Had this been a big week, I would not have bought Marvel's $4.99 Darth Vader book. Extra pages be damned, I disagree that inflation has reached the point of making $5 for one comic acceptable.
Third Place:
Futures End #41
Keith Giffen has said Futures End is not just a prequel to Convergence. After seeing a couple panels this issue involving Brainiac's ship and the myriad of other versions of DC characters within, that's hard to believe. I've long accepted the fact Futures End will be a "complete story" as much as any other comic story is these days.
Brainiac has attacked on two fronts: in space with the familiar skull ship, in New York where he manifests himself. In both places he pretty much hands our heroes their asses. Meanwhile Batman confronts Mr. Terrific who seems to be a huge douchebag in this book. It seems like Brother Eye has mind-wiped him, but after seeing how he's acted the rest of the book's run, I'm not so sure.
Brainiac and Brother Eye are clearly the bad guys here, but it wouldn't be a 20-teens comic without making a good guy have questionable morals, huh?
Second Place:
Coffin Hill #15
This starts the third arc of the book's run, and we seem to be getting back to basics. The previous arc followed Eve Coffin as a police officer using magic to track a serial killer in Boston. But the subject matter didn't seem to suit the big city. Much like the TV show Supernatural seems to work better in a more rural setting, Coffin Hill does too.
We're back in Coffin Hill where the first Coffin witch has been reawakened to enact her revenge on her descendants. The setting of this small New England town is integral to the entire book. It creates the proper atmosphere for a dark, gruesome story about witches.
Coffin Hill continues to be an under-the-radar type of book. Good art, good story, but it continues to be a book I never see anything about, whether for good or bad. I suppose I'd rather see no news than #savecoffinhill hashtags start popping up.
First Place:
Darth Vader #1
Like I said, I wasn't happy about the $4.99 price tag. A quick glance at Salvador Larocca's art convinced me to look past it and give this book a try. Larroca's art also got me over the opinion that Darth Vader doesn't need his own book. Well, I can admit when I'm wrong.
Larroca's art is clearly the winner of this issue. Every panel is done exceptionally well. The character likenesses are brilliant. Between Cassaday on Star Wars, Larroca on Darth Vader and Terry and Rachel Dodson on Princess Leia next month, Marvel spared no expense on artwork for their new Star Wars line.
A nice touch is seeing this book told from the Empire's perspective. They're not necessarily the "heroes" of the book, but we see how they react to the Rebels' antics in Star Wars #1 and #2.
Where Star Wars hasn't left me clamoring for the next issue, Darth Vader got me a little excited for what comes next.
Panel of the Week:
This Salvador Larroca and Edgar Delgado draw an Emperor that's creepier than he ever was in the movies.
-Gint
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