Two Swamp Things and three regulars this week.
Bonus Review:
Swamp Thing #4 and #5
I bought two issues of Swamp Thing this week in order to get caught up with the impending Animal Man crossover coming around the bend.
And two damn good issues they were. Marco Rudy helps out on art for issue #4 and does a fair job of mimicking Yanick Paquette. From page layouts, to heavy blacks to general grody-ness in the form of decaying animals and dying people with their insides hanging out of their mouths.
Paquette is back on #5 with a STELLAR outing illustrating Abigail and Alec's faceoff with William. Paquette is in great form drawing up multiple headed boars and pigs. Fantastic stuff.
Scott Snyder gives the reader a lot in these two issues illuminating more of the Swamp Thing mythos. From the Parliament of Trees to how Alec and Abigail/William's powers work, everything including the scale of the threat comes into a little more focus.
A couple more issues and I should be fully caught up.
Third Place:
Superboy #8
This issue was a little bit of a mess. If you haven't been following Superboy and Teen Titans you're going to be confused. Shit, I DO follow those books and I was confused. They start out in the present and do a little recap halfway through the book of where we're at. But the recap is a little too late. A couple more pages closer to the beginning would have gone a long way to clearing up any potential confusion.
The Titans and Superboy have been captured by Harvest who is capturing and training superpowered teens for something called The Culling. The character Harvest is one of few characters that writer Scott Lobdell has created in the New 52 that isn't super lame. He looks somewhat like that thing from Pan's Labyrinth with the eyes on his hands and that creeps me the fuck out.
Iban Coello handles the bulk of the art instead of R.B. Silva which is disappointing. Coello does a decent job of mimicking Silva, but without the success Marco Rudy mimicked Yanic Paquette on Swamp Thing.
With part one under our belts, The Culling has the potential to be a pretty cool crossover.
Second Place:
Green Lantern #8
After a wonky start, Geoff Johns has brought this title back to its heyday with a couple great issues. The tone of the book, whether on purpose or not, feels like it did after the Sinestro Corps War when this book was really running on all cylinders.
Doug Mahnke is doing a great job illustrating and Johns has taken the story back to somewhat of a GL-only universe. This issue teaches us a little more about what the Indigo Tribe can do and who they are. They're apparently felons from various worlds who have been rehabilitated. And by rehabilitated, I mean brainwashed. The Indigo Tribe is apparently creepy as hell because you know they're dangerous, but don't know when they're going to snap and kill everyone.
Next issue is supposed to take us in to the real story behind who the Indigo Tribe is and their connection to Abin Sur. It's also supposed to set up The Third Army, the next Green Lantern event.
First Place:
Batman and Robin #8
Peter Tomasi can write the hell out of some shit. This issue, the final chapter of the Nobody storyline wraps it up perfectly. Its an impeccable epilogue to what's come before highlighting Damian and Bruce's difficulty understanding each other since they're so different. Tomasi can write characters. And write them well.
Patrick Gleason does a fine job illustrating all of it. From Batman and Robin's leaving Nobody's flaming boat to the quiet moments of Bruce and Damian having a heart to heart about everything that's happened and each other as the sun comes up.
Tomasi's Bruce Wayne is the Bruce Wayne I've been wanting to see for quite a while. A Bruce that doesn't wallow in the shadows, but one that tries to embrace the positives and light side of life despite the darkness he knows he needs to do what he does best.
Tomasi and Gleason have restored any faith in Batman that was lost when Grant Morrison took over. Well done, sirs.
Panel of the Week:
The entire art team of Patrick Gleason, Mick Gray, John Kalisz, Guy Major and Pat Brosseau get credit for this one.
-Gint
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