Best to Worst of Last Week

A good week of books. A lot of really quality work with only a few clunkers, but for the most part I really in a perfect world want it to be that no books deserve to be below the line, as why do I want to pay $3 or more and then not like a book. This week was so dominated by DC books it was unbelievable. I cannot remember another week where so much of what I got came from one company.


Booster Gold #1 – WOW, what an unexpected surprise. A fantastic book. Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz have written a great first issue. It told us who he was, what he wants to be and what he decides he has to be in order to be a real hero. Dan Jurgens does just the layouts (which is his strength) and Norm Rapmund finishes the art and it looked as good as it was written. This maybe the must read book in the DCU now. Johns, Katz, Jurgen and Rapmund have set the gold standard for a new series launch in the DCU.
Brave & Bold #6 – A wonderful ending to the first arc by Waid and Perez. If this is the only book that George draws right now that is fine by me. George puts more detail into one panel then most artists put in five pages. Waid has turn in a gem with the “Book of Destiny” storyline. Great series.
Killing Girl #1 (of 5) – Very well done, high level of action, compelling story, tragic tale in many ways. Espinso is very loose in his artwork, but conveys energy and motion in his style. Pick it up or order it from your store, this will be a fun ride.
Catwoman #70 – This is a great series and they have taken Selina having a baby and are actually making it work within the confines of this series. Month in and month out a really good series.
Highwaymen #3 (of 5) – Continues to be a great series. Old black op guys trying to save the world one last time. The girl they saved is WMD as she carrier a viruses that destroys people’s ability to communicate with each other and inside their own bodies.
Flash #231 – Wonderful re-start of the Wally West Flash series. Love the set-up and the kids powers. Waid just seems to be born to write the Wally West Flash. The art was Acuna’s best work to date, but I still do not think he is the artist for the Flash.
Terror Inc #1 (of 5) – I had no expectations on this book and don’t remember the character, but it was an exciting read. Gave us the character’s history and set up the storyline. One problem is (and my friend Rusty pointed this out) he is seemly killed at the end of issue #1. This has happened in multiple comics over this year. It really isn’t a cliff hanger when it is a mini-series and we know they are on the cover of the next issue.
Amazon Attacks #5 (of 6) – The concept was just so odd, that many people I think have ignored this book, but Will Pfiefer is a very good writer (DC give him an exclusive) and Pete Woods is a very good artist. Highly entertaining series.
Robin #165 – Another book that I think does not get enough recognition for how strong of a series this is, every month. Great battle between Robin and the team of bad guys Dodge has assembled.
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Captain America #29 – Good solid issue, the story is moving really slow at this time and feels like it is taking forever to get from here to there. Also another caption problem. The 42 point font being used almost every other page to give each short chapter a title, stop. See Programme for no captions, see this book for too many captions – someone please get some editors on comics again.
Checkmate #17 – A very good one and done story highlighting how Checkmate keeps up their own security. Not sure what the co-writer did as it read like Greg Rucka, but a nice stand alone issue.
Shadowpact #16 – Really enjoy this crew of “D” list characters and their adventures. Right now we have most of the crew fighting Dr. Gotham and Blue Devil trying to find a way to save himself. Right now Tom Derenick’s art is hurting the book in my opinion. He knows how to draw, but his style does not set the tone that I think this book needs.
Superman/Batman #39 – Desadd has taken over Superman’s mind and now Batman is stuck fighting a mind controlled Superman. Not an original storyline, but it is being done very well and the book is finally good after 36 issues.
Ultimate Spider-Man #112 – Stuart Immonen has stepped in and made it his book immediately and still kept the feel of the series the same. Great transition. This is the best Spider-Man book on the market, but after 112 issues I wish Peter could at least be a junior in high school. That is why I love Invincible. Mark is aging as the series goes on, not fast, but enough.
Black Canary #4 (of 4) – Exactly what I knew it would be, but it had to be to make the marriage work. Enjoyable read, I really like how Black Canary has become such a prominent person in the DCU.
Action Comics #854 – Nice three part story focusing on Jimmy Olsen. Kurt Busiek did a good job on making Jimmy a part of the Superman mythos again as he had been all but ignored lately. Brad Walker is getting better and better as an artist.
Annihilation Conquest: Quasar #2 (of 4) Christos Gage and Mike Lilly have a done a great job with this little mini-series. I had low expectations for this book, but after issue #1 the bar was raised and it is still a solid read for what is a throw away mini-series.
Aquaman Sword of Atlantis #55 – The busiest book on the market. Tad Williams has so many storylines going on I hope he remembers to resolve most of them. Still this book has grown on me like a barnacle.
Sub-Mariner #3 (of 6) – This story is decent, but it is suffering from middle of the storyline syndrome. Some writers have good beginnings and endings, but forget how to make the middle chapters stand well on their own.
Programme #2 (of 12) – I still want captions on this book when they switch from scene to scene and timeframes, but it read much better this time and I’m starting to get into the story.
Loveless #19 – I know this reads better as a trade. Azz’s storytelling is pretty obtuse, but the book has a great feel to it. Still a good series.
Outsiders Five of a Kind Thunder/Martian Manhunter – Nice spotlight issue, giving small clues as to why Batman is taking over the Outsiders and giving us focus on individual characters. Still a throw away series.
Countdown #37 – Still in the same spot, better then a few weeks back, but still looking for more bang for my buck. The book seems to be fitting into the regular books a lot more seamlessly lately. That is one hell of a coordination job going on inside of the DCU.
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Grifter/Midnighter #6 (of 6) – An okay book, but it got a little convoluted the last couple of issues. This will read better as a trade and with Dixon writing and Benjamin artwork it should be a good trade to pick up.
Justice League of America #12 – I’m sure Brad Metzler is a great novelist, but he loves these characters so much, he ended up writing bad fan fiction and sentimental love letters to these characters. I understand the sentiment, but write a g*d d**n story too. Geoff Johns respects what come before and has an obvious love for these characters, but he still tells a good story almost 100% of the time. THANKFULLY this is Brad’s last issue.

Only two books below the line and one is over and the other Dwayne McDuffie takes over as writer. Watch JLA will sell less with Dwayne writing, but it will be a better book.