This week brought us a strong pull of books, including Scott Snyder's Wytches (which I forgot to pick up last week).
Fourth Place (retroactive to last week):
Wytches #1
Based on the strengths of Scott Snyder's starts, and Soss' review of Wytches, I decided to take the leap of faith. Despite the fact that these are not your standard pointy-hatted, broomstick-riding witches, issue #1 is a pretty strong start. And of course it is. That's what Snyder does.
Snyder tells the story of "wytches," some weird tree-beings or something that grant you wishes if you bring a human to sacrifice. Its an interesting take on spooky supernatural mythology. The wytches have some connection to our heroine, Sail, that will be the crux of the book.
Jock's heavy black artwork provides the proper creepy mood for a pretty messed up book. Punches were not pulled and Snyder and Jock are completely comfortable showing you the creepy darkness that resides in this world. Like all Snyder's work, great start... but the real trick is the finish.
Third Place:
Futures End #24
Black Adam and the space team barely escape the Brainiac planet, Ronnie Raymond (successfully) macks on Tim Drake's girlfriend, and Constantine gets his compatriots killed. That's this issue in a nutshell.
Easily the most aggravating character in this story is Jason Rusch's boss, Mr. Yamazake. Yamazake lost his wife in the E2 War and is obsessed with bringing teleportation tech to the masses. Jason Rusch is a total fucking idiot that doesn't realize Yamazake is a damn lunatic. This storyline could benefit from a little more subtlety.
Brainiac and the creature that killed Constantine's boys are still really cool designs. Though the New Gods presence is still grating. Who really gives a shit about Mister Miracle and Fury?
Second Place:
Batman and Robin #35
Batman has made it safely to Apokolips to get Damian's body back. Tim, Barbara and Jason (with some help from Alfred and Cyborg) follow him to help him. As good as this book as been, this issue takes a small step back.
There are a couple pages where its not exactly clear what's happening with Batman's Hellbat suit. Can it turn liquid? Can it dissolve skin? I guess that's what's happening but it seems awfully extreme even for Batman taking on gods on a hell planet. Perhaps these are all questions to be answered, but I'm impatient.
Pete Tomasi and Pat Gleason are iron men. No creative team has put together so many consecutive issues at such high quality as these two. I can more than give these guys a pass if this one issue didn't light my world on fire.
First Place:
Justice League #35
For a while now I've been saying I want a run on a Justice League book to feature the same members of the JL for a long arc. I may have gotten my wish. Since Forever Evil, we've had essentially the same team. The team looks to stay roughly the same through this next arc.
Ivan Reis and Doug Mahnke split penciling duties this issue. Action is kept to a minimum, though that's not Geoff Johns' strong suit. His best work, particularly on this book is two characters talking to each other. He makes you feel bad for Lex, as the League is plotting to bust him doing something illegal to put him in jail. Johns may be writing Luthor as TOO likable. I don't want Superman and Batman to catch him.
Jason Fabok starts the art duties on the next issue. All of his promo materials have looked amazing. They also look a little too high quality to maintain the schedule of a monthly book.
Panel of the Week:
Patrick Gleason's Batgirl suiting up in a retrofitted Robin costume. Pure sex, folks.
-Gint
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