WCBR’s Top Picks

[Alex will be on hiatus for a while, now that Real Life has caught up with him in a big way, so Dean will be handling the picks solo this week.  Let’s all wish Alex luck so he can get back soon.]

Dean’s Top Picks

Best of the past week: Witch Doctor: Malpractice #1 – What a great, great week for comics we had last week!  American Vampire #33 was great and Chew #30 was very strong too.  Heck, I even kinda liked All New X-Men #2.  But, the winner by a nose this week was the return of Witch Doctor.  Being an art-fan, I’m mostly drawn to the incredible art by Lukas Ketner.  This guy is like the second coming of Bernie Wrightson.  I absolutely love Ketner’s work.  The story is pretty snappy too as we watch a modern-day doctor and his team deal with freaky, possessed people (like people’s tongues being replaced by blood sucking parasites!).  The combo of rich characters and ideas with mesmerizing art is tough to beat.

Most anticipated this week: Not a lot lighting my socks on fire this week, but….

1). Fashion Beast #4 – This story won’t go down as “the best Alan Moore work of all time”, but it is still a cut above most comics out there.  You see how well an almost 30 year old adaptation of an Alan Moore screenplay comes out and you can kinda get why Moore can be dismissive about modern comics.  The guy doesn’t even have to do any current work to have one of the best things out there…..

2). Blackacre #1 – I’m not familiar with the creative team, but this #1 from Image is a post-apocalyptic story and I’ll almost always give those a chance.  The nice thing about post-apocalyptic stories is you can almost immediately tell if it will be a good story, or just someone fixated on showing you their minor twist on the fall of humanity.  Let’s hope for the former…..

3). I Love Trouble #1 – Another new #1 from Image.  It claims to be about a New Orleans grifter on the run from the mob who discovers that she has superpowers.  The words “grifter” and “mob” are enticing; the word “superpower” is not.  The art looks catchy, so I’ll give it a chance.

4). Avengers #1 – I’m pretty tuned out on Marvel NOW, but I do love Jonathan Hickman, Jerome Opena and Dean White.  In fact, I don’t think Hickman has written anything that I haven’t enjoyed.  Speaking of which, when is SHIELD coming out again?  Ahem…..

5). All New X-Men #3 – It mostly has to do with the skills of Stuart Immonen, but I’m actually enjoying Brian Bendis’ take on the X-Men so far.

6). Amazing Spider-Man #699 – I’m very curious to see how this issue plays out given that #698 was such a wet fart of a comic for me.  I know a lot of people dig it, but ASM hasn’t really clicked with me for about a year.  If this issue doesn’t do it, I’m just going to stop reviewing them.

– Dean Stell

Avengers #1 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), John Romita Jr. (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Dean White (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: Steve Rogers ushers in the Heroic Age by putting a new team of Avengers together.  Just in time, too, because before their first meeting is even over, our heroes will be confronted not only with Kang the Conqueror, but the possible end of existence itself!

Alex’s Take

Transitions can be painful and certainly, the transition between Dark Reign and the Heroic Age is a big one.   Unfortunately, Avengers #1 finds itself on this very awkward front-line.

At surface level, Avengers #1 is a fun read.  It has a happy Saturday morning feel which is buoyed by Romita’s distinctive artwork.  The return to a time-traveling/cosmic story aids in this respect.  We’re back to the escapist hijinks that old school comics provided and it’s a refreshingly far cry from government agencies and shadowy Obama cameos.  Instead we’re dealing with Kang, Ultron, and the Next Avengers.

But the problem is that this title isn’t set in an alternative universe.  It’s forced to deal with backstory and prior Marvel events.  Given that it’s completely different in style, appearance, tone, and storytelling from the sort of stuff we’ve been getting, this makes for an uncomfortable conflict.

The result is a truly bizarre narrative structure.  The book is cut into two clear halves: one dealing with the formation of this new team and the other introducing the new story with Kang.  The shift is massive.

The first half of the issue feels strange.  The joyous team formation sequence was weirdly surreal and a bit cheesy, Steve’s conversation with Wonder Woman felt misplaced (and poorly argued on Wonder Man’s part), and Steve’s and Tony’s reunion was cursory.  Things seem scattered amidst all the happiness.

Then Kang shows up so abruptly and randomly that it’s downright comical.  How the Avengers, Thor in particular, respond to his appearance only furthers the unintentional comedy.  Then, having only half an issue to start up his new story, we get a whole ton of talking heads to close out.

Despite all my griping though, there is fun to be had.  Spider-Man and Spider-Woman in particular have a great month, providing several laughs.  I love this new direction overall and think it bodes well for the future.  It feels new.

The Long and Short for Alex

I think that once this book gets in its groove, it’ll be great.  As a first issue though, and a standard-sized one at that, it’s so different from what came before that this awkwardness was impossible to avoid.

Grade: C

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

DS’ Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne #1 – Morrison started us slowly in his 6-part saga, but the adventure, and the anticipation built up around it, were enough to propel this book into first place in my pull list.

Most Anticipated: Brightest Day #2 – I want to find out what’s up with these resurrected heroes and villains and these echoes of the powers they had when they were black lanterns. Brightest Day ain’t as bright as it sounds!

Other Top Picks: Superman: War of the Supermen #3, Legion of Superheroes #1, Atlas #1, X-Factor #205, X-Men Legacy #236

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Dark Avengers #16 – It may very well be my love for Victoria Hand talking, but no comic made me happier in what was a ginormous Wednesday.  A great conclusion and the best of the three big Bendis books this week.

Most Anticipated: Zatanna #1 – With Avengers #1 and Legion of Super-Heroes #1 also coming out this week, as well as the start of a new direction in Invincible Iron Man, this was a tough, tough decision.  In the end though, my love for Zatanna (which goes back to Alan Moore’s “A Murder of Crows” arc in Swamp Thing) wins out, given that it borders on being completely irrational.  The fact that this is a total labor of love on Dini’s part also bodes well, as does what I’ve seen of Stephane Roux’s artwork.

Other Picks:Avengers #1, Legion of Super-Heroes #1, Invincible Iron Man #26, Ex Machina #49, Brightest Day #2

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Amazing Spider-Man #631 – This is really shaping up to be a great little arc with (one of my favorite rogues)….The Lizard.  Plus, the months long teasing for The Grim Hunt if finally starting to feel appropriate.  Bonus is that we get Chris Bachalo on art!

Most Anticipated: Invincible Iron Man #26 – Matt Fraction’s Iron Man story has really excelled for the last 2 years by letting Tony Stark be off on his own.  I’m very curious to see how good this title can be now that it will need to be more tightly integrated with the rest of the Marvel U.

Other picks: American Vampire #3, Haunt #7, The Walking Dead #72, Avengers #1, X-Men Legacy #235

Joe’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: The Sentry: Fallen Sun – Just kidding!  This was horrible. What, are you nuts?! The Sword #24 – There were a lot of good comics this past week and a lot of them were final issues.  While they all did a pretty admirable job of tying up their plot-lines, this was the only one that did so and managed to surprise me at the same time.  Good stuff.

Most Anticipated:Avengers #1 – I’ll bite.  I’m curious about where the Avengers franchise is going in this stage of the game and this is definitely ground zero for the new direction.

Other picks: Brightest Day #2, Ex Machina #49, Walking Dead #72, Invincible Iron Man #26, X-Factor #205, X-Men Legacy #236