Aaron’s dialogue skills are his greatest strength. He has an ability to raise the angry, profane conversations between his characters into pristine shock poetry. Having worked as a physician on a Navajo reservation for a short while, I’m astonished at how accurately he’s portrayed life on the Rez. It’s really something. It makes me think,”how does he know all this stuff?” The work is raw, natural, and a real joy to read. However, I understand your reservations about his work. He still hasn’t made himself into a master storyteller. He still hasn’t really told a great story. The interesting thing about doing mainstream work is that he’ll have to reign in his flashy language and imagery, and actually have to tell a great story. If he’ll be able to subvert the superhero genre to tell polished, mature stories like Brubaker’s been doing since he joined Marvel, will be interesting to watch. That is if he even wants to do that sort of thing, and let’s hope he does!

What’s Dynamo 5? This is not ringing a bell for me at all! And I would have loved to buy Gutsville, but my comic shop didnt order a single copy…. and they’re usually really good at ordering new series. Damn…

For what it’s worth, as of Saturday, the first issue was still available for reorder, so your shop should be able to get it for you. Same for Dynamo 5 #2-3, although I’m not as sure about #1.

As for what Dynamo 5 is… we’ve reviewed it, but the short version is, a Superman-type dies, and his widow finds out that he was basically a super-adulterer, and five of his illegitimate children have one of his powers each, so she gathers them up to be a superteam to take his place. Except there’s a twist at the end which I won’t reveal. It’s like Invincible, classic superhero on one hand but with an interesting modern spin on the concept. And it has gorgeous art.

Issue three has one of the funniest first pages in recent memory. It’s an Image book, btw.

2. Scalped-Best new writer of 2007 period. The fact that Vertigo prints their lesser selling books on toilet paper is a disservice to the art of new comer Guera, whose noir stylings look like a mix of early Miller, Denys Cowan and a little John Buscema. Don’t wait for the trade on this one, it’ll probably be cancelled before they can get a collection together!

3. New Universal-In terms of quality I’d put it a couple of notches below Planetary. I’m surprised at the effort Warren Ellis puts into this company book. It’s dense, well thought out, and not as flighty and disposable as much of his lesser work.

I want to like both of these, but I’ve been having trouble getting into them. I’m hoping they’ll read better to me collected. Jason Aaron’s writing is solid, but it hasn’t hooked me on the level that it seems to have hooked a lot of folks. Many seem to have fallen in love with his writing the way I did when I first encountered Ed Brubaker on Scene of the Crime or Brian Bendis on Jinx, and I just haven’t clicked with it on that level yet. I’m just wondering what it is that has got so many people so excited about Jason Aaron. Not in a bad way, like a “what do you people see in this hack?” or anything, because I do think he’s talented, I just haven’t quite gotten the genius vibe that a lot of people have. What’s making it work so well for you folks, if you can lay it down?

Oh, and good news… Scalped is at least getting one trade paperback. Vertigo tends to give every series at least one trade, no matter how dismally it’s selling in singles, to see if it’s going to pick up a readership in trade format. As always, it’ll be one of their affordable $10 first trades, too.

What’s Dynamo 5? This is not ringing a bell for me at all!

Look here:

http://comicpants.com/?p=1424

If I had to come up with a Top Five, then Captain America, DD, and Criminal would be there, along with Catwoman and New Avengers.

1. Moon Knight-Huston has the early Moench stories’ filth and weirdness down pat. The new artist Suaron is perfectly cast for this type of book and should have a great career ahead of him. But after three more issues, Huston’s gone and who’ll replace him? My vote’s for Jason Aaron. He’d be perfect.

2. Scalped-Best new writer of 2007 period. The fact that Vertigo prints their lesser selling books on toilet paper is a disservice to the art of new comer Guera, whose noir stylings look like a mix of early Miller, Denys Cowan and a little John Buscema. Don’t wait for the trade on this one, it’ll probably be cancelled before they can get a collection together!

3. New Universal-In terms of quality I’d put it a couple of notches below Planetary. I’m surprised at the effort Warren Ellis puts into this company book. It’s dense, well thought out, and not as flighty and disposable as much of his lesser work.

4. Brubaker Books-Criminal, DD, Cap. I think anybody who takes the time to read these lists already knows that this guy is currently at his creative peak. Though Uncanny reads like dumbed down Brubaker, it too remains tasty.

5. Silent War-If you even remotely liked Jenkins Inhuman’s run, you will love this. But check out the Son of M trade first to get the whole story. Irving Fraser’s work is perfectly cast for this intense, dramatic family melodrama. David Hine has been given free reign to do what he wants with the Inhumans and it shows. High concept thrills throughout.

As for the name, it didn’t fit. Jonahkin or something taken more from the book would have worked better for me. Maybe the name gets more relevance, as the ending will really take this story in a new direction.

How does the name not fit? They live in the guts of a giant whale.

I rather liked Gutsville also. It’s like a Decemberists song in comic book form.

Okay, I really need to read this book.

Dynamo 5 was also good.

2= Criminal
2= Captain America - Couldn’t separate these 2 books this week. The slightly different focus of the new Criminal arc makes it feel different while retaining all the elements that made the book a great read in the first place and Cap is really showing quite brilliantly how Steve Rogers’ death is really affecting the Marvel Universe all while building towards something really big. Brubaker keeps throwing in surprising twists in at the perfect moments making a great read. Brubaker and his collaborators on both these books and Daredevil are firing on all cylinders at the moment.

4: Fantastic Four - While not as good as the previous issue, still loads to recommend about this issue. It was a bit all the over the place and felt a bit rushed but good storytelling, art and banter combined for another strong issue.

5: Newuniversal - While not to everybody’s taste, I really enjoy this kind of stuff and this issue was as solid as the previous 5. And it’s got Salvador Larroca on art duties which is always a bonus

Strange coincidence this week, all the books I got ended in the number 6:
Spirit #6, Captain America #26, Criminal #6, Fantastic Four #546 and
Newuniversal #6.

As for the name, it didn’t fit. Jonahkin or something taken more from the book would have worked better for me. Maybe the name gets more relevance, as the ending will really take this story in a new direction.