WCBR’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best of the past week: Punk Rock Jesus #4 – There were some other good comics last week.  Batman #13 was outstanding, but when two comics have equal measures of writing and art, my first tie-breaker is, “Which had the higher degree of difficulty?”  Not only is the story of PRJ engaging and fun and not only is the art superb, but Sean Murphy is actually making some biting commentary on religion.  Have you ever been around a person complaining about religion and religious people?  Even if you agree with them, they usually sound like hateful boors.  The point is: Murphy is doing an excellent job of tackling touchy subject matter without coming off as nasty.

Most anticipated this week: 1). The Walking Dead #103 – Even though last issue had some weird moments (Rick & Jesus suddenly being secret plan buddies?), this comic compels me to read unlike anything else on the market.  Every Wednesday that TWD comes out, at lunchtime I actually walk across the office suite to where the Wi-Fi is better and download this to my iPad.  Heck….sometimes I actually check at 9:00 in the morning to see if the Image app has updated (it never has).  Very few comics ever rise to that “read at work” level of importance for even a single issue, but TWD does it every month.

2). American Vampire: Lord of Nightmares #5 – This spin-off miniseries has been outstanding, but it takes on added importance with the news that the main AV series will be going on hiatus so that Snyder and Albuquerque can work on “other projects at DC”.  Sigh…..even if these guys are doing Justice League, it isn’t a replacement for AV.  Anyway, with that hiatus news, each installment of AV becomes a little more precious because you never know how a hiatus will go.

3). The Sixth Gun #26 – As I mentioned last month, this has been another outstanding series that I was able to catch-up on through a sale on Comixology.  It’s great.  I can’t wait to see how Drake and Becky escape this snowbound mess they are in.

4). Chew #29 – Ha….it’s another series that I caught up on via a Comixology sale.  Chew is outstanding.  There isn’t a funnier comic on my pull list.  Even my non-comic friends kinda like the jokes and the wonderously inventive food-based superpowers that the creators devise.

5). Saucer Country #8 – Wow.  Has it already been 8 months since this and those other Vertigo series debuted (New Deadwardians & the dreadful Dominique Laveau were the others)?  I really enjoy Saucer Country.  It isn’t the best comic on the stands or anything like that, but I could see it being kinda like DMZ where it is very strong for a long time.  Plus, who doesn’t like reading about alien conspiracies?

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Alex’s Top Picks

Pick of the Week:  Batman #13 – Seriously, holy shit.  This was one HELL of a way to write the Joker and Snyder and Capullo are firing on all cylinders.  With one issue, they’ve outdone everything they’ve done prior, which says a lot, given how good their Court of Owls stuff was.  If you thought Snyder’s Batman was good, you haven’t seen anything yet.

Most Anticipated:  Hawkeye #3 – With Journey into Mystery and Uncanny X-Force winding to their conclusions, Hawkeye is fast arising to its spots as my favourite Marvel book.  This really is unlike any Marvel book out there with Fraction and Aja making the most out of the medium.  If you aren’t reading this, but you are picking up other Marvel Comics, you’re doing it wrong.

Wonder Woman #13 – Azzarello’s Wonder Woman is basically always going to be on this list given that it’s probably in my top 3 as far as DC’s new 52 goes.  However, after that epic, out of nowhere New Gods cliffhanger in #12?  You bet your ass I’ll be grabbing this one.

Mighty Thor #21 – Well, it took right up to the very last arc, but with Everything Burns, I can finally say that Fraction’s Thor is actually really good.  This crossover has been all kinds of high fantasy awesome and I’m excited to see how Fraction and Gillen wind it all up.  Alan Davis’ art doesn’t exactly hurt either.

Daredevil #19 – It’s Mark Waid and Chris Samnee on yet another issue of my favourite superhero.  Daredevil is, generally, remarkably consistent in its high level of quality and Samnee’s art really has been a perfect fit for the book.

Justice League #13 – Yeah, I was hesitant to include this one.  However, I really liked the Shazam zero issue and I’ve found that Johns’ Justice League, while still not the greatest book in the world, improved drastically in its second arc.  While this is just the first issue of a two-parter, and not another long arc, I’m interested to see if that upward momentum continues.  I’ve also quite enjoyed Tony Daniels’ art since the relaunch and I’m rather interested to see what Daniels’ art looks like when inked by Richard Friend.

WCBR’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best of the past week: Fashion Beast #2 – This wasn’t a perfect issue or anything like that, but it shows such attention to detail and a striving to be excellent that it’s really hard to pick anything else.  This isn’t going to be up there with the great Alan Moore works, but even dilute Alan Moore is pretty good.  Further, it’s just nice to see a comic that seems like someone gave a crap about the entire package: story, writing, every panel, the paper, etc.

Most anticipated this week: 1). Punk Rock Jesus #4 – I’m really loving Sean Murphy’s story.  He had a LOT of ground to cover last issue as he aged J2/Chris from a baby to a teen and he did it pretty smoothly.  Now Murphy can use the last 3 issues to tell the meat of his story.  It should be great and you know it will look incredible.

2). Morning Glories #22 – Such a shame that no one chatters about this series anymore because it is still one of my favorites.  Given that issue #25 has been solicited as the “end of Season 1”, I would imagine that Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma have some shocks and revelations coming in the next few issues.

3). Secret Service #4 – How can you not enjoy Mark Millar’s slightly off-color take on James Bond?  The concept of the series has felt slightly naughty to me and then I realized that it’s because Millar is a Scotsman and he’s probably having fun lampooning a sacred English character (Bond).  There’s nothing horribly original about the story, but it has flair and the art is very attractive. 

4). Batman #13 – This one is purely a vote for the creative team.  I’m not a huge fan of the Joker (gasp!), but he’s the type of demented character that Scott Snyder should write the hell out of and I’m also curious to see the Capullo/Glapion/Plascencia team illustrate him.

5). Uncanny Avengers #1 – I said a few months ago that I didn’t care about Marvel NOW, but that was probably an overstatement.  I’m just not putting any of these comics on my pull list.  I’ll buy them digitally and as long as they are high enough quality to get me to keep pushing that “$3.99” button on my iPad I will continue to read them.  But, write for the trade or substitute on any of Marvel’s B-list fill-in artists and I’m gone.

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Alex’s Top Picks

Pick of the Week: Action Comics #13 – Why can’t every issue of Morrison’s Action Comics be this good?  He manages, in one issue, to do a really cool, creepy Hallowe’en issue as well as a watery-eyed Krypto story.  Just as shocking is Travel Foreman’s artwork, as Foreman really shows his range here – this is very, very different from what we’ve seen from him in Animal Man and, prior to that, Immortal Iron Fist.  Just a great comic that makes me lament the current overall lack of good Superman comics.

Most Anticipated: Uncanny Avengers#1 -I can’t help it, I’m excited.  I just really, really like the roster (Rogue and Scarlet Witch along with the Big Three?) and the creative team is excellent.  The previews have also seemed to show that Cassaday may be back in prime shape as well.  I’m really interested to see where Remender goes with this.

Batman #13 –Scott Snyder, also known as the man who can do wrong, starts his big Joker story.  There is no reason not to be excited about that fact.  I’m excited to see Snyder lend his trademark horror to the Joker.

Avengers #31 -Let’s get this out of the way:  those AvX tie-ins were absolutely dreadful.  That said, I’ll admit that I’m very interested to see what Bendis has in store for his final Avengers arc and how he is planning on going out.  And hey, no more AvX.

Fantastic Four #611 – While I”ll admit that I’ve not been a fan of the last few issues of Hickman’s Fantastic Four or FF, this is the final issue of his epic run and, as such, I’m hoping for a really nice farewell issue (even if you could argue that we already got that a few months back….),

Wolverine & the X-Men #18 –AvX really weighed this usually awesome book down and nowhere was this clearer than last issue’s Doop feature, which indescribably awesome.  With this issue, Aaron gets back to business as usual, allowing him to reset and go back to his story now that he’s no longer burdened by AvX.  In other words, the good times are back.