Wednesday Number Ones is a weekly feature here at Comic Pants. We take the books that are premiering a first issue from that week and give a quick opinion on them. From time to time we may also include more than issue number ones in this feature. If a noteworthy one-shot or the first issue of a new story arc is released, we may talk about it in this feature.

This week, we’re writing on Friday due to the holiday delay and we will cover The End League #1, Gravel #0, Misadventures of Clark and Jefferson #1, Shark-Man #1, Teen Titans Year One #1, Ultimate Human #1 of 4, and Wildstorm Revelations #1.

Nick Budd Read and Thought:

Ultimate Human #1 of 4
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Cary Nord
Company: Marvel Comics

On a scale of one to ten, one being the absolute worst book in the world and ten being the end all be all of comic book excellence, Ultimate Human lands somewhere in the middle. It’s an entertaining read, filled to the brim with little bits of classic Ellis-isms, things that seem to haunt every book that he writes. As it is, Ultimate Human picks up right after the last issue of Mark Millar’s Ultimates, and has Bruce Banner seeking a way of ridding himself of the disease that is the Hulk. To do that, Banner consults Stark. After that…Well, one can guess where this series is heading, especially when you throw in a conspiracy involving a new “Leader” and the obvious tease of Ultimate Iron Man versus Ultimate Hulk that appears on the cover. Nord, known for his work on Conan, does a nice job with the art. The backgrounds are less than impressive but his storytelling and the range of emotion that he’s able to give his characters are top notch. All in all, not too shabby, although it certainly has a couple of chinks in its armor that keep it from becoming something more.

The End League #1
Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Mat Broome
Company: Dark Horse Comics

Pick. This. One. Up. Why? Because it’s very, very good. What makes it good is the hook of the story, which is essentially a superhero book merged with a fantasy/quest story that of all things involves Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer. There aren’t many books out there these days like that, and the originality of that idea that Remender is able to imbue overall is a nice treat to behold. The actual story is one that sees the downfall of modern era superheroes and the world as we know it, the rise of so-called super-villains, and a new world order that’s fairly bleak and without hope. Needless to say, there’s an awful lot packed into these pages that makes the book worth reading, be it a cast of interesting characters who you actually want to know more about to odd but neat situations like heroes actually having to raid a facility for food in order to survive. The art, handled deftly by Broome, is nice as well. There are a few panels where some of it looks a little over-rendered but for the most part, there is a real energy to it that keeps you glued to the book. Also, his character constructions, the uniforms, outfits and overall looks of the characters, are extremely well done, especially for the character of Prairie Ghost, which is all kinds of awesome. Definitely one of those books that is worth seeking out.

Dave Farabee Read and Thought:

Shark-Man #1
Writer: Michael Town, David Elliot, Ronald Shusett & Steve Pugh
Artist: Steve Pugh
Company: Image Comics

You may notice that this first issue has four writers involved, and like a Hollywood movie that’s passed through too many rewrites, it feels all over the place. The art’s lovely, I’ll give it that, a vivid painted style reminiscent of Ariel Olivetti or even Steve Rude’s painted style. The story…well, I have to confess I was lost enough in it that I fell into a skim mode about midway through. It’s set in the future. Revolves around a Final Fantasy-lookin’ city called New Venice. Giant sharks. Futuristic manta-ray-type vehicles. It’s all vaguely cool and neat to look at, but bounces between too many characters to give you a good feel for its hero or the setting. I found it altogether too impenetrable, but if the premise or art grab you, you might give it a shot. We need more aquatic superheroes.

Dan Grendell Read and Thought:

The Misadventures of Clark and Jefferson #1 (of 4)
Writer: Jay Carvajal
Artist: Marc Borstel
Company: Ape Entertainment

I was expecting a few things from the back cover copy of this book, and I got those. A sheriff and his deputy in the Old West, chasing outlaws across the desert, run into aliens. Decent enough plot, and the conversation between the two is fun and unforced, joking back and forth like two friends. Borstel does a good job with the art, making it all easy to follow though and dealing well with a lot of dialogue. What I wasn’t expecting, and was quite surprised by, was Carvajal’s seeming fascination with shit. Yeah, you heard me. First the sheriff is known for his habit of stepping in horse dung, then the deputy fires his shotgun and the recoil blows him off his feet and into a steaming pile of manure. It keeps going- the deputy stops to take a crap in the desert, and after a couple panels of straining, a rattlesnake bites him and he sits on a cactus. Finally, the two dive into the bottom of an outhouse to escape aliens and emerge covered in shit. All of these are accompanied by various conversations and jokes about turd. I have no idea what inspired this fecal fixation, but it certainly made the book less than pleasant for me.

Wildstorm Revelations #1 (of 6)
Writer: Scott Beatty and Christos Gage
Artist: Wes Craig
Company: Wildstorm/DC

I haven’t been following the whole Wildstorm Armageddon thing, but Beatty and Gage do a good job of filling in all the details I need to know here, so it really doesn’t matter. For purposes of this book, it’s enough to know that something will cause the end of the Wildstorm world, Nemesis (Coda bitch-about-town and badass) has a clue what it might be, and she recruits Backlash (not Marc Slayton, his daughter) and Savant to help her stop it. This issue is mostly filling in the reader and convincing the two women to help, which of course involves some fighting because, well, that’s how these ladies roll. There’s some decent action and dialogue here, and I actually like these characters (I’ve always had a soft spot for the Coda), but at this point it’s hard for me to work up enthusiasm for whether or not the Wildstorm world actually survives. That’s a fault of the imprint as a whole, though, not this issue. Craig’s artwork is solid, the writing is strong though the time-travel stuff starts to lose me, and overall this is a promising start to a mini-series.

Randy Lander Read and Thought:

Gravel #0
Writer: Warren Ellis & Mike Wolfer
Artists: Raulo Caceres
Company: Avatar Press

If you’ve read any of the Strange Kisses trilogy, you’re familiar with Sgt. Major William Gravel, the “combat magician” lead of Gravel, who is basically like John Constantine if you replaced his time in punk bands with time in the military. I haven’t read either of those stories, and I don’t generally like Ellis’s Avatar work, so I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this prequel to the new Gravel series. As per usual for creators working at Avatar, it’s wildly over the top in terms of violence, usually gratuitously so, but bloody-minded violence seems to fit this ultraviolent character, and there’s definitely a catharsis in seeing hostage-taking terrorists ripped to shreds by a vengeful soldier. While the notion of a magic-wielding special op in Afghanistan is interesting, though, that’s just the Bond-before-credits style prologue to the real story of Gravel returning home, finding that a pretender has taken his place in a magical secret society and learning that he’s got to track down a magical artifact as a result. Caceres’s artwork is a little bland in terms of style and panel arrangement, but he has his moments, like the lovely detailed backdrop of Simon Shiranian’s study, and Greg Waller over-colors, as is typical of Avatar’s color books, but overall, the art is passable and occasionally better than that. A surprisingly fun blend of the urban magic of Hellblazer and the black ops spy stuff that Ellis is so well known for.

Teen Titans Year One #1 of 6
Writer: Amy Wolfram
Artists: Karl Kerschl, Serge Lapointe & Steph Peru
Company: DC Comics

If Teen Titans Go! is Teen Titans for the anime/kid set, Teen Titans Year One is for the slightly older animated series fans. It’s got a stunningly beautiful look to it that makes me want to overlook any flaws in the story, because it’s not only gorgeous on the surface, but it changes tones effectively to give each character a different color palette and feel and features great comedic timing. There’s a lot of personality in each of the Teen Titans, and the script and art gives each a chance to shine and show off their key trait, from Wonder Girl’s naive and sweet demeanor to Aqualad’s scaredy-cat (scaredy-fish?) nature to Flash’s super-ADD. It’s disarmingly cute and fun, but it also feels a little cotton candy empty, and the attempts to give it a little more weight with Batman acting more like All-Star Batman are too dark for the rest of the book. Mostly, I found myself annoyed that we’re treated yet again to Batman being a jerk, even if in this case it’s a villainous plot instead of editorial and creative mismanagement. And in a related vein, it’s a shame that a story focusing on the Teen Titans spends so much time on their adult mentors, rather than focusing in on the teen leads that Wolfram obviously has an affinity for. It’s a minor thing, but since it’s the only hint of plot in a fairly plotless book, I’m worried about it both further overshadowing the fun and preventing a more interesting plot from surfacing as the story develops.