On The Precipice of Mediocrity, Teetering
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| I Am John's Stomach Pains. On The Precipice of Mediocrity, Teetering |
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Monday, May 17, 2004 10 Comics You Should Be Reading, Pt. 1 of 2 Well, in the comments section I've been saying I'd get around to discussing the comic book scene out there, which I had sorta gotten away from. In fact, my last all comic post was all the way back in November. Crazy. Anyway, since some time has gone by, I thought I'd give a heads up on ten of my favorite books out there today. And the big surprise: not one X-book made the list. Mystique and Exiles were the only two that even ranked. Here's hoping Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men lives up to the hype. Anyway, let's get to the 'bottom' 5. 10) Superman: Birthright - Supes has never been a favorite of mine. Being a Marvel bitch sorta cemented that. But, this new miniseries, reimagining Superman’s early years has been nearly pitch perfect, and as it reaches it climax, I can’t wait to see how it ends. By incorporating some similarities to the current Smallville, setting the origin in modern day, as well as bringing a crisp pencil style from Lenil Francis Yu, it’s made a fan out’ve this jaded fanboy. 9) Gotham Central - A book that puts a perfect real world view on how the superhero vs. supervillain stories would affect the professionals who keep us safe. I’m not a big cop drama fan, but the interaction of the GCPD, with it’s diverse flock of characters sucks you in, and if the occasional bat-villain shows up to cause trouble – be it a psychopathic Joker or an incarcerated Mad hatter - all the better. 8) The Pulse - The precursor to this book, Alias, will go down as one of my favorite series of all time (the final arc, “Purple” in particular). The Pulse has yet to hook me in completely, but it’s definitely on its way. It is great to see supporting players like J. Jonah Jameson, Be Urich, and especially Kat Farrell, who I fell in love with in the miniseries Deadline from a short while ago. But the true strength of the series is the Jessica Jones/Luke Cage relationship, one of the most true we’ve seen from Marvel in a long time. The one weakness I see is Mark Bagley – one of my favorites – as artist. The pairing of Bendis and Bagley has produced genius, but here, it just seems off. I miss Gaydos. 7) Amazing Spiderman - JMS’s run has brought a whole different slant to the webslinger we’ve yet to see, with an emphasis on magic and mythology, which I’ve loved every minute of. The dialogue can get a little long-winded (and this is coming from a Bendis’ fanatic), but the art from Romita Jr. is some of the best he’s ever produced. I have a feeling the current arc may be the denouement for JMS’s magical theme, with Ezekiel’s true motives finally coming to a head… should be interesting to see where we go next. 6) Runaways - Marvel’s Tsunami line from last year fizzled damn quick, but this was the one shining book of the bunch. The dialogue has Whedonesque qualities, and the art has a dynamic flair, even when the young characters are chatting in their ‘secret headquarters’. But the true strength of this book is in the characters, a unique group of teens shouldering the burden of having supervillains for parents. Whether it’s the fact their strongest member is a 12 year old girl, or their leader being the only non-power among them, each issue grabs you with true-to-life interactions, new takes on classic characters (who woulda thought Cloak and Dagger could be cool), and a cliffhanger in each issue, I’m coming back every time. Sadly, the sales aren’t very good (for shame!) so I have a feeling we won’t be seeing it for much longer. To Be Concluded... BTW, feel free to try out the new commenting system! I'm gonna keep the old kind up for a couple more days just to see if I can save the older ones... posted by Holz | 12:39 AM | Rant & Rave, Bitches! (4) 4 Comments:Just testing out the new Blogger commenting system, for some reason it doesn't show on the main page.
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OMG, there will be no dissage of old Cloak and Dagger! I loved those characters, and didn't mind the writers' pandering methods of conveying social responsibility. They were both visually striking, and am glad they're sort of back in Marvel's consciousness...
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Sorry for seeming to diss C&D, didn't mean to come off that way, I was a fan of them as well.
By Hey it's Stan. 'Bout time we had a comic discussion. Now don't get me wrong I dislike Austen's work, but at least I don't read it and say, "Why in the world did I just waste my money?" Thy at least keep my occupied and somewhat entertained. The one I HATE is Morrison. I can't stand that run. It was total crap in my book. Disliked everything about it. The school coming out. The bad characterizations(Austen does this too). The CRAP art. Not that I could do better. I swear, most of the Quitely art looks like Muppets take the Mansion. Su-ucks. Anyway, Thanks Holz for the comic review. Can't wait for Exiles. That and the Wolverine relaunch are my favorite books. Just dropped Weapon X since I heard they were doing a Weapon X/Weapon + Morrison explanation. Even when he's gone, he not gone. By the way, Rucka(SP), Claremont, and Winnick ROCK! Tierri is usually pretty good too, but lately he's been taking too much from Morrison, so it's time for his tile to go bye bye. I'll pick it up in the quarter bin. Hopefully, I'll be able to snag some of the other titles like Runaways and Sentinel at Wizard World this Friday. O long enough, later.
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"Let a man get away with fuckin' you once, you stay bent over so's he can fuck you again whenever he damn well pleases. An' if one man can do it? Another will too. An' another, an' another still. So's being fucked, that's yer life. 'Til who you were, you ain't. 'Cause all you are is an asshole." 100 Bullets #42 | |||||
