Top Five Fridays 10/26/07
Some of you may have noticed on the sidebar, we have our “Top Five of the Moment” listed. These are the five books that are most clicking with each Pants writer. It may or may not represent the best books we’ve read all month, year, or just what we’re digging that week. We generally try to update it with books from that week, but there are no hard and fast rules. Inspired by an email from one of our readers, we’re going to post every Friday with the most recent Top Five from each member of the Panteon, and hope for your comments on our lists, or maybe even your own “Top Five of the Moment.”
Also, just as the Wednesday Number Ones feature is generally our spot for folks to talk about the comics of the week, we hope that Top Five Fridays is where you’ll come to talk about what’s going on in comics in general. News in the comics world, thoughts on comics you’ve recently read, talk about comic-related movies that release this weekend and more are welcome in the comments thread for Top Five Fridays.
This week, the Top Five Books of the Moment are:
Nick Budd
- The Killer
- Thunderbolts
- X-Men First Class
- Green Arrow Year One
- Annihilation Conquest: Wraith
Dave Farabee
- Thunderbolts
- The Killer
- The Spirit Book 1 HC
- X-Men: First Class
- Green Arrow Year One
Dan Grendell
- Thunderbolts
- Proof
- The Killer
- Flash
- She-Hulk
Randy Lander
- The Killer
- Green Arrow Year One
- She-Hulk
- Thunderbolts
- Proof
David Martindale (D3)
- Thunderbolts
- The Killer
- The Spirit Book 1 HC
- Annihilation Conquest: Wraith
- X-Factor: Many Lives of Madrox TP
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Obviously releasing two issues of The Killer on the same day was a shrewd plan by Archaia Studios to break into all of the Pantheon’s top five.
26 Oct 2007 at 12:17 pm
QuoteThere is no “The Killer” softcover yet, right?
Green Arrow: Year One maintained its quality, eh? Is it a nice isolated story with good fun diggle/jock action? I am gonna have to get that trade then.
26 Oct 2007 at 12:42 pm
QuoteHas the Panteon heard any buzz regarding a potential Absolute edition for the Spirit down the line? I love Cooke’s art, and would gladly pay top dollar to get the best possible version (Absolute New Frontier is hands down the most gorgeous comic I’ve ever seen in my life) but i don’t want to miss my chance to own his run on The Spirit because i was waiting for a format that was never going to be made. Surely the Eisner Absolute NF won should help things along, right?
26 Oct 2007 at 12:58 pm
QuoteI wouldn’t count on seeing one. While Archaia has done softcover versions of Lone and Level Sands and Artesia in the past, those have since been replaced by hardcovers and all other titles have been released in hardcovers. Archaia seems dedicated to the hardcover model. It isn’t impossible, though, since Mouse Guard is getting a softcover, so who knows.
26 Oct 2007 at 1:29 pm
QuoteI think the Mouse Guard softcover is coming out from another publisher, though. Given the ridiculous delays in Archaia books, and the very high quality of their HCs, I’ve decided to switch entirely to HCs from them from now on.
Why is it that my favorite part of the X-Men First Class books is the Mini Marvels strips by Chris Giarrusso in the backs? Oh yeah, it’s because they’re funny and clever!
26 Oct 2007 at 2:21 pm
QuoteI was going to hold out for an Absolute, but I went ahead and bought the hardcover. With Cooke off Spirit as of #12, my guess is that the idea of giving it the super giant deluxe treatment probably lost some steam as opposed to giving an Absolute slot to a book they really want to push. I’m not 100% certain they won’t do one, but if I were a betting man, sadly, I’d bet against.
Fantastic week this week. My top picks:
1. The Killer - Releasing two issues of a long-delayed series in one week is frustrating as hell from a retailer standpoint. Especially since Archaia is late on a lot of their series, and is pulling this same “two in one week” trick next week with the super-expensive Secret History. Way to cost me money and customer confidence, guys.
That said, as a *reader*, I loved getting two issues of The Killer this week, so that there was a ton of story, all of it interesting and lushly illustrated as always. A dark sense of humor, some great action and character interaction, just a great, great book. The Killer reminds me of when Vertigo used to, on a regular basis, produce these immensely smart, beautiful, gripping books, instead of the “meh” offerings that have mostly made up their last few launches, with the exception of DMZ and American Virgin. (Yeah, I include Scalped in the “meh” category… sorry, fans!)
2. Green Arrow Year One - Green Arrow: Year One is definitely on my trade buying list. Hell, if they do a hardcover, even a premiere size one with no extras like DC and Marvel are both fond of, I’d probably go for that too. Diggle/Jock = dream team, hope we see another collaboration soon.
3. She-Hulk - Covered in Wednesday Number Ones. I thought my interest in this book was completely dead, but David and Moll restored it. Second favorite surprise of the week.
4. Thunderbolts - It’s got a lot of Penance, it’s Ellis writing supervillains, I remain astonished by how much I love this book. Dark and cynical, but in a fun way, and Deodato Jr.’s art is amazing. The use of Doc Samson in this issue was terrific. I love the idea of Samson and Moonstone as nemeses not in the superhero world, but the psychiatric world.
5. Proof - Most fun surprise of the week, a charming new book from Image, covered in Wednesday Number Ones.
6. X-Men First Class - Love this book, and seeing the team take on the Hulk was as fun as ever. Also, Roger Cruz’s art gets better on each issue, and I’ve gone from “well, I’ll tolerate it” to “nobody else can do this book as well.”
7. Warhammer Forge Of War - Caught up on #1-3 of this fantasy comic last week, and now I’m really digging the story of a fantasy battle gone horribly bad, and the various survivors trying to regroup or just survive in the aftermath
8. Spirit Vol 1 HC - Wish there were some extras, but this is a nice, sharp-looking collection of Cooke’s first six issues of Spirit, plus Batman/Spirit. If there’s an Absolute later, I won’t terribly regret having bought this one. Love the clever design of the book jacket.
9. Daredevil - A really, really good issue… except that I hate that the guy who shows up on the last page is there, I’d rather he had stayed obscure given how he’s being used at Marvel right now
10. Annihilation Conquest Wraith - My former reviewing partner Don had some harsh words for this one, and a lot of his critiques are right on, but they didn’t bother me so much. Thought it was a solid finale.
11. Fear Agent Last Goodbye - Dark as hell conclusion to the best Fear Agent mini so far
12. Jack Of Fables Vol 2 Jack Of Hearts TP - Lots of fun, I enjoyed going back and re-reading
13. Marvel Adventures Iron Man - Space armor is cool all on its own, but Van Lente also writes a great story with the Living Laser. If you’re not thrilled with fascist prick Iron Man, MA Iron Man is a good antidote
14. Neozoic - Great alternate universe dinosaur tale, with terrific artwork. Another solid launch for Red 5 Comics
15. Transformers Devastation - I think I’m in the minority of the Panteon here, but I actually enjoyed #2 more than #1. Fantastic car chase sequence in this issue with Hot Rod and Wheeljack
26 Oct 2007 at 2:49 pm
Quote1. Green Arrow: Year One
2. Thunderbolts
3. Daredevil
4. X-Men: First Class
5. Flash
26 Oct 2007 at 3:08 pm
Quote1. Thunderbolts
2. The Killer
3. The Spirit Book 1 HC
4. Annihilation Conquest: Wraith
5. X-Factor: Many Lives of Madrox TP
6. Daredevil
7. Potter’s Field
8. Transformers: Devastation
9. Green Lantern Corps
10. Authority Prime
26 Oct 2007 at 3:18 pm
Quote1. Thunderbolts
2. Doktor Sleepless
3. She-Hulk
4. Casanova
5. Foolkiller
26 Oct 2007 at 4:02 pm
QuoteA very strong week this week, the best it’s been in awhile.
1. The Killer - Two issues of Killer-like goodness…Count me as sold, my friend. The art and story continue to astound on this one and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
2. Thunderbolts - I’m still reeling from the amazement of someone making the character of Penance someone that I enjoy reading. Ellis does that and he also has built up a nice threat for the Thunderbolts to take on and seeps in a great guest star role for Doc Samson. A real treat to read.
3. X-Men First Class - BUY THIS BOOK. It is all kinds of awesome. There, that’s all I have to say.
4. Green Arrow Year One - Diggle & Jock wrap the book up perfectly and like Randy, if there’s a hardcover, count me in.
5. Annihilation Conquest: Wraith - Liked this one quite a bit, despite some of the complaints that it got. The story was a lot of fun and Hotz’s artwork continues to shine.
6. Transformers Devastation - Actually, I may have enjoyed this issue more than Randy, but it didn’t make my Top 5 just because this was such a strong week. Love the Hot Rod and Wheeljack chase scene. E J Su continues to do some tremendous work with this book and I really am enjoying seeing all of the smaller stories, the things that took place in the spotlight issues, coming together. This is a great time to be a Transformers fan.
7. Hack/Slash - This series continues to be a heck of a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the character interaction with Vlad and Cassie in this one…That’s something about this series…These characters are very fleshed out and have a lot of depth to them. Plus there’s naked chicks and buckets full of blood. What’s not to love?
8. Green Lantern Corps & Blue Beetle = I’ve been sucked into the Sinestro Corps stuff and I have to say, while not as good as Marvel’s Annihilation, this is a series that is certainly hitting some high points and has a lot of nice moments interspersed throughout. Also, as a side note, Blue Beetle time and time again offers up a book that can be enjoyed on so many levels. Rogers really knows what he’s doing.
9. Daredevil - I liked this issue but that ending…It has me worried. If there’s any writer to do something good with the character in question, it’s Brubaker. And if he can’t…then I have a bad feeling.
10. Potter’s Field - A solid book with some great art. The one hang-up that I have is that this is only going to be a three issue mini. There’s a lot of potential in this book, and I hope that it gets turned into an ongoing at some point because I like the Shadow meets Burn Notice vibe that it has going for it.
26 Oct 2007 at 6:37 pm
QuoteI only bought (and really enjoyed) two books this week.
1. Hellblazer — I’m not a big Constantine guy but I love Diggle’s take on the character. The book is consistently creepy and interesting.
2. The Flash — probably the least interesting issue of Waid’s return to the book (I liked the other artist). But, there are some great exchanges in here, and I think it’s cool how Waid can easily write an economical and airy all-ages book like this, and a really dense book like Brave & the Bold. Two drastically different styles.
26 Oct 2007 at 9:16 pm
QuoteNick, don’t you get the feeling there will be at least one more mini after this one? Especially seeing as how Mark Waid (who writes “Potter’s Field”) is one of the people in charge at Boom! Studios …
And I couldn’t agree more about the book. Or about “X-Men: First Class,” the only time the X-books have been fun outside a few isolated “X-Factor” moments …
28 Oct 2007 at 8:59 pm
QuoteI do…And I hope that we’re both right. Really, having Mark Waid being one of the big-wigs in charge at Boom! is exciting. His stories are always neat little things, completely different from each other but always exciting. Potter’s Field is certainly a book that could stand to at the very least go another mini but could also be a successful ongoing as well.
I guess we’ll see.
29 Oct 2007 at 11:09 am
Quote