50% of my books this week were pretty satisfying. If that was my batting average I'd be in the hall of fame.
Sixth Place:
Star Wars #12
Besides Carlos D'Anda's art, this book is really losing me. After twelve issues I feel like nothing has really happened. This issue felt more like a spy/intrigue story than space fantasy. And maybe that's what this book is missing so far?
A New Hope is a fast-paced action-adventure movie. This book, its chronological sequel, is slow and introspective, yet thoughtful. Writer Brian Wood gives us a nice behind the scenes of where Luke and Leia are emotionally, but I think this could be done in a more exciting way. Instead, we get a whole spy story surrounding Mon Mothma and her nephew who may or may not be a double agent for the Empire.
Issue number twelve here looks like a fresh start. There are some interesting subplots that will keep me around, but overall, this book better get better.
Fifth Place:
Green Lantern Corps #26
What started off with a lot of possibilities is grinding itself into tedium. Each issue is, "boo hoo we can't use the emotional spectrum because its killing the universe." I understand there's some creative earth to mine when you say, "what if the Lanterns' weren't allowed to use their rings?" And maybe there's some real-world environmentalist subtext happening that I should pay more attention to. But I miss the simple task of just sending the intergalactic police out to bust bad guys. What's wrong with that?
And the Durlan's are hatching some scheme in the background to "destroy the Green Lanterns." Sigh... c'mon. Isn't it time we have a moratorium on a big bad trying to destroy the Green Lanterns?
Bernard Chang's artwork is great as always, he alone will keep me reading, but the overall business around the creative team on this corner of the DCU needs some work.
Fourth Place:
Justice League #25
Last issue was the origin of Ultraman. This issue is the origin for Owlman. Seeing the evil alternate universe versions of the origins we know so well has been a lot of fun. Geoff Johns gives the Owlman origin a nice twist I didn't see coming.
This issue we see who Owlman is and more of why he wants our universe's Dick Grayson protected. Its a pretty interesting way to go about redefining who the one-note villain was previously. Johns also sneaks in a little cameo/origin of our Earth's Eel O'Brien (Plastic Man).
I wasn't expecting a whole lot from the get go, but most of the Forever Evil books I've read have been pretty damn entertaining.
Third Place:
Superman Wonder Woman #3
The weakest issue of Charles Soule and Tony Daniel's run so far is basically a lot of setup. And when I say weakest, that doesn't mean it was bad.
Diana is trying to find a Christmas present for Clark, which is played up classily where it could have been fish-out-of-water silly. The big beat of the story is that Zod shows up out of nowhere in the desert. Not even he knows what's happened. Clark takes him in because so far, Zod hasn't presented himself as a bad guy. I guess this is Zod's first New 52 appearance. I'm curious to see where it goes from here.
In some ways it felt like the first issue of an arc: lots of setup for things to come.
Second Place:
Batman #26
The strangest thing about Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Zero Year is seeing the animosity between Bruce Wayne and Jim Gordon. They play it out naturally and organically, but its still sad seeing a time when these guys weren't buddies.
Capullo's art is top notch as always as Bruce gets his ass handed to him by Doctor Death. Jim Gordon needs Bruce's help to go after him (outside regular police business) but Bruce is a raging dick and essentially tells Gordon to fuck off. Breaks my heart.
This is a book I can count on every month to be a good read.
First Place:
Nova #11
Gerry Duggan's first full issue with Paco Medina is damn close to everything I'm looking for in a comic book these days. The dialog is smart, the art is sharp, and the story is both personal and extraordinary.
Marvel can't seem to keep a creative team on a book for more than three issues these days, so I'm hoping Duggan and Medina can stay at it a while. Their story kicks off with Sam's Nova helmet showing him different points in the galaxy where Nova's have died, presumably so Sam can collect the helmets. He's balancing this Nova task with his high school Earth duties like school, babysitting and being forced to join the chess club.
Its really what I want from the Green Lantern books that I'm not getting. Nova is hitting all the right notes.
Panel of the Week:
Something about Carlos D'Anda's 2-1B really moved me this week.
-Gint
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