Previously… In Comics (Books Released on 4/20/11)

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #503: $3.99 (Writer: Matt Fraction, Artist: Salvador Larroca): If you’re a regular reader of INVINCIBLE IRON MAN like myself, you were probably a little baffled to see the FEAR ITSELF cover dressing gracing this issue. This is the third part of an ongoing Doctor Octopus storyline and I couldn’t imagine how exactly the finale of that arc would tie in to FEAR ITSELF. Well, it really doesn’t tie in to FEAR ITSELF at all. Sure in the last few pages Tony Stark pitches his concept for building a new Asgard on Midgard for Thor and friends, but that storyline has been running through this book for months. So if you loved the first issue of FEAR ITSELF and you’re ready to scoop up a bunch of tie-ins, don’t pick this one up. It will only disappoint you. As a conclusion to the Doc Ock arc, the issue isn’t particularly satisfying. Part of that is clearly intentional, but part of that is also the art doesn’t do a solid job of portraying what exactly is going through Tony Stark’s mind at a key moment of the story. Though I will give Larroca credit for so effectively switching up his style for the flashback elements of the book.

THUNDERBOLTS #156: $2.99 (Writer: Jeff Parker, Artist: Kev Walker): This month’s THUNDERBOLTS jumps between two stories: the T’bolts first mission with new member Satana (daughter of Satan) on-board and the recruiting of the T-bolts minor league squad, the Underbolts. These stories on their own may have worked well, but together the narrative fails to get going. I love those issues when a new team is formed, but here the process is so very bland. Speaking of bland, let’s move on to Kev Walker’s artwork. I love Walker’s style, it’s incredibly unique and fun, but the current Thunderbolts line-up is full of villain/heroes with bland white, grey, brown, and black costumes, there’s no pops of color in the action scenes. Everything feels so muddy. This line-up desperately needs some cool colors (bright blues, greens or purples) to even it out.

GREEN LANTERN #65: $2.99 (Writer: Geoff Johns, Artist: Doug Mahnke): Sometimes a comic book has a brilliant cover that entices you to buy that book. Sometimes that same cover gives away the only worthwhile plot point of the entire issue and makes you regret buying the comic. This is one of those issues. On the cover of GREEN LANTERN #65, Hal Jordan stands with a yellow ring on his finger and wearing the full Sinestro Corps uniform. The entire issue just feels like filler until, in the final pages, he finally puts the ring on. It’s rare you can call Geoff Johns out for using decompressed storytelling, but he does it here, and after you’ve seen the cover, there’s no real reason to buy the book.

Blog-A-Day Challenge: Day 16

Previous Previouslies:
4/13/2011 Releases
4/6/2011 Releases
1/21/2009 Releases

My Favorite Comic Books of 2008

If there is any “best of” list I feel eminently qualified to write, it’s the one for best comic book series of the year. There are a few rules about my list, mini-series are not included (sorry “Marvel 1985″) and it has to be a series I read in the single issues and not just in the collected trade format (sorry “Y: The Last Man”). If there’s a theme to my list, it’s that it features a bunch of Marvel characters I never cared about as a child. At various points in my childhood, I was obsessed with the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and Spider-man. The one corner of the Marvel universe I could never get into was the Avengers’ books. And now I’ve made a list that includes the big three of those Avengers: Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor. Here’s the list:

1. Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 8 (Writers: Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard. Artists: Georges Jeanty, Karl Moline.): Feel free to scream, “Bias!” Yes, I’m a huge Buffy fan, but if you had ask me to make this list last year, Buffy would not have received the top spot. While the first year was pretty good, there were some growing pains in switching mediums in those first issues. This second year, however, has been near perfect. Goddard’s arc, “Wolves at the Gate”, bounced between hilarious and tragic with ease. And Whedon’s return to the world of future slayer Fray did not disappoint.

2. Captain America (W: Ed Brubaker. A: Steve Epting): Ed Brubaker has to be given credit just for writing a book called “Captain America” for so long without the title character appearing. This year ended the 30-plus issue story arc that started Brubaker’s run on the title and finally introduced us to the new Captain America, Bucky Barnes. Brubaker has a knack for taking absurd villains and turning them into credible threats. There’s actually a robotic bad guy with a television in his chest and a camera for his head. I never knew Cap had such a lame rogue’s gallery, but Brubaker makes it work.

3. Thunderbolts (W: Warren Ellis, Andy Diggle. A: Mike Dedato, Roberto De La Torre.): For the record, I’m choosing to ignore the disappointing Secret Invasion tie-in issues. Warren Ellis’ reboot of T’Bolts was a thing of brilliance. I know hardcore fans of the old Thunderbolts may not love the distortion of the original concept, but the idea of an Avengers-style team of villains worked perfectly in Ellis’ hands. With his noir style, Dedato, who I’m not a huge fan of normally, was the perfect artist for the book. Ellis’ decision to leave the book left me worried, but then Andy Diggle came on board and managed to deliver some of the darkest, most intense issues of the reborn series.

4. The Immortal Iron Fist (W: Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker, Duane Swiercynski. A: David Aja, Travel Foreman.): Here’s another book, like Thunderbolts, where there was a mid-year switch of creative teams and the quality of the book didn’t suffer. Before Brubaker and Fraction started this book, I didn’t have any feeling one way or the other about Iron Fist. After their first story arc, I painted him on my closet door. Duane Swiercynski took over the writing duties and with his first arc managed to continue the momentum started by Fraction and Brubaker. And then he wowed me with a futuristic Iron Fist issue which I’d list as one of my favorite single issues of any comic this year.

5. All-Star Superman/Astonishing X-Men (W: Grant Morrison. A: Frank Quitely. / W: Joss Whedon. A: John Cassaday.): This may totally be cheating, but I can’t give these books separate spots on this list. Combined, five issues of the two series were released in 2008. That being said, those five issues were insanely good. Morrison/Quitely and Whedon/Cassaday were two of the best creative teams over past few years (both their runs are now complete). They also seemed incapable of sticking to any kind of strict release schedule. While both books are brilliant, they couldn’t be more different in terms of structure. All-Star Superman consisted of a series of very elaborately plotted stand-alone stories. While Astonishing X-Men was basically a giant 25-issue story arc driven almost entirely by great character moments. Both series are available in beautiful hardcover formats now, go pick them up!

6. Thor (W: J.M. Stracynski, A: Oliver Coipel.): 2008 was the year of Thor. Not only did he star in this brilliant title, but he also appeared in a great series of one-shots by Matt Fraction. Growing up, I never understood the appeal of Thor. And I certainly didn’t get why a Norse god spoke like a character out of Shakespeare. But Stracynski decided to drop the ‘thou’s, recreated Asgard as a floating city in the Midwest, and transformed Loki into a woman. Stracynski is at his best when he’s creating a new world or recreating an existing one, and he does that perfectly here.

7. The Invincible Iron Man (W: Matt Fraction, A: Salvador Larroca.): More than any other book on this list, I’m recommending Iron Man exclusively based on the writing. I really dislike Larroca’s work here. If an artist is going to rely so heavily on photo reference, why not use reference of the actors from the hugely successful film featuring these characters? Larroca casting Nicole Kidman as Pepper Potts is just distracting. Fraction, however, wrote one of the best Iron Man stories ever in his first arc. And if you were a huge fan of the Iron Man movie, the first trade serves as a great introduction to the Iron Man comic books.

8. Criminal (W: Ed Brubaker, A: Sean Phillips.) If you like noir, this is a must read. Actually, if you like noir, you’re probably already reading it. But even if you’re not a big noir fan, it’s worth checking out. Currently the book is on hiatus while the creative team works on their pulp title INCOGNITO, so now is the perfect time to catch up by reading all the trades.

9. Captain Britain and MI:13 (W: Paul Cornell, A: Leonard Kirk.): I know Marvel publishes a ton of team books. So why should you read this one instead of one the 5 Avengers titles or 6 X-Men titles? Well, first it’s set in Britain, so you get cool British slang. Second, it features one of my favorite underused Marvel characters, Pete Wisdom. Third, it spun out of a huge crossover event (Secret Invasion) and managed not to suck. Fourth, the villains powers are all based in magic, so it has a very different feel than all those other Marvel team books. Fifth, it’s written by a television writer who can actually finish his scripts on time! And sixth, it’s just plain awesome.

10. The Boys (W: Garth Ennis, A: Darick Robertson.): Was is often juvenile? Yes. Did it often enter the realm of bad taste? Absolutely. But Ennis loves to deconstruct the super-hero genre and he does it with great success here with each and every issue. And that’s why The Boys makes my list; it’s like Watchmen with excessive violence and plenty of dick and fart jokes.

Honorable Mention: Ex Machina, Daredevil, Jonah Hex, Booster Gold, Action Comics, Wolverine: First Class

Previously… in Comics

 I haven’t done any blog posts about comics yet. I’m rectifying that now. Time for some comic book reviews! I have no idea if I’m going to do this on a weekly basis. Last week saw Marvel’s Dark Reign really kick into gear. Dark Reign’s flagship title, Dark Avengers, launched. Dan Slott introduced us to the bizarre new team over in Mighty Avengers. Andy Diggle began revealing the new roster of the Thunderbolts. And Matt Fraction gave us a glimpse into Emma Frost’s mindset in the Marvel Universe’s new status quo.

The following books were all released on January 21st. They’re listed in the order I read them. Spoilers will be kept to a minimum.

Thunderbolts #128 (Writer: Andy Diggle, Artist: Roberto de la Torre): In the previous two issues, Diggle did a spectacular job writing the Thunderbolts as Warren Ellis had reimagined them. It was an incredibly dark and intense story that lead to the dismantling of that team’s roster. In this issue, Diggle pulls back the curtain on his team of Thunderbolts. Sadly, judging by this issue, his T’Bolts aren’t quite as interesting as Bullseye, Venom, and company. It’s obviously way too early to start panicking here. Only a fraction of the team has even been introduced. But this group seems to lack much of the personality their predecessors had in spades. I do have to give props to Diggle though for his Obama appearance which both made sense for the story and established Norman Osborn as a lame duck appointment by the outgoing Bush Administration. Dark Reign is all Bush’s fault!

Dark Avengers #1 (W: Brian Bendis, A: Mike Deodato): You ever have a favorite band break up and then the lead singer puts out a solo album? The music sounds similar to that of the band you so loved, but it’s just not nearly as good. That is Dark Avengers. I flipped open this book and it looked remarkable like Warren Ellis’ Thunderbolts. Mike Deodato’s drawing all the same characters: Norman Osborn, Venom, Bullseye, Moonstone. If only the characters didn’t have to speak, because those word balloons pointed at their mouths are not nearly as engrossing. But even if Brian Bendis could channel Warren Ellis perfectly here, I’d still have to question the overall concept. Basically, we have a team of villains dressed up in the costumes of unregistered heroes like Spider-man, Wolverine, and Iron Man. Supposedly in the Marvel Universe, Iron Man is despised for his role in Secret Invasion. Spider-man and Wolverine are fugitives.  Why would Norman Osborn dress up his team like these social pariahs? It’d be like the Democrats trying to win the White House by nominating a George W. Bush clone. It doesn’t make any sort of sense.

Mighty Avengers #21 (W: Dan Slott, A: Khoi Pham): Thank you Dan Slott. Thank you for giving me a classic Avengers title to love. I adore this book. Going into the issue, I knew very little about the new team. I knew it involved Hank Pym and I could see Scarlet Witch and Jocasta were on the cover. That’s it. The roster Slott has chosen, assuming this is the permanent roster, is almost Nextwave insane.  And like Nextwave, it’s also brilliant. The dialogue is tight, often funny, and perfectly in character. While I’ve always felt Brian Bendis has trouble with team books (his best issues of New Avengers always only deal with 1 or 2 members of the team), Dan Slott’s writing shines when the scene is full of costumed crusaders. I do have to say Hank Pym’s new costume is atrocious; I have no problems with his new codename though. 

Uncanny X-Men Annual #2 (W: Matt Fraction, A: Mitch Breitweiser and Daniel Acuna): I’m sure I’m not the only one who was completely baffled by Emma Frost’s inclusion in Norman Osborn’s Dark Reign inner circle. She’s a good guy now! She’s been one of the white hats since the mid-nineties when she mentored Generation X along with Banshee. So while Brian Bendis did very little to justify her place at the table, Matt Fraction has taken up the challenge in this Uncanny X-Men Annual and does an admirable job of explaining her motivation. In addition to learning more about the White Queen’s thinking, we also get insight into her relationship with Namor. Pairing these two together was a genius move on Fraction’s part. Having two of the most arrogant members of the Marvel Universe interact, often through some intense flirting, brings out the best in both characters. I look forward to seeing these characters together more often. The art here is gorgeous. Mitch Breitweiser handles the present, while Daniel Acuna deals with the flashbacks. It’s unfortunate such a beautiful issue has to be marred by a fairly awful cover from Terry Dodson.

X-Factor #39 (W: Peter David, A: Valentine de Landro): I’m going to listen to Peter David’s plea on the recap page of this issue and not play spoiler. What I will do is implore you to pick up this issue! From the cover, I’m sure everyone knows this is the issue where Siryn and Madrox’s child is born. And like most of the best X-Factor stories David’s written, there’s a ton of humor, there’s some tragedy, and there’s no big superhero battles. The art is a vast improvement over the last story arc that introduced Darwin to the group. And, yes, there’s a huge twist here. A huge gut-wrenching twist that would be impossible to spoil without just outright saying what happens. Rarely in any creative medium do you have a moment so original, so unique, that your jaw just drops because you did not and could not see it coming. That is what happens in this issue. It’s impossible to over-hype.

Final Crisis: Superman Beyond 3D #2 (W: Grant Morrison, A: Doug Mahnke): The last issue of this book came out roughly forever ago. I don’t know if it was by design or because of delays, but the span between issues means I had no clue what was going on when I started reading this issue. Frankly though, that’s hardly a new feeling for me when reading a book written by Grant Morrison. I did remember enjoying the first issue, even though I didn’t remember what the heck was happening in it, so I decided to pick this one up despite the $4.50 price tag. It’s your fairly standard Grant Morrison issue. There are some great moments and other moments when you inevitably say to yourself, “what the hell was that?” Personally, I’ll be happy if I never have to read another book in 3D again. In addition to having to wear the ridiculous glasses, trying to read word balloons while looking at 3D images is a recipe for a splitting headache.

Trade of the week:
Fables: War and Pieces (W: Bill Willingham, A: Mark Buckingham): I finally got around to reading the latest Fables trade this week. If the title didn’t make it obvious, “War and Pieces” is the final battle between Fabletown and the Adversary’s forces. I loved the Cinderella story that leads into the war. She should really have her own Alias-style secret agent book. The main story, however, I found lacking. It’s anti-climactic, perhaps intentionally so, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing. I thought Boy Blue’s post-war narration was a mistake. It took all the suspense out of the conflict. The last chapter feels rushed and really could’ve been expanded into an additional issue. There’s one moment featuring Boy Blue towards the end of the story that truly deserves a full page, but receives only a small sliver of one. If there was one aspect of this story that I loved, it was Prince Charming’s arc. Charming is really the star of those four chapters. And his relationship with Sinbad is also a huge highlight.