WCBR’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best of the past week: American Vampire #32 – What a great issue.  Snyder & Albuquerque put the allegory away and just told a story of betrayal and hatred.  Both the story and art are hitting on all cylinders with this series.  I’m still sad that it is going on hiatus, but know that the next couple issues should be explosive.  Runner-up: Bedlam #1

Most anticipated this week: 1) The Manhattan Projects #7 – Is it just me, or does this series not come out often enough?  This series feels to me like all the really good ideas that Hickman had during this outstanding run on FF.  I love all the oddball characters: Parallel Universe Einsteins, Cannibal Oppenheimers and other assorted crazy scientists we’re being introduced to.  When does the story begin though?

2). Sweet Tooth #39 – Next to last issue.  By the end of this issue, we should have some answers to who lives and who dies since I anticipate that the finale will be devoted to some kinda “aftermath” story.  With Jeff Lemire getting a deservedly higher profile at DC as a writer, we should enjoy these issues as it may be a long time before we get 40 issues of ongoing comic that is written and drawn by Lemire.

3). Storm Dogs #1 – The story sounds very science fiction: scientists arrive on strange alien planet to investigate alien civilizations.  I’ll check that out to see if it’s any good.

4). Uncanny X-Force #33 – Even though UXF has fallen off a LOT since the first 10 issue and even though it feels like it exists in a Marvel universe that has moved on, I’m still kinda curious to see how Remender wraps up his run on the title.

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Alex’s Top Picks

Pick of the Week:  Fatale #9 – There were several good books this week, but nothing truly blew me away.  So I’ll go with Fatale, which has proven to be one of the “old reliables” of my stack.  High quality, polished creator-owned comics by two creators doing what they do best.  Nothing to dislike here.

Most Anticipated:  The Manhattan Projects #7 – And so it begins…Marvel NOW!  And yet, it’s an Image book that takes my most anticipated slot this week.  Go figure.  As much as I wanted to put a certain Marvel book here, I can’t deny my love for Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra’s Manhattan Projects and the delay between issues has only served to make the heart grow fonder.  I love this book and you should too.

Iron Man #1 – This is my only Marvel NOW book of the week, but I’m looking forward to it.  Giving Kieron Gillen a quick-witted, roguish character with a silver tongue is a recipe for success and we need to look no further than Journey into Mystery to see that.  Gillen, master of dialogue and character-work that he is, is at his very best when he can sink his teeth into a multi-faceted, single protagonist with a strong personality and that’s exactly what he’ll get in Iron Man.  My only cause for hesitation with this book?  Greg Land.  Gillen seems better able to work around Land’s limitations than most writers but still….it’s Greg Land.  Hopefully most of the issue sees Tony in the suit because while Land can’t draw facial expressions to save his life, at least the suit looks cool, judging from the previews.

Action Comics #14 – I’ve not been the biggest fan of Grant Morrison’s Action run for the most part, as it’s been far more mediocre and subdued than a Morrison comic should be but…seriously look at that cover.  It looks like Superman is going to be fighting a horde of raging…angels?!  Alright Morrison, you’ve hooked me, now give me some of that trademark crazy.

Defenders #12 – Another good book bites the dust.  While the first arc, admittedly, sucked, this book ended up being a lot of fun after that, even if it occasionally suffered from never gaining a regular artist.  That said, I’m more interested in this issue out of morbid curiosity than anything else:  the story Fraction has created is so huge that I have no idea how the hell he’s going to finish it in one standard sized issue.

Animal Man #14/Swamp Thing #14 – The crossover between two of my favourite properties by two of my favourite writers continues.  Yippee.  Swampy and A-Man are two of my top 5 DC comics so picking these up is a given.  Also, apparently all the zombified heroes in Lemire’s Animal Man are characters Rob Liefeld has written in his last stint at DC prior to his public flame-out (which included initiating a bizarre war of words with Lemire’s buddy Scott Snyder), which is pretty funny.

WCBR’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best of the past week: FF #23 – Hickman’s run on Fantastic Four is sadly over, but this was a very nice send off.  It was so nice that I started rereading his run from the beginning last night because I’d like to experience it again.  Hickman understood that the FF are about adventure and family and that allowed his run to withstand all manner of publishing decisions that weren’t necessarily conducive to great storytelling (renumbering, spin off series, the Death Bag, etc).  Matt Fraction has some big shoes to fill.

Most anticipated this week: LOTS of good stuff this week.  I could probably do a Top 10 if I wanted to.

1). American Vampire #32 – With the news that AV is going on hiatus in a few issues, each remaining issue becomes more precious.  Scott Snyder swears it will come back next year and knowing him, the rebirth of the series will be something awesome – like jetting the series 100 years into the future or something.  However, the fact remains that he and Rafael Albuquerque are telling an outstanding story with The Blacklist that centers around vampires hiding amongst the elite of Hollywood.  Of course, the stars have been Pearl and Skinner Sweet and seeing their interactions change and the relationship grow has been good drama.

2). Bedlam #1 – I really enjoy Riley Rossmo’s art a TON, but unfortunately he’s been collaborating with a writer a lot recently whose work just doesn’t click with me.  So, I’m super-excited to see him paired up with Nick Spencer.  I haven’t been wild about Nick’s work at Marvel (but I’m not thrilled with most of Marvel right now), but his creator-owned stuff has been great: Morning Glories, Forgetless, Existence 2.0/3.0, etc.  If we get that Nick Spencer and Riley Rossmo, this should be great.  Oh yeah, it’s supposed to be a story about a homicidal manic trying to go straight or something.

3). Fashion Beast #3 – Even without it being a traditional Alan Moore work (FB is adapted from a 80’s screenplay that Moore wrote), it’s still pretty good.  What’s more, I think the fact that it is an old Moore work keeps all the people adapting it on the toes – lest the Bearded One give an interview about how pathetic it is that people are making money off his name.  This comic looks like people gave a shit about how it looks.

4). Rachel Rising #12 – If you aren’t reading Rachel Rising, why not?  The story is pretty good (Salem-esque witches coming back to haunt a town) and the art is spectacular.  Seriously, I thought Terry Moore was pretty awesome on Echo and Strangers in Paradise, but he’s leveled-up again with his art on RR.

5). The New Deadwardians #8 – I’m so sad that this isn’t an ongoing because I’d love to read more about this world where the zombie hordes were held back by all of the English nobility infecting themselves with the vampire virus.  As you can imagine, when you have zombies at the gates and vampires inside, some interesting things can (and do) happen.  The character work and art in this series have been outstanding.

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Alex’s Top Picks

Pick of the Week:  Journey into Mystery #645 – It was a week full of farewells at Marvel, and while all were fairly good (FF in particular), the conclusion to one of Marvel’s very best books stole the show.  JIM was a hard-hitting, tragic finale that only served to emphasize how utterly merciless Gillen is to his characters and to his readers.  Packed full of emotion, pulling no punches, and showing some serious balls, this was a big issue and a truly fantastic conclusion.  Long-time series cover artist Stephanie Hans also comes in to do the interiors, and it’s about as gorgeous as you can expect.  It’s digitally painted interior work that actually, well, WORKS being lush and gorgeous without ever feeling artificial or buried in effects.

Most Anticipated: Swamp Thing Annual #1 – This week is a weird one in that there are a lot of solid books coming out, many of which will no doubt be quite good, but nothing that really, truly gets me excited.  I suppose it’s the calm before the Marvel NOW storm.  I suppose I’ll go with Swamp Thing’s annual given that it’s Scott Snyder and Becky Cloonan teaming up (!) to give us a double-sized dose of one of the best books coming out of DC.  On the downside, I do feel a little suckered: I’m staring at my stack right now and have only now discovered that Snyder has a co-writer on this one.  On the plus side, it’s Scott Tuft, the guy Snyder co-wrote Severed with, so it should be alright.

Fatale #9 – Fatale is a remarkably consistent book in quality, offering the same heady mix of pulp horror with every issue with two masters of their craft doing what they do best.  Every issue of Fatale guarantees high quality comics and so Fatale almost always has a place reserved for it on this list.

Mighty Thor #22 – Fraction’s run has certainly been an uneven ride, but with the Everything Burns crossover and the arc just prior to it, I felt the book finally found its footing.  While hardly the most remarkable Thor run of all time, I do respect Fraction as a creator and am a big Thor fan, so I’m interested to see how Fraction bids farewell to Asgardia.  Better still, it’s a done-in-one, so it won’t fall prey to the decompression that so often hampered Fraction’s run.

Happy #2 – The first issue of Happy was a thoroughly schizophrenic, bizarre book that seemed like it almost didn’t feel comfortable in its own skin.  And yet, I get the feeling that that was strangely the point.  With the blue horse showing up, things are only going to get weirder this month and just how MUCH weirder is what’s got me interested in this sophomore effort.

American Vampire #32 – Scott Snyder left us with one HELL of a cliffhanger last month as an old foe returned.  Given that this is the pen-ultimate issue of “the Blacklist” and Snyder’s continued promises that the Blacklist would be a huge, game-changing arc, I’m expecting big things out of this issue.