Gint's 3-11-15 Pull-List Review

The Nova Annual was a game-time decision this week. And Star Wars gave me a little more faith in that series.

Fourth Place:

Futures End #45

Don't let this Fourth Place finish fool you. This was a good issue. The writing team is doing a good job pulling all the previous fourty-four week's storylines together for the finale. Brainiac is temporarily neutralized while Brother Eye slowly takes control. A big component of that control is turning dead soldiers into half-robot zombies. Comics, folks!

Stephen Thompson and Jack Herbert split art duties. I'm not sure who's work is who's, but its all pretty solid. Some really well done panels featuring one that even gives a nod to Christopher Reeve's Superman.

The panel that was most impressive is a headshot of Shazam. He's one of very few comic book characters that generally looks like the same person no matter who draws him. He's not drawn like a particular actor or person, but his face has remained the same since the 40s. I think that's neat.

Third Place:

Coffin Hill #16

Not too much to report here. Just a good creative team banging out a good comic book month to month. It doesn't sound like much of a compliement, but these days, when you get a consistently enjoyable comic month to month, you really need to appreciate it.

I'm a fan of Inaki Miranda's artwork. What really stood out to me this issue was the way she drew Lorelei's hair in the first few pages. It looks so natural. The way she uses super thin lines to denote flyaways left me shaking my head in frustration. Mostly because I love hair, but can't draw it with much success.

The current story arc has focused on a trio of kids killing their families decades apart. The smaller nature and environment of the small town of Coffin Hill lends itself much better to this kind of creepy-ass story. The familiarity of the small town, that could be your small town makes the creepy creepier.

Second Place:

Star Wars #3

Okay. I beat this book up a little last week. Mostly because issues #1 and #2 didn't blow me away. At the same time the first issues of Darth Vader and Princess Leia DID blow me away. The strength of those books highlighted some flaws in this one.

But #3 has been the strongest issue so far. Sure, Jason Aaron is still leaning a little too heavily on lines of dialog and cadence from the Original Trilogy, but this issue felt more natural. The previous issues felt like, "make the core cast do something exciting!" #3 felt more organic and less of a mandate from Marvel/Disney.

My biggest problem is Darth Vader being so heavily involved in this book. It just takes away from the importance of his run-ins with the core cast in the movies. True, it stands to reason their paths may cross, but I don't buy it. I'm sure it helps sell books, but it doesn't ring true.

First Place:

Nova Annual #1

I wasn't going to buy this. Annuals are usually just fluff to sell an extra oversized issue for more money. BUT... this one tied in pretty heavily to the main story that's being told. Had I skipped this issue, I'd have missed a key part of the run: Nova getting his helmet fixed.

That's at the core of the issue, but surrounding it is the buddy comedy of Sam and Doc Green (some weird-ass, smart, bearded Hulk that's running around the Marvel Universe these days) flying around the galaxy getting into trouble trying to fix it. It works. Its one of Gerry Duggan's strengths: properly balancing the fun and serious moments of a story.

What should have dropped this book to last because I hated it so much was the cliffhanger last page where Nova gets folded into the Black Vortex Guardians of the Galaxy/X-Men crossover. Despite Marvel constantly forcing this book into whatever company-wide crossover they're currently promoting, Duggan has powered through keeping Nova and the tone of Nova focused. Kudos to him because Marvel editorial isn't doing him any favors.

Panel of the Week:

Jack Herbert's Shazam.

-Gint