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The holiday season is an awful time to blog, unless your blogging is about Christmas or the holiday’s. This season can also be a difficult one for picking up and reading your comics every Wednesday, but there is good news. The holiday’s are over; mine were great, how were yours? I have also caught up on all my comic book reading.
I read some pretty great comics over the past month. Most of my weeks have been fairly big with the exception of this week, which was just two comics. Instead of doing a best and worst of each week I have missed, I’ll just be doing the best from each week. However, I’ll add some comments about other comics too.
December 22, 2010:
My pick for this week went to a series I just began to pick up in issues after reading the first three trades. Chew #16 opens up with some background on the chicken prohibition: where and when it began, but we still don’t know the what and the why. We also get a new type of, what I am going to call, food power. We get a character who actually gets smarter when he eats. Layman uses this issue though to demonstrate to his readers how one of these food powers can cause problems for it’s user. The story, as always, is a crazy ride where you’re not sure what’s going to happen, and this is one of the things I love about this book and another series I gave my pick to, and will talk about later. What we often see in a story can be predictable, which most times is a result of the genre it is placed it, as it follows certain beats and formulas; think CSI. Chew is a book that uses a number of genres and formulas, but uses them to it’s advantage, not only by using one formula instead of another or turning a genre staple on its head, but by also having a very different premises gives way to an unpredictability. I can’t forget to talk about the art and story telling of Rob Guillory. This man packs so much into his panel that forces you to read this book in a few ways. You can read it through fast or slow, or multiple times, and each time you will notice something different. A great example of this is the first couple pages of this issue where we see the progress of Mother Cluckers chicken from opening day to it’s eventual closing. Each panel offers lots of easter eggs, but more importantly tells a story about the declining mom and pop operations and the rise of the corporate world. these were pages I kept going back too. This series is one of my favourites right now, because it’s different, and it’s not super heroes, a genre I am slowly getting sick of, save for a few books.
December 29, 2010:
This week’s pick for best comic goes to SHIELD #5, a Marvel book set in the world of superheroes but isn’t about superheroes. What’ so inventive about this book is that actual historical figures such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Nostradamus and a few surprising others are responsible for the creation and maintaining of SHIELD, the world’s defence against anything that threatens it. More so, it re writes the histories of some Marvel characters, most predominately Howard Stark and Nathan Richards, the fathers of Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic respectively. This issue had some Kirby like flavour to it, lots of technologies introduced that seem far beyond the time period of the 60s, but presented, and drawn by Dustin Weaver, in fantastic ways, much like Kirby did in the 60s and 70s with books like the Fantastic Four and his creation of the New Gods. This tech is very different from Kirby’s, but its extravagance is very similar; this is a great way of making the technology used look fresh, but dated not only to today, but the time period it’s presented in. Also the big reveal and cliffhanger demonstrates the lengths and the thought put into the ideas of Jonathan Hickman, who, as with his other boo, the Fantastic Four, is creating a larger story, but re-building a part of the Marvel Universe. The only downfall of this book, and it is not much of a down fall at all, is that tis book is bi monthly, and we won’t see it until late February. The wait at this point has been well worth it.
I’d also like to point out quickly the final issue of Mark Millar and Steve McNiven‘s mini series Nemesis. I picked up this book on its concept, what if Batman became the Joker, and while this is an interesting one, a guy as smart as Batman, who plans for everything, have the mind of the Joker; it’s a scary thought. This book however was terrible, with unnecessary acts of violence, inappropriate twists and an ending that made a mockery of its self. I really love some of Millar’s work because he really does look at the larger aspects of society and how we are shaped by them, but this was just useless action and a reason to bring up some dumb ideas.
January 5, 2011:
Until this week I was collecting three Avengers titles: Secret, Young and Prime. This week I picked up two of these books, my favourite, Young Avengers: Children’s Crusade and my least favourite, and the book that ended this week: Avengers Prime. These two books had similar beats, which included a big action scene, and were beautifully drawn by a guy who has been around for awhile (Alan Davis on Prime) and a guy who’s been around for a few years (Jimmy Cheung on Young). The characterization and story however were opposite ends of the good/bad spectrum. Avengers Prime was to be the book that reconciled Thor, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark after so many years apart. It was also be the story that transitioned from Siege to Heroic Age. Unfortunately, due to timing and an emphasis and humour, Avengers Prime did not do its job well. The series started out very strong, but once it started ignoring continuity in other books, conversations about who slept with who, and Steve Roger turning into Captain Kirk, the book became less about the reconciliation of these three friends (which does occur but in an unsatisfying manner) and more about, well I’m not sure really. On the other hand, Alan Hienberg (yes of OC fame) crafts a story full of characterization, fantastic dialogue, an intriguing twist and a great surprise. for me, this has been the most Avengers-like book I have read. This issue does answer some questions about the whereabouts of the Wanda Maximoff, but it also leaves some to be answered later, and with five issues to go, it’s hard to say where this book is going to go, and that’s a good thing. The only weak characterization in this book so far has been Wolverine. This issue was his best so far, but ultimately he is being used for a particular purpose, which I don’t mind since he is in a dozen other books. I made Young Avengers my pick of the week because it was able to give you a lot without overcrowding the characters or the story, and the cliffhanger was great. These books are bi monthly as well; it hurt Prime, but Young’s quality is benefitted from this scheduling. I can;t wait to see what ramifications this book will have on the rest of the Marvel Universe.
Side note, Superboy #3 came out this week, and because I picked up this weeks comics a week later, I missed out on it, which was okay for me, because after two issues I decided a superman in high school story is not what I wanted. Sorry Jeff Lemire, I loved you Essex County, but your Superboy is not for me.
January 12, 2011:
After this paragraph, I will be caught up on my picks. This week was small; one DC book and one Marvel book. the problem is, I loved both of these books, so it was very hard to choose. Ultimately I went with THUNDER Agents #3 because it is paced, characterized, drawn and plotted unlike most of the books I read. Now I realize I have given this book my PoW for best book every time I read it, but it really is something different, and lately, different has been winning out for me. With this issue we are introduced to N0Man, a Dr. Manhattan type hero, who was one of the original THUNDER Agents, who gets called back to duty. What we also get is a little more history of the older THUNDER Agents, and this is provided by the love him or hate him artist Howard Chakyin. His past NoMan pages really emphasizes two things: the past, which is important to this story, it almost seems like Chakyin is used to represent a story that was told in another book, almost like using older footage from a TV show in a later season. the other emphasis Chakyin gives the reader is the deterioration of NoMan’s ability to feel. He becomes emotionless, and is really brought out in the darken sockets of NoMans eyes, all while surrounded by slightly cartoonish figures. This is a great way to visually show the readers so they do not have to be specifically told. Kudos to who ever’s idea this was.
The other book I picked up was Amazing Spider-Man #651. Dan Slott has really re-invented Peter Parker. Not only does the finally to hist first arc Big Time have some modern silver age lining, it lets Peter has a life he has wanted to live without feeling to forced. You know that Peter will always get the short end of the stick, but this time when it comes, I think he will tackle this challenge in a completely different way then he used to. Slott also has this great way of making old ideas seem new, but natural at the same time. The next arc is a different, but similar artist, which has me excited to read it, plus very happy that I can read a Spider-Man books again.
I hope to get back to some articles this week or next. I am currently working on the second part of my “Can Superman be Modern” series, which is yielding some interesting thoughts on Superman’s future.
Yes, I know its Sunday and not Thursday, but I’ve had a busy, tiring week. So without further a due, here are my Picks of the Week. As you may know from my pull list, it was a lightish week for me; just 4 books (3 of which were from DC)’ Let’s say I loved the books from one company and not the other.
Best of the Week
THUNDER Agents #2 – THUNDER Agents is my pick for Best of the Week because it’s a much different comic than the first issue, but it has a lot of the great twists and turns that the first issue had. This issue primarily focuses on the new heroes, and one hero in particular, Lightning. The characterization that Spencer doles out really gets to the heart of what a character wants so when it comes time to making a choice, to be a hero whose powers will kill him, it seems logical. the next few issues I am sure will be a spotlight on a particular character, while this mission is underway. What I like about this is that it allows Spencer to show how his world works, but makes us care at the same time. and the art of Chafu and Bat do not disappoint here. There is a two page splash of lightning running with his new powers for the first time and it’s in your face, it’s detailed and it convey’s a lot of the emotion that these guys want you to feel about these characters. This book is really a different kind of superhero book, and at a point when I read a lot of superhero books, this one stands out because it’s different and not generic, like some of the books I read. Thank DC.
Worst of the Week
Thor #618 – This book is really starting to get on my nerves. The first issue posed these great cosmological ideas, and the art was so good I gave Fraction and Ferry a PoW for that issue. Each subsequent issue has been a bit of a let down. While the art has been great, the stories are lacking structure, things just seem to happen. It feels like Fraction is building his arcs to work better in a trade, which he does often enough, but in books like Invincible Iron Man each issue still has a story to tell. So far in this series, we have seen the resurrection of two characters, Loki, and in this past issue Odin, and they were such simple resurrections that they really lack any emotion. Thor seems to be able to do whatever; he’s that powerful. The art however is still really strong and I might just stay for that, but we will see. I will give this book another issue or two and see what happens.
It’s Monday, so that means it’s time to look at what I’m getting from my LCS. As always, I pull my comics at iFanboy, and you should too, it’s a really great site.
What’s big this week? Not too much. I’m probably mostly excited for THUNDER Agents #2. I have another two DC books out this week too, Flash #7 (didn’t number 6 just come out?) and Superboy #2. I really enjoyed Lemire and Gallo‘s first issue, but I will be giving them a couple more issues to really wow me in order for me to stay.
I have only one Marvel book this week; Thor #618. This series is starting to let me down, and that mostly has to do with the story, a story I have no idea where it’s going, and that’s not a good thing. The Pasquel Ferry art is what’s keeping me here for now. It has some great scope, and lots of clean lines.
I’ve read the first two volumes of Layman and Guillory’s Chew, and have been loving it so far. It’s really a crazy book with awesome art and crazy ideas. I’ll be picking up the third volume with the rest of my comics.
P.S. I want to thank the great response to my Aquaman article, especially the guys over at Aquaman Shrine for linking Panel Flow!
It’s Monday, and it’s time to look at what I will be picking up this week. Check out my picks at iFanboy. I have a pretty big week with a good mix of Marvel, DC and Vertigo. Most looking forward to Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos‘ Amazing Spider-Man #648. It’s kind of new a creative team, but it’s a whole brand new story! I appreciate those who got the joke. I also decided to pick up a book i just read the preview for, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 by Nick Spencer, a new writer who’s been making the rounds as of late. The Return of Bruce Wayne also come out this week, and it’s the last issue of the six issue mini-series, and coupled with last weeks Batman &Robin #16 pushes the Batman titles to its next phase; Batman Inc.
I can’t wait for Wednesday.
Panel Flow 