A good run of books on the Pull-List this week. I feel bad having to dump one of them in last place.
Detective Comics #31
As stated above, none of the books were bad this week, but someone's gotta be last. And this issue didn't quite live up to the other entries this week. Which surprises me. Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato can tell a good story. And they are.
I like that, so far, their first Detective story is focusing on the "detective" side of Batman. A mysterious death greets Bruce Wayne at his front door, and its up to the Batman to figure it out. Its also up to Harvey Bullock who thinks Bruce Wayne is a douche bag. I was always a fan of Harvey and it looks like he's going to be an integral player in this arc.
Manapul and Buccellato's art is top notch as usual. Image Matt may claim its pedestrian, but they way they work tweaks my art boner.
Green Lantern #31
Now, its been a long time since Green Lantern beat out a book on the Pull-List. Okay, maybe it just FEELS that way. But for the first time in what... nine issues, the team of Robert Venditti and Billy Tan gave me a little of that old Geoff Johns feeling.
Instead of standing around getting their asses handed to them, and highlighting Hal Jordan as a totally inept character, Venditti decides to turn on the offensive and shows the GLs doing what GLs do: kick ass. There's less hemming and hawing about using their rings and instead, a couple turns of cheering for the heroes.
Billy Tan's art is still incredibly underwhelming, but his overall storytelling does what its supposed to. Its still a far cry from being my favorite book, but this issue had hope.
Futures End #1
Yes, after the wallet-sucking failures that were Countdown and, even moreso Trinity, I'm back in the DC weekly game. Batman Eternal sounds like garbage, but Futures End may be where its at for me. The initial setup has that 52 feeling. The story will supposedly revolve around a handful of B and C-listers, and the creative team is comprised of four writers like 52 was. This time its Brian Azzarello, Keith Giffen, Dan Jurgens and Jeff Lemire. ALL credible writers.
The story kicks off sending Terry McGinnis (Batman Beyond) back to the past to stop Mr. Terrific's Brother Eye from turning on the humans and enslaving the populace of the New 52. This issue sets up Firestorm and Grifter as potential allies in the upcoming war against Brother Eye. Brother Eye also slaughters Stormwatch in the opening pages which I'm a fan of.
Patrick Zircher does the issues pencils and inks and does a pretty solid job. Its not mind blowing or art boner-tweaking, but its solid. It sets a good tone for a weekly. We can't expect a Manapul/Buccellato joint from a weekly after all.
Aquaman and the Others #2
Who'd have thought Aquaman and the Others would be one of my favorite DC books? Maybe favorite is pushing it, but two issues in and its damn enjoyable.
Dan Jurgens has a nice handle and voice for each of the Others. He takes his time telling you about each one. Looks like that's going to be spread out from issue to issue which is a smart way of dumping a lot of information on the reader. What's funny is that the least developed character so far is Aquaman.
The search for why their Atlantean artifacts don't work, coupled with who shot their plane out of the sky, along with searching for a dead team member's sister sounds like a lot of info for a couple issues, but Jurgens tells it smoothly and without confusion. I'm just as surprised to see this book in Second Place as anyone.
The Wake #8
Two more issues to go before Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy's masterpiece wraps up. I'll be sad to see it go. Though, I really enjoyed issues 1-5 more than 6-8 so far. Maybe 9 and 10 will bring it full circle.
That being said, this is still a super cool story. There's so much going on that trying to explain it would just give us all a headache. The Government is after our hero Leeward, who is searching for a deux ex machina to defeat the Mers. She gets some help from Captain Mary, a very likeable pirate and his crew. Shit's heating up.
Snyder and Murphy seemingly have a lot of ground to cover in two issues to wrap this guy up.
Panels of the Week:
This was a really tough call as there were no panels this week that immediately grabbed my attention. So when all else fails... titties. Brought to you by Sean Murphy.
-Gint
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