this eerie little horror, following a young man throwing a bright future away to hang with the hobos (okay, that's not fair) even as we see what the future has in store for him. Things are dark, old, and foreboding the whole issue...this is definitely something special.

3 - Severed #2 (last issue - 4 out of 9 books)

And then came the sequel. A disappointing trip at least provides an endearing friendship as the slow burn inevitability of our young heroes' peril waits around he corner. Tuft, Snyder, and Futaki are slowly getting to something terrifying.

2 - Amazing Spider-Man #669 (last issue - 2 out of 10 books)

We're still having fun, cracking wise, and making Three's Company references. Okay, so we haven't that last one for a while. Still, the fun continues and the stakes keep getting raised. Slott is taking what by all rights should have been a bid, dumb plot and making it a really engaging read by constantly checking in with the characters (seriously working overtime to make me like Carlie...and it's working). I keep saying that with each chapter of the story, and I keep praising Humberto Ramos' dynamic art. It all still holds true. Maybe I'm not thrilled with the reveal at the end, but it's better than what I'd been afraid of...so even my complaints with this story aren't complaints.

1 - Uncanny X-Force #15 (last issue - 1 out of 10 books)

And then? It gets worse. Not the book, it's as strong as ever. The situation. Fear Itself may be failing to get a buy-in from me in terms of the stakes and the horrible that could potentially be, but Uncanny X-Force has me entirely bought in and - on a few occasions - rooting for Archangel to be stopped and poor Worthington to be put out of his misery. I'm pulling for Psylocke to escape and save her lover (one way or another - but I guess I just told which "one way" I'm suspecting based on a conspicuous absence in the recent Marvel silhouette teases). I'm pulling for Fantomex to emerge as a real hero. I'm pulling for Deadpool...at all! I'm bought into the danger, I'm bought into the character drama. Can you really ask for anything else in a comic book? Or in any work of fiction?

funnybook of the week: September 7, 2011

2011-09-11T16:33:00.005-04:00

A surprise takehome, and a book that I was looking forward to without expecting to instantly love getting the win. Overall, DC is doing very well by me with this relaunch.

8 - Hack/Slash #7 (last issue - 6 out of 8 books)

This was just bad. I'd had such high hopes for the series at Image, especially coming off of Seeley's ridiculously focused work on the "Murder Messiah" and "My First Maniac" stories in the lead-up to the series being relaunched. But this issue lost all of the character beats in favor of clumsy pop culture and religious criticism that is neither all that poignant or funny. I owe the series one more story arc, but this needs to get better.

7 - Stormwatch #1 (last issue - n/a)

Here's the problem with launching a team book: you have to introduce the team. Most of the staff got wooden introductions and cursory summations of their powers and enough lines that you might be able to sniff out their personalities in the New 52 (or in my case, at all). Cornell gets credit for trying to feed us everything at once, but it just meant that there was no one at all to get behind and start rooting for in the bunch. They're just there.

Add to that a plot point that depends on an issue of Superman that hasn't come out yet (and I have no intention of reading), and you get a sort of labored debut issue that doesn't do much to inspire a return trip but will give those valued new readers the impression that they need to read all 52 titles or be left behind forever. Not what I wanted to see, especially after Justice League #1 more than just dodged those same bullets.

6 - Moon Knight #5 (last issue - 2 out of 8 books)

The bottom line on this book is simple. There was some pretty fun stuff with Echo and Moon Knight's little relationship, but if you're going to charge $3.99 for a standard page count, I need the story to advance more than this if the title is going to continue to be worth a weekly pickup. That sort of character moment that usually I like in the so-called decompressed storytelling, but the story wasn't really served by it enough.

5 - New Avengers Annual #1 (last issue - 6 out of 8 books)

I can't decide whether I love or hate the metatextual bit at the start of this issue. It's a beautiful set of splashes by Gabriele Dell'Otto recapping some of the lesser moments of Avengers history (most of it recent) as Wonder Man tells his new team of surprisingly formidable friends why they're all the Avengers' fault. The problem may be that Simon sells his point-of-view too well. Yeah, you want your villain to be convinced of his righteousness, but you don't want him to actually be right. Still, the fact that he's so persuasive is a testament to Bendis' work here.

I also can't decide whether I love or hate the outcome of the showdown at Avengers Mansion. Did this team really just have that happen to them? Doesn't that justify everything everyone has ever said about the New Avengers team since at lest the end of Civil War? Do I really care when it looked that good happening? Or if it happened at the hands of guys who genuinely believed in their mission (and may be right about it?).

I definitely feel something strongly for this issue. So it's a success in that right, I just haven't given that feeling a name.

4 - Batgirl #1 (last issue - n/a)

I know I just said that Batgirl wasn't going to make the trip home from Ultimate Comics. And it didn't. I went to a different school after Stormwatch didn't do it for me to find its replacement. And honestly, it was my pre-conceived notion about who Babs is as a character now that kept me from picking it up...but I couldn't have zero Gail Simone books on my list forever.

Much like the New Avengers Annual, there were things that I wasn't sure how I felt about. I have to remember that we're trying to mostly start with a clean slate in these number 1 issues and this isn't going to 100% be the Babs I loved in Birds of Prey. That said, Simone artfully nods to her past in a wheelchair and to the fact that she's getting back into the cape and cowl game with a battered confidence. I don't know if I liked the extent to which the Joker and his "Killing Joke" actions are referenced as a defining moment, but I trust Simone and her love for the character enough to pull her through and take us on a helluva ride while doing it.

I'm clearly going to struggle more with redefinitions of loved characters than I'd like to admit, though.

3 - The Boys #58 (last issue - 7 out of 8 books)

This is more like it. Outrageous nonsense with a real story and real characters driving the action with a healthy dose of Super Hero commentary mixed in for good measure.

Hughie and Butcher figuring everything out but the obvious, and the Seven finally coming off of their perch for the showdown that's been building for years. The momentum is back, and I could't be more pleased.

2 - Swamp Thing #1 (last issue - n/a)

The plants are screaming, and that's how we begin the new era of Swamp Thing. Paquette gives some serious depth to Scott Snyder's opening horror/mystery for this series even as we meet Alec Holland and find out about his past as a monster. Bringing Superman in to show that Swamp Thing is indeed reconnected to the DCnU as a whole, and also to explain to the reader what Alec is going through at the moment.

This is usually the sort of thing people leave to clunky and expository internal dialogue, but with Superman there, we get so much more. Not only do we get a touchstone for understanding that Alec has been - for all intents and purposes - dead, but we also get the DC's beacon of goodness telling us that Alec is capable of important work that can save a lot of people. The reaction to that assertion gives us a clear view of who our hero and his head space are right now in a way that rings beautifully true.

With that character firmly understandable and even relatable to a point, the toss-ins about what's happened in his past are all digestible for me as someone with no history with the character, but I'm sure are important nods to longtime fans. This may be the best of the DCnU relaunches to come out so far. But there was one I managed to enjoy more.

1 - Action Comics #1 (last issue - n/a)

I was a little bit interested in the term floating around the internet: "Social Justice Superman." Yet there he was, going after the bad guy because he believes that justice isn't the same across all tax brackets. And it was amazing. There's a book called Lamb that features a scene with a young and cocky Jesus Christ slapping people in the back of the head and gleefully announcing "Healed, healed, comforted..."

That's what the version of Superman Grant Morrison delivered reminded me of. A young, cocky god who knows that there's something wrong, knows that it's his job to fix it, but hasn't quite learned the most effective way to make that happen. It's the most human Superman has ever been, which is ironic given Morrison's emphasis of how alien he is in this sort of "Year One" retelling.

In the midst of it all, we get a ton of action, which is nice for a book bearing this title. Holy cow, I like what they're doing with Superman in the DCnU...

funnybook of the week: August 31st, 2011

2011-09-05T22:17:00.005-04:00

The end of DC, the beginning of DC. I loved one and hated the other. Plus, other books!

10 - Flashpoint #5 (last issue - 3 out of 8 books)

Well. That sure did explain everything. And nothing else. Oh, well...Batman cried. So there's that. What had been a story to bridge into a plotpoint just became a plotpoint that won't even matter starting as soon as I open up Justice League #1.

9 - Sixth Gun #14 (last issue - 3 out of 15 books)

It didn't take long to get the origin story of everyone's favorite giant mummy, Asher Cobb. Nor did it take long to reveal what exactly he whispered into Blake's ear. And that was a very interesting thing he whispered given his gift in life. Overall, though, there wasn't much to this issue that hadn't been read in a hundred origin stories before.

8 - Journey Into Mystery #626.1 (last issue - 1 out of 11 books)

All this time later, and Marvel still hasn't quite gotten the hang of what their Point One issues should be. They were halfway there with this one, giving a solidly entertaining introduction to young Loki. We got his history and modus operandi even as he looked to discover why he seems to have trouble inspiring the trust of his fellow Asgardians.

So the problem? Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a big line-wide crossover going on. I'd forgive you for not noticing, since we're getting tie in stories wrapping up and those titles moving on unchanged. Well, that, and currently Journey Into Mystery is the crown jewel of that big story. It's in the middle of being that, currently. And is written and illustrated by different people than the ones on this Point One issue.

So if you liked this? Tough, we're getting the next part of a crossover-influenced story by a different creative team. Now give Marvel your money and say thanks, I guess...

7 - Locke & Key: Clockworks #2 (last issue - 1 out of 8 books)

Danger! Possessed (sort of) Bode gets his evil on while we finally deal with Kenzi's tears and fears in an interesting way. While I didn't quite enjoy them having their own personalities, where they ran amok and what the result of that running were fantastic. Of course, the final result of all of that hijinx gets us a step closer to some major bad news, but isn't that exactly what's supposed to happen at this point in the story?

6 - Ultimate Hawkeye #1 (last issue - n/a)

Much like Hickman's other Ultimate #1 in August, this one started us in the thick of things, with action happening and us having to get caught up. I have no problem starting in the middle and rather enjoyed having to use my brain from word go in a comic book. That said, I'm still a little bit concerned that Hickman's Ultimate Hawkeye isn't that different a voice from Hickman's Ultimate Nick Fury. And when they end up sharing some panel space together, it's especially glaring.

So like The Ultimates before, I'm enjoying the plotting, but I need to be able to root for one of the characters...and in this case, it should probably be the guy whose name is on the book.

5 - Incredible Hulks #635 (last issue - 4 out of 8 books)

Say it with me everyone: "HULK SMASH!"

That's honestly the best way to describe the action in this issue, even if the resolution and the wishing magical science stuff was a little bit of a chaotic mess (not in the good way, where it's on purpose, but in the - "wait, what just happened over three pages? oh, that. ugh." sort of way.

The end result though is what we wanted it to be. The monster and the man both want the same thing because they're the same person. And while that "same thing" may have been ill-defined until the end of the issue (and even then, it's a little to obvious to be the real "it"), the fact that there's very little to separate the man from the monster has been the point of Pak's entire run from "Planet Hulk" up until now. This issue does a fine job pressing that, even if the last page is a little bit cheesy.

4 - Secret Avengers #16 (last issue - 13 out of 15 books)

Warren Ellis doing what he does best. Snappy dialogue, fantastic stories, and top notch fake science. Beast apologizing to Moon Knight, a secret city hidden under Cincinnati, and the why all time machines should probably also be space machines were brilliant and wonderful fun. I really am looking forward to Ellis' series of one-and-dones starring this crew.

Unfortunately, the fanboy in me is a little miffed at the nearly weightless (at least until the dénouement) actions of our heroes to get out of danger and stop the bad guys. Up against greater numbers seems like it should be right up Steve Rogers' alley and Beast left the X-Men over less than what he was required to do in this issue. Normally, when a character behaves a certain way in service to the story, I'm okay with it. Lately, though, these little things are starting to get under my skin a little more.

3 - Justice League #1 (last issue - n/a)

And so the Justice League begins with a chance encounter between Batman and...Green Lantern?!?! Geoff Johns and Jim Lee give us a lot of what you want in the first issue of a team book (that happens to also be responsible for the first glimpse of a re-launched world of some classic characters). Batman's grizzled loner meets Hal Jordan's cocky cockiness, a big name big bad right from word go, and a smirking Superman. All good character turns with Lee's attention to detail really coming in handy as the odd couple gets to know one another.

We're also introduced to the tone of the DCnU 5 years ago without there being a crushing amount of "See? No one likes them!" The only downside to all of this was the kind of forced "meet the Green Lantern" dialogue, where you can almost hear Johns thinking "fine, everyone knows Batman, but the Green Lantern's movie did a disappointing box office..." Excellent start here, though.

2 - Amazing Spider-Man #668 (last issue - 3 out of 8 books)

Peter Parker's big moment as he rallies New York to beat up the idiots in Spider-Man costumes may have been hinted at in the Deadly Foes one-shot, but it came off perfectly for the benched Peter Parker at that point in the story. Carlie manages to have some more amazing moments, as well, reminding Peter of what it must have been like to be MJ for a few beats and just generally being a suddenly fun character (for the record, still on Team Norah) in this series and a good match for Peter after all.

That the big moment was just to quell phase one of a larger plan doesn't seem all that far-fetched or disappointing for a story that's using a silly premise to deliver nothing but a good time and an engaging read. It helps that Humberto Ramos' kinetic pencils are pushing the action practically off the page.

1 - Uncanny X-Force #14 (last issue - 4 out of 6 books)

Archangel is the new big bad in town, but he's so much more than just the new Apocalypse. Remender shows echos of the Apocverine from the last issue's insistence that he's simply doing what's needed as well as traces of Worthington still floating around Archangel's head. The interactions with both his new minions as well as with Betsy (but less so the rest of the gang) were a stunning piece of character work amid things getting more and more hopeless for what's left of Angel on the inside (no telling how he's going to bounce back from the last few pages).

It's also high time to praise the coloring work that's been done in this book. White has worked with what seems like a ton of artists and has managed to keep a consistent feel through 14 issues (and a point one!). That said, the book still looks that much better when Jerome Opena is officially taking care of the art. There really just so much to like about what's happening with this book.

DCnU - What's Coming Home

2011-08-29T20:38:00.005-04:00

With a relaunch coming as soon as Wednesday for one title in the DCU, it’s time I told you which comics I’ll be bringing home over the next month, which ones I’ll be on the lookout to add if the buzz is nice, and - if you’re good at the process of elimination - which ones aren’t being considered at this time.

The No-Brainers

I was in on day one, and I still am now.

Justice League

This one will be coming home with me in spite of my comic book reading history being riddled with failed attempts to get into this book. This is, surprisingly, the only Geoff Johns penned book coming home out of the new batch (for now), but it isn’t because of Jim Lee (though I still find his pencils to be delightful).

The idea of going back and seeing the dawn of a super heroic age isn’t exactly a new idea, or even a new idea to DC...or even a new idea to a comic or cartoon called Justice League for that matter...but it is a story I enjoy reading. If we introduce the new status quo and sell me on a few other points of awesome around the DCU along the way, bonus.

I want to see the genesis of this team coincide with the super heroes becoming public. Gods walk among us, and now they’ve gotten together to tell us what’s best for us. That has drama written all over it that some A-list bad guys should be more than happy to take care of.

Batman

Scott Snyder’s Detective Comics run with Jock was incredible. While I’m sad to see Jock go (I really thought that was a helluva marriage), Snyder is adding superstar artist Greg Capullo (who will be a different fit, but still a very moody one) to the the Battines in a concept that sells itself.

“The guy who did all those great Batman stories is pairing with another great artist and gets to tell bigger Batman stories.” Sold.

One of the x-factors is that we haven’t seen Snyder write Bruce. He wrote a helluva Dick Grayson, and it will be sad to see that gone. Come on, though, you expect that after the way he nailed everyone in the Bat-family from the Gordons to Tim that he can’t handle Bruce? Pshh.

Swamp Thing

A little odd, really, that this should fall in this category. After all, my dirty little fanboy secret is that I’m just not enamoured with Alan Moore enough to track down his “classic” work on Swamp Thing as a character. He doesn’t exist as an icon so much as the star of an awful TV series that used to be on USA.

But I know what I think Swamp Thing should be as a title. And I think I know that Scott Snyder is certainly capable of setting that tone. Even then, though, I have no concrete expectations for this book. I don’t know who Swamp Thing is, what his tragic origin story is, what his raison d’etre is...none of it. So when it’s “wrong,” it won’t bother me a lick.

All I know is that Yanick Paquette does pretty work sometimes, and Scott Snyder has yet to let me down on anything of his that I’ve picked up. This is as close to a clean slate as I’m coming to with these pulls, and I’m very excited about that.

The Curios

Books my curiosity won’t let me ignore, even if they don’t get my blood boiling.

Action Comics

I’m not a Superman guy. I’m just not. I don’t find the character as he is engaging in any way. It’s fine, not all things are for all people. That said, I loved All-Star Superman. Inventive and cool and fun...so why not give Grant Morrison’s take on the character another shot?

Well, because it’s still a Superman book. And so I initially was going to let this one fall by the wayside. Until I couldn’t anymore. Morrison has promised in interviews to show us the rise of an icon, and not only that, but to show us what separates Superman from Clark. To bring us an emphasis on the fact that Superman is a “strange visitor from another planet” without making him Broody McBrooderson (who other than Morrison could combine those things?). Could be intriguing. Could just end up being Superman. But I have to know.

Nightwing

Dick Grayson may be my favorite character in the DCU. And this title is going to undo at least part of that. Nightwing was once symbolic of Dick breaking away from Bruce Wayne and Batman and becoming a hero in his own right. I loved it. Now, with the red left in his costume to give a shout-out to his Robin past (and with teases that “Robin” is an internship program with multiple graduates now), I fear that aspect of the character is gone.

So what has my curiosity? I have to know what Dick Grayson is like now. Do I trust some writer I’ve never heard of? No, but Scott Snyder (holy crap, am I giving this guy a lot of sway over my buys) does. His positive words for the new take on my favorite DC guy is enough for me.

Stormwatch

I like Paul Cornell a lot. He’s often left roaming on projects I don’t care much to discover, though. Much like Swamp Thing, I don’t have a lot of expectations for what Stormwatch is supposed to be. I think the solicits are solid, and I like that Cornell seems to have a big canvass to play on (worked wonders for him with Lex Luthor’s Action Comics). Also, Martian Manhunter is one of those characters that you just want to be a fan of.

Wonder Woman

Speaking of characters you want to be a fan of, here is DC’s biggest super heroine icon...that has never had a series I enjoyed. Names like Rucka, JMS, and even Gail Simone have tried and failed to get me to care a lick about Wonder Woman. I didn’t think that Brian Azzarello was going to be the guy to do it, in spite of the fact that I always end up liking whatever he’s written that I end up being bullied into reading.

Then came the “horror book” interview. Then it was emphasized, “Wonder Woman is going to be a horror book.”

My biggest problem with Wonder Woman is that, for all her iconic status, she’s a character that’s never had much definition. Among her hardcore fans, there’s disagreement about what’s at the heart of the character. Among casual fans, there’s just confusion. I don’t know if “horror book” is going to be the thing that Wonder Woman needs to nail down the character, but I’m intrigued and excited to see DC willing to swing for the fences with an iconic character.

The Near Misses

What I won’t be buying, but will be watching.

Batgirl

Maybe it’s that, like Dick Grayson, I’m sad to see a character who once worked so hard to get out of the Bat-Shadow placed firmly back in it. Maybe it’s that - as much as it doesn’t make sense in a world of bionic limbs, resurrections, and super-powered healers - I liked the idea of a chair-bound heroine who was the nerve center of so many things (and still occasionally kicked an ass when needed). Maybe it’s that I’ll miss Stephanie Brown and the wonderful world Bryan Q. Miller set up for her.

Whatever it is, even with Gail Simone doing the writing, I just couldn’t pull the trigger for issue 1. But I’ll be keeping a very close eye on the buzz from this book, particularly from Babs’ biggest fans.

Green Lantern

Sinestro-as-standard-bearer for the Green Lantern Corps was an interesting idea, and one that I was actually sold on at first. The one-time favorite son of the Corps back and seeking redemption was a nice hook....except that’s the hook that was abandoned with Hal Jordan. In favor of space opera after space opera with no time for the little things.

Solicits for the first thee issues of this series seem much the same, with Sinestro dealing with the monster he made in the Sinestro Corps (really, can’t they start calling themselves Yellow Lanterns now?). Not for me, but I remember how much I used to like Johns’ work on this title, so I’ll keep track.

Suicide Squad

Original premise, only with a “who’s telling the right story?” twist! I could forgive the atrocious Deadshot redesign to get on board. Solicits showing King Shark eating people in a brutal way. I could take a chance on a writer I haven’t heard of to get on board. But Harley Quinn: Suicide Girl? No thank you. For now.

And that’s that. There are others out there. This isn’t even 20% of what’s in store. There are sure to be sleepers and disappointments in the mix. I think I have it right, which is the surest sign that I don’t have it right. So let’s see how it turns out...starting Wednesday with Justice League #1.

funnybook of the week: August 24th, 2011

2011-08-28T20:26:00.001-04:00

There have been better weeks, and nothing here struck me as a potential best funnybook of August. But there still was a lot of fun to be had in the top 3.

6 - Gotham City Sirens #26 (last issue - 14 out of 15 books)

Well, that was the end of that. Some stray fighting, but mostly standing and yelling with collateral damage that Batman promises Gordon he can step in on the occasion of, even though it doesn't seem to happen. Bringing everything back to its start, and the formation of the trio, all tying it back to the Bat...and Catwoman asks the question "Would we have ever really worked as a team?"

The sad answer is honestly "yes." I had high expectations for this book when it came out, but its highlight issue was a fill-in that barely featured the titular characters. Disappointing end to a disappointing title. They'll all have life in the DCnU, but none that interest me (Harley's would, but for her Goth Stripper redesign).

5 - Astonishing X-Men #41 (#39 - 7 out of 11 books)

Cute moments strung together by a lot of exposition and explaining. Not enough to say much more than that about, but still better than Gotham City Sirens.

4 - Uncanny X-Force #13 (last issue - 7 out of 15 books)

Remender, suddenly aware that he has a ton of disposable characters on his hands, gives us a ton of action and a few deaths en route to a last page that's kind of betrayed by the title of the story. Still, we get a lot of nice moments as two conflicted Wolverines (incidentally, Two Conflicted Wolverines is the name of my next band) battle for the life of two different worlds.

The usual metric ton of good character beats per issue beyond that is just a smattering. Good for most books, but I've become used to a certain standard with Uncanny X-Force that didn't quite register with this issue.

3 - The Ultimates #1 (last issue - n/a)

So. What's it take to babysit the whole world? The conceit here is to introduce us to Nick Fury's version of running the world, and it's just as chaotic and one might think. Only with more sci fi. Things are blowing up everywhere and the game keeps changing in every location. Not a bad way to introduce us to the world, but we don't get a lot about the characters involved beyond Fury and Stark - both of whom just draw from different stocks of "I Got This" brand cocky. Fun, but I want a little more depth going forward.

2 - FF #8 (last issue - 15 out of 15 books)

This is more like it. After two issues to give us nonsense about Blackbolt marrying a horse-woman, we're back to the main action and the two things I've loved the most about FF: Hickman's understanding of the family dynamic and Hickman's plot threads from Fantastic Four paying off a little bit at a time.

Oh, and the kids. Even in their short page time, I love Franklin and Val so very much.

1 - Kick-Ass 2 #3 (last issue - 4 out of 12 books)

Hey, remember Kick-Ass? He's back with a new issue!

The superhero tropes Millar like to insert into reality are always fun with Kick-Ass, but I think this might have been my favorite one yet. You know those superhero comics where they introduce a bad guy who makes fun of costumed heroes and how lame the whole concept is while being completely unaware that he either is or employs several costumed villains? Well, enter the Red Mist's new take on life. He's rejected "dressing up and collecting variant covers" for a badguy persona that's still boiled down to an idiot wearing a costume.

Not having JRJR on hand for 100% the art chores does hurt a little bit, but this is still by-and-large a really fun showing for a really fun title that I wish would come out more often.

funnybook of the week: August 17th, 2011

2011-08-21T15:03:00.000-04:00

If nothing else, I've found a reason for Fear Itself to exist.

11 - The Boys: Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker #2 (last issue - 8 out of 8 books)

You know what Garth Ennis loves? Writing war stories. And with The Boys wrapping up, he wants you to know he loves writing war stories so maybe you'll read his war story when you're done reading The Boys. Also, were you aware that the Butcher has anger issues? That's in here too.

10 - Avengers #16 (last issue - 4 out of 8 books)

I'm not normally the kind of nerd who gets caught up in these things, but it seems more egregious in with the Fear Itself tie-ins than with any other event. When do all of these side missions take place? When is there time to take a time out in the middle of a war? Black Widow has been 30 different places, and now Captain America runs off for a mission that we know can't end satisfyingly and really only serves to introduce a character who I'm sure will be Avenging soon. Not Bendis' best work.

9 - Avengers Academy #18 (last issue - 1 out of 8 books)

The idea was an excellent one. With their backs against the wall, the kids embrace their potential villany to thwart foes more powerful than they are. The execution of the thing needed a few more pages, though, and felt so strange coming off of last issue's "dire consequences of war" theme. The result is an issue that probably feels more like a misfire than it actually is, but I rank these based on my personal enjoyment, so that's going to be worth a tumble.

8 - X-Men: Schism #3 (last issue 1 out of 15 books)

I really am having a lot of fun with this version of the Hellfire Club. And Jason Aaron's characterizations are still right on the money, particularly where Scott, Wolverine, Emma, and the Cukoos are concerned. Again, my problem here is that we all know what the end game is here because it was marketed as that rather than a story. So knowing where it's headed might have been fun in the first two issues, where everything was more character-driven, but it lost a little of the luster in this issue's more action-driven sequences as we keep waiting (along with one red herring moment) for the main event to start.

7 - Ultimate Fallout #6 (last issue - 8 out of 8 books)

The last bit of character movements before Ultimate Universe 3.0 kicks off all actually manage to tie themselves back to the initial tragedy of the death of Peter Parker. Where do the residents of Aunt May's Home for Wayward Superheroes live going forward? Answered. How does the symbol of America who blames himself for what happened react? Answered. Does MJ's article hit who it's supposed to? Answered. It's nice to have these little beats that show the movement forward with this brand all come from an organic, story-driven place.

6 - Venom #6 (last issue - 12 out of 15 books)

I'll admit that my problem here has more to do with confusion with a big reveal that has to be some manner of swerve than how well the actual issue was written and drawn. Building on last issue's daddy-issues, Flash has to deal with the distractions of Spider-Island even as Betty sits with his dying father. The classic "hero as to fight bad guys where there's somewhere personally important to be" schtick almost always works on me, and it's no different here.

There is a wonderful moment where Flash tries to go all inspirational hero to a hilarious effect, that highlights Remender's sense of humor that he's managed to work into this title in even the grimmest of its issues. But for that one sticking point, this was a really good read.

5 - Walking Dead #88 (last issue - 5 out of 8 books)

Creepy Carl makes his return to the book, giving a lot more insight in the last issue's reveal and even more into what's happened to this poor kid over 88 issues of funnybookery. Kirkman also treated us to a few emotional beats that let us know that it's more than just Carl who's damaged, even as he set things up for the next big upheaval. This book's just plugging along like a good book should.

4 - Captain America #2 (last issue - 5 out of 12 books)

People get so caught up in Ed Brubaker's film noir gloominess that they sometimes overlook his ability to toss out some of the best science fiction in any medium. It's one thing to come up with your MacGuffin, another thing to explain it well, but it's rare that such things are explained in as engaging a way as this issue's was. When I left the last volume of Captain America it had started meandering, but now we've got the same sharpened characters that Brubaker brought me kicking and screaming into the title with and a true sense of moving forward from his magnum opus that started with the Winter Soldier. Glad to be back aboard.

3 - Uncanny X-Men #542 (last issue - 7 out of 8 books)

This was a clever little issue, as the X-Men throw everything but the kitchen sink at a Worthyfied Juggernaut to no avail. Some of the cameos we get, including Adam X, were just sublime as were the descriptions of what happened and what failed. Gillen also sets up some tensions between the X-Men and their friends in San Francisco in an obvious but effective way.

The big moment here, though, is the family Colossus getting their magic on for something that's been shown in teasers. It could have been anti-climatic, but Gillen played the relationships between Colossus, his sister, and Kitty just right. This was a tie-in done right, not necessarily adding any timelines to the main story while using the big story as window dressing for big character moments.

2 - Daredevil #2 (last issue - 3 out of 8 books)

Rivera is a perfect match for this book. The style fits Waid's tone and his interpretation of what our hero "sees" is so fun to look at I'm almost embarrassed by how giddy I am. The reveal of the bad guy behind the trouble was fantastic, and there's definitely a lot to love as things go forward. The hero vs. hero bit with Captain America is the sort of vintage Silver Age bit that we expect from Mark Waid, but it felt a little forced (well, not so much that as its resolution) and kept me from falling head-over-heels this time around, but I'm sure I'll be fully won over soon enough.

1 - Journey Into Mystery #626 (last issue - 1 out of 12 books)

What are you supposed to do when even the recap page is more enjoyable than most books are to themselves (Hela's young servant explaining how Loki is not at all her boyfriend is the single best recap ever, apologies to Peter David using it to also recap how his kids are doing), you're really onto something. Loki is putting together a crew for what must be the mythical equivalent of a heist movie and it just keeps getting more and more fun.

There were a few "going through the motions" moments as Loki finished putting the band together, making his deals, and collecting his tools; but even those were outstanding, funny, and character-driven. That's right, Journey Into Mystery is so good right now that even its flaws are strengths. Like a bad answer to a worse interview question. Only, you know, good. Funnybook of the week material there.

funnybook of the week: August 10th, 2011

2011-08-11T22:57:00.002-04:00

Good week to be a Bat-book, yes?

8 - Ultimate Fallout #5 (last issue - 6 out of 8 books)

We've reached the point here where it's no longer even kind of about the aftermath of everything. This is just Hickman and Spencer weaving plot threads for their books. Which is fine. Except all of these things will have to be sorted out and rehashed within those books once they launch.

7 - Fear Itself #5 (last issue - 6 out of 8 books)

There were some interesting and wonderful character beats in this one as things get worse. Franklin Richards attending to his uncle. Tony Stark yelling at a god to let him be what he is. Captain America being in awe of his friends. Of course, there were also some odd character beats. Thor running through a friend, Spider-Man being a coward (after being useless), and Captain America being less than confident and awe-inspiring himself.

Now, I say that this all happens as "things get worse," but really we once again aren't shown things getting worse. We're shown big flashes of light and then being told that Captain America and Spider-Man are afraid of the big flashes of light. There's potential in this story, but its execution is letting me down.

6 - New Avengers #15 (last issue - 7 out of 12 books)

You remember how Bendis, once upon a time, sacrificed Wolverine to prove that Spider-Woman/Spider-Skrull was a bad ass? Well, Squirrel Girl is a bad ass. This was a cute little look at her, but didn't add a ton of depth to the character. It also further exposed that, so far, Fear Itself isn't about anything aside from robots and magic hammers ruining buildings. That's served as a fine backdrop for a lot of books, but I'm ready for something else to happen.

5 - Spider-Island: Deadly Foes #1 (last issue - n/a)

Two-parter, one issue, each half really worthwhile and illuminating.

Part one gives us more New Hobgoblin action. And I'm a little slit here. On one hand, I love some of the depth we get for Phil as he finally has some pages to flesh out a few of the more confusing bits of his character. On the other hand, he got jobbed out pretty hard and Norah (my first choice for Peter Parker girlfriend) didn't come off as all that smart or sympathetic as the two of them were driven closer by the events of Spider-Island. It read like the big bunch of fun (more on that later) Slott brought to the parent book this week. Even if it did spoil what's probably going to be a pretty amazing moment for this story.

Van Lente comes back to the Spider-Fold to bring us a little background on the Jackyl and his favorite enforcer, as well as a few peeks into the gestation of the big plan. Mostly, though, I got a kick out of the fun-loving, bat$#!% crazy Miles Warren running around. Totally worth the grab.

4 - Incredible Hulks #634 (last issue - 8 out of 15 books)

Well here we are. Who did the wishing, what they got out of it, and where it's all leading. This was another in a series of issues here that featured a strong look at the Hulk, what he wants, and how he views himself that involved a ton of explaining over the top of some huge action (Paul Pelletier outdoing himself). It's a little awkward, but still an excellent character study that managed to be all kinds of fun. The wishing well aspect, though, is proving to be an easy out and clunky plot device more than I'd like in an ideal comic.

3 - Amazing Spider-Man #667 (last issue - 6 out of 15 books)

Spider-Island begins in earnest here, and I can sum it up in a way that is going to sound worse than it is:

Big, dumb fun...but the smartest kind of big, dumb fun you can possibly have. Spider-Men moving on the city, that Spider-Squad that Slott set up what seems like eons ago getting a payoff, and amusing cases of mistaken identity. The star of the issue, though, is the care-free and curious way that Carlie Cooper takes to her newfound powers. If I had to name a second star, it'd actually be MJ for saying what we're all thinking ("If we're doing the clone thing again, I'm moving back to LA).

Plenty to enjoy in this big, dumb (yet somehow very smart) summer blockbuster.

2 - Batgirl #24 (last issue - 9 out of 12 books)

This was a beautiful send-off for Stephanie, who thus far seems to be a casualty of the DCnU. At first, you feel a little cheated that she seems to be able to put her relationship with her dad and solidify her relationship with her mom too quickly, but it makes room for so much more that we needed in a final issue. She and Babs make it clear how they feel about each other in one of the sweeter scenes we've gotten in comics. Steph's hopes for the future are shown (too bad she seems to have no future), as a part of a few large hallucination pages that grow on me more as I think about them, but they were still good-looking, sweet, and in some cases funny.

This book was quietly the best thing to come out of "Batman R.I.P." (I'll hear an argument for Batman & Robin, but overall I think Batgirl's the winner. Miller has given us a funny book with outstanding character work and a lead that is as charming as any I've ever read. I'm really going to miss this book.

1 - Detective Comics #881 (last issue - 4 out of 15 books)

Okay. So I know what I just said. But had the Snyder/Jock team been on Detective for as long as Miller was on Batgirl, it would have been a much more difficult decision to make. This was the perfect team doing an near-perfect story on the perfect title. And this was the absolutely perfect finale to it all. Dark, creepy, and standing in stark contrast to who Snyder and Jock had established Dick Grayson is.

This book, under this team, has been about Dick Grayson vs. Gotham City. A town so evil that there could very well be genetically altered sociopath babies being wheeled around (the final resolution here, if you can call it that, is equally spooky and fitting for Gotham). In the middle of it all is Dick Grayson. The Batman who smiles. The man who loves his friends and allies. The man who is Batman because he wants to help rather than because it's "right." And on the other side? His mirror opposite. The man who feels nothing.

Everything from what he did to Babs (and vice versa) even down to his villain speech...all of it...just incredible. Possibly the best book of 2011 thus far.

funnybook of the week: August 3rd, 2011

2011-08-08T12:28:00.000-04:00

Comics!

8 - Caligula #3 (last issue - 1 out of 7 books)

From the top of the heap all the way down to the bottom. Felix's tumble to the dregs of humanity suddenly seems less steep, as he looks for some small measure of his original revenge and hopes to make an honest ally. Unfortunately, the major chunk of the story seems wasted by a needless reemphasizing of the violence and sex of Caligula's world without deepening any of the mythology being built around it. Caligula does come to a resolution at the end of the issue that makes me think this was just a lull rather than a sign of things to come, though. Indeed, he almost promises that we ain't seen nothing yet.

7 - The Boys #57 (last issue - 4 out of 8 books)

This comic, while moving at a slower pace than I'd like as it builds towards finale, still has a ton of heart in its characters and we get that in big, obvious places like Wee Hughie's conversation with Annie at the beginning or smaller, wonderful places like a hotdog shared between Frenchie and The Female. The more assertive Hughie that we'd been promised already seems to have reverted back to in-over-his-head-Hughie, though, and Garth Ennis is throwing a ton of background information (still) at his readers in preparation for something huge. Still, it feels like that's the mode we've been in for a long time.

6 - Ultimate Fallout #4 (last issue - 11 out of 15 books)

I suppose the main event here is the Spider-Man debut of Miles Morales, but we don't find out a whole lot about him aside from he is in fact spider-powered and he is in fact a non-white guy. We don't even get his name. Just a look at the guy who just grabbed a costume that everyone thinks is in poor taste and decided to get into it with Ultimate Kangaroo.

But it did set the theme for the rest of the book, which was basically even larger theme-setting for the ongoing titles to come. Nick Spencer gave us a pretty large bombshell as we head into Ultimate Comics X-Men while Jonathan Hickman gives us a very intriguing look at a possible big bad for his clunkily-named Ultimate Comics Ultimates.

All three of them left us with a ton of questions, which again, is really what this series is supposed to do.

5 - Rachel Rising #1 (last issue - n/a)

Terry Moore is back with a new book, this one a little mystery thriller. The hook comes right from word go, as an unnamed character watches...well, she watches Rachel rise. From there we try to piece together what put Rachel in a position that rising was necessary even as she tries to establish that herself. The question isn't answered, because otherwise there wouldn't be a series, but we do get to meet a little of the cast of characters as she goes about trying to figure out what happened and why she looks so bad.

It's not the rich character work that Moore gave us in Echo, at least not yet, but I do feel like his artwork has gotten a little cleaner and more detailed. Not bad for a guy who usually does stellar work anyway. It doesn't feel like a replacement for the fun ride that Echo was, but it's good enough for me to give it time to become that.

4 - Secret Six #36 (last issue - 1 out of 8 books)

And thus ends my favorite comic series. I'd honestly rather have seen them all meet the fatalistic end they discussed than the one that was granted them, but in the end it was all the same. This group, in their own way, acknowledged who they were in the story and what they meant to each other. You can't ask for much more than that from an end to a series about villains who managed to become friends.

Sure the laugh lines were there (I'll miss you, Ragdoll), and even the rest of the dialogue was crisp as wonderful as ever. In the end, though, you could feel Gail Simone straining to wrap up a story that she wasn't ready to wrap up. These characters, as a group, had so much more horror to induce on themselves and others even as they discovered more of themselves in the process. They got to go out guns blazing, but so few of them were in the right place to do that. It will always make me sad that this book didn't get the ending it truly deserved.

3 - Flashpoint #4 (last issue 3 out of 8 books)

Here's the big score for a summer event from the Big Two! Geoff Johns gives us a big, character-driven run into oblivion. Alternate reality versions of characters, sure. But the build-up to it...who goes, why they go...wow.

Barry's belief in the best of everyone, no matter what gets betrayed on almost every level leaving a "rubbing your nose in it" moment that comes off as the perfect convergence of events where we see just how bad it is before the 5th chapter (probably) gives us our new continuity. This event finally makes sense as a story rather than a large-scale sales ploy. Your move, Fear Itself.

2 - Moon Knight #4 (last issue - 2 out of 8 books)

Maybe I just miss Cowboy Ninja Viking, but I can't help but love it each time Bendis gives us a glimpse into Marc's head to see how the Spider-Man, Captain America, and Wolverine sides of him inform every decision and even every fight. Echo's addition to the cast seems more permanent and as flirtatious now as I think it was supposed to have been at word go (she even does a little reference-checking).

The lot of disposable villains came in with just enough swagger that I'm a little sad that they don't seem like more permanent prospects, and there's an attention to detail involved with which personalities are "driving" when Moon Knight delivers which blows that Maleev and Bendis seem to have working at a full tilt. Tons of fun, this title, even if the feel of each issue would suggest it shouldn't be.

1 - Avengers Academy #17 (last issue - 9 out of 15 books)

The basic effect of being kids who just participated in a war is explored to a wonderful effect here, as this sigh in between knockdown drag-outs gives each student a chance to reflect on what they did and why they did it. Mettle and Veil, in particular, have an eerie but wonderful exchange at Hazmat's request (the whys of which are just as sweet as anything ever was).

Gage knows who these kids are, and they're all capable of surprising themselves, their teachers, and especially a reader. Strong character work and the best thing to come out of the mess that the "Blitzkrieg, USA" portion of Fear Itself has been.

funnybook of the week: July 27th, 2011

2011-07-31T18:10:00.002-04:00

Caught up with a big week.

15 - FF #7 (last issue - 11 out of 12 books)

More Inhumans, big green glowing head nonsense. Boring to the point that if there was anything important dropped in the last 10 pages, I probably missed it.

14 - Gotham City Sirens #25 (last issue - 5 out of 9 books)

Well. The girls broke up. And are mad at each other. And Poison Ivy has some go-nowhere internal dialogue that couldn't have been narrowed down to a pageful of panels. Slow, plodding, and boring. If every other book at DC is racing to get to its finish, I feel like this one hit its finish and then realized it had a couple more issues left.

13 - Secret Avengers #15 (last issue - 4 out of 6 books)

Widow gets angry because people don't believe that anyone will ever stay dead. A little too meta and preachy towards the cynical fanboy population to be anything but a meta and preachy comic.

12 - Venom #5 (last issue - 1 out of 9 books)

Daddy issues issue. I think they might have known there was a gap to bridge between where they were and Spider-Island and didn't want to start anything new so they went with "why is Flash so angry?" For what it was, it was well-done and showed how important Flash's non-military support system is to him as a character as the symbiote gets more and more into him. But still, these daddy issues books never do it for me.

11 - Ultimate Fallout #3 (last issue - 2 out of 8 books)

The bigger weight of Peter's death is certainly still hanging over this series, but let's be honest. We've fully moved beyond "fallout" and into "teaser" territory here as Kitty forms her X-Men gang and seeds for everyone's secrets once the Ultimates/Avengers/Ultimate Ultimating Avenging Ultimates hits the stands are beginning to be sewn. As such, don't expect much here because all of the good stuff is going to have to wait until the #1 issues hit go on sale. Kitty gets a brief angsty teenage internal monologue that would be brilliant except that it's almost too good as she blames everyone for making Peter's death about them even while making it about her. Brilliant, and spot-on to the point that I was a little annoyed with her.

Still, as I said with issue #2, if the goal is to sell me on the new line of Ultimate books, this is pretty effective.

10 - Astonishing X-Men #40 (#38 - 5 out of 10 books)

Lots of Brood-fighting, Brood-infesting, and finally Brood-defending. Gage makes a fine use of a piece of "Planet Hulk" that had always bothered me to further his story, and turns the typical Brood story a little bit on its ear. Still, the Kitty/Lockheed relationship is where the pure joy of this story resides, even as the rest of it relies a little too heavily on over-explaining its beats.

9 - Avengers Academy #16 (last issue - 2 out of 6 books)

Big fighting. Get it? You will.

Most of the issue centers on Pym vs. Absorbing Man and the casualties that come from two giants doing battle. The real moment that carried this book though, was all about Veil and her rescue attempts. If this book is about teaching the hard lessons about being a hero to students that might be inclined to go the other way, then the king of all "thanks for nothing" moments finds its way into this book in a big way. That's a big move to capitalize on.

8 - Incredible Hulks #633 (last issue - 8 out of 12 books)

There's a bizarre series of questions about what the Hulk is doing and why he's there all surrounded by who made the last "monkey's paw" wish. It gets right to the heart of the character of the Hulk just as well as the last issue got right to the heart of the Banner character. The moral quandary that Dr. Strange presents to Cho and the rest of the Hulk family, though, doesn't get to last long and we get another case of a comic that seems to be moving faster than its ideas.

7 - Uncanny X-Force #12 (last issue - 1 out of 11 books)

The quest is on, and Logan seems awfully torn about what could have been in a lot of areas. Only Wolverine could find happiness in the AoA. Fantomex makes a scoundrel's run, even as we get to the heart of what's really going to happen if the good guys succeed. And a pretty large roadblock shows up at the end. Remender has this series cooking with blue flame and it's refreshing to see a Marvel book that's dedicated to making the content-per page count. This is a dense, good read.

6 - Amazing Spider-Man #666 (last issue - 2 out of 12 books)

A whole lot of happening is happening here. The lid is starting to come off of Miles Warren's (or, perhaps, Miles Warrens') plans, Peter is running himself ragged being on every team in the Marvel U, and Peter's personal life is settling down just in time for it to stop settling down, and the last Kung Fu lesson is on. There wasn't a ton of focus, as this was more about putting the pieces in their place for the big story, but that didn't make it any less entertaining.

5 - The Mission #6 (last issue - 2 out of 6 books)

Paul finally finds the stones to spend an entire issue doing what he has to do only for someone to try and change the game on him again. And that change, while feeling a tad bit trite, has been well-hinted at throughout the course of the book. The problem is that, as a reader, we've been challenged to be asking the wrong question, so it's not readily apparent. It's a good payoff to some misdirection.

4 - Detective Comics #880 (last issue - 3 out of 12 books)

Minus points for the conclusion being the only conclusion it could have been. But everything else kept perfectly in time with the horrific (in a good way, if you can dig it) tone that this run has had overall. The gruesome Jock art displaying some Joker venom, the attacks on the Gordons, the detective work giving us the answer before our heroes figured it out, and the Joker's creepy way of understanding who's wearing the cowl...all of it wonderful.

3 - The Sixth Gun #13 (last issue - 6 out of 9 books)

All this series does is produce consistently entertaining books rich with treachery and mythology. Oh, and the swagger of the best westerns available to boot. So this one digs a little deeper, adds a few new layers, and reminds us that our hero is a recovering sonovabitch in one big and exciting package. I challenge you to find a book that's more fun issue-in-and-issue-out.

2 - The Cape #1 (The Cape one-shot - 4 out of 9 books)

There's centering a book around an anti-hero, which comics have done well for a long time. There's centering a book around a straight up villain, which has also been done - but done in such a way as to put a little bit of sympathy on said villain. Then there's what we find ourselves doing with The Cape. This guy is a totally irredeemable, self-centered asshat awash in a sea of people who want the best for him. So you can kind of recoil in horror as he distances himself from those same people one at a time. The downside is that you find yourself pulling for the situation to get worse and see what he might do next rather than for the good folks around him to get him help.

So as delightful as it all is, I kind of felt like I needed a shower after rooting for Eric to make poor decision after poor decision.

1 - X-Men: Schism #2 (last issue - out of books)

I know they had to sell Schism, but it would have been interesting to see what this was going to be about as it happened rather than being told upfront that this was going to boil down to Logan vs. Scott for the soul of mutantkind. Right now, Aaron is still working hard to establish the hard-earned friendship between the two and the tiny seeds of the conflict that's going to take shape. All while telling a compelling story about the rise of a new Hellfire Club.

The ideological battle now seems to stem between a trust of the world and a mistrust of it. "The worst of them" vs. "The best of them," in terms of how to define it. Scott being dangerously isolationist and militant, and Wolverine showing an odd but not at all uncharacteristic faith in people like Steve Rogers. Excellent work, to be sure, but I am still a little saddened that I can't be surprised by where it's all headed.

funnybook of the week: July 20th, 2011

2011-07-29T09:33:00.003-04:00

One more week down. The next one's a doozy, but I might be able to get there on time. Maybe...

8 - The Boys: Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker #1 (last issue - n/a)

Abusive father figure. Saintly mother figure. Joined the military. Violent streak. Grounding presence in his life that isn't around anymore. Yep, this is a Garth Ennis character. I'm a little disappointed. I'd kind of hoped this was the thing that was going to bring The Boys out of its funk.

7 - Uncanny X-Men #541 (last issue - 5 out of 8 books)

Gillen is certainly having fun with Emma Frost right now, in a way that suggests he might be getting in what he can for as long as he can. Schism spoiler?

In the meantime, the center of this issue is around playing with the idea of the Juggernaut's well-noted unstoppableness and how that is parlayed into something more when he's given a magic hammer. A good idea, but a little to stunted in its execution as Scott overexplains his strategy.

6 - Hack/Slash #6 (last issue - 5 out of 6 books)

At first glance, the shallow knock-offs of Jersey Shore personalities and Lady Gaga seem like Tim Seeley is trying awfully hard to make a point that everything in pop culture sucks (except slasher films, natch). A harder look, though, gives us famous people who mostly care about how famous they are. And for a story about a monster that seems to literally eat fame, that's not a bad go.

Pooch and Cat Curio end up stealing this one, though, with their odd team-up that will almost have to lead to wonderful places.

5 - Walking Dead #87

I can't decide if I love or hate the last page. Do I love it because it was so well hinted at throughout the issue with little moments like Rick on his phone and explaining that perhaps some people were build differently than others? Do I hate it because it essentially negates more than 80 issues of character work? I don't know. Maybe I should just appreciate that I want to feel strongly about it one way or the other.

4 - Avengers #15 (last issue - 1 out of 6 books)

Well folks, the theme in the Avengers books for "Fear Itself" is "the official spotlight session for individual Avengers." For this one, we mostly look at Spider-Woman as Bendis tells us that we were wrong to not buy enough of her ongoing title to keep its status as ongoing.

And honestly, if he'd put this sort of fun version of her and her insecurities (instead of straight-up self-loathing) front and center, I think it would have connected with more readers. Adding that sweet Bacchalo art to the mix pushed things a little harder, and I think I liked our Jessica drew more in this issue than I have since she owned Wolverine in the Savage Land back at the beginning of New Avengers.

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

If you were worried about "swashbuckling" Daredevil's return, the opening pages of this comic should be enough to beat you over the head and make you relax. This will be good. This will be entertaining. And eventually, you'll come to let go of the wholly self-loathing version of Daredevil that we've been subject to for so long (even if that version was more often awesome than otherwise).

What Waid is doing with the character doesn't ignore the Bendis-Brubaker-Diggle era of Daredevil, so much as change the way The Man Without Fear faces down the consequences of those runs. Instead of brooding, we now see a Murdoch that is fearlessly pressing on. Smartly enough, though, Waid is very carefully lifting a curtain on the idea that nothing is forgotten and pressing onward with a brave face may not be enough. Really looking forward to where this is going.

2 - Ultimate Fallout #2 (last issue - 7 out of 12 books)

Well, if the gravity of Peter's death as it really truly lingered with Aunt May wasn't apparent in the first issue, it was there in spades with this one. Picking up right from Captain America's confession, we finally see the crushing weight of all of it in some achingly perfect pages by Bendis and Hardman.

The following snippets, meant more to introduce us to the rest of the upcoming Ultimate relaunch's writers and their takes on some of their characters than keep the mourning period going, were still excellent human study cases showing how incredibly powerful public tragedies can be even to those who are removed from the immediate chaos. If this is the kind of character work we have coming up, I'm glad to be aboard.

1 - Locke & Key: Clockworks #1 (Locke & Key: Keys to the Kingdom #6 - 1 out of 13 books)

The origin story. Where did the keys come from? Why are they here? What's the Omega Key going to do if its ever used? Questions I knew would have to be answered in-story at some point, but questions I was dreading as I didn't want the tremendous momentum of this book to have to stop for those little details.

Fortunately, Joe Hill nails a dense comic story that immediately gets you to care about the characters involved as well as sucks you into the drama of what's at stake in the present day with barely a glimpse of where the characters are now and what they're doing. Incredible.

funnybook of the week: July 13, 2011

2011-07-28T21:47:00.003-04:00

Well. We're here. Finally. And more to come soon.

12 - Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates #6 (last issue - 6 out of 6 books)

We're left with a feeling that maybe all of this was in fact Nick Fury's doing to get the world situated in the way that the world is situated at the end of the series, and that Spider-Man was just collateral damage. Which kind of what I think of this story. It's a story that happened so Millar could make one more comment about the potential of a post 9/11 world, and Spider-Man just happened to die in it with no special meaning to the overall story in spite of the large print on the front of each issue.

Even the idea of the "Hulked out Heroes" (trademark Marvel, from a story before this one) didn't come across as grand as it could have on the page. Things just happened, and then more things happened. They may or may not have been meaningful or connected. I can't believe I read six issues of this.

11 - FF #6 (last issue - 4 out of 9 books)

The big knock on Hickman is that he can be a slave to the bigger picture at the expense of the immediate story. And that happened here pretty largely, as we interrupt all of the momentum he had been building through 5 issues of FF so that we can go on this side-story about how Black Bolt isn't dead anymore and why that's going to be very important. I wasn't hugely entertained here at all, but I was looking for every possible detail, because I know that - from the perspective of the bigger picture - this is going to be very important.

10 - Memoir #4 (last issue - 6 out of 9 books)

There was a series of coincidences that got our hero where he needed to be and had him find out some things that were probably supposed to be shocking even though I found them to be a little disappointing. Slowly, though, he's embracing his role as the reluctant hero, and we should see a full turn by the next issue. The slow burn here is getting a little infuriating, but there are enough (probably) red herrings to keep me guessing.

9 - Batgirl #23 (last issue - 3 out of 6 books)

Miller is getting around to closing storylines and tying up loose ends for Stephanie, including one moment with her handsome detective friend and a pretty large reveal at the end that could mean so much to the character's journey. The rest of the issue was a fun mess of bad guys in super armor and a nice callback to one of the more fun issues of the series. Like a few of the other DC books I'm reading right now, though, this one felt like it was racing to the finish line when I'd rather it take its sweet time.

8 - Incredible Hulks #632 (last issue - 3 out of 6 books)

The emotional payoff behind the reveal of Banner's turn at the wishing well is wonderful, but gets obfuscated behind all of the flash-bang that's going on without any real focus behind it. That's a shame, because it was probably Pak's best Banner moment since "I'm training my son to kill me."

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

Mockingbird gets to test out the new her, courtesy of "Fear Itself" still being perpetually stuck on the Blitzkrieg USA segment of the story. Bendis is still leaning hard on the interview format, which works well at some points, but comes off as waaay too expositiony at others. Still, this was a strong and emotional issue for an underutilized character and that was a thrill to read.

Spider-Man's trust of Victoria Hand keeps being a pressing issue as well, and I honestly don't know if I'm pulling for him to be right or wrong about her at this point. We haven't seen the last of the re-formed H.A.M.M.E.R. or where Norman is going to fit into it. I know that for certain.

6 - Ultimate Fallout #1 (last issue - n/a)

With Spider-Man dead, it's time to mourn. We get a parade of characters all managing to grieve in their own way, but none with enough panel time to really show what's happening (save Kitty and JJJ, who had some great segments). A touching moment with Aunt May and a little girl Peter had once saved hit just the right note, but otherwise I felt like this one jumped too and had too much to get to at the expense of being able to linger just long enough. Still a very good book, though.

5 - Captain America #1 (last issue - n/a)

Cap and Brubaker were once such a wonderful combination I couldn't not give a newly-focused #1 issue a shot, and it certainly paid off. While there may not be anything groundbreaking about a premise for Captain America where a WWII ally comes back all evil-fied, the execution came off as the kind of noirish wonderful that Brubaker is known for.

The character work with Steve is still second-to-none where that character is concerned, but it's also nice to see a little more spart to Sharon than she had when I left the previous title. Good things here.

4 - X-Men: Schism #1 (last issue - n/a)

And so it came to pass that Quentin Quire, one of the many glorious products of Grant Morrison's New X-Men run came to push Wolverine and Cyclops apart. We get some nice prattle at the beginning so that we understand that there is a genuine friendship that's evolved out of the rivalry between the two so that even a new reader can understand that what's about to happen is big.

Unlike the immediately comparable story, Civil War, there seems to be a slow burn rather than an immediate argument over what to do in the wake of the big event. Still, you can see the start of it and then some very nice work by Jason Aaron showing that Scott's looking out for the big picture while Wolverine is constantly minding the little things. It sets up nicely, and I hope the eventual payoff works out just as well, but we're off to a really strong start here.

3 - Detective Comics #879 (last issue - 2 out of 9 books)

The detective in question here is actually well past that rank now, as Commissioner Gordon does a little legwork to find out if his son is on the level (with some "keep it in the family" forensics work from Babs) and - if he's not - what he's planning to do. Jock catches the mood of Snyder's story so perfectly, I hardly have the words for it.

Just in case things aren't creepy enough, we add a new player who guarantees the intensity will be bumped up a notch.

2 - Amazing Spider-Man #665 (last issue - 3 out of 9 books)

This was an incredibly simple but even more incredibly effective story about where Peter Parker's heart is. About what his friends think of him. About who loves him and why. About priorities when it comes to the man and the super hero. Slott framed the whole thing within Peter and Betty's relationship, one that it's been obvious he has a ton of affection for, and it worked out wonderfully.

In the meantime, there was a life changing announcement in the back of the book along with the first glimpse of someone close to Peter getting Spider Islanded. Well played, boys. Well played indeed.

1 - Journey Into Mystery #625 (last issue - 2 out of 7 books)

Can we just go ahead and give Gillen an ongoing Young Loki book? Is that what this is? Is this more than just a mega-event tie in that will be parlayed into something else down the road? Can it please be? Everything about this book is wonderful. The characterizations (Young Loki coming to the table with the Tongue declaring that he's awfully evil is incredible), the dialogue (Mephisto explaining all of the ways that Hela has disappointed him), and the plotting (triple deals!) are all as perfect as one can expect from a comic book. Weighty without dragging the reader down, fun without being blatantly silly, epic in scale while being entirely character-driven.

That this is tied to the greater "Fear Itself" story that has done nothing but disappoint me on all other fronts is just an added degree of difficulty that would have me weight the grade for this issue to being 12 out of 10 rather than just a perfect score. Incredible.

2011-07-24T18:43:00.000-04:00

I've been doing a little vacationing, but fear not, gentle readers - the last two weeks' worth of comics will be up soon.

funnybook of the week: July 6th, 2011

2011-07-10T20:36:00.002-04:00

Summer events. Lots of them. How'd we do?

8 - Vengeance #1 (last issue - n/a)

It was nice to see Angel and The Beak around for even a little while. But I had huge expectations for this series. Grumpy prude Magneto and a few new punk kids taking advantage of the celebrity of super powers didn't quite do it for me. I'm man enough to admit when I don't get it, and I honestly don't get it.

7 - Heroes for Hire #9 (last issue - 8 out of 11 books)

The art has slowly been more and more disappointing in this title, and I really feel it's lost its focus after an incredibly gripping initial premise petered out. So now that they're joining in on the summer blockbuster story, it's a nice chance to refocus and sell the whole thing to a new audience. Instead, it was just a jumbled mess of storytelling taking on two of the Worthy and introducing a new villain. I think we're done here.

6 - Fear Itself #4 (last issue - 6 out of 11 books)

I'm going to be honest, I was expecting something huge to break loose in this issue. We got the dramatic death in the last issue and this one was going to have Steve putting the uniform back on and that was going to be the huge, dramatic moment that the whole issue was going to be built around. Except, it wasn't much of anything. The little snippet of Rogers staring at the mask before diving in should have been incredible, but it felt more like he was up all night partying and now had to go to work more than he was picking up the mantle he put down specifically to stop what just happened from happening.

The rest followed the "loosely connected beats that make up the spine of the event" format, but without anything to really make me care. Tons of weightless exposition. The "oh, hey there" return of Thor to Midgard (only the fine folks of Broxton got anything near a highlight in this issue). Even Tony's "sacrifice" to Odin - which also should have been huge - felt out of nowhere and manufactured more than anything else. I'm beginning to lose faith in Fear Itself as a story and as an event.

5 - Uncanny X-Men #540 (last issue - 7 out of 9 books)

Top notch character work here, as most of the issue is mostly the X-Men waiting for the events of "Fear Itself" to catch up to them and setting the stage for who's going to respond and how when the Juggernaut hits the fan. That's the jist of it on the surface.

More to the point, though, we start to see the kind of philosophy the title will have when it's renumbered following Schism - with concerns being laid out in plain view to be toyed with when we're done with the crossover at hand. The character interactions all worked, but this still was a ton of hurry up and wait.

4 - The Boys #56 (last issue - 9 out of 11 books)

Hughie's triumphant return is treated with the proper glory by Butcher, and the two run headlong into the next big thing. Seeing the odd combination of ease and the total opposite of ease that the two were able to get back into a rhythm was nice - and it's clear that this relationship is more complex now than it was before Hughie left. In the meantime, there's a lot of problems within the Seven, showing that group becoming splintered just as I'm sure the Boys are becoming.

The downside here is that we're still doing an awful lot of exposition in the form of word balloons, and The Boys seems to have lost its center. I think that I've finally narrowed that down. This book is at its best when it's lambasting super hero books while telling its own story. Too much on one side, and things get a little uneasy for me as a reader. And for the last 7 issues or so, the super hero satire has been largely absent while the story has moved where it needs to. The character work here was great, I just need the thing that sets The Boys apart to be there, too.

3 - Flashpoint #3 (last issue - n/a)

I may have pointed out on an occasion or two that I'm not the biggest Flash fan in the world. Still, the first two issues did a tremendous job of building him up to be the hero. Which is why it was so frustrating to see all the cutesy stuff ("I need a bigger lightning bolt," "Look at how fast I can make a costume!") that has made me hate the character so much over the years come in at full force to negate the entirety of issue #2's last panel.

The rest of the issue, though, is still a fine alternate reality story (with Project Superman being a particularly nice touch all the way around) that manages little beats that will set the stage for the DCU going forward (Johns is definitely working overtime to establish Cyborg as a major player). The Flash silliness is still rather annoying, though.

2 - Moon Knight #3 (last issue - 5 out of 11 books)

Bendis seems to be going off of a checklist with this title. Establish the premise, check (see issue 1). Show us how Moon Knight crazy work now, check (see issue 2). Establish a supporting cast, check (see this issue). Echo seems to be on pace to reluctantly join the crew and we find a couple of Marc Spectre's Hollywood buddies placed via flashback into the story.

There was some confusing stuff, like Marc possibly still running around with a secret identity in spite of the show he's producing, but still this was mostly entertaining with just a little disappointment to be found in its stage-setting.

1 - Secret Six #35 (last issue - 2 out of 11 books)

It seems that going to hell wasn't all that fun for Bane, and it has him considering his life. Because of that, he and Catman hatch an ambitious plan that the rest of the gang is pretty excited about as we wind down what is far and away DC's best series. Things are happening fast here to the point that there were a couple of times I needed to flip back a few pages to reassess the story, so it feels like (for obvious reasons) perhaps a race to the finish of the series rather than the slow burn we would have all preferred (creative team for the book included) - but it was still good enough for one more week at the top for a title that will soon no longer be with us.

funnybook of the week: June 29th, 2011

2011-07-04T06:18:00.000-04:00

This is more like it. Even the weakest of this week's offerings had a few nice things I could say about it. I always like it when I don't have to be cranky internet comic nerd.

9 - Fear Itself: Black Widow (last issue - n/a)

I wanted Cullen Bunn's Marvel work to wow me the same way The Sixth Gun does on a monthly basis, but I might have put too much expectation on it. There's only so much you can do with a few "Fear Itself" tie in stories, and this issue is a perfect example of that. The whole premise is that the Black Widow has been taken away from the front lines due to things that have happened that the issue doesn't feel it can spoil in spite of them happening weeks ago. So not only are we away from the play in a story designed to be just that, but we can't even get to the brunt of what's bothering Natasha because she's trying to pretend it isn't bothering her...and her narration is doing that lying for her.

Beyond all of that, we have a serviceable action comic with the takedown of some bad guys and a few good spots along with a pretty obvious MacGuffin thrown in for good measure. Nothing horrible here, just nothing inspiring in the least.

8 - Walking Dead #86 (last issue - 5 out of 12 books)

I'm not sure what the deal is with optimistic Rick, but I'm just as uncomfortable around him as Andrea seemed to be. Between that discomfort and the continuing build to to the building of a new civilization that can only be knocked down (after 86 issues, I'm onto you, Kirkman), there isn't much here. A few character beats that are nice and necessary, but this is essentially one of those "move the characters into place so they're just right for when we kill someone off" issues.

7 - Uncanny X-Men #539(last issue - 4 out of 6 books)

This is an interesting look at Hope (and her team) for those of us who are new to her party and - no matter how much we love Kieron Gillen's work - can't quite make ourselves pull the trigger on reading Generation Hope. It especially works well as a look at the dynamic between her and Wolverine going into Schism, which itself gives us our first clue as to the exact nature of the rift between Scott and Logan (and which side of it they may land on).

The action here is pretty standard "get outta my way so I can save you" fare, but that wasn't the point so much as a plot device to show us the read deal. And also maybe Gillen giving us his version of badass Wolverine while Logan's still in his cast.

6 - Sixth Gun #12 (last issue - 1 out of 8 books)

New arc, so we're stopping to reintroduce Mrs. Hume and a few of the guns as well as this story's supernatural adversaries for our heroes. They're a nasty bunch, and the "boss" of this video game level is a particularly ugly and dangerous-looking guy. Still, though, we just met them - and I feel the best has yet to come for them.

There is some nice tension being set up between the fightin' clergy and Drake that I'm hoping gets some payoff one way or another. I don't see the momentum here lost for very long at all.

5 - Gotham City Sirens #24(last issue - 12 out of 12 books)

There's one scene in this book, between Ivy and Harley, where it all makes sense. Where the disappointment I've had in this story starts to mirror the exact disappointment of a character so hard that I start to feel like maybe Calloway knows more about what he's doing here than I had been giving him credit for. Just because I don't like the choices a character makes doesn't mean they aren't valid - and certainly not true to the character.

At any rate, this book pretty much signals the end of our girl group, which started out as such a strong concept but never really hit all the notes I'd ever wanted it to. But again, because of this issue, I'm now wondering if that was the fault of the book or my fault for being disappointed that it wasn't what I would have done with the characters.

4 - FF #5 (last issue - 1 out of 12 books)

Something as simply clever as the line "Oh Susan, I've done something terrible" was all I needed to see once our Invisible Woman put two and two together. A really good character beat with Ben and Alicia was also very nice. So there is a lot to like in this issue.

What I'm missing is the weight that all of the destruction in this issue should have had with it. No one really felt the failures here as much as they moved onto the next plot point. With the characters not feeling anything, why should the reader feel anything beyond the idea that all of that destruction was merely a point on Hickman's giant FF road map.

3 - Amazing Spider-Man #664 (last issue - 11 out of 11 books)

Okay, Amazing Spider-Man is getting it back just in time for "Spider-Island," which I'm looking at with both excitement and trepidation at the same time. A few wink-wink moments to the nature of the team-up and Eddie Brock's insistence that he's right (especially when he is) upped the fun quotient and Carly doing some detective work while Peter had to once again awkwardly lie to her are slowly but surely raising her profile to a likable character in Peter's life.

A few quality Phil Urich pages are interesting in a book featuring Eddie Brock, given that Phil really has become Evil Spider-Man in a way that Venom was originally supposed to be until he got all anti-heroed up. Yep, quality comics right here.

2 - Detective Comics #878 (last issue - 7 out of 12 books)

Dick does some detective work and does it well here, but the real feature is just how seemlessly Snyder has been able to pull all of the parts of Dick's history into this version of Batman. The circus, the time served as a sidekick, and the coming into his own all work really well as a character against the backdrop of the larger mystery. I know many people have enjoyed this Detective Comics run because of the tone, but I think the character work with Dick Grayson has been the real highlight and I'll be sad to see Snyder off of the character in a few months.

1 - Venom #4(last issue - 2 out of 12 books)

There was so much about this issue that was so well done that I'm not entirely sure where I should start. Flash vs. the symbiote even as the symbiote vs. Spider-Man? The return of Jack O' Lantern and a very wink-wink commentary on the nature of an arch-nemesis? Flash, Peter, and Betty arguing over whose fault everything is? Flash's guilt over being unable to control both the suit and having to lie to his superiors? The suit's attachment to Flash?

All of that is in there. All of it is fascinating and fun. All of it in a Venom comic. And I still can't believe I like it this much. Rick Remender is doing work here and cramming things into each issue at a rate that makes one wonder if he knows something about an impending cancellation that I don't. Incredibly good work here. I can't say enough nice things about this title.

funnybook of the week: June 22nd, 2011

2011-06-22T20:28:00.001-04:00

Boy howdy, there were two books that almost killed me with the sloppy storytelling. Fortunately, there was one exquisitely executed issue that is everything you'd want out of a character arc and an over-hyped issue of comic bookery.

6 - Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates #5 (last issue - 10 out of 10 books)

So. What this issue had going for it, what was absolutely working for the shortest of times, was that the heroes were put into a moral quandary that had no right answer. A quandary that was solved off-panel by telling some characters what others already knew and giving them a loophole rather than having to make a choice. Awful. Just plain terrible storytelling.

This is leaving out Millar's ridiculous fascination with Hulk pills and super soldier serums that give way to even more ridiculous plot points. No, there's nothing outside of Yu's artwork to like about this series in the slightest.

5 - Hack/Slash #5 (last issue - 11 out of 12 books)

Weird goddess action comes in with the first sloppy storytelling entry. The main story here was either rushed through or just poorly executed (interior art Kyle Strahm didn't look good to me so maybe it's that rather than a poor conveyance of of the story), but something in this issue was supremely amiss. There was a big moment and some reasonably good character work with Cassie and Vlad, but it was all so ham-fisted that it wasn't enjoyable. Only a great Chris n' Pooch moment kept this out of the bottom.

4 - Secret Avengers #14 (last issue - 4 out of 12 books)

Valkyrie gets re-introduced via an origin story that's pretty straightforward. However, it's a "Fear Itself" tie-in, so we also need to make it relevant to the ambiguous attack on DC that will possibly be fleshed out somewhere sometime. So we get a nice little parallel to Valkyrie's story with a couple of crazy-in-love S.H.I.E.L.D. grunts who get used as cannon fodder. Good stuff. Not transcendent, and not everything you want out of a $3.99 comic, but still good.

3 - Incredible Hulks #631 (last issue - 6 out of 9 books)

The thing about a wishing well as a plot devise in the hands of a guy like Pak doing the writing, is that things can really start to devolve into an Axe Cop-type of story. And it does, but thanks to Amadeus Cho's inclusion(combined with a more sensible and nerdy side to Pak, I'm sure) we also get a mathematical component to that "and now THIS happens" insanity that comes off as very readable and a good time. The character work isn't there in this issue like it was last time out, but the over-the-top action stuff is too fun to ignore.

2 - The Mission #5 (last issue - 10 out of 12 books)

Desperation sets in. This comic's god proves to be a real sonuvabitch. But you keep rooting for Paul to get over. To be finished.

Add to that the ever-growing mystery about what the sides are and what the relic is, and we're clearly back on track with this series.

1 - Ultimate Spider-Man #160 (last issue - 5 out of 7 books)

Peter Parker's last stand went down the way you want Peter Parker's last stand to go down. Protecting the people he loves without any regard for his own well-being, taking on a powered up bad guy that should be beyond his weight class, quipping all the way to the end, and doing something meaningful to the legacy of Spider-Man in a beautifully-written and drawn way.

The issue comes to it's close with a serene moment and a creepy last page that would totally serve to end the 160-issue story for good if Marvel wanted to.

breaking down and buying Flashpoint

2011-06-22T10:53:00.002-04:00

Having perused the 52 titles DC will be launching and decided that there are some of them I'll definitely be giving a try, I figured I might as well take part in the 5-part event that sets it all in motion.

I'm a big fan of House of M even to this day, and seeing that DC has set themselves up a similar premise works out well. I've never been a big Flash fan, be it Barry, Barty, Wally, or whoever. Still seeing Barry try to make sense out of the world he's been thrust into is an interesting read and very accessible to me as a non-Flash reader.

DC has embraced that the one thing that will always be true with them is Crime Alley and set up a different kind of Batman whose motivation for helping Barry set the world right - or rather, set the timeline right - is perfect. That's your main story thus far, and the results haven't necessarily been great after two issues (for the characters, it reads just fine).

The rest of it is small glimpses into the larger world of Flashpoint that intrigued me enough to even look into a few of the spinoff books. While none of them will set the world on fire, the Green Lantern book - focusing on Abin Sur's insistence on learning more about the prophesy of Flaspoint - is the best of the set that I've gotten my hands on. Still, much like "House of M," the tie-ins aren't necessary to the story so much as they are interesting sidenotes to a larger story of an alternate world that's going to change the current one.

FOREVER.

funnybook of the week: June 15th, 2011

2011-06-16T23:30:00.001-04:00

The bad news is that 33% of this week's haul confirmed that I needed to make some drops on the pull list. The good news is that it was a light week. Still, I'm cutting some old friends, and I feel sad about that.

6 - X-Factor #221 (last issue - 10 out of 11 books)

Ugh. Rahne's baby, guest appearances from 90's castoffs, and Layla Miller gone from "fun and quirky" to "laborious plot device" have me thinking this might be it for me and the gang at X-Factor. The funny isn't funny so much as cute now, and not in a good way.

In January of 2009, an issue of X-Factor came out and shook me so hard it became Funnybook of the Year. Since then, there have been a few highs and some very low lows for the book. But the highs aren't as high as they once were (the renumbered #200 was the last one to make it as a funnybook of the week) and the lows keep getting lower.

5 - Invincible #80 (last issue - 7 out of 8 books)

And I've discovered yet another uncomfortable situation. No, I'm not talking about Mark being apparently uncomfortable with anyone who isn't him having sex. No, I'm not talking about some very uncomfortable (and not on purpose, I don't thing...well, not to this degree) dialogue in this issue. No, I'm not talking about Kirkman's massively uncomfortable meta-references to his "on time in '09" plan or the Big Two's renumbering practices. I'm just talking about how for a while I was just about ready to give up on Invincible even as it had been a favorite of mine for a long time.

Then came "The Viltrumite War," the payoff that I'd been looking for. It was great, but now that we're back to normal, we're back to the generic villains and the ambling about. I think...and this saddens me...that my pull list just lost another longtime favorite.

4 - Uncanny X-Men #538 (last issue - 3 out of 12 books)

A curious end for our villain in this last issue, but one that leaves me hopeful to see more of him someday.

Beyond that, we get Gillen writing tough-guy Wolverine and something "nice" happening on Utopia for a change of pace. All of it fun, but some of it just a little too disjointed to be really special. Dodson really upped the ante on the artwork though, particularly that last page.

3 - Batgirl #22 (last issue - 7 out of 8 books)

Stephanie goes to England for some fun with Squire. Well, she goes for another reason, but she ends up engaging in some keeping time-altering nonsense that isn't very great sci fi. It does however, read as a bunch of fun with two supporting bat-characters fighting some delightfully horrible theme villains. Can't find anything not to enjoy about that.

2 - Avengers Academy #15 (last issue - 3 out of 11 books)

It's a "Fear Itself" tie-in, so the focus is on an assault on DC and some people with big hammers. Gage does an incredible job of downplaying that without downplaying that, letting the action serve as the culmination of what these kids have been working towards and all of the doubts their instructors have. This book continues, time-and-time again, to be completely driven by the characters and their development. I'm not sure if that's because it's been established that this book is about the change in these kids or if it's just that they're new characters so it doesn't matter if they change and progress because no one has to protect 40-60 years of continuity. And I honestly don't care as long as it keeps being this good.

1 - Avengers #14 (last issue - 1 out of 10 books)

Thing. (Red) Hulk. Hammers. Falling buildings. JRJR. Think Stan Lee would mind if I just left this with a "'nuff said"?

funnybook of the week: June 8th, 2011

2011-06-13T15:01:00.001-04:00

Everything was good this week. I'll take it.

7 - Fear Itself: Spider-Man #2 (last issue - 6 out of 11 books)

Yost has a good idea of what fear and desperation look like in a normal human being, and tries to get that through and into superhero territory, but kind of lost his point by over-using Peter's internal narration. Still, this was a solid effort with Jameson of all people having a grand and inspirational moment.

6 - Incredible Hulks #630 (last issue - 9 out of 12 books)

Pak continues his odd mix of mysticism in the Hulk books with Tyrannus' fountain of youth being re-appropriated in a way that's going to make for some fun Smash down the road, but this issue was merely the set-up to get all the pieces in place for some big adventure and an eventual character resolution with Betty and Banner. Good times, though.

5 - Ultimate Spider-Man #159 (last issue - 7 out of 10 books)

If I told that this is where the kid makes a gutsy last stand and earns the respect of the neighborhood and finding a seemingly-unlikely-yet-perfect-when-you-give-it-a-moment's-thought ally, then you'd say "yep, that's a death issue." Well, we're not quite there yet. There's one more twist to be thrown in before this series is done and we kiss Ultimate Peter Parker goodbye. Really, there's nothing incredibly ground-breaking about this issue, it just does a familiar story as well as it's ever been done. Nothing to sneeze at, to be sure.

4 - Terry Moore's Echo #30 (last issue - 5 out of 12 books)

Big finish. Both the sci fi and the character stories all landed satisfying conclusions. Satisfying, but not earth-moving. It felt almost rushed. Maybe I've been conditioned for giant-sized, extra-priced big finales rather than simple yet wonderful finish to an amazing series. Hardly Terry Moore's fault, but it's my list.

3 - New Avengers #13 (last issue - 3 out of 8 books)

The character work in this issue was really something incredible. Interrogations with Strange voicing his discomfort and Spider-Man very deftly away from the action and using his science nerdiness. Very subtle stuff but very cool and deliberate.

Brian Michael Bendis is on fire this week, this time finally tying his stories together with one simple item. The ramifications of how that comes together have been set up to make their way into no more than two major members of the team. It's really too bad that all of this momentum is getting tossed into the big crossover next month...

2 - Journey Into Mystery #624 (last issue - 1 out of 8 books)

Remember how once long ago I praised Gillen's take on Mephisto? So happy to see him come back, it's like having a terrible old friend. This iteration of Loki heading back to hell vs. the last trip we were privileged to is certainly different - but very interesting. The noble intentions, but with a very present ring of a god of mischief all leading to this version of the trickster finishing with a very telling and rewarding line. Incredible work.

1 - Caligula #2 (last issue - 9 out of 13 books)

Brutally disturbing in a way that few outside of Lapham can deliver, but still incredibly engaging as a story as we see our hero get deep into Caligula's world. And as Caligula corrupts everything around him, the reader gets just as corrupted.

Seriously, I have somehow stopped rooting for the revenge of the underdog so much as I wanted to see him get further and further removed from his purpose and lost in the hopelessness of his mission. He did, and we are then treated to another last page that changes the game from where we were at the beginning of the issue. Incredibly well done series so far.

funnybook of the week: June 2nd, 2011

2011-06-06T13:59:00.001-04:00

A major haves and have nots sort of week. The bottom being pretty bland (but not necessarily bad) and te top three all being near-perfect comic bookery. In the end, though, we officially have a new Funnybook of the Week star as one title gets it's third win in 12 tries.

11 - Amazing Spider-Man #663 (last issue - 6 out of 12 books)

As a character, Eddie Brock never fails to fail to interest me and the central mystery behind the Wraith is incredibly heavy-handedly given away. Not Slott's best work. But Peter and May's reaction to his big day was pretty cute.

Side note: Can the pool of artists for The Amazing Spider-Man figure out Carlie's hair style and keep it there for at least 5 consecutive issues?

10 - X-Factor #220 (last issue - 2 out of 10 books)

Great conversation betweeen Rahne and Shatterstar aside, I didn't find this to be that inspiring an issue. Bad omens surrounding the magic baby that Rahne is having mixing various mythic and religious elements to create a hodgepodge threat to Rahne when I'd rather be seeing what's going on with virtually any other character in the cast.

9 - The Boys #55 (last issue - 9 out of 9 books)

Better, more personal exposition, as we learn about what Butcher was and - once and for all - what Mallory is, but I'm ready for the story to continue rather than fill in past blanks. We have a whole Butcher mini coming up to do that.

8 - Heroes for Hire #8 (last issue - 4 out of 10 books)

All of the spider-action from the last issue, but with none of the strong character beats for any of the characters until the last little bit (thanks to a left field cameo that worked out better than it probably should have). The real problem here, though, is that some of Spider-Man's characterizations just seemed off. None more than his reaction to the fate of the hell-powered gun-bearers. It just struck me as odd in a number of strange beats in an otherwise entertaining comic.

7 - Astonishing X-Men #39 (#37 - 6 out of 7 books)

As much as I'm not really into the Monster Island and Mentallo nonsense, using it as a backdrop for what Armor's going through and how it's affecting her powers is nice. Seeing Wolverine, Cyclops, and Emma react to it in their own ways was nicer. Seeing that Cyclops and Wolverine have struck up a real friendship (and knowing what's coming up in Schism, too) is pretty great. Strong character work, just really weak action-adventure plotting.

6 - Fear Itself #3 (last issue - 5 out of 9 books)

It's hard to talk about this issue without talking about the major death that's been touted and argued over. I've read a lot about it, and I think it makes sense for the journey of that character to fall where he did and in the way he did wearing the uniform he was wearing. It reads especially well across from some seemingly unrelated dialogue with Steve Rogers earlier in the issue. Pretty well-played honestly.

Even better, though, was the Asgardian portion of the issue. Thor, Odin, and Loki all have big moments and lines in the sand get drawn in a major way. I'm loving that character work and beginning to second-guess my abandoning Fraction's run on Thor.

For all of those strong points (I didn't even mention that Immonen is still killing it, art-wise), though, Fear Itself doesn't read like a story. Rather, it reads like a series of things that are happening, loosely connected. The modular event style is likely to blame, and while I salute it for allowing readers to pick which threads they're interested following, I can't ignore that it makes the storytelling a little difficult to really get into.

5 - Moon Knight #2 (last issue - 1 out of 9 books)

I an issue super-reminiscent of Cowboy Ninja Viking, we see Moon Knight and his newfound alter egos in action. I'm not complaining, because it isn't copying the concept so much as turning it up to the noise super hero volume. Bendis and Maleev are putting together a very cool noir take on the character right down to the introduction of a few femme fatales.

I might not know exactly what the last page was about, but the story here is still very solid work.

4 - Turf #5 (last issue - 7 out of 13 books)

Tremendous finish to this series, borrowing heavily from action tropes after taking so much fun from gangers, aliens, and vampires. The whole of the story tied together effortlessly as we got a wild ride of friendship, sacrifice, and redemption in a combustible little package that Tommy Lee Edwards knocked out of the park. I suddenly can't wait for the next big thing from this creative team.

3 - Avengers Academy #14.1 (last issue - 3 out of 10 books)

Hey lookee here, a successful "point one" issue! Christos Gage really carefully laid out what the series is about, and gently reminded us of what each individual character is struggling with (great for a new reader, and didn't feel entirely like remediation for those who actually did read the previous 14 issues) through the introduction of some of the Academy candidates who didn't make the list.

He really drove home the mission of the faculty and what's at stake, all while introducing what I hope will be a long-recurring character making some tempting offers. If I wasn't reading this series, I certainly would start. Mission accomplished, yeah?

2 - Secret Six #34 (last issue - 4 out of 9 books)

I don't think it's giving too much away to declare that it's about time this team got a chance to have some good happen by them. Everyone leaves this issue generally happier than when they came into it, though some of the most messed up rationale possible (because it's still The Secret Six. Bane goes on a date, Thomas is finally at peace, Scandal has a difficult decision but a nice one to have to make when all things are considered, and Ragdoll gets in a tremendous line about a fivesome.

Gail Simone shows a genuine love for these characters with every issue, and that's been passed on to the reader. Quite a feat to get us loving these characters and their friendships when, on the surface, no one should love either. They are, after all, very bad people.

1 - Uncanny X-Force #11 (last issue - 6 out of 10 books)

We're off to the Age of Apocalypse here, and the temptation for almost anyone would be to spend the first issue going "hey, remember this thing?" or "lookit what happened to this guy since we were last here!" Remender gets a lot of that in, but he makes them all score on a lot more than a 90's nostalgia point. He connects relationships between Wolverine and the 616 counterparts of these characters some, like Nightcrawler, departed in the Marvel U we all know and love. With others, like AoA's Sabretooth, he plays Wolverine's relationship with our Creed against Betsy's familiarity with AoA's version. It's all character-driven and it's all wonderfully executed.

All the while, we never keep the eye off the ball. What we're after and why stays at the forefront, even as Fantomex makes more overtures towards Psyloche and Deadpool annoys everyone (sidenote: what Remender has done with Deadpool, making him an annoyance to the other characters but a delight for me to read, is incredible given how little I like that character). This is about as well-executed a comic as I've seen all year. Even as good as some others were this week, hands down the Funnybook of the Week.

funnybook of the week: May 25th, 2011

2011-05-30T19:13:00.001-04:00

Hickman back on top, pretty much leaving the field in the dust this week.

12 - Gotham City Sirens #23 (#21 - 6 out of 12 books)

I hate that I waited an extra month just to find out that Harley has reverted. Nothing really clicked for me here, but I don't know if that was the storytelling or just my disappointment in the chosen direction. So we'll leave it at that.

11 - Hack/Slash #4 (last issue - 4 out of 8 books)

One really well-placed revelation about Samhain didn't really make up for the a-little-too-quick-and-tidy defeat of one villain and the inevitable (and probably temporary) breaking up of team Hack/Slash. Also, I was a little disappointed in the death in this issue. I thought that there was still a lot of potential in the character (especially given that character's connections), and it would have been interesting to see where else things could go. Exciting, but ultimately unfulfilling issue.

10 - The Mission #4 (last issue - 6 out of 13 books)

More vague notions of what the other side of what we're seeing is as we see the first "non-killing" assignment hit some snags that might have been suspenseful or hilarious but didn't quite hit the mark on either. Like Hack/Slash I thought it was a fun read, but with nothing really all that new besides a new object of unspoken importance this issue also fell short of being a fulfilling read.

9 - Incredible Hulks #629 (last issue - 2 out of 8 books)

This issue worked awfully hard to put Betty/Banner and Red She-Hulk/Hulk in a very specific place, relationship-wise. And it's an interesting place going forward.

Side note: if Red Hulk and Red She-Hulk are here to stay (and it looks like they are), can we go ahead and get them better names? Please?

Anyway, the problem with getting those characters where they need to be is that the clever story that had been cooking kind of dissipated and Tyrannus became something to yell at rather than a curious and determined mastermind. And the spy theme went completely out the window in favor of vague magical evil. Still, the Betty/Banner stuff (and the stuff concerning their alter egos) worked really well.

8 - Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #6 (last issue - 6 out of 10 books)

And that's the end of that. This thing really went off the rails, story-wise, in the last couple of issues. It was never anything but fun to read in and of itself, but if you're looking for a story that's going to collect well into a nice hardcover? Keep going. Each issue, though, has read well enough and looked spectacular. Each issue has been an enjoyable look at the Spidey/Wolvey dynamic and why (beyond the two them being arguably Marvel's biggest stars) it intrigues readers and creators alike.

What keeps bothering me about this issue is that the climactic scene that really would have sold me on this just being a series to examine that dynamic isn't shown in it's entirety - it's mostly just referenced. In the end, this issue because an example of the big story taking a back seat to the characters - only even those developments seemed choppy. I'm complaining an awful lot about a book I enjoyed, so I'm just going to stop now.

7 - Detective Comics #877 (last issue - 11 out of 13 books)

Maybe I set the bar too high too soon for this Snyder/Jock run. Because right now, I'm pretty disappointed by an effort that's merely "very good." There's humor, still that very intense noir tone, a bad guy that recognizes who he is and where he is...lots to like here. In the midst of that, we got saddled with a little too much exposition in the form of word balloon, and that's really where I started to drift. Between Zucco's daughter and Roadrunner both giving their life stories, it really kind of cut into the rhythm of a comic book issue.

6 - Amazing Spider-Man #662 (last issue - 9 out of 10 books)

More enjoyable than the last issue, maybe just because I was expecting the last one to be so much more than it was. With my expectations now set to reasonable, this was definitely a fun issue that managed to change up the popular "hey, I'm the good guy trying to get you - the other good guy - to stop being mind-controlled so much" by playing Spider-Man's sense of responsibility and genuine heroism against the core concept of Avengers Academy and that title's kids. Not a bad day's work for a fill-in story.

I'm bumping this one down a little bit because of the backups. The "Spider-Island" backup stories haven't gotten me excited about the concept of "New York gets Spider-powers" one bit, and the little feature behind that didn't move me at all either. That could mean bad things come the summer.

5 - Walking Dead #85 (last issue - 2 out of 13 books)

It felt kind of like an issue to get us to catch our collective breath oat first glance, but there was something a little bit deeper at play here. Kirkman sets an odd juxtaposition of Rick leading the hopeful villagers towards the future and his utter hopelessness when it comes to Carl's condition. It's an artful idea, but I think the execution was just too uneven. You can adjust for degree of difficulty when you get what's being attempted, but there probably should have been a hope issue and a despair issue rather than one issue trying to do both with the same character.

4 - Secret Avengers #13 (last issue - 10 out of 13 books)

Nick Spencer gives us a look at a man who wants the forces making a punching bag out of Washington, D.C. to know that they cannot stop the business of this country. Experienced with Hank McCoy and his old friend, Congressman, and Civil Rights activist; the tone seems right even in the midst of the chaos outside.

We also get a few choice Ant-Man lines, adding Spencer to the long list of guys who love writing for Eric O'Grady.

I allowed myself to be a little distracted by the reveal of a new mutant (isn't that the sort of convenient plot point House of M was supposed to stop?) and some fun but still a little too-over-the-top pieces, but this was still very strong work.

3 - Uncanny X-Men #537 (last issue - 5 out of 13 books)

Really good danger issue here. Almost horror-like in its execution. Not stupid horror, but crazy slasher flick horror where Kitty is the stand-in for the fleeing victim as Krun stalks her across the Utopia while she discovers his handiwork all over the place.

Some of Gillen's science fiction was perplexing (the magic metal's properties and Kitty's powers' ability to deal or not deal with those properties was just a little off), and the X-Man who finally steps up was a little anti-climactic (especially given that everyone else was prepared for). Still, the scripting was tight and a character that I had originally thought was there for unneeded character moments shows up in a big way. Good, good stuff.

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

If you told me that I'd buy Crime Master, the Henchmen (proper noun) and Jack O' Lantern to be credible treats before this series? I'd have told you that maybe I'll skip it in spite of Remender and Moore's involvement. Yet they are, and I'm enjoying the hell out of it. We've wasted no time putting Flash in a helluva spot...actually, several hells of spots. Most of them being traced back to the distraction with Kraven in the next issue.

Flash fighting for control of the suit in the midst of the piling on of problem after problem ups the tension in a palpable yet somehow still amazingly fun way (see kids, you can be both fun AND weighty at the same time in your comic booking). Really solidly crafted book here.

1 - FF #4 (last issue - 5 out of 8 books)

It's always fun when you see Hickman's plotting and setting start doing a little paying off. Whether in curious but poignant like Ben's vacation, the machinations and interactions of the anti-Reed counsel, or Sue taking a team to stand up to the bad guy (and her reason for not having any particular concerns over their house-guests). Even stronger, though, is the fact that all of these little payoffs come in character moments. Eventually, we're going to get one 22-page story that just blows our minds irreparably.

I also really need to point out one moment with Val, where we're reminded that for all her genius, she's really just daddy's little girl. Really cool stuff there that shows Hickman can do character-driven and high-premise at the same time.

funnybook of the week: May 18th, 2011

2011-05-18T20:52:00.000-04:00

A curious week for sure. I think I was in middle school the last time I went into a comic shop and left with nothing but Marvel books. Or books from any one publisher for that matter. Unless you count when this happened.

And one housekeeping matter: I've decided that issues of Astonishing X-Men after this week will be accompanied by the ranking of the previous issue with that writer to give a better idea of how Gage and Way are progressing in their own arcs even though the two stories will supposedly intertwine later. So that's why you're looking at an n/a rather than issue 37's rank even though it was out last week.

Ah yes, taking time to discuss my ranking method. Jeez, that's nerdy

10 - Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates #4 (last issue - 9 out of 12 books)

Well then. All the cards are on the table, Spider-Man has been introduced and brushed off so that tie-in is all neat and finished, everyone was exposed as an amateur, and the bad guy stands revealed. There was some clumsy storytelling to get us to that point, major moments were short-changed or ignored completely in between catty little remarks about what other people did to which character (deserved or no, it just seemed petty). Kind of a mess.

9 - Amazing Spider-Man #661 (last issue - 8 out of 8 books)

I had high hopes for a fill-in issue introducing a possible new audience to Gage's outstanding work on Avengers Academy. And while it did draw on things that have happened in Amazing Spider-Man in the last few issues, it still just kind of a fill-in issue. The kids just kind of busted Spidey's chops, but we didn't get into what's made them so great to read, just brushed past the premise of their book.

8 - X-Men: Prelude to Schism #2 (last issue - 8 out of 9 books)

One of the more unenviable tasks in all of comics is trying to reconcile Magneto with Magneto. The evil (occasionally genocidal) killer with the version that comes to us now. The easiest way to do that is to ignore it. Another way, somehow simultaneously easy and tricky, is to reference his past. Every time I read a story dealing with the Holocaust and Magneto, I start to wonder how long we can believably read him as a man with that history (how many times can he be de-aged and re-aged...and still have Charles as a contemporary?).

This story from Paul Jenkins though, deals with the subject as well as I've seen. In a series that has, thus far, been about Cyclops moping about some unseen threat while trying on father figures it was interesting to see how Magneto feels about his own father and how that man shaped who our favorite sometimes-villain is and was. A nice read, but I'm still not sure that it's necessary.

7 - Ultimate Spider-Man #158 (last issue - 7 out of 12 books)

When you reach that point where the story is telling itself, where things are moving along to an inevitable conclusion, there's the right way to do things and there's a little bit of a trap.

The trap is to go focus on other things. Like idle banter between Bobby and Johnny. Yes, it's good idle banter. Yes, Bendis always does good idle banter. Yes, he does it to great effect to diffuse tense situations. Here, though, the story is telling itself rather than Bendis telling the story. Now we need to be moving along. That forward momentum stopped for a few pages and it was more irritating than entertaining. Even the moments of levity in the internal monologue at the beginning felt a little out of place because they weren't serving the story so much as recapping the series.

The right way to do things is to understand that you've still got yourself a serialized format to tell your story in. You have to make sure that when you get to that last page, you give the reader something to cling to until the next issue comes out. Bendis delivered on that in a big way, with one old-school tough guy hero question and the few panels leading to it. That was very well-played.

6 - Uncanny X-Force #10 (last issue - 6 out of 9 books)

This was a nice setting the table issue for the upcoming "Dark Angel Saga." While I'm rather skeptical of any story labeling itself as a "Saga" before it gets off the ground, this issue did everything it needed to do in order to get the characters in place and get me excited about the actual story (stopping Archangel's "ascension") rather than the concept of the story (let's go to the Age of Apocalypse!).

We get there by teasing a real conundrum for X-Force (one that I'd like to see revisited, but further down the line) and seeing that maybe it's not Warren who's dealing with that problem. Even knowing what we know about his state (that Betsy and the rest of the gang don't), the build is subtle and expertly done. Really, the only thing keeping this issue down this low on the list is that there were a lot of good comics this week and I'm a little bummed that we got to brush off a major X-Force problem a little too easily. For now, anyway.

5 - Astonishing X-Men #38 (last issue - n/a)

You know, the Brood were my first X-Men story. Didn't make a ton of sense at the time. Still, this is the story and the writer and the X-team that made me come back to Astonishing X-Men. Gage delivered pretty large on this story by giving us a Brood story that hit all the right notes with the cast of this issue and supplied a just adorable enough not to be asinine reunion between Kitty and Lockheed. While some elements were a little more predicable than I'd have liked, by and large this story hit all the right notes with me.

I can't say I'm a huge fan of the artwork here, though, coming off as a little too cartoony for my tastes (and I likes me some exaggerated features). It did carry the story well, though, so this is more a complaint of preference than technical prowess, which I'm in no place to judge - ever.

4 - Heroes for Hire #7 (last issue - 3 out of 9 books)

Tim Seeley draws Spider-Man in a way that takes me back to to 90's. While I know that's supposedly a dark time for comics, it's also when I was coming into my own as someone who buys comics with more than just Spider-Man in the title. So it's a nice throwback look that I appreciate.

The story itself continues to focus on Paladin's thirst for legitimacy (both as a hero and as a helluva guy in Misty's eyes) with Spider-Man as the embodiment of what he's aiming for. Add to that the continuing unfolding plot of the big bad bringing big bad things to the big bad streets and Misty's growing sense of frustration with being grounded and this title just keeps chugging along with strong issue after strong issue.

3 - Avengers Academy #14 (last issue - 7 out of 9 books)

They're kids. When new heroes come into comics, I'm so often discouraged by the learning curve either being too sharp or not sharp enough. Christos Gage has really found that middle ground by sprinkling triumph with failure. This issue, though, emphasized the learning curve for both heroes and good old fashioned people by pointing out the most important thing about this collection of new heroes: they're kids.

We do this through another high-tech theft from the Sinister Six (plenty of those going around lately...I wish I knew what that was building towards) and the need for a big win with some damaged kids. The way those kids went after the bad guys was great, second only to Hank Pym's realization. That realization? Say it with me, "they're kids."

2 - X-Factor #219 (last issue - 2 out of 8 books)

Oh, so THAT'S what Layla did.

Sorry. Aside from that little half-reveal that I should have been able to pick up on in the last page of the last issue, this was still an outstanding issue.

All of that came in the emotion of the characters involved. Both heroes and villains alike. For everyone in this fight, there was some manner of emotion involved, though Monet was clearly at the center of that. Makes sense given both her recent closeness to Guido and the other more-intense-than-usual personal events of her life. And reading this issue with all of that in mind is quite cathartic.

PAD gets his usual cute and playful banter in with the team, mostly courtesy of the Black Cat and Longshot's conflicting power sets. Top-to-bottom excellent issue of comic bookery.

1 - Avengers #13 (last issue - 8 out of 13 books)

In spite of the fact that all of the characters seem to be in mourning over the events of Fear Itself, this book is good for at least one chuckle per page. Well, on average anyway, because there are some weighty pages which work nicely in contrast to those chortle-inducing ones. Mostly because we don't know what specifically our Avengers are so upset about.

Instead, we're treated to the behind the scenes look at the assembly on Asgard, including some very high school behavior from three Avengers (four if you count Mockingbird's interview on the subject). There's a lot of talking head in this book, which can be death for a comic. Fortunately for Bendis and his script, Chris Bachalo was on the art chores and his expressive characters really helped that along to the point that I only realized the talking headiness of the book in retrospect.

funnybook of the week: May 11th, 2011

2011-05-13T21:58:00.000-04:00

Oooh, a week where everything's good and I feel bad that some books are going to have to be ranked at the bottom. My pull list is strong, kids.

8 - Amazing Spider-Man #660 (last issue - 12 out of 13 books)

There was a lot of unfocused, but still very fun action in this issue. As it stands, that really is what this is. Some big, fun, action for Dan Slott to use for setting up a few plot threads and showing off that Spidey can be a major contributor in his new role as FF member as well as part of Marvel's First Family. So in that regard, this issue was a success.

I'm docking it points for the too-convenient-to-be-worth-the-worrying resolution to Carlie catching on to Peter's web of lies. What could have been a fun and/or interesting tweak to the "soap opera" aspect of Peter's life that his magical marriage erasure was meant to bring back turned out to be just a hiccup. At least the tattoo part of the story made enough sense to be funny.

7 - Batgirl #21 (last issue - 4 out of 12 books)

I'm running out of ways to say that issues of this book dance on the "cute" line without crossing it in a way that detracts from the storytelling or the budding badassery of the title character. Seriously, you can describe Stephanie as both "cute" and "badass" now. Our new Grey Ghost appreciates those things while toying with the varying motivations that could convince someone to dress in costume. It's more nuanced than obsession with one character and therefore leads him down a dark and interesting path.

I'm not 100% sold on Proxy's sudden trip, but I trust that it will be both good for a character that needs something besides a slightly more aggressive demeanor to make her something other than Babs-Lite. Miller has done almost nothing in 21 issues that would lead me to believe that trust is misplaced.

6 - Astonishing X-Men #37 (last issue - n/a)

I don't often jump in for part 2 of a story, but I'm rather interested in Christos Gage's part in this every-other-issue-is-a-different-story approach to the title and I'm reasonably sure that the two threads are intended to come together at some point. So here, I thought, was the start. Turns out I missed that.

What I did get, though, fit in with the original intent behind this series when Whedon and Cassiday launched it. The X-Men being super heroes. In this case, battling a mind-controlled Fin Fang Foom in Tokyo while Armor deals with the loss of her parents. Big action (even if the art isn't necessarily my cup of tea) and careful character beats including a surprising line in the sand between Logan and Scott (more which side each was on rather than that the two managed a disagreement) really pushed this issue beyond my expectations.

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

My prediction that last issue's reveal wasn't all it was cracked up to be came true, and the real threat our heroes needed genius DOOM to combat is revealed. It's not spoiling anything in an issue titled "Whatever Happened to all Those Reeds?" to tell you that it's a doozy of a collection of the smartest man in several worlds doing some very bad things for what they feel are the very right reasons.

Reactions being what they are as invitations to a symposium are handed out, and the crux of the issue being mostly a flashback, you'd think that I wasn't a fan of such an exposition-heavy issue. You'd be wrong. This is the very essence of a "show rather than tell" exposition issue and it works all the better for it.

4 - Birds of Prey #12 (last issue - 2 out of 12 books)

Helena recruiting a "detective" for the Birds (but keeping that detective in the dark about who she's working for...not the savviest move) while the rest of the gang infiltrates a pretty sketchy organization via some distinctively different plan than kicking the door down and punching the bad guys made for a fun read.

There wasn't a ton of the golden character work that I love Gail Simone so much for, because we end up spending a lot of time establishing that our big bad is not to be trifled with in the dangerously crazy department. Thusly we get the return of one of my favorites of Gail's creations and I couldn't have been happier to see it.

3 - New Avengers #12 (last issue - 6 out of 12 books)

Okay, I'm no closer to understanding how the two plot threads fit together, but they were both fantastic in their own way.

Bendis really has a handle on Clint Barton, and seeing his reaction to Mockingbird's state played really well - especially with Deodato turning in some beautiful pages that really caught that mood.

Meanwhile, in the past, Nick Fury's original avenging squad finishes their fake Red Skull/Captain America duo adventure. This came off as a perfect contrast to the heavy present-day pages and read as a fun swashbuckling (you can say that about characters other than Daredevil) adventure. Really fun read here, and probably will be moreso once we get shown what these two stories have to do with each other.

2 - Incredible Hulks #628 (last issue - 4 out of 13 books)

What an incredibly fun read this is turning out to be. Pak worked overtime and started really playing with the Hulk/Banner duality as it relates to their relationship(s) to Betty with some subtle movements (and some overt ones) that were as enjoyable to read as they were interesting. Against the backdrop of some big adventure with some slightly confused (ancient Roman or simply really old Catholic?) bad guys with a lot of power at their disposal. Really good times.

1 - Journey Into Mystery #623 (last issue - 5 out of 12 books)

Loki seems to be the only god in Asgard not named Thor who doesn't quite dig the goings on. Unfortunately, it's not easy for a trickster with a reputation for evil to rally the troops behind what's right. Especially when he's got the guy who got him that reputation (which is him, but not) whispering in his ear.

Gillen really does make the sweeping mythology accessible and human, even as the poor kid goes to his shackled brother for advice. This is flawless storytelling, and it's happening in a tie-in to a giant event. Incredible.

funnybook of the week: May 4th, 2011

2011-05-08T16:06:00.000-04:00

An odd week here, where there was at least one major flaw with everything. Though I think I neglected to mention it in my write-up of this week's winner. The perks of the title, I guess.

9 - Boys #54 (last issue - 9 out of 9 books)

Can we just go ahead and rename this book to Exposition as Given by Talking Heads until "Barbary Coast" is over?

8 - X-Men: Prelude to Schism #1 (last issue - n/a)

While I am interested in what Jason Aaron can do with Schism, I hadn't planned on bringing this home until the last second. Still not sure whether I was thrilled about having done so. Essentially here, we have a navel-gazing issue where an unnamed but apparently unbeatable foe is coming towards Utopia and Cyclops has to make a decision about how to handle it.

The narrative structure here is Professor X remembering who Scott was and who he has become. But really, it just served to remind us how damaged the character of Charles Xavier has become after multiple retconned sins as he gushes over Cyclops (a character who more often than not falls flat with me - I'll never understand what others see in that character).

Still, the whole thing isn't what I would call bad. Just oddly introspective without giving us the why of it all. Whether the second issue of the prelude comes home with me is rather up in the air.

7 - Avengers Academy #13 (last issue - 5 out of 8 books)

This was cute. It gave a few characters a few moments, but it wasn't nearly as strong as the rest of the series has been in that regard. Avengers Academy prom might have set a lot of tables in terms of pushing relationships to new places for the stories that come next, but it didn't execute as a stand-alone story with a beginning, middle, and end.

6 - Uncanny X-Force #9 (last issue - 3 out of 8 books)

There's an interesting idea with this story, one where an old Nazi who gets his comeuppance drops a wicked hint about what may be in the future for X-Force - a team doing what they think is their duty. It didn't quite land, mostly because of the driving force behind this story. As soon as Magneto basically brushes off a legitimate question by basically saying "do you know who I am?" he asks a favor that seems very unlike the sort of thing that any incarnation of the character wouldn't have wanted to do himself.

That strange little hiccup combined with the fact that all non-Wolverine members of X-Force took a back seat (save for some navel-gazing regarding a poor, possessed soldier's fate in the last issue) for a solo adventure to detract from what should have been a better idea.

5 - Fear Itself #2 (last issue - 2 out of 8 books)

So in this issue, we get Asgard running for it's life and Thor calling his old man out for it. It was a really well-developed scene that showed both the gravity of Odin's fear and Thor's defiance. And then...

Some other stuff happened. To be specific, we got that montage of the beginning of things happening that we'll have to read the specifics of in other books. But to sum it up, people got hammers. And it seemed to be a bad thing. Then stuff blew up. Important stuff.

It looks like Fear Itself will be an event like we're used to, with tons happening on the side while the main series acts as a spine to hold it all together and payoff the major plotlines. That's not a bad thing in and of itself, but it does mean that single issues of this story won't be as satisfying as I want them to be.

4 - Secret Six #33 (last issue - 1 out of 8 books)

It all comes to a head as every relationship on the team seems to get explored and played with (well, except for the bromance between Catman and Deadshot) as the Six are offered the opportunity to rule in hell. At times fascinating, at times funny(King Shark's personal hell was very funny), it's all aimed at busting apart and ultimately bringing together the Secret Six.

The problem is that the end seems to just happen, and alliances change and then change back a little quickly and often for reasons that it takes a few reads to figure out (if you can at all). A good finish to a good story, but also another one that I think could have benefited from the story pages DC has done without.

3 - Heroes for Hire #6 (last issue - 8 out of 9 books)

Paladin has a crush on Misty, and is going about trying to prove himself a noble sort of dude in spite of his reputation. In what's kind of the traditional goofy "Spider-Man and an ill-fitting-because-of-his-personal-code-of-ethics partner" story turned on it's ear (because we're getting Paladin's POV - making this a goofy "Paladin and an ill-fitting-because-he-looks-down-on-Paladin's-personal-code-of-ethics partner" story). This is particularly charming in this issue because Paladin was a little put off by Spidey's holier-than-thou outlook just as much as the difference in their methods, especially because he thought that it all exposed him a little too much in front of his favorite gal. Cute, but cute in a good way.

2 - Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #3 (last issue - 3 out of 8 books)

Everything I've said before applies. The rules change in a delightful way, constantly, and it makes me giggle. Pure imagination and fun found on a page. Honestly, I kind of wish more comics were like this. Not all of them, but more of them.

1 - Moon Knight #1 (last issue - n/a)

Sometimes I wish I didn't read interviews with comics creators. The last page of this issue could have rocked my face off if I hadn't read the pitch for the series in 3 different interviews with Brian Michael Bendis. I did, though, and the end was still a great moment that declared that this was, in fact, going to be a new take on Moon Knight as a character.

The rest of the issue was pretty incredible stuff, too. Given that it's LA we're dealing with, and there just isn't a lot of structure there, Bendis got to do some world building as well as creating a new threat that's going to hang over this series for a little while. Marc Spector's new day job is a smart and fun addition to the book (as well as a nice way to introduce new readers to the odd origin of Moon Knight) as well, and this book is off to a great start.

funnybook of the week: April 28th, 2011

2011-04-30T00:11:00.000-04:00

Good times ahead, as four books whose last issue took the #1 spot have their follow-ups this week. And all of those follow-ups deliver the goods in a big way. Yet none of them take the title for the week. In an incredible week where nit-picking seemed to be the difference between the books at the top and the bottom more than anything else, a week where I wouldn't rate anything lower than an 8-out-10 if I were prone to such things, the winning book was a culmination of hints, plot threads, and character development that really stood out.

13 - FF #2 (last issue - 2 out of 10 books)

A few cute moments followed by a heckuva cliffhanger, but a narrative that got bogged down slightly in its exposition in a few places. Still, what worked here worked really well.

Spider-Man presenting himself as an intellectual heavyweight worked. Ben Grimm and Sue Richards trying to find their places in the FF as they make the odd decision to include and assist DOOM worked spectacularly well. The artwork worked. Valeria's half of the deal with DOOM came as a surprise, but I'm not sure it worked (and I'm convinced that it's an "all is not as it seems" sort of deal as well). Uneven issue, but still certainly on the right track as a series.

12 - Amazing Spider-Man # 659 (last issue - 10 out of 12 books)

Dan Slott first and foremost in this issue hits the relationship between Reed and Peter and then Ben and Peter in an outstanding fashion. The thrust of the story is a fun, but hokey (in a very tongue-in-cheek way) adventure that mostly just set up the new FF dynamic as Slott sees it. Which, as I've already said is outstanding.

Anytime you can get the some Beastie Boy references into your story, it's not all bad, but it did still felt like it didn't quite hold together - trying too hard to link Spider-Man to the earliest Fantastic Four stories. Ironic, since the downfall of the villains in this issue is that they're trying too hard to connect events that don't really fit. Entertaining, but it could have been so much better.

11 - Detective Comics #876 (last issue - 2 out of 12 books)

Scott Snyder certainly does know Dick's inner monologue, and I do love that he's trying to give him is own unique relationship to Gotham City. He's got a villain with a creative method of sending a message in this story, and we get those little glimpses of Gordon unraveling. There's so much good in here, patritulcarly the way Snyder and Jock work together to create a tone, but that's not new for this run's short history. Thing is, I wasn't quite ready for Batman - any Batman - to fall into a trap as easily as we got at the end here.

10 - Secret Avengers #12.1 (last issue - n/a)

Nick Spencer starts his short Secret Avengers run with this issue and wastes no time questioning the heroic validity of having a team of secret folks who do "what needs to be done" by putting it in stark contrast to another set of people doing what needs to be done behind closed doors. Spencer mostly uses the point-one format to introduce us to the team, a move that works well within the plot as the Beast raises his objections.

This issue was thematically on point, but felt like two similar stories cobbled together rather than parts of a whole. Still, it was a good enough issue that I want to see what Spencer does with the Fear Itself tie-in issues.

9 - Osborn #5 (last issue - 1 out of 10 books)

Really good finish here, as Osborn gets exactly what he wants: his day in court. The fallout of his escape plays well, with just enough reality (grandstanding Congressfolk at a hearing) to make it creepy. What Osborn has maintained before and during this series comes to a head with a surprise move that doesn't leave anyone involved in a good place.

Sadly, I wasn't thrilled with Norah Winters' final treatment. We never got the character that I loved watching give Peter Parker fits. While I understand that this story was meant to take her down a few pegs, I would have liked to see at least a glimpse of that character's spirit. Still a good issue, though.

8 - Avengers #12.1 (last issue - 6 out of 8 books)

First, a minor quibble. I'm still a little dumbfounded by how an idea as good as Marvel's Point-One Initiative can miss the mark as often as it has. As good a jumping-on point as this book is (and, honestly, it is a very excellent starting point for anyone), the story it teases doesn't come in the next issue. Rather, they're waiting until the Fear Itself tie-in stories come through. Anyone who responds to this issue with "I like what you're selling, can't wait for that story you just teased" will instead be treated to spin-offs that will likely need the main book on top of them to make perfect sense. So far, only Uncanny X-Men has fully seized this as an opportunity to grab new readers and bring them into the title with momentum.

Now that those quibbles are done, the issue itself is fantastic. Hitch does better work each time I see him on the art for a comic book and Bendis delivers a heckuva story based around a simple premise (allowing to spend more time introducing the Point One reader to this version of the Avengers) that builds to something much more dangerous. Outstanding work all around, and I'm never sad to see Agent Brand show up anywhere. Steve Rogers' reaction to S.W.O.R.D. is priceless, by the by.

I'm not sure what to make of the end, though. Tony's reaction to the big reveal of this issue seems fine in context of the first story arc of this volume of Avengers, but I just don't see Iron Man as a character that - knowing full well that there's time to play with - huddles in the corner and pronounces that we're all doomed.

7 - Action Comics #900 (last issue - 12 out of 12 books)

And here end's "Lex Luthor's Action Comics." It's kind of a shame, as Cornell's take on Luthor was fun ride overall. Of course it ends as I suppose it must: with Superman. Luthor's relentless pursuit of power, even as he proclaims himself the savior of humankind, has resulted in ultimate power and Cornell uses that to answer what lies at the heart of Luthor.

In the end, it's not surprising. Why would it be? Cornell has explained it across the entirety of the "Lex Luthor's Action Comics" run and never more artfully than in the Annual. Once Luthor has to make a decision and show what he's made of though, all of those character moments collide to one petty decision that ruins everything. So perfectly Luthor.

Of course, the rest of the main story is an attempt to lure me into reading a story about Superman fighting a lot of Doomsdays in later comics...and that fell short. But Superman was always going to be a hard sell for me. The backup stories range from good to bad and funny to cute, but the standout is a sad little bit about preparing for the end of Krypton. Better than average over-sized anniversary issue.

6 - The Mission #3 (last issue - 4 out of 10 books)

Paul tries to figure out who Gabriel is...and he isn't going to like the answer. Smart script here that finally has me pulling for Paul, not necessarily to kill anyone, but to get an upper hand somewhere. We lost some of the larger mission and its implication here, but I'm more than okay with that kind of loss in momentum with the plot if it gives me a reason to get behind the character we're experiencing the story through.

5 - Uncanny X-Men #536 (last issue - 1 out of 12 books)

The politics of Breakworld, the politics of Earth, and Agent Brand's attitude all collide in this issue along with Magneto's curiosity to make a lot of trouble. Gillen spends a lot of time establishing Kruun's struggle as well as his people's, but gets in some time to showcase Peter and Kitty some more (there's obviously a lot of affection for this couple with multiple writers).

Gillen is doing a masterful job of making simple motivations into a simple story that feels complex and hasn't stopped entertaining since he took the solo writing chores for Uncanny X-Men.

4 - Incredible Hulks #627 (last issue - 3 out of 12 books)

"The Spy who Smashed Me" is turning out to be an incredible amount of fun. Banner sneaking into closed-door meetings and rifling off some Bond lines to the delight of Amadeus Cho was perfect. Seeing Betty become more and more unstable and being left to wonder if that's the effect of being a Hulk or if it's just the way she is works beautifully. Our big bad showing a cocky ambition with just a hint of caution also strikes just the right notes.

We even get a beautiful but in-slightly-over-her-head scientist to remind us that we really are riffing on old Bond themes. If not for sort of a clumsy ending to get our Hulks on the same page, this one could have easily waked away with the win for the week.

3 - Venom #2 (last issue - 1 out of 11 books)

Remender and Moore don't waste time here. Dropping us right in the middle of the action of Venom being dropped in the middle of the Savage Land, leaving us as disoriented as Flash is. Being stalked by Kraven, dangerously close to permanent bonding, and wanting more than anything not to abandon someone who's already assuming she's been abandoned we see the Venom work in concert and separately. We learn more about the man in the symbiote in this issue than we have about Flash in years of stories prior to this.

It's not often that you get a character study this complete in a super hero comic, and when you combine that with Tony Moore's outstanding artwork in a story that never stops going, you've got something really special here. An odd deus ex machina was the only thing keeping this from winning the week.

2 - Walking Dead #84 (last issue - 1 out of 12 books)

Sitting in a rather stark contrast to the "every man for himself" vibe of the last issue, Rick stands ready to defend the only thing that matters to him and inadvertently inspires a town-wide slaughter in a way that has to be seen. If I didn't know Kirkman and the way he runs this title better, I'd say that this issue represented a turning point where things were going to get better for our survivors.

Of course, he's going to jerk that rug out from under them all eventually, but to see how they got here and what took place is something else.

I don't remember the last time I felt compelled to comment on the artwork in an issue of The Walking Dead, but the script here really allowed Charlie Adlard to cut loose. To his credit, he took full advantage putting emotion at the forefront of what could have easily just been spectacular gore.

1 - Locke & Key: Keys to the Kingdom #6 (last issue - 5 out of 9 books)

Two things strike me about the covers to "Keys to the Kingdom." One is that it's always been a blood-spattered object featured on the cover. The other one is the countdown to the end of the series. Those led to questions. What's the payoff for those covers? Also, with so many issues to go, how will Hill and Rodriguez continue to build tension and horror now that our heroes have identified the bad guy?

We get both answers with an emotional and oddly cathartic scene that puts to rest one dangling thread and takes Dodge's search for the Omega Key to a dangerous new place. All at once you want to scream at the characters that there are things they don't know.

Hill was particularly careful to put Kinsey in a place over the course of this series where her frustrations come out all at once over the course of this series, and gives us a nice reminder of it all as she arrives at that moment. The moment that he cover hints at. The moment that ends with a skate covered in blood. Haunting issue.

funnybook of the week: April 20th, 2011

2011-04-21T12:45:00.000-04:00

Early this week to make up for late last week. You're welcome.

unpurchased - Gotham City Sirens #22 (last issue - 6 out of 12 books)

Wait. You want to interrupt a story in progress so Gotham City Sirens can take part in the middle of a crossover that I have no interest in? I'm going to go ahead and not purchase this issue. See you next month. And next month when I see you, anyone who this crossover managed to bring to Gotham City Sirens will find themselves suddenly reading part 3 of the regularly scheduled story. Bad, bad move.

8 - Skaar: King of the Savage Land #2 (last issue - 4 out of 8 books)

This wasn't good. I think it tried for cute with Moon Boy and Red Devil Dinosaur and heavy with Kazar losing his people and wife to The Designer. The mix didn't work, especially with an issue that didn't quite know what to do with Skaar. You know, they guy whose name is in the title? He's the least defined of any of the characters that have shown up in this mini yet.

7 - Invincible #79 (last issue - 7 out of 10 books)

Well, this started out as an interesting bit of adjusting to life after an intergalactic super-powered war. Seeing Nolan and Mark adjust to their new situation was definitely worthwhile. But the veer towards "A Very Special Invincible" came off as forced, even with all of the cryptic warnings in previous issues. Kirkman is better than that.

6 - Avengers #12 (last issue - 8 out of 12 books)

I'm a little disappointed that this issue seems to skirt the issue between Steve and Tony. I say "a little disappointed" because I know that the other option here takes us down a path that was going to be too close to the line in the sand that was drawn in Civil War. So I get it, but it seems like a waste of a great confrontation that just fizzled.

Speaking of fizzling, the inevitable fate of the Hood and his power gems seemed a little flat given the number of Avengers in play vs. the number of Avengers in the final confrontation. Again, though, I kind of get the trappings here. All-powerful gems are in play and there's only so much Hawkeye is going to be able to pitch in.

So let's settle on the rating of "flawed, but good" for this issue.

5 - Avengers Academy #12 (last issue - 6 out of 8 books)

This had a pretty amazing finish after a clunky start. The clunkiness having more to do with over-explaining what was going on with the older versions of the Academy Kids' bodies and what it does and doesn't mean to the time stream than anything else. But, seriously, if you have to spend that many pages explaining it, it's a bad idea.

Fortunately, the character beats for the kids in the second half of this issue were so strong and mean so much going forward that all of that nonsense at the beginning was worth wading through. Pretty much everyone but Finesse is getting some major direction based on what they learned as their partially older selves, and all of it is stuff I want to see.

4 - Hack/Slash #3 (last issue - 2 out of 8 books)

Well, the band is back together. So the band must break up. Or something. The tension between Cassie and Vlad is momentarily resolved as they try to get back to help their friends. Suddenly Cat Curio becomes the most interesting character in the book and some of the other supporting characters get a fantastic chance to shine in this issue as they face down the re-re-animated horrors.

A little nuance to everyone's favorite evil-but-maybe-not-as-evil-as-we-thought sheriff tied things together nicely and we get an excellent ride of a comic book from Hack/Slash once again.

3 - Uncanny X-Force #8 (last issue - 5 out of 10 books)

I know that I have often talked about my distaste for psychic battles, but this one was in service to the larger story about Warren's duality and it worked out exceedingly well. A couple of other nice character beats with Fantomex messing with Betsy and Warren's relationship and Wolverine once again having to go against type and play the reassuring role gave the book another bump up the list.

2 - X-Factor #218 (last issue - 7 out of 8 books)

You know, this is the second time that I've been very close to giving up on X-Factor only to be reeled back in by an incredible issue. PAD is at his best when he lets the characters do the driving rather than the plot, and there was plenty of character to go around in this issue between Guido and M.

Plenty of other things to take in, as this issue came in at far more dense a read than just about any comic Marvel would charge an extra dollar for. Just a ton of movement in the story, but all of them driven more by the characters (JJJ and Black Cat) than the events. Even that last little panel's plot point mainly worked because of who was there rather than what was done.

I'm still a little non-plussed by our trio of villains and their unstated motivations, but compared to all of the good in this issue even something as important as a strong villain doesn't cause a tremendous amount of concern.

1 - Sixth Gun #11 (last issue - 3 out of 10 books)

Marinette comes after the Six and Becky Montcrief shows some more mettle after having some of it removed earlier in the story. It's nice to see her coming back to the strong character that she was in the first six issues plus a little bit as she starts to master the gun rather than the other way around. Drake doesn't get a ton of panel, but we learn a ton about his character when the hiding place of his four guns is revealed.

We're introduced to a few new players who are coming to help, but also are resigned to an inevitability that might not sit well with our heroes. Wrapping up the New Orleans story while sewing seeds for what comes down the line? Excellent.

funnybook of the week: April 13th, 2011

2011-04-18T23:39:00.002-04:00

One surprisingly early cut and another overdue cut from books that I had initially harbored the highest of hopes for. That's what I get for being hopeful. On the other hand, Marvel's much-maligned "Point One Initiative" scores a huge win this week.

12 - S.H.I.E.L.D. Infinity (S.H.I.E.L.D. #6 - 6 out of 7 books)

I thought that the rebranding of the first six issues as "volume one" and Hickman's tremendous roll with Fantastic Four and FF would signify a correction in the entire lack of interest generated by a clever series with no heart. This was going to be the signal of the new focus. And it was just as uninteresting as everything else. Over-stylistic and cryptic instead of coming out with the one thing that we haven't been given from S.H.I.E.L.D.: a reason to care. Huge opportunity lost and an embarrassing waste of $5, as it just proved that I don't learn.

11 - Butcher Baker the Righteous Maker #2 (last issue - 10 out of 13 books)

Let me keep this short. I didn't enjoy this. I didn't enjoy the oddly introspective Butcher that didn't resemble the guy from the last issue in the slightest with nothing but an uneasy feeling to nudge him, and I didn't enjoy the supposed high-minded villains discussing the meaning of their evil. Nothing to see here, we're done.

10 - Amazing Spider-Man #658 (last issue - 3 out of 12 books)

The opening shot of Spidey in all his glory in this issue was played for uncomfortable laughs, but didn't quite feel well coming off of a handful of issues showcasing how empathetic Peter is. That just sets the tone for what seemed to be along the lines of an awkward issue that seemed like it was shooting for cute and missed. It was all done in service to a larger story about a busy Spider-Man, and that's going to play out well. Aside from a great moment with Sue and a mime, though, there wasn't much to write home about here.

9 - Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates #3 (last issue - 4 out of 8 books)

Read Ultimate Spider-Man first. The come back to this. Big action, lots of violence, but too much of it to give any particular fight a chance to be something special (which is a shame because Leninil Yu is working his ass of in this issue) instead of just panels full of guys hitting each other. That's really what there was to this issue, with some well-publicized collateral damage to boot.

8 - Uncanny X-Force #7 (last issue - 5 out of 10 books)

Evil cyborg X-Force vs. regular X-Force. Again, most of this was a big action climax story. There were some significant character beats here, especially for Angel and Fantomex, and a very interesting reveal at the end of it all - but suffered from a choppiness to the storytelling rather than flowing as a narrative.

Also, the Deadpool stuff didn't quite ring true with me. Maybe because I always read him as the clown of every issue or maybe because one he only got a few pages to develop this all the way through rather than issues to explore those issues. We'll file this under "coulda been better."

7 - Ultimate Spider-Man #157 (last issue - 8 out of 10 books)

The bad guys aren't getting along. If only they'd busted out a kindergarten teacher as well. Oh well. What we know for sure is that there's a pretty major death in this issue (and I don't think I'm spoiling a thing when I say it, so there) that I wish had been built to a little bit better.

As always, it's the dynamic between Peter and the ones he loves that carries this issue rather than the big ol' hero-on-hero and villain-on-villain smackdowns going on around New York. As it should be.

6 - New Avengers #11 (last issue - 2 out of 11 books)

As good as the two concurrent stories going on here are, I am finally started to get a little bit peeved that their side-by-side nature hasn't revealed itself as being important yet. The reaction to Hand sending the New Avengers to the H.A.M.M.E.R. facility was interesting (as was Steve's prediction of who would react that way vs. reality) and well-done. The Old New Avengers story was a lot of fun. But it's killing me not to get why they're in each other's way.

5 - Journey Into Mystery (last issue - n/a)

Interesting narrative about the nature of the resurrected Loki (that, incidentally, does a lot more for my enthusiasm for bringing the mischief maker back than anything prior) that couldn't be stylistically more different from Kieron Gillen's other book that came out this week. Feeling more like a lost issue of Neil Gaiman's Sandman run than a tie-in to Marvel's big summer event, Gillen takes us into the mystery of Loki and how he'll figure into the heavily Asgardian story in an artful and engaging way. Even if it does feel like it's going to be the long way around.

4 - Batgirl #20 (last issue - 6 out of 11 books)

More than anything else, I love that we're slowly getting Stephanie more confident and competent with every issue, right up to her super secret plan to beat the bad guy. It's a nice touch and a very careful handling of the character that I respect. The deeper mystery of who the Reapers are and what they want also gets some nice attention and a possibly troubling ex-member.

Some of the usual funny just came off as inappropriately cutesy in this issue, but even that little bit of off-the-pace writing didn't take much from a very solid issue.

3 - Incredible Hulks #626 (last issue - 11 out of 12 books)

Well, this is a super-fun little spy story with a healthy dose of mythological bad guys and a gamma-irradiated hero/femme fatale combo. Having come in late, I don't know if the source of Betty's anger has been explicitly spelled out or if that's what we're leading to, but the way she interacted with Bruce combined with the news about her physical state to make what I'm hoping is an awesome plot-point down the line. Lots to enjoy, and if it's due to having missed the last dozen issues or so before the Savage Land story, so be it.

2 - Birds of Prey #11 (last issue - 10 out of 11 books)

A cute little plot thread that's been left dangling across Gail Simone's last Birds of Prey run and the opening story in the Secret Six finally gets put to bed as this issue examines the sexual tension between Huntress and Catman once and for all. It's a nice story that shows where they are morally and in their lives as being in that "so close, but so very far" area and asks the reader to figure out if those characters can overcome it. But for a a rushed finish to the story (first time I've missed the extra two story pages in a DC book since "Drawing the Line..."), this was a great peek into those characters.

1 - Uncanny X-Men #535 (last issue - 5 out of 9 books)

Well, if Uncanny X-Men wasn't the first Marvel book to properly use the Point One Initiative before, it definitely is now. Coming off of a very entertaining 534.1 issue, we get a fun story with some actiony eye-candy and a near-obscene amount of clever dialogue (including a description of the protocol surrounding screams of "Imperius Rex!").

More than anything, though, Gillen wastes no time showing us that he gets just about all of the characters he's playing with here. Cyclops, Emma, Magneto, and then especially Kitty and Peter were top notch. They were only outshined by Gillen's former characters Agent Brand and Unit (loved seeing that delightfully sadistic robot back in a comic).

Just in case that wasn't enough to have me heaping praise on this book, Terry and Rachel Dodson seem to have discovered some new kind of mojo since the last time I caught a book they worked on on. Really well done in service to this story. I hope this run lasts forever now.

funnybook of the week: April 6th, 2011

2011-04-11T00:23:00.000-04:00

Even with all of the strong debuts to the pull list lately, the title of Funnybook of the Week keeps going to old favorites...

8 - The Boys #53 (last issue - 8 out of 9 books)

The problem with knowing Garth Ennis through only his interviews is that certain things he's repeated over and over again stain some of his books. He doesn't care for super heroes. He loves World War II stories. He hates it when super heroes are inserted into WWII. So he gives an account of what some costumed buffoonnery would have resulted in had it actually been tried. If it hadn't been just a little too on-the-nose, or just a little too jingoistic, it could have been a really fun and entertaining comic. But it was both of those, and it came off as more angry fist-waving at super hero comics rather than the usual sharp criticism found in The Boys.

7 - Heroes for Hire #5 (last issue - 9 out of 9 books)

Well, if the last issue was the weird psychic battle issue, then this issue was the weird issue where the good guy and the bad guy both jerk someone not fully in control of themselves around a bit. Aside from a deliciously awkward moment between Paladin and Iron Fist, there really wasn't any more to this issue than setting up the new status quo and a mystery villain going forward.

6 - Memoir #3 (last issue - 2 out of 7 books)

I'm really torn here. On the one hand, I'm totally digging the mystery and the quickly deepening questions of what exactly happened to the folks in this town and who did it. On the other hand, I really haven't been given a reason to care about whether our intrepid reporter gets out of it alive or not, as he's still more caricature than character at this point.

5 - Uncanny X-Men #534.1 (last issue - n/a)

Finally, the Point One initiative invites me to a book that isn't currently on the list. And it does so to great effect. Something that bothered me from back when Fraction's solo run on the book stopped doing it for me was how the X-Men, while trying to be very public, were going to deal with having the mother of all mutant terrorists on their island. Gillen comes up with the best answer: they hire a publicist.

Working with magneto, our intrepid PR specialist gets a convenient plot to make everything come together just right while exploring the new and slightly more cuddly version of Magneto. Clever premise, smartly executed, and a Point One issue does it's job as I'm on board for Gillen's upcoming trip to Breakworld.

4 - Skaar: King of the Savage Land #1 (last issue - n/a)

I enjoyed the idea of a Hulk walking the Savage Land so much in The Incredible Hulks so much that I picked this up, and it turned out to be a very solid choice. The story is very much of a boy struggling to find his identity and Rob Williams goes out of his way to expose Skaar's youth from word go while giving us a taste of the unrest that comes with a Savage Land. The art team of Brian Ching and Nick Ketcham do more than their share to bring this script to life, and I am very interested in what comes next for this little story.

3 - Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #2 (last issue - 3 out of 9 books)

I'm tempted to expound upon the brilliance of creating dire straits for our heroes one crisis at a time, compounding in a crisis so bad that heroes have no choice but to be heroes, but come on. This reads like playing with an six-year-old. And it's plenty delightful as just that.

2 - Fear Itself #1 (Fear Itself: Book of the Skull - 2 out of 8 books)

Well kids, if you hadn't caught onto the heavier-handed-than-usual subtext, this series is going to boil down to daddy issues. In this corner, Thor. In that corner, Sin. And everything that explodes from there is going to be - in the end - two children trying to do things differently than their fathers.

The rest of the thesis behind Fear Itself is the more direct "the world is a scary and uncertain place right now," pulling in real-life paranoia (while deftly dodging having an opinion about that real-life paranoia except "anti-riot") to show that whatever evil is done is going to be done to an already weakened world.

Fraction has set up something with a lot of potential in the first issue, and this certainly has all the makings of all the big Marvel events that preceded it, and I mean that in the best way.

1 - Secret Six #32 (last issue - 2 out of 9 books)

It seems odd that there's banter in hell, and then you remember who we're dealing with. Ragdoll, the prince of hell, drops some knowledge on this teammates as Catman looks for some closure of sorts in the only place he probably could. Gail Simone works overtime giving just about every character a well-deserved and well-executed defining moment. None moreso than our newly-crowed Peter Merckel, though, whose motivation for staying in hell is one of the greatest character twists I've ever read.

J. Calafiore nails the art as well as I've ever seen from this particular artist, adding a little something special to the borders in case you'd forgotten that hell is kind of a creepy place. Ridiculously wonderful and twisted issue.

funnybook of the week: March 30th, 2011

2011-04-01T21:44:00.001-04:00

The most uplifting book of the week ran a #3 ranking in spite of near-perfection. The top two? I think I must have been in a dark mood this week.

12 - Action Comics #899 (last issue - 4 out of 13 books)

My big pet peeve with science fiction stories is that eventually we have to stop everything so we can explain how one guy's fake science beat the other guy's fake science because he knew about the other guy's fake science all along. And in the effort to tie all of this together and make all of the threads from three quarters of a year's worth of stories, the big climax was eaten up by exposition and explanation rather than - well - anything else.

11 - Incredible Hulks #625 (last issue - 7 out of 11 books)

Probably my own fault that I didn't dig most of this one. One of the centerpieces of this was the Hulk/Skaar relationship, which I didn't really get to see evolve from:

"I'm training you to kill me."
"A'ight, I hate you so that's cool."

to:

"Daddy!"
"My son is awesome and will do anything for me."

So when you added that to the themes of a survival of races and the definition of "monster" from whose point of view, what you really got was a huge mess of a story that happened over way too few pages. It was a valiant effort, but trying three themes in one issue is just a tad too much when you still have to cram in a climactic final battle and a few more awesome panels of the Hulk riding giant things.

10 - Butcher Baker the Righteous Maker #1 (last issue - n/a)

Butcher Baker could very well be straight out of The Boys. A lust for the all of the things one would assume that someone might lust for if consequence was the last thing on one's mind, a lack of interest in thing that aren't him or his, and - of course - a violent streak. Really, the only thing separating him from one of those characters is that Butcher seems to have at least a passing interest in the heroing part of super heroics.

Too bad this issue spent so much time establishing how debased ol' Butcher is (and of course making what I'm sure will down the line be a hilarious enemy) that we didn't really get to the selling point of the issue. I was promised this asshole was going to get introduced to practical reality, and all we did now was lay that groundwork. Hopefully, we'll find out more about this clash in the next issue.

9 - Caligula #1 (last issue - n/a)

If you were in the mood for depravity without the super heroics, then David Lapham's Caligula had you covered. A far more destructive lust for all things with the added "actively evil" trait added to him, this issue focuses on one young man and what he was to do in revenge for his family - victims of that violent lust.

Of course, since it's David Lapham, there's more to it than that, and the last page - also like Butcher Baker, the Righteous Maker lets you know what the title is really going to be about.

8 - Avengers #11 (last issue - 4 out of 9 books)

I don't know. I loved the big action, but got bored with the splash-after-splash format. I was also just a teensy little disturbed by the Kingpin-looking Uatu. Still, the bits about Rulk seeking redemption and trying to make good really rang true for me, so this was by no means a bad issue.

7 - Scarlet #5 (last issue - 2 out of 9 books)

Bendis threatened to take Scarlet to a dangerous place at the end of the last issue, and then just layed the groundwork to make good on that threat in this one. It's solid groundwork, but the obvious explosion aside, I was hoping for a more metaphorically explosive issue. Still, the very idea of Scarlet evolving into the leader of a movement rather than a self-righteous rebel who can do what she wants and spread her message without wondering about how it affects her audience is a heckuva tease and I can't wait for book 2.

6 - Gotham City Sirens #21 (last issue - 6 out of 13 books)

I think we all saw the events of this issue coming, but I was hoping there was more of a fight being put up after all the fantastic work that's gone into Harley as a character in the last few issues. I can hold out hope that not all is as it seems and we can get that girl some closure (no, not dead Joker closure...I know DC would never let that happen in this book). In the meantime, the tension between Selina and Ivy was still darn-near perfect. So there is still plenty to like in this issue.

5 - Terry Moore's Echo #29 (last issue - 11 out of 13 books)

Penultimate issue! I'm really going to miss the banter between our heroes when Echo is no more. Even as they descend a giant hole to the heart of the end of the world, the relationships between Ivy, Dillon, and Annie are all on full and wonderful display. The heart of this story has been the forming of those bonds (in some cases, that's more literal than others), and it's all paying out big dividend right now.

4 - Kick-Ass 2 #2 (last issue - 6 out of 10 books)

Still a lot of fun, and JRJR seems to be taking a more patient pencil to Kick-Ass than he does with Avengers. If the first series was about the kind of idiot it would take to put on a costume and fight crime, we're now being introduced to the folks who would follow that cue. All of them fanboys at heart, right down to "planning missions" and carving out logos on conference tables in their makeshift Hall of Justice. Millar is also careful to remind us that our hero is still kind of a dork, though, while giving us a hint of what's to come. Nothing to dislike here at all if you liked it the first time around.

3 - Amazing Spider-Man #657 (last issue - 1 out of 8 books)

I expected this issue to be kind of a letdown after Hickman nailed the Torch-mourning in the last issue of Fantastic Four. I was wrong, this was as good as that issue, in a totally different way. Slott really gets Spider-Man, but that's not too big a shock. What's really outstanding about Slott and Spidey is that he understands Peters relationships. Three great little stories showing how Spidey fits into the First Family with a near-perfect artistic touch to boot. Now I have to go back and track down that Spider-Man/Human Torch mini Slott wrote a while back. I'll bet it's golden.

2 - Detective Comics #875 (last issue - 9 out of 13 books)

Two stories. One now, one then. In each of them, Jim Gordon is looking to uncover a dark secret. The tension builds evenly in each one as Scott Snyder takes us on a creepy tour of Gotham in winter while showing us two creepy characters - only one of whom may have actively worked for the title. Or maybe not. We're given half-answers in the saga of the lost Gordon, but the tone and under-the-surface seething of our favorite police Commissioner. This could have easily been this week's winner, but I had to go with...

1 - Walking Dead #83 (last issue - 5 out of 11 books)

We open this issue with Rick explaining in no uncertain words that his son's survival is the most important thing. And then he proves it. Because Kirkman is a vile human being who enjoys torturing his characters. Some of the things happening in this issue recall the old "No One is Safe" story when the prison came down. Except one little moment just blew it all out of the water and took Kirkman's vileness to a whole new level and could possibly change what I think this book is about.

Horrifyingly well done comics. Set something up as a moral absolute, affirm that moral absolute holds, then threaten to shatter that compass.