Wow. I'm astounded at how mediocre this week's offering was. Its easy to get passionate and write about a book when its impressively ass or amazingly good. But when you get a whole week of, "eh," it leaves you wanting.
Fourth Place:
Red Lanterns #6
Pencils this month are a combo of Ed Benes and Diego Bernard. That means our blatant ass-shot quota is cut in half. Bernard handles all the Earth-based scenes which is all dudes, and Benes does give us some nice unnecessary shots of Bleez's ass but they're limited. Bernard's art is similar enough to Scott McDaniel for me to almost hate it. But it's slightly better so I can stomach it. Inker Rebecca Buchmann has a heavy hand on the inks that doesn't help out either Bernard's or Benes' work.
The most amazing thing is that we've read six issues of this book and the story told could easily have been told in two. Peter Milligan is doing his best to really drag this shit out.
Bottom line is that its not terrible, its just really fucking slow. A book about raging Red Lanters should have a quicker pace. Right?
Third Place:
Action Comics #6
It should be known that this issue barely beat out Red Lanterns #6. Grant Morrison really had me hooked with his first 4 issues and I hope he gets back to those in issue #7 because the last two were too crazy.
The Legion (who I never find entertaining) come to help Superman fight the Anti-Superman Army who have taken up residence inside a hollow microscopic bullet that has been shot into Superman's brain. Classic Grant Morrison wackiness. I had to re-read issue #5 and start this one over before I understood what was happening. I guess I don't have the best brain for high-concepts.
Andy Kubert's work was stellar though. And John Dell did a great job on the inks. That's not something I'd normally recognize if not for the shitty inks on this month's Red Lanterns.
This story was crazy and will clearly have serious reverberations down the line, but hopefully those will be more exciting than what we got from the last two issues.
Second Place:
Animal Man #6
So, um... what the fuck does Buddy Baker's previous acting career have to do with the current story? I guess I'll just have to trust Jeff Lemire that the first 17 pages of this issue weren't a waste of time and that eventually Buddy Baker's starring role as the Red Thunder will tie back into the previously excellent story we were being treated to.
As mentioned above, nothing happens this issue besides Cliff, watching on his phone, what appears to be a movie his dad starred in back in the day. The actual Rot in the Red story doesn't advance and the uniquely excellent Travel Foreman only draws 3 pages. All the movie pages were done by John Paul Leon. Meh.
So, uh, here's to a better next issue.
First Place:
Supernatural: Caledonia #5
Dean! That's right, we finally get some Dean Winchester in the mix. And aside from some fairly forced Dean Winchester-type dialogue, its pretty good.
The plot moves just as I had imagined it would, but surprise in a comic isn't always the key to a good comic. Sometimes, you can see whats coming and so long as its written/drawn well, that's just fine.
And above everything that's what Brian Wood and Grant Bond have created here: a fine story. Its not going to change lives like Before Watchmen is going to (ZING!) or be passed off as something hideous to be forgotten (Countdown), but its a solid book. And if you're a Supernatural fan, you'll appreciate it.
Panel of the Week:
Andy Kubert gets this week's nod because whoever this mummy-type guy is, I think he has a pretty cool design.
-Gint
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