Gint's 12-18-13 Pull-List Review

The week of December 18th sees another book get cut from the Pull-List. Heads are rolling. Books are going to have to start entertaining me or, in the immortal words of Sebastian Bach, "get the fuck out."

Sixth Place:

Wonder Woman #26

This book has the same problem Brian Wood's Star Wars does: things happen, but it feels like nothing happens. We've been trying to protect Zola's baby Zeke for 26 issues now. Isn't it about time to wrap this up?

The standard issues apply to this issue as the last however many. Diana has no personality. She's essentially just a badass fighter. I suppose she's also introspective, but she's boring. The entertainment and excitement from this book falls on the shoulders of the other characters who are WAY more interesting than the girl whose name is on the cover. Also, if Brian Azzarello wanted to write a book about Greek gods, DC should just let him and let someone else write a book about Wonder Woman. Because this isn't it.

I've been expecting some kind of large payoff for a long time now. I don't think its coming. Don't expect to see Wonder Woman on the Pull next month.

Fifth Place:

X-Men #8

Ah, ye olde bait and switch. Put a hot Monet drawn by Terry and Rachel Dodson on the cover... and then don't feature her in the book. Anywhere. Not even her name is mentioned.

Marvel continues the Artist Carousel having Barry Kitson fill in some pages between Terry Dodson's work. Its not bad by any stretch, but it IS a change from Dodson. Every Marvel book I've read over the last few months has had this artist problem. Why can't one artist do an entire run anymore?

Brian Wood's doing a great job with this story. Now that events and interruptions are over, he's able to concentrate on his own story. Lady Deathstrike is back teaming up with Typhoid Mary to steal Arkea (a sentient supercomputer that can destroy he world) from the X-Men. The only guy in this book is the villain John Sublime. I don't know anything about him, but the way Wood writes him wrapped up in this female-centric story is very entertaining.

Fourth Place:
Animal Man #26

Well, this was a strange issue. It picks up on last issue's cliffhanger where Buddy gets transported to an alien planet. We find out what its about and it doesn't make sense to me to start a whole new idea on this book with only three issues left.

Buddy gets transported to the Seed Planet, which is sort of the hub of all the Red, Green and Rot in the universe. Buddy kills a giant monster and is deemed the new Bridgekeeper of that planet. What that means is when the current Bridgekeeper dies, Buddy will take his place no matter what. So Buddy agrees so long as this being sends him back into the Red to save Maxine. It felt like a really convoluted way to get him entrance to the Red after the totems shut him out many issues ago.

Not Jeff Lemire and (fill-in) Cully Hamner's best issue, but it doesn't hurt how good this book has been overall.

Third Place:

Rogues Rebellion #3

In a much different vein than Brian Azzarello's Wonder Woman, Brian Buccellato's Rogues Rebellion is able to clearly round out each character's personality in this ensemble cast.

The Rogues are the everyday villain. They'd be you and me if we had superpowers. We'd use them to make money and live a comfortable life of excess. We wouldn't be inspired to save the world, but we'd help out if the need arose. That's the Rogues. And with Captain Cold helping out in Forever Evil proper, Mirror Master takes the lead in this issue and Buccellato gives the character more depth and makes him more likeable than a lot of other characters that have come through the Pull-List lately. I'm looking at you Rocket Raccoon.

Unlike characters like Venom and Harley Quinn (who I don't think are grey-area-enough villains to be the lead in a book) the Flash's Rogues have enough character and a great dynamic with each other to be a book I'd buy monthly.

Second Place:
Batman and Two-Face #26

What can I say about Peter Tomasi and Pat Gleason's Batman And... title that I haven't said already? If you're not buying it, you should be.

In this current arc, Batman, and by extension Bruce Wayne, are in more of a supporting character role. The story revolves around the relationship between Erin McKillen who killed Harvey's wife Gilda after breaking out of the prison Harvey put her in. What Tomasi and Gleason do so well is make you feel sympathy for both characters, who are both reprehensible murderers.

Tomasi and Gleason have such a symbiotic working relationship that it makes whatever they're working on a pleasure to read. I'd go out of my way to find this creative team.

First Place:
Saga #17

Saga is reminding me of a lesson The Walking Dead taught me long ago: don't get attached to characters. Without giving away any spoilers, SOMEONE dies this issue. And its a bummer of a way to go. Actually, TWO people may die this issue, but I'm pretty sure Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples will leave it at one.

Staples pulls out the big guns this issue for a pretty graphic scene of what Prince Robot once saw during a life and death experience. Nothing like a little porno with your comics, I always say! I think the fact that this book has a planned ending really allows the creative team to plan which characters befall which fates and how their deaths will play out later in the series through other characters. Also, in a finite series, when a character dies, they're probably staying dead.

Each issue sets up more potentially great stuff to come. Its going to be a pretty sad day when this book finally wraps up.

Panel of the Week:

Something about Patrick Gleason's Bruce Wayne in this panel really stood out. Maybe its the lack of thick blacks around the eyes I'm used to seeing from Gleason.

-Gint