Gint's 9-26-12 Pull-List Review

Man, we really had both ends of the spectrum this week with books that made me want to vomit and books that took me to Bone City.

Seventh Place:
Superman #0

Sucky. That's my one word review of Superman #0. In more words I can say something like "Scott Lobdell doesn't get what Superman is supposed to be about at all." The moment I was out was when Lara, held at gunpoint, goes all Matrix on her captors and takes out like three dudes.

Lobdell turns Clark's birth parents in to superheroes. Granted, Jor-El is a brilliant scientist. He has to be in order to save Kal. But he doesn't have to be SUCH a brilliant scientist/man-of-action. And Lara is a ninja.

Part of what makes Kal so special is that he comes from humble beginnings. Between his birth parents and Earth parents, they're unassuming people. Krypton just happens to blow up on its own. Its not a grand design by a doomsday cult trying to eliminate Jor-El in some James Bond-type setup. Clark's humble upbringing is what makes his taking the safety of the world on his shoulders something incredible. Now he's just the son of an equally brilliant and exciting couple. Ho hum.

Lobdell just doesn't get what Superman is about. This issue was enough indication of that. Ergo, I won't be buying Superman anymore.

Ps, Kenneth Rocafort's art was good. I don't blame him for this affront to all things Supes.

Sixth Place:
Teen Titans #0

Early word on the street was that Scott Lobdell's re-writing of Tim Drake's history got a thumbs down. Personally, I'd give it an OK.

Lobdell does a nice job keeping the story pretty intact: Tim feels that Batman needs a Robin and goes about uncovering who the Batman is. He also makes it so Tim is already a very smart kid and a scholarship-worthy gymnast.

Where Lobdell drops the ball is in Batman telling Tim the only reason Tim got as far in the investigation as he did, is because Batman led him there. What this does is take points away from Tim's god-given detective ability and makes him a less impressive character.

He also has Tim's parents go into the Witness Protection Program so Bruce can take care of him. Tim's original story was unique in that he had both of his parents (moreso his dad) and was able to still live at home and go see him. So what Lobdell did was take two of the more distinct traits of who Tim Drake is and erase them, making him less interesting in the process.

So, after hearing myself talk this out, I agree with the masses: this new origin sucks.

Fifth Place:
Justice League Dark #0

Jeff Lemire knows how to write a good comic book. Maybe instead of giving everything to Scott Lobdell DC should start giving the books to writers who have found success in the New 52?

Lemire and Lee Garbett (who draws some killer artwork) put together a damn fine "How Constantine Meets Zatanna" story. Its a quick story but it illuminates who each character is so well. We're also introduced to Nick Necro, Constantine's mentor, who I imagine we'll be seeing sooner or later.

Good art, good story, overall good comic book.

Fourth Place:
The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #0

When this book started, I thought I was into it. Turns out I kind of wasn't. Dan Jurgens takes over this book with issue #13 and after hearing him talk about it and what makes a good Firestorm book, I'm totally in his camp. I agree wholeheartedly.

This #0 takes everything back to the beginning. Everything that happened in issues 1-12 still happened, but we have a new status quo. Ronnie and Jason aren't each a Firestorm anymore. They're going old school with Jason being in Ronnie's head when they merge. Jurgens plans on taking a more lighthearted approach, and that's exactly what this book needs. It didn't realize until he said it, but the first year was way too dark for this character.

This issue sets up the new direction that I'm really looking forward to reading.

Third Place:
Aquaman #0

Best run on Aquaman, ever. I'm not afraid to say it.

Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis and Joe Prado take us through Arthur's father's death, the history of what happened to his mother and his discovery of Atlantis. While its a little too coincidental for Aquaman to rescue two people that just HAPPEN to know of someone else claiming to be Atlantean, it does get us to the narration that we're looking for and sets up year two on the book quite nicely.

One great year down. Looking forward to number two.

Second Place:
The Flash #0

Something that the majority of these #0 issues has done, is tell a story using a characters backstory to further stories in the future. The Flash is one of these books.

Barry Allen lost his mother when he was a kid. His dad got put in jail for it where he still lives. Barry has been working his whole life to try to prove his dad's innocence. I like that Barry still has a living parent. Too many heroes don't have any. It makes the ones that do a little more special. Manapul's art is fantastic jumping from time period to time period as the story pieces itself together.

Just another great issue from a book that I expect greatness from.

First Place:
I, Vampire #0

What a great book. Andrea Sorrentino does some great work in this period piece about the beginning of Andrew Bennett, vampire.

The story takes place in 1591 England and tells the story of Bennett becoming a vampire. All the pages are dark and rainy as any proper horror story in that time should be. Sorrentino flawlessly illustrates every panel. Its a testament to him and writer Josh Fialkov that this book hasn't had any fill-in artists. Putting a fill-in on this book would essentially be like DC slapping their readers in the face. That's how good Sorrentino has been.

It may be a bubble book, but I, Vampire is easily one of the best reads month in and month out for DC.


Panel of the Week

Andrea Sorrentino hooks up some 14th Century style mood!

-Gint
 

Exile

Warning kids. Don't play World of Warcraft in the Mc$oss apartment. You'll end up in the woods eating beans out of a can. -Soss

Soss' Pull-List Reviews 9/27/12

Is every book a #0 even if it isn't a DC title?! Let's get some actual numbers on these books next week.

Ghost #0

I should have know better then to buy a book just because I like the artist. Didn't the 90's teach me anything? 

Ghost is about two reality tv ghost hunters who find a real life spirit. Or maybe it's just a transparent sexy chick in a towel. Who knows since there isn't much explanation as to where she came from.

Both of the main characters are unlikeable dicks and the ghost doesn't talk so I was left to look at Phil Noto's illustrations. To be honest, most of this issue seemed rushed. I gave this book the old college try but in the end if failed to provide me with even with the great art I had hoped for. 

Wonder Woman #0

I enjoyed this old time silver age romp. While I wouldn't want all of my books to read like this it was fun for one issue. I'm sure this one was a blast for Azzarello to write. It's amazing how much exposition took place in those old stories.

Cliff Chang provides his typically beautiful work. His design of young Diana's costume had a nice retro touch. I liked seeing that War trained Diana to fight. It's makes her as menacing as any of her male counter parts. This reminded me of that "oh shit" moment in Secret Six when she shows up and everyone craps their pants. She was trained by the god of freaking WAR!

Justice League #0

Who knew that goofy Shazam could be so awesome! 

I've really enjoyed the preview stories at the end of each Justice League so it was nice to read a full issue of this story. 

The Wizard has been searching for centuries of a champion of pure goodness to harness the power of Shazam. Naturally he hasn't had much luck. Along comes Billy Batson, that shithead we've been following for the past few months. At first The Wizard isn't convinced that this young man is the right choice for his champion but when he looks into his past and sees the potential for good and it becomes clear that he has found the title character for these stories.

Frank and Johns are the perfect team to breath new life into this character. I hope they stay together when this book hits the shelves. Wait a second, wasn't this supposed to be about Justice League? -Soss

Panel of the Week: This is actually what two idiot kids would think after they were given the power of Shazam. The flexing cracks me up every time I look at it.

World of Have Some Self-Repect

There are many branches on the nerd tree. Gaming nerds. Comic book nerds. Video game nerds. LARPers ... well, LARPers should probably be on the same tree as the Furries. My point is, just because we're all cut from the same wood doesn't mean we give a shit about video games or table top card games. The most video gaming we here at Mc$oss do is NHL and Madden. Except for Dommy who apparently has a whole other secret life as a World of Warcrafter. Is that even what you call them? Eventually we'll be accepting of all of Dommy's habits that we may not agree with. So fight on Christopher Lambert the Elf from Highlander or whatever your character is called. We got your back. (hypothetically of course.)

-Gint

Gint's 9-19-12 Pull-List Review

Zero month continues as we welcome Sword of Sorcery to the Pull-List.

Fifth Place:
Green Lantern: New Guardians #0

The positives of this issue were Tony Bedard's writing and that the story wasn't an origin, but a continuation of the story that's been leading up to The Third Army.

The negatives however were negative enough to land it in last place. That would be the art. Aaron Kruder and Andrei Bressan turn in mostly subpar work. N. Nathan Harris on Voltron is still the all-time low water mark for art, but these two aren't far behind. Bedard's writing and characterizations of Carol Ferris and Kyle, and even Tom Kalmaku feel very natural to the GL mythos Geoff Johns has created. But the way Kruder and Bressan act it out pulls you right out of the story and makes it unbelievable. I won't say I expect bad artwork from Dynamite, but I do expect better from DC.

Fourth Place:
Sword of Sorcery #0

I'd like to welcome Sword of Sorcery to the Pull-List this week. I hope this is the beginning of a long relationship.

So far so good. Both Christy Marx's Amethyst tale and Tony Bedard's Beowulf backup story made for a good comic. Marx's first time out on Amethyst was a little standard. Its your basic story that we've seen before about a kid secretly being the hidden ruler of a hidden world. Marx does a really nice job with it. I'm eager for next issue.

Tony Bedard also does nice work with the Beowulf backup which seems to take place in $oss' favorite, post-apocalyptic future. I'm not familiar with the original Beowulf story so I'm going in pretty fresh.

The best part about this comic? The art. Aaron Lopresti on Amethyst and Jesus Saiz on Beowulf hook... it... up. Lopresti could use some inks, but that's a minor complaint as his work is so sharp. Saiz's work on Beowulf is just as impressive. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Brian Reber's work on color that take it to a whole new level.

I great start for a book that I'm really looking forward to being good.

Third Place:
Wonder Woman #0

In spite of this issue being written like an old silver age comic, it was pretty good.

That's the precedent Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang have set for Wonder Woman. Even the issues that have been "meh," have still been pretty good. And even this issue, complete with old school captions and thought balloons was a pretty sweet read. Diana, as a young teenager was trained by the Olympian, War each night of the full moon. War is a pretty cool character that physically resembles Azzarello quite a bit. Hopefully we'll see more of him as Azzarello's arc rolls on.

Chiang is as flawless as ever. He challenges you to find some bad art in his work knowing there isn't any.

Second Place:
Justice League #0

Ah, the origin of the New 52 Shazam. And it was quite good.

THOUGH, I'm more of a traditional Justice League guy. I don't know how comfortable I am about the book Justice League revolving around Shazam for however long. But that's a minor complaint. Geoff Johns writes and Gary Frank draws a great book. Its kinda sorta the movie Big, but with superpowers. I'd go see that in a heartbeat and don't know why this kind of Shazam hasn't been introduced into movie theaters already.

Johns and Ethan Van Sciver give us a cool backup story threading lines as to how Shazam ties into the upcoming Trinity War and Pandora and all that stuff.

Its really looking like the DCU's flagship title is in good hands going in the right direction.

First Place:
Supergirl #0

First off, the name Kryptonopolis is ridiculous. But the rest of the issue was damn near flawless.

An incredibly touching comic from Mike Johnson and Michael Green. Initially you want to hate Zor-El for being a dick and going against his wife and brother, Jor-El. But you can't. You can only feel bad for him. The writing by Green and Johnson, with the always incredible art by Mahmud Asrar really makes this an emotional story. Usually, I don't give a shit about Krypton. Superman starts when he gets to Earth. But this story really makes you feel what these characters, particularly Zor-El went through.

Supergirl has had a couple speed bumps lately, but hopefully this will get everything back on track.

Panel of the Week:

Jesus Saiz and colorist Brian Reber made this a sweet looking book.

-Gint
 

Comic Gold

With IDW's Infestation and leaked images of Phil Jimenez's could-have-been Transformers/Justice League crossover around in the comic world, I'd like to see more properties from my childhood put together and done right. What better crossover than former lawman Jonathan Quick (Quicksilver) and the Silverhawks and the fine employees of the California Highway Patrol? That's comic, and comedy gold, my friends! And if its a book, you can still cast Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox. Our heroes never age in comic books.

-Gint

Soss' Pull-List Review 9/20/12

Avenging Spider-Man #12

If there was a really life flaming trash can this book would be a prime candidate. This month Spidey gets teamed up with "the merc with the mouth" Deadpool. Wade Wilson is another popular creation from the 90's that I'm not quite sure what the appeal is. There is also an appearance by some jackass name the Hypno-Hustler. Yes, he sucks just as much as you would imagine.

This book plays out like a dream sequence in Peter Parker's mind. The over the top wackiness and Deadpool's habit of breaking the fourth wall really killed the story for me. If this adventure was a straight up Spider-Man tale it might have been ok. Unfortunately this was a story was about Deadpool in a cheerleaders outfit. 

AVX #11

The main event is here. Crazy ass Cyclops takes on both the Avengers and X-Men. Even after asking The (green) Hulk to lend a hand the good guys don't stand a chance against Scott. After kicking everyone's ass for about 7 straight pages he cranks things up to eleven when he lights Magneto on fire and ***SPOILER ALERT*** kills a prominent member of the X-Men. I'll at least leave some of the mystery as to who bites the big one. 

The story was kind of predictable. It wasn't poorly written but you could see the ending a mile away. Oliver Coipel did a hell of a job with the art. There were many moments in this book that were Panel of the Week quality. Coipel's panels are interesting and free flowing. After I read this one I went back and just admired how each page was laid out. It really was that good.

Before Watchmen: Comedian #3

The Comedian returns from his tour of duty in Vietnam Nam to find that America isn't completely behind the war. He then attempts to "help" break up the Watts riots while in minstrel face paint. The guys sure knows how to deliver a punch line.

J.G. Jones is in all his photo-realistic glory. His work gets better each week. 

Spider-Men #4

An unbelievably well written issue. 616 Peter Parker comes face to face with Aunt May and Gwen Stacy of the Ultimate Universe. Watching these characters go through the range of emotions was moving. May and Gwen got to see Peter Parker if he would have been given the chance to grow up and Peter experienced a world that had been inspired by his great sacrifice. 

This is one of Bendis' most emotional works and it might be his best. Sara Pichelli keeps up her high standard of art. I'll never get tired of seeing the way she draws Miles next to Peter.

Batman #0

Gint proclaimed that this was one of the best Batman stories he has ever read and I whole heartedly agree. I can say without hesitation that Snyder and Capullo are my favorite Bat creative team of all-time. 

It's always fun to see Bruce's early attempts at crime fighting as he infiltrates The Red Hood Gang. There is also a great moment with a young Jim Gordon and Bruce Wayne on the rooftop. I think these two will have a few more of these rooftop chats.

The second chapter is about the Gordon's decision to setup the Bat signal. Here we see what Tim Drake, Jason Todd and Dick Grayson were doing that fateful night. Even little Barbara Gordon makes an appearance as her father explains that the city needs more then a light on a rooftop, it needs a signal. A signal that their hope for a better future, for justice isn't a fantasy. 

Saga #5-6 

Marko loses his shit on some soldiers when it appears that Alana and Hazel are harmed. It's the first time that we get the idea that he may be a pretty dangerous dude. Prince Robot IV is now in hot pursuit and extra motivated to bring baby Hazel back. He had a baby on the way himself but can't return home until his mission is finished. 

The Will also finds new motivation to hunt Marko, Alana and Hazel. We also find out important details about his relationship with The Stalk. 

Saga is a fantastic book with a captivating story and brilliant art. If you haven't been following the adventures of Marko, Alana and Hazel and would like to get caught up you are in luck, the trade paperback will be at your local comic shop shortly -Soss

Panel of the Week: There were many quality choices for me this week. Gods fighting heroes bathed in flames, Spider-Men doing what spiders can, but this quiet moment was my favorite.

Mc$oss - Appetite for Comic Books

Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction is easily one of the greatest albums of all time. And due to their legendary antics and Axl Rose's utter lunacy, Guns N' Roses will go down in history as one of the greatest bands of all time. While I'd love for them to get back together and make a real GN'R album, its probably better to let them remain in the limbo of "what might have been." So should Sebastian Bach and the rest of Skid Row though the rest of Skid Row still has the balls to keep making bad albums without him.

But, Gint, what does this have to do with comics? Nothing at all besides honoring a great album with the Mc$oss treatment.

-Gint

Gint's 9-12-12 Pull-List Review

DC's Zero Month continues with five new origins and one He-Man.

Fifth Place:
Superboy #0

Tom DeFalco's first step into the world of Superboy was incredibly wordy. Too much talky that resulted in a really long issue.

We learn about the I, Robot scenario that took place on Krypton involving clones rising up to turn on their makers, the Kryptonians. The whole story is told via narration by villain, Harvest. It pretty much sets up that Superboy has some serious psychoses that DeFalco will be exploring on his run.

Despite a slow story, R.B. Silva's artwork is top notch as usual. Everything is sharp and clean and he puts a lot of design thought into what he's drawing.

Fourth Place:
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe #2

Issue #2 finally rolls around with Keith Giffen picking up James Robinson's story. Philip Tan and Howard Porter share the art duties. In my experience, there are two Howard Porters: the one that can draw and the one that can't. Gratefully the one that can draw showed up for this issue.

Adam encounters Trapjaw and Teela on his quest to regain his and the other heroes memories. In theory, this is a really cool idea for this arc, but the execution is missing something. Both issues 1 and 2 were fine. But I wanted better than fine. Its early. There are still four more issues to go so I won't pass too harsh a judgement.

The Eternia that has been created thus far has some cool shit happening for it. Lets hope that spills over to the story to help it reach its potential.

Third Place:
Batman and Robin #0

Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason treat us to the life of Damian Wayne up to the moment Grant Morrison wrote him meeting his father years ago.

Of all the Batman mythology, the Ra's al Ghul stuff has always been my least favorite. Batman in the desert never did it for me. Despite this, Talia is still the sexiest chick in comics. It doesn't seem to matter who draws her, she's always super fine. She's integral in this issue and Gleason hooks her up in every panel and Tomasi is very subtle in writing her complexity.

Much like Scott Snyder brought me back to Batman, Tomasi and Gleason have made me give a shit about Damian where Grant Morrison couldn't.

Second Place:
Green Lantern Corps #0

Its the secret origin of Guy Gardner. And unlike the other books in this week's Pull-List, this really is more of a straight up re-writing of Guy Gardner's origin.

Instead of getting the nod to replace Hal when Hal quits or whatever he did in the 80s, Guy is tapped to be Hal's Sector Partner. He's spent his whole life trying to live up to the legacy of his dad and older brother, which is the main reason Guy can't stand to be second place. Its a cool little story. I'd love to see John Stewart get the same treatment.

Fernando Pasarin is at his absolute best. This is a great looking book. Normally Pasarin is tasked with drawing exotic aliens and alien locales, but this book mostly takes place on Earth with normal Earth things. I've seen a lot of Pasarin's work and this is seriously some of his best.

First Place:
Batman #0

Brilliant. This was one of the best Batman comics I've ever read. Scott Snyder's Bat-characters are just the way I like them. Very similar to the way they're characterized in The Animated Series.

Snyder and artist Greg Capullo tell the story of Bruce starting his journey as a vigilante, before becoming Batman. Snyder knows how to write dialog. Not a word is wasted. We're introduced to the Red Hood Gang and they're a perfect fit for Gotham City. Some other writers should take a class from Snyder on how to write new villains.

Snyder and Capullo have restored the faith I had in Batman that Grant Morrison made me lose. This was just a really, really good comic book.

Panel of the Week:

Isn't this just the cutest? Patrick Gleason hooks up Damian as a child in his dad's duds.

-Gint

Secret Identities and Social Media

It's gotta be tough keeping a secret identity nowadays. Between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Foursquare it's amazing that everyone in the DC Universe isn't privy to who The Man of Steel truly is. 

Of course it might help if Superman's disguise was more then slicked back hair and a pair of glasses. -Soss  

Soss' Pull-List Reviews 9/13/12

Gambit #1 

One of the more popular goofballs from the 90's gets his own limited series. It's been well documented that I hate Remy Lebeau, stupid accent and all. Attempting to be open minded about this I decided to give Gambit a try. 

The story follows Mr. Lebeau as he attends a charity function hosted by a super villain arms dealer. Of course we get to see how smooth Gambit is with the ladies as well as how cunning a thief he is. 

I've never heard of either James Asmus or Clay Mann but both do a fine job in their respective roles. Asmus keeps the spirit of the character in tact while making him actually likable. If you like James Bond with a touch of Cajun flavor then this is your book. 

Batman: The Dark Knight #12 

Batman finds himself in the hands of the Scarecrow. Dr. Crane has a new fear toxin made from children's sweat (yuck) and figures that the best subject to test it out on is the Dark Knight. Daredevil: The Man Without Fear was his first choice, but beggars can't be choosers.  

David Finch presents the most terrifying looking Scarecrow in recent memory. His dark shadowy style fits this story perfectly. There is a retelling of Scarecrow's origin that looks like it was ripped right out of a great horror film. Creepy stuff. 

My only issue with this story is that we have about five pages hashing over Batman's origin. It felt like this was placed in the story simply to eat up pages. 

Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #1-6 

The opening arc for this all new Spider-Man introduces us to Miles Morales and his supporting cast. Unlike Peter Parker, Miles' mother and father are alive and involved in his life. Miles even has a living uncle who is not quite the shining example of virtue that Uncle Ben was. In fact his uncle turns out to be a super villain and is partially responsibly for Miles' spider powers. 

The real tragedy in this Spider-Man's life is the death of Peter Parker. The first Spider-Man was his hero and when he learns more about how Peter sacrificed his life to save his loved ones it only makes the decision to carry on in his name that much easier. 

Sara Pichelli draws the shit out of these books. I love that she captures the youth of Miles in both his face and his frame. When he is standing next to other costumed heros he doesn't appear to be just short. He clearly is a teenager. Her design for Miles' costume is also excellent. It's updated  but maintains the classic Spider-Man vibe. -Soss

Panel of the Week: A hero is born

Superwasted

If given the opportunity of maintaining the status quo or having superpowers and never getting drunk again, I'd seriously have to give the question pause. Does that make me an alcoholic? Maybe. Daddy does like to get a little stinky. Though, necessity is the mother of invention. I'd like to think I'd be crafty enough to find away to inebriate myself through my new metabolism.

-Gint

Gint's 9-5-12 Pull-List Review

September kicks off DC's Zero Month with some solid introductions to some new and old characters.

Fourth Place:
Swamp Thing #0

Well that was uncharacteristically boring. I guess the point of the Alec Holland origin story is that Anton Arcane has been driving it from the beginning. What it really reads as, is Anton Arcane #0.

Kano does a great job on artwork. He draws the book very similarly to Marco Rudy. Multiple artists or not, this isn't a book that will suffer because of it when the trade is collected.

Just a "meh" comic this week from the usually involving Scott Snyder. Lets get on back to Rotworld next issue.

Third Place:
Animal Man #0

Now this was a proper origin story for a character. Its a little silly the way Jeff Lemire wraps the new around the old, but the fact that he tries to integrate the previous Animal Man mythology into this one shows that he really cares about his work.

The Red has had many totems over the centuries, but once Anton Arcane keeps killing them, they have to make a new one. So they wind up being responsible for duping Buddy Baker with a fake "aliens granted me powers" story to make him their temporary Avatar until his daughter is ready to take on the role.

Steve Pugh's art looks great and this #0 doesn't miss a beat in the grand scheme of Lemire's Animal Man.

Second Place:
Action Comics #0

The backup story this issue by Sholly Fisch and Cafu was essentially a throwaway. It sets up a story for upcoming issues of Action, but nothing that seems very interesting.

The meat and potatoes of this story was the main story by Grant Morrison and Ben Oliver. I'm not a big fan of Oliver's work (light ink, most of the characters look like they have cataracts) but its good enough to sell Morrison's story about Clark's early days in Metropolis. There's a lot of talking. Lots of dialogue between characters and its great seeing the interplay between them. If anything has been missing from some of the Superman titles, this is it. Morrison nails it giving us believable versions of Clark, Jimmy and Lois.

A lot of what makes the Superman characters so interesting is their interaction with each other. The superhuman stuff is good, but its the regular human stuff that makes them great. Morrison does some of his best work this issue.

First Place:
Green Lantern #0

For as much as I don't think there needs to be a FIFTH Earth Green Lantern, Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke tell a cool story about Simon Baz, the guy who gets the ring after Hal and Sinestro die (get sucked into Black Hand's ring).

Baz's checkered past makes him different than the other Earth GL's. Even Hal was more of just a trouble maker than having done anything illegal. Baz gets the Ring under some heavy circumstances that puts the U.S. government and the Justice League out looking for him.

I will never agree that there should be five Green Lantern's from Earth all operating at once but Baz has some potential and it could be cool to watch him grow from the very beginning.

Panel of the Week:

Steve Pugh draws easily the most amusing panel this week from Animal Man #0.

-Gint

Plans For After Work

After a long, hard day of bounty hunting I'm sure The Will and Bobba Fett would love nothing better then to kick back and relax on a planet dedicated entirely to prostitution. -Soss

Soss' Pull-List Reviews 9/6/12

Green Lantern Annual #1

It was a treat to see Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver join forces once again to bring us a quality Green Lantern tale. While my GL readership is not consistent I'm always down to see what these two have to offer.

This was an uneven read for me. On one hand I loved the idea of a Third Army rising to serve the Guardians. I don't mind that the Guardians, obsessed with bringing order to the galaxy, have now officially lost their minds. After The War of Light and Blackest Night it seems the only logical direction this story can go in. Van Sciver's art is first rate. His take on the Green Lantern universe is by far my favorite. 

While on the other hand I HATE the design of the Third Army warriors. It comes off not only as a lazy design but kind of silly as well. Who are these dudes? Rejects from an episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers? Their normal eyes bugging out of their head is enough to make me not want to buy this storyline.

This book had a lot of promise but in the end I'm not 100 percent sold on the upcoming Third Army story. I guess I'll just ask Gint for the highlight.

Justice League #12
Let me ask this question right off the bat. Why did this book require nine inkers and five colorists? What was going on there? Anyway, back to the review.

As the David Graves storyline comes to a close we see cracks forming in the already disjointed JL. Hal begins to act like the version we are accustom to in the pages of Green Lantern, Aquaman questions Batman's leadership and Superman and Wonder Woman get to first base.

This was a nice finishing touch to a solid second story arc. I'm interested to see what that skinny bitch Amanda Waller does with David Graves' blueprint for defeating the Justice League.

Before Watchmen: Minutemen #3

The Before Watchmen books are bursting with talent. As I was reading the credits I came across a prime example. The colorist on Minutemen is one of my current favorite pencilers Phil Noto. For the uninitiated here is a link to his Tumblr http://philnoto.tumblr.com/. This guy is hands down one of the most talented creators out there and he is just the colorist on this book! 

Minutemen #3 follows the ramifications of the Minutemen casting the Comedian out of their ranks. This team really doesn't like one another and it shows. Throughout the book we are treated to panels from the Minutemen comic of that time. It reads like an issue of Archie. In one panel we see Hooded Justice saving a kitten form a tree while the next panel snaps us back to the reality of his brutal style of justice. 

We also see the development in the relationship between The Silhouette and Nite Owl. It shines a light on the reason why Hollis Mason treated her with such respect in his memoirs.

Avenging Spider-Man #12

The birthday celebration issue of Avenging threw a twist at me. Usual writer Zeb Wells was on duty but an unusually choice was made in the art department. Artist Steve Dillon handled pencils and inks. Yes, Steve Dillon of notoriously gruesome and super-powerless books like Punisher and Preacher. After reading the book I understood why Dillon got the assignment.

Typically Spider-Man books are full of acrobatics and action, not really Dillon forte. Avenging #12 was all about emotion. Peter and Aunt May visit Uncle Ben's grave and discuss the regret and sadness they both feel. The depiction of Aunt May is the best this side of Bendis' Ultimate Aunt May. She actually gives Peter shit and basically tells him to stop feeling guilty, whatever his reason maybe. 

A different kind of Spider-Man story but a fitting birthday gift to all us web-heads out there. -Soss 

Panel of the Week: The top-down view of this apartment highlights Cooke's creative take on storytelling through his penciling.