WCBR’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best Of The Past Week – Glamourpuss #25 – It’s really hard to explain from a technical standpoint why this issue was so awesome.  Sure….it was funny.  Sure, Dave Sim draws like a SOB.  But, the moment that cliched it was when I was turning a page and completely prepared to see that Sim had drawn a NSFW scene involving Avril Lavigne and Taylor Swift.  He didn’t, but it’s the anticipation that scores points.  Reading Sim’s comics is like hanging out with that crazy friend in high school who would do anything because he was unafraid and unsupervised.nice to see proper, high-quality newsprint in a comic versus all this cheap-ass, glossy paper that the Big 2 shovel at us. Track it down or find it digitally.

Most Anticipated This Week:

1. Sweet Tooth #34 – As this series draws to a close, every issue is precious.  Lemire has a lot to wrap up and only a few issues to do it, so the story should advance a bit here.

2. Morning Glories #19 – It’s a shame how this series has slipped from being the IT comic from a few summers ago to something that almost no one talks about anymore.  It’s a really good story, full of complexity and featuring very strong art.  There’s really no “event” that kicks this issue up to #2 on the list….it’s just that I’m sure it’ll be a good comic and therefore will be near the top of the list.

3. I Zombie #26 – Speaking of series wrapping up…..Only three issues to go on I Zombie (inclusive of this issue).  So, events should rapidly start clicking into place for the finale.  I’ve enjoyed the quirky story in this supernatural tale, but the art of Mike Allred (colors by his wife Laura) has been beyond exquisite.  Who knows what Allred is doing after this.  I know he’s drawing a few issues of Daredevil, but that probably won’t last given that Marvel never leaves good artists on books for long and I can’t imagine Allred becoming a Marvel Man either.  So, these last few issues could be our last chance to see him for a time as he goes into a hole to work on some new creator-owned goodness.

4. Secret #2 – The first issue of this series by Jonathan Hickman and Ryan Bodenheim was pretty darn good and featured a really creepy villain.  Seriously….you would NOT want this dude after you, but it seems that the protagonists of this story are going to egg the bad guy on.  That’s probably going to be a bad move.

Other Stuff: X-O Manowar #2 (needs to jump start the story, but the art was kick ass), GI Joe #14 (some interesting twists in the Joe books recently, if the art was more consistently good, they’d have a winner), Avengers vs. X-Men #5 (Ugh…)

——-

Alex’s Top Picks

Pick Of The Week: Powers #10 – This wasn’t even close.  Bendis and Oeming gave us the best issue since the relaunch…for whoever was patient enough to keep the book on their pull-list.  It takes the stakes higher than they’ve ever been with a possible world-ending calamity, as Bendis manages to realize the potential that the Golden Ones angle always had.  Meanwhile, we get some unflinching, brutal dialogue.  It’s an issue that gets the heart racing as it grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go.

Most Anticipated This Week:

1. Before Watchmen: Minutemen #1 – I’ve gone back and forth about this, whether I’d pick it up or not.  It’s not because of the much talked about moral issues and whether or not they exist, but simply to whether I was willing to commit to a weekly book.  In the end, I am a sucker for marketing, I am a sucker for Azzarello, I am a sucker for Cooke, and, honestly, I’m a sucker for all the artists involved.  I don’t expect this, or any of the series, to match Watchmen.  In fact, for better or for worse, I expect them to all be quite different from Watchmen.  I also expect that most, if not all of them, will end up being very solid comics.

2. Dial H #2:  I am a diehard China Mieville fan.  In fact, he may be my favourite active novelist.  As such, I was very pleased that Dial H #1 felt very “Mieville” with many of the author’s favourite themes and stylistic idiosyncracies being present.  There’s a lot of creativity here, an unusual protagonist, and art that matches Mieville’s ideas step for step.

3. Secret #2:  If it’s Jonathan Hickman, it’s always worth a look for me.  If it’s creator-owned Jonathan Hickman, it’s auto-pulled.  I quite enjoyed the second issue of Secret; it’s a solid espionage comic that’s a bit different from Hickman’s previous works.  Questions abound, but it’s a very intriguing comic.

4. Defenders #7:  Dodson drawing Black Cat.  That’s really enough for this book to make my short-list.  Defenders has also really improved since it’s first arc, which was admittedly shaky.

5. Swamp Thing #10:  Anton Arcane is back!  It’s great to see Snyder’s Swampy get a new big-bad as the road to the crossover with A-Man continues.