A really good week.
Blue Beetle #24
During the year-end awards or whatever, I voted that this series was the single best comic book series of the year. This issue is why.
The best plotting of any comic. The best narration. The best dialogue. The best characters. The best humor, and action, and payoffs. This series is why I simply do not
accept mediocrity in comics. There's simply no excuse for mediocrity when something as good as this could exist, something that built itself off of a very awkward premise and yet got to the place it's at today. Against all odds, with none of the advantages that a "hip" comic would have and all of the disadvantages of a barely-there series replete with rotating writers, artists, and whatnot..it has still been consistently, unfailingly on top.
And it all makes me angry. Why? Because I know -- I
know -- that none of you are reading it. And it's even more frustrating because this week would be pretty much the single worst week to start reading due to all of the things that were laid down over the past two years coming to a head, so it's not like I can even go "Buy this issue, YOU DUMB FKERS!" And I can't even say "Start buying after this arc, YOU DUMB FKERS!" because John Rogers is apparently taking a temporary leave to do something else while Pfeifer comes aboard and may or may not run the book to the ground.
I do have to wonder what the heck Jaime's dad was talking about when he brought up the "Dominion War," though. What's that? I googled that and came up with Star Trek stuff. Oh well, it was still a badass moment. As was everything else.
Oh, and for those of you wondering what Jaime typed into the engine computers...[blackout]it's gibberish[/blackout].
(10 out of 10)
And continuing on the theme of books that none of you are reading for no good reason...
52 Aftermath: Crime Bible: Five Lessons of Blood #5...Parable of the Faceless
Pfft. Did Vic Sage ever lead his own evil religious cult? I think not!
DiDio and Rucka have been suggesting for some time that the upcoming year holds a lot of surprises for the Crime Bible and the Question, and I suppose this is what they've meant. With so many other good things at the company either ending abruptly or slowing down or whatnot (With the passing of this miniseries, the books that Rucka is writing for DC drops down to...one), it's good to know that at least this one thing isn't truly ending and will be picked up on soon.
And oh yeah..."Faceless" and "Faithless." Heh. I just now figured that out.
(8.5 out of 10)
(9 out of 10 for the entire miniseries)
Thor #6
Oh, I really liked this. It read like Gaiman. Reading like Gaiman is good. I mean,
copying Gaiman isn't good, but reading like him is.
I don't think it's right to call this "decompression." Sure it...bears the superficial hallmarks of a story taking its sweet time to tell the story, but...I don't feel like the time is wasted at all. Every page, every scene, is a wonder and sometimes a joy to read. And after reading JMS's wordy and often forced dialogue punctuating every panel of AMS for years, sometimes it's nice for him to just...take his sweet time, so to speak. He's definitely not as bad as some I could name if I were forced to, of course, but this is just nicer.
I like the Asgardians. I like building them from the ground up again. Throughout the years you always tend to get the sense of "There's so much more you can do" with these sorts of characters, and now this series is doing that...the "much more" part.
Looking forward to even more.
(8.8 out of 10)
Captain America #35
A bit of an odd issue. It picks up off the events of the last, of course, but almost feels like it's more of the same as the last one. Bucky fights while monologuing and gets used to not getting used to being Steve. Natasha sounds off as his operator, and hijinks with guns ensue. Things do happen and we get a bit more exposition and plot from both sides, but it's not till we get to the end of the issue that it feels like we got to anything new.
It's all fine, of course, and it'll read great in collected format. But I guess I'm just really impatient for Captain Bucky to really show up and do his thing.
(7 out of 10)
Young Avengers Presents #2: Hulkling
"
When I was nine all I cared about was Pokemon...the opposite of training to be a warrior[/i]."
Heh.
Not according to Big Barda.
A very nice story for what it is. Both characters are written pretty wonderfully, the things that need to be said are said, and that's that. It's the sort of supermagical family reunion plotline that can only happen in comics and, therefore,
needs to happen in comics.
More information (read: confusion) about the Young Avengers' status post-Civil War. They're still out there fighting crime, except that they're all still living normal lives (where in the world does Teddy live, though? No idea. My brain wants to say "In Billy's bed," but then my brain wants to say a lot of things), and apparently the law is still trying to get them arrested, except that the law for some reason never thinks to look for them in, oh I dunno, their own homes. 'Cause it's not like the entirety of the Avengers and SHIELD knows their secret identities anyway or something, right? It's not like one of them
doesn't even wear a mask or anything, right?

And now we've all officially put more thought into this than all of Marvel put together.
The art is...okayishly...good. It's quite detailed and quite expressive, though at times I feel like it's detailed in all the wrong places. Too many eyelashes. Faces have wrinkles where wrinkles don't belong. It's never quite distracting, but it is noticeable.
How many shirts do you think Teddy goes through? It seems like he just ups and transforms on a whim. Maybe he just does what Mystique does and his clothes are secretly part of his transformation and he's just naked all the time. And now my brain is done.
(7.4 out of 10)
Teen Titans #56
Sigh.
I...get what McKeever is trying to do and what he's
going to do here. It's simple, it will probably work when all is said and done. If the team feels dysfunctional and disjointed and assholish and pretty much hate each other at the moment, it's going to feel cool and happy or whatever when all this conflict is
resolved and the team actually works and like each other. I get that.
The problem is that the team has felt dysfunctional and disjointed and assholish for
going on two years now. Enough is enough. I don't like these characters and I don't understand why I would like them. While no one is exactly "out of character" in the way that you'd normally expect out of character characters to be, we've still been seeing the absolute worst sides of these characters for far too long now. Enough. Is. Enough. None of these people are friends, none of them like each other, I'm seriously coming up emply on why in the world any of them would even want to be on the team right now. It's too fcking ridiculous.
And this is on top of McKeever writing people in Birds of Prey like they are just wild, angry mofos as well. So, I dunno, you tell me...is this normal for him?
And on top of that, we're now doing
another Evil Titans storyline. Because the last two main stories being about Evil Titans certainly wasn't enough, nope.
And on top of
that, the art by Barrows makes everyone look about 73% angrier than they should actually look. Even people like Zatara who aren't supposed to be angry look like they're about to burst an artery. "Are you saying you regret it...YOU DUMB LITTLE FCK???? I KILL YOU! I KILL YOU NOW WITH FIRE!!!" is something I'd
actually expect to come out of someone wearing his expressions.
I feel pretty done with this. I'll probably continue to read (not buy) it once in a while, but I don't have any expectations anymore.
(3.3 out of 10)
Fallen Angel #24
And then, out of freaking nowhere, Linda Danvers!
Okay, so it's not quite as out of nowhere as it seems (random cast members appearing and disappearing on a whim has pretty much been a hallmark of this series from day one). But it was kind of surprising 'cause the last time we saw Linda, it kiiiinda felt like it would be the last time we did.
Continuing on the first plot in this book that has felt like a plot in the longest time, and boy does it do its job. Great fights, great dialogue, great moments from the Fallen Angel. It's what you'd buy this book for. For Lee to be throwing bad guys through walls while telling them to, and I quote, fcking fck themselves. PAD doesn't skimp on the supporting characters, either, and we feel things really falling together in that chess pieces on a board thing that I really like in these chess pieces on a board stories.
And, yes, Linda Danvers.
(8.4 out of 10)