Top Five Fridays 11/30/07
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
- Proof
- X-Men First Class
- Hack/Slash The Series
- X-Men
- Batman and the Outsiders
Dave Farabee
- Elfquest Archives Vol 4
- Age Of Bronze Vol 3 Betrayal
- Daredevil
- Hack/Slash The Series
- X-Men
Dan Grendell
- Age Of Bronze Vol 3 Betrayal
- Beyond Palomar Palomar V.3
- Perla La Locas Locas V.3
- Proof
- Marvel Atlas
Randy Lander
- Age Of Bronze Vol 3 Betrayal
- The Goon: Chinatown
- American Virgin
- Proof
- Hack/Slash The Series
David Martindale (D3)
- X-Men
- American Virgin
- Transformers: Devastation
- Daredevil
- X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills HC
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X-Men makes two of the Panteon’s top 5??? No kidding? And to think I grabbed that issue and then immediately reconsidered, replacing it on the shelf.
And it looks like it may be time for me to give Hack/Slash another read.
30 Nov 2007 at 1:53 pm
Quotei got some stuff this week but all i really remember was reading crime bible. oh, and batman books.
30 Nov 2007 at 3:14 pm
QuoteGlad to see the love for Proof. I’m really enjoying the title so far, even if the art is a little on the abstract side. I will gripe that the art was hard to follow in the backup story (I couldn’t tell that one of the fairies was different from the other two, nor did I expect the fairies to be so friggin’ huge). But I like the storytelling aspect of the two interrelated stories from different perspectives. That’s good stuff. And the backmatter was very interesting as well…
30 Nov 2007 at 4:08 pm
QuoteIron Man: Director of SHIELD Annual
Is this how good an Iron Man book could be? Honestly, I have never given a thought to the character, it just never resonated with me as a concept. And other than his appearances in Captain America, there hasn’t been much reason for me to think differently. I picked this up based on the praise it got last week and I was blown away. The political intrigue of a Greg Rucka book, good characterization and solid superhero action. This book actually had me caring about Tony Stark. I think Marvel needs to jump on this with Cristos Gage writing Iron Man. (Off topic here but Greg Rucka hasn’t done a Vertigo book, has he? I don’t know, that seems odd. He seems like a prime candidate)
30 Nov 2007 at 5:38 pm
QuoteI wouldn’t mind if everyone ignored me for the noble intention of the prevention of too much vitriol on what should be a positive column, but did any of the Panteon happen to read Spider-Man this week? And if so, any particular reactions to what will apparently be the utter raping of 20 years of history of my favorite character?
But laying that aside and going back to the positivity, it’s nice to see X-Men make two of your top five lists. Not sure if it would make mine, but the one problem I had with the title up till now was that it had a lot of good enemies but felt a bit messy. Now that they’ve got the Messiah Complex as a focus, it feels to me that the storytelling might actually improve. Good to see another volume of Age of Bronze, too, and it being on most of your lists tells me it should be just as good as the previous ones.
30 Nov 2007 at 5:58 pm
QuoteYes, I read it.
No, I didn’t like it.
I’ll leave it at that.
30 Nov 2007 at 6:00 pm
QuoteMe too!
And glad to see “The Goon: Chinatown” made Randy’s list. I, too, thought it was awesome. And “Casanova” continues to blow me away.
By the way, did anyone else read “Sub-Mariner” #6? I thumbed through it at my LCS and the ending was VERY intriguing!
30 Nov 2007 at 6:11 pm
QuoteI just want this damn “One More Day” nonsense to end so I can read “Brand New Day”. I haven’t read a Spider-Man comic for years and I have no particular attachment to PP & MJ’s marriage. The new creative teams and the three-times-a-month thing looks like fun.
I know that makes me a bit of a pariah to hardcore Spidey fans, sorry.
30 Nov 2007 at 6:11 pm
QuoteAlso, all the copies of the latest “X-Men: First Class” at my LCS had pages printed out of order. Major bummer, since I absolutely love that book!
30 Nov 2007 at 6:12 pm
QuoteI just read that the conclusion to “One More Day” has been pushed to January 28. AAAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!
Oh, well, that saves me money in January and gives the creative teams even more lead time to help keep their schedule.
30 Nov 2007 at 6:15 pm
QuoteActually, it’s making three, and it’s my #1 pick of the week. It’s 7:20 p.m. Central on Friday, and I’m just now finishing my reading for the week and posting my top five books of the moment.
1. X-Men
2. American Virgin
3. Transformers: Devastation
4. Daredevil
5. X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills HC
30 Nov 2007 at 7:23 pm
QuoteAll the copies at our shop had this issue as well. I will say that though it’s a pain to read thanks to the printing error, it’s an excellent issue and will make my Top Five whenever the corrected copies come in.
And kills any Spider-Man sales I might have had as a retailer in January. Thanks a lot, Marvel. More specifically, thanks a lot JMS and Quesada. Oh, and thank you for your crappy story, too. To be fair, I only skimmed a few pages and mostly heard about it from the other guys in the shop who read it, but Show ▼
So here’s a question… which is worse? Didio’s strange love of Jason Todd and the resulting Red Hood/near-miss Todd Batman (see Rich’s Lying in the Gutters column if you don’t know what I’m talking about) or Quesada’s irrational hatred of the Peter/MJ marriage?
*sigh* On a more positive note, despite this being a relatively weak week, I had no trouble putting together a more than top five list this week:
1. Age Of Bronze Vol 3 Betrayal - Fantastic as always, a smart and intricate look at a fascinating historical event
2. The Goon: Chinatown - Took me a week to get to it, but I was very impressed with Eric Powell’s dark, non-comedic origin of The Goon. The guy does tragedy as well as he does comedy, it turns out.
3. American Virgin - Loving this book, although I’m rapidly realizing that there’s no way they can wrap up everything that’s going on in a satisfying manner with only two more issues to go.
4. Proof - Second issue as much fun as the first, love the parallel story structure and I really dig the art
5. Hack/Slash The Series - I’m behind on this book (I think I missed the last couple issues), but the Archie parody in this one was a ton of fun.
6. Daredevil - I have serious quibbles with this book, but it’s just so damn well executed I can’t help but love it
7. Usagi Yojimbo - I’ll enjoy it more when I can read this tale of the demon and bounty hunters in trade, I can tell, but even in single issues, it’s a blast. Loved seeing Stray Dog, Gen and Usagi meet up in the inn.
8. Marvel Adventures Iron Man - Two different specialty Iron Man armors in this issue, plus Iron Man going up against Doctor Doom. Really fun stuff.
9. Marvel Zombies 2 - Shockingly, this gag still hasn’t entirely worn out its welcome, and I can see myself buying this one in hardcover too
10. Batman And The Outsiders - It’s merely solid (although the art’s impressive), but it’s kind of fun to see Dixon doing slam-bang DC superheroes again. Wish I didn’t know his politics, because then I probably wouldn’t pick up on the subtle undercurrents about the gay relationship that he clearly would rather not be writing.
30 Nov 2007 at 8:04 pm
QuoteNo love for Casanova? That’s my #1 of the moment, and is battling it out for overall with a the other Frubaker books. Crazy, strangely moving, funny, intriguing, sexy and also crazy. Love it.
Hack/Slash is a very good book, but I thought #6 went a little far for a joke. Probably in my overall top 5 - definitely in the top 10.
#2 X-Men was quite good this week, and plays in my overall top 5 as long as Carey’s on the book. A nice comeback for the crossover, too, after a couple of middlin’ chapters.
#3 (tie) The mini-series Crime Bible and Sub-Mariner both had strong issues this week, and were great examples of under-the-radar world & plot building at the “big two”.
#4 (tie)Blue Beetle and Green Lantern Corps both were nice done-in-one stories this week. The latter pulling off the particularly impressive feat of telling a complete story within a mega-crossover, and making me care for Sodam Yat more in one issue than all of his previous appearances combined. I’d hate to see him go now, but would kind of love for the Guardians to go through Ions like so many mis-matched socks.
#5 Color me on board for the brazen piss-taking that is ASBAR. “Get yourself a damn mask” - why not?
30 Nov 2007 at 10:05 pm
QuoteI’m with you on “Casanova.” That book is sooo much crazy-fun. Surprisingly, I even find myself enjoying “Punisher: War Journal,” which says something about Matt Fraction’s ability to make things fun. “Immortal Iron Fist” is the comic book I look forward to most every month! ;
01 Dec 2007 at 12:02 am
QuoteI can’t understand why the “One More Day” issues are taking so long. Nothing happens in each, aside from some bad exposition. Surely that can’t be too hard for Joey Q. to draw. Seriously, there’s no reason this story line has even taken three issues to get to this point … sigh!
01 Dec 2007 at 12:04 am
QuoteOver at parkerspace.com, Jeff Parker is urging people to hold onto their copies, or return them to their LCS. And hopefully the printers will have to make corrections or “eat” the mis-printed copies!
01 Dec 2007 at 12:08 am
QuoteI’ve heard HACK/SLASH is a good read even if you don’t particularly like slasher movies - much like you can like Buffy even if you’re not really into horror movies.
Is this true?
01 Dec 2007 at 3:14 am
QuoteI think the bigger issue is Marvel’s long-espoused commitment to “continuity”, because this sort of move just highlights how they are in fact only committed to the word and in fact totally against the spirit of “continuity”.
Seriously, regardless of what you think about the Peter/MJ marriage issue, if Marvel wanted to get rid of it they should have just had some guts, changed the company policy and ret-conned the Spiderman line. Or killed M.J.
Because their solution is not just convoluted in a way that will deter any new reader, but is also a recipe for guaranteed dissatisfaction of existing readers. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle.
Because what happens after this? Quesada wants Peter single again, but they can’t just go back to Peter wanting M.J. and the readers hoping they’ll get it together one day because:
(1) guess what, we know Quesada will never let them get back together; and
(2) the readers are going to be frustrated rather than entranced like they were the first time, because they know the couple are already suppsed to be together and Marvel has robbed them of that.
But then, on the other hand, if Marvel tries to introduce a new romantic interest into Peter’s life, that’s going to piss off fans too, because once again, we know he’s really supposed to be with Mary Jane, so now it’ll be like WE’RE ALL cheating on her!
It’s not just a dumb move, it’s a cowardly one.
01 Dec 2007 at 3:20 am
Quote1. X-Men
2. Daredevil
3. X-Men First Class
4. Iron Man Director of Shield Annual
5. Incredible Hulk
Really glad I skipped “One More Day” judging by the reactions above
01 Dec 2007 at 6:15 am
QuoteI’d read all of the buzz about ‘One More Day’, feared that Quesada’s ranting about the Peter/MJ marriage wasn’t a red herring, and read the issues up until now.
So . . . I’m done with Spider-Man.
01 Dec 2007 at 10:54 am
QuoteI hear what you’re saying but I think it’s a bit extreme. If Spider-Man comics are great six months from now, few people will care about One More Day. Comics is all about “what have you done for me lately”. Right now Spidey’s done nothing but that could quickly change.
Anyway, I agree with JQ about the Spider-marriage. I can’t relate to his obsession with it, but I agree that marrying Parker and MJ was a horrible, short-sighted decision that’s led to far more bad stories than good. And I have no problem with removing it, even if it means using such a lame deus ex machina device.
BTW, it’d be fun to see a Comic Pants All-Time top 5, even if it would probably be difficult to draw up.
01 Dec 2007 at 12:32 pm
QuoteNot to get into a full-on argument, but I’d just like to say that I think it’s harsh to say that Pete and MJ’s marriage led to more bad stories than good. Kraven’s Last Hunt, the rise and fall of Harry Osborn, the birth of Venom (yeah, I liked those first few Venom stories), Parallel Lives, and numerous others regarded as Spider-Man classics all incorporated Mary Jane as Peter’s wife and did it well.
Anyway, I also think an All-Time Top 5 would be interesting - but it should probably be a Podcast discussion. Especially since they’ll definitely have tons of alternates for that
01 Dec 2007 at 5:06 pm
QuoteDefinitely true. I’m not even remotely a slasher fan, but I dig Hack/Slash.
01 Dec 2007 at 8:12 pm
QuoteDitto, although I have enjoyed enough slasher films (generally the older, late-70’s early-80’s ones) to have some feel for how they’re supposed to work.
01 Dec 2007 at 8:42 pm
QuoteSo here’s a question… which is worse? Didio’s strange love of Jason Todd and the resulting Red Hood/near-miss Todd Batman (see Rich’s Lying in the Gutters column if you don’t know what I’m talking about) or Quesada’s irrational hatred of the Peter/MJ marriage?
What is it with Marvel and DC these days when it comes to featuring characters in loving, marital relationships, i.e., Elongated Man, Spider-man, etc.? I wonder if Quesada et al. are projecting their own marital frustations onto Spidey and EM?
Oh, and why is Jason Todd alive again? I honestly forget.
02 Dec 2007 at 3:29 am
Quote