Best to Worst of Last Week

We had our first creator interview on the blog and I was very happy with the way it turned out. We hope to do more in the future as we continue to focus a good portion of our efforts on the Independent books.

For the week being rated, I enjoyed the vast majority of what I read, since I try to buy what I hope I like, that should be the norm. The one book that I dropped this week was not because it was poorly executed, but because the bang for the buck was not there.

Death of the New Gods #1 (of 8 ) – Jim Starlin is the perfect choice for this book as writer and artist and we jump into it with both feet as the Black Racer and Big Barda are both killed in the first issue.
Highwaymen #5 (of 5) – A great series and a solid ending as the two retired black op guys save the girl and the girl helps to save the day. Secret agendas, fast cars, car chases, humor and a good story with really nice art.
Catwoman #72 - Very good issue – sad and poignant story about Selina giving up her baby.
Checkmate #19 – “The Fall of the Wall” arc is really exciting as Amanda Waller has pulled out all the stops to take down almost every other leader of checkmate as they seek to prove her duplicity.
Fables #66 – The addition of Haven inside the Empire is another element in the impending war between Fabletown and the Homeland.
Justice League of America #14 – Great stuff, McDuffie has me in love with the JLA again. Superman and Black Lighting against the Injustice League and they lose.
Brave and Bold #7 – Geroge Perez is the best super hero artist in the business and his work is a pleasure to look at. Mark Waid is crafting an overall story as he tells the “team-up” stories.
Umbrella Academy #2 (of 6) – I read issue #1 this week also as I had heard a lot of good things about the series and it has captivated me. The seven powered children who are now grown up and facing a menace is an enjoyable read. The book has a vibe unlike any other series and I can’t quite put my finger on it.
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Suburban Glamour #1 (of 4) Jamie McKelvie’s art is just pleasing to look at and so easy to follow and read in a comic. The actual story so far by McKelvie has not done that much, but his characters ring true.
Grimm Fairy Tales Return to Wonderland #3 (of 7) – Now this issue was really cool. Alice’s daughter is trapped in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter is quite the pervert, but she kicks his a** and really puts the screws to him.
Penance Relentless #2 (of 5) – Penance is going after Nitro and appears to be willing to do anything to accomplish his objective.
Shadowpact #18 - A really enjoyable series, that I like because of the characters in on the team and the solid writing. Also the stories move everything forward.
Birds of Prey #111 – Solid job by Tony Bedard and a good tale of Oracle and Calculator facing off.
Lazarus #1 (of 3) – Very nice start. The character is definitely a Lazarus, but the overall story feels like it could be too short. Of course the Shadowline imprint (under Image) has done other 3 parts to just start a story and then do a second 3 part story to continue it.
Conan #45 – The penultimate chapter of the “Born on the Battlefield: story by Busiek and Greg Ruth. This has been a good story and once it is collected together I may succumb to buying it as a trade.
Aquaman #57 – Final issue, the jarring change from Busiek and Guice to Williams and McManus was probably a death knell for the sales of this book.
Programme #4 (of 12) – This series has really improved as it has continued and would be higher on my list is the damn thing would add a captions every now and again to say “10 years ago” or “Now”, the shift in scene changes and time frames are never mentioned and it caused some confusion when reading it.
Killing Girl #3 (of 5) – Still a solid story but the lost of the artist really hurt the book. The stylistic shift in a 5 issue mini-series was a little jarring. Maybe by next issue it won’t be as bad of a shock.
Terror Inc. #3 (of 5) - An over the top gross out blood feast that is so well written and drawn you can’t help but to enjoy Mr. Terror’s battle to save himself.
Captain America #31 – Still a good book, just felt like Brubaker’s weakest effort to date. The last couple of issue instead of feeling 100% right have felt too much like it only happened like that because it was written that way.
Countdown #28 – The series is on an upswing and is a good read again.
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Superman Confidential #7 – An okay ending of the Lori Lemaris story, but ultimately nothing “new” examined about Superman’s early years, which I thought was the premise of this series.
Abyss #1 (of 4) – A new series from Red 5 about a young man who finds out his Dad is the baddest villain in all the land and he tires to fix it. Decent start, still not sure if it wants to be a humor book or a dramatic book. I know you can mix the two, but this book almost pulled it off, but not quite. Still I’m in it for issue #2.
Mighty Avengers #5 – Pretty artwork and a “major” title, but it is a read it and forget it type of book.
Inannas Tears #2 (of 5) – The simplistic lines of the artwork almost made me drop the book after one issue, but the overall story of an ancient city at a crisis point is interesting.
Snakewoman Tales of the Snake Charmer #4 – I loved the first series about Snakewoman, but this series has put me within a hairs breadth of dropping the book. It is more about origin, mysticism and so much back story that it has lost the edge it once had.
Marvel Comics Presents #2 – Really as a comic it does not belong here as the stories and artwork are all done well. I realized that for $4 I wasn’t buying what I wanted, so I dropped it. 8 pages about Guardian and 8 pages about Taskmaster mean I maybe paying $4 for 16 pages of stories that were interesting, but not that compelling. So I dropped it.

A good week that saw a heavy amount of my top books being from DC. As the year starts to wind down I’m starting to thing about my favorite ongoing series, mini-series and other top moments of 2007. I mention this because Highwaymen is one of my top mini-series for the year. That’s a wrap for this week.