Top Five Fridays 2/29/08
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’s Top Five Books of the Moment
- RASL
- Blue Beetle
- X-Men First Class
- Proof
- X-Men Legacy
Dave Farabee’s Top Five Books of the Moment
- RASL
- Teen Titans
- Silent Hill: Sinner’s Reward
- Mouseguard
- Kick-Ass
Dan Grendell’s Top Five Books of the Moment
- Blue Beetle
- X-Men First Class
- Damage Control
- Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury
- Captain America
Randy Lander’s Top Five Books of the Moment
- RASL
- Fables
- X-Men First Class
- Criminal 2
- Captain America
David Martindale(D3)’s Top Five Books of the Moment
- Amazing Spider-Man
- The Order
- The Immortal Iron Fist
- Locke & Key
- Zorro
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crime bible and batman were my favorites. fables was cool too.
29 Feb 2008 at 5:46 pm
QuoteIn no particular order . . .
1. Action Comics - Some great comedy with the Subs (go, Stone Boy, go), “Don’t . . . tug,” and that wonderful last page by Frank.
2. Blue Beetle - I can’t think of a more enjoyable comic than this one right now.
3. JSA Classified - Yes, I’m surprised to see it on this list as well. But B. Clay Moore writes a nice Wildcat, and Ramon Perez hits the art out of the park–the flashback sequences are stunning. And I can’t forget Dave McCraig’s coloring. Why couldn’t this series have been this good when there was a chance of saving it?
4. Captain America - The goodness that is Brubaker continues. Has the Red Skull ever been this intelligently dangerous?
5. Daredevil - More Brubaker! I wouldn’t have thought that Mr. Fear could be transformed into an A-list Daredevil villain, but it happened!
29 Feb 2008 at 6:08 pm
Quote1) Fables: Decent stuff. Good intro to the big upcoming storyline.
2) Jack of Fables: Continues to be a hoot.
3) Nova: Re-reading the entire relaunched series this week. Tempted by the Essentials now.
4) Iron Fist: Also re-reading this and also tempted by his Essential collections out there. Any recommendations to what I should get? Iron Fist or PM and IF?
5) DVD: Justice League: New Frontiers- Great release this week. It really captures the look and feel of Cooke’s comic series (borrowing his covers for a lot of montage work in the opening credit). Though Bruce Timm’s hands are all over this and at times there is a familiar feel to his other shows, this still has a voice all its own. The new voice guys are pretty good, too. I like Manhunter a lot and think Boreanez and Harris do a good job with GL and Flash, respectively. James Sisto (who is that??) is a great Batman. Good on them for letting the iconic voice of Kevin Conroy take a rest. I haven’t finished it yet but so far, a good show.
29 Feb 2008 at 7:35 pm
Quotefill,
the orignal Nova series is quite good except the last two issues where they introduce a bunch of plots that MUST have been linked but since they had one issuse to wrap it up it ends up feeling like a whole bunch of 1941-8 and one 1955 bad guy from other companies just fell though a wormhole to Marvel’s new jersy but over all it’s VERY good.
Rob
29 Feb 2008 at 10:00 pm
QuoteNice to see Blue Beetle getting a lot attention. I noticed that in #26 that Will Pfeifer will write the issue. Is he the guest-writer or has John Rogers been pulled from the series? Shame if he was pulled. DC should give Rogers opportunity to write other titles, along with Marc Andreyko, writer of Manhunter, if you didn’t know.
29 Feb 2008 at 10:08 pm
QuoteHonorable mentions for: Batman (Morrison’s run is finally starting to gel, both in terms of plot and theme), Mouse Guard (beautiful but slight - both as usual - I’m finding I need this one collected to feel like I’m getting a satisfying chunk of story, but did I mention beautiful?) and ASBAR I’m with Sterling.
5. Captain America Not the greatest issue, but another solid edition of what is shaping up to be one of my favorite runs ever. This issue had me thinking about how Bru has been setting this story up for years, and that just got me more fired up about it.
4. Crime Bible Love the ambiguous feel of this whole series, which matches its portrayal of morality. My only beef is that it doesn’t look like Rucka will be around to continue his fantastic character development for Montoya.
3. Blue Beetle Probably my favorite straight-up superhero book being published right now. Everything in this issue worked for me and I’m almost sorry that the Reach storyline isn’t going longer to give it more of an epic feel. And so I can get more note-perfect issues like this one.
2. Criminal 2 It’s back! The self-contained story works great, providing some closure but still building the world of this fantastic series. Phillips is a master; I don’t have words to describe how critical his work is to how well this series works for me. I was little disappointed in how slight the backmatter (did Warren Ellis create that term?) was, given that expanding that was promoted as a big reason for relaunching, but I’m still damn glad to have this back.
1. RASL Speaking of masters, if this series follows through on the promise of this issue, Smith will have solidified his place as one (just in case his fantastic all-ages work isn’t enough for some). I don’t get the criticism that the protagonist’s profession isn’t apparent unless you read the solicits - he’s stealing a painting, talking about his client, etc. - seems pretty clear to me. The atmosphere of suspense is established perfectly, and the Spy vs Spy-looking dude chasing our thief is deliciously creepy. A debut that actually surpassed my high expectations.
01 Mar 2008 at 9:50 am
QuoteTwo weeks of comics for me this week. Time to catch up:
1) Criminal 2 - Never lets you down. So good.
2) RASL - Interesting first issue. I still haven’t checked out Bone (yes, its on my “buy the f-in trade now!” list), but took a flyer on this one based on buzz and wasn’t let down. Will continue to check it out (and move Bone up the aforementioned list…).
3) Captain America - See Criminal entry. Repeat.
4) The Order - I’m going to miss this comic.
5) Nova Annual - Continues to be excellent. I’m going to have to go back and read the series again like one of the previous posters. That a good idea. I’ll also pull out the first 25 issues of the New Warriors from the 90s, which featured Nova as well.
I really have to check out the Blue Beetle comic, based on continued good buzz. I had the old series back in the 90s, and after the appearance of all the Beetles in Booster Gold, and the new Beetle’s appearance in Brave & The Bold, it should be worth a look. I’m assuming there are trades out for it?
01 Mar 2008 at 5:47 pm
Quote1. Criminal - Great stand alone issue. It didn’t seem like this series was gone for long but it is good to have it back. Even with the shorter back matter this felt like a lot more comic for only 50 cents more.
2. RASL - A strange but intruiging first issue. The lack of text might make it feel sparse but Smith is such a great artist the art tells all the story there is to know. The page where Rasl takes out his pursuer is especially striking. Apparently Smith does realistic violence well also.
3. Fables - More Boy Blue is always a good thing and Henrichon’s art is gorgeous. The scene with Blue and Red is heartbreaking and uncomfortable in all the right ways. Bigby’s pep talk was priceless as well.
4. Captain America - I’m with the camp that loves that Brubaker has been building this storyline for years. It feels much more epic in scope than many mainstream comics.
5. Ultimate Spider-Man - These last two issues Bendis has been focusing on the characters (and a major change for one of them) and it is some of the best stuff he has done in a while. Immonen is always lights out.
The old reliables like Action Comics, Thor, Daredevil and Batman were also as solid as ever. Nexus’ 100th issue was worth the price just for Rude’s artwork. The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury was a promising start with a great action scene in the first half of the issue, just got a little too talky in the second half. Kick-Ass was a little disappointing but Romitar Jr’s art was still great. Overall a very big and very good week.
01 Mar 2008 at 5:59 pm
QuoteJon Rogers is going to take a break from Blue Beetle because DC has him on at least one other new/big project. But it’s not permanent, apparently. In the mean time, Will Pfeifer is taking over.
02 Mar 2008 at 4:56 am
QuoteHi guys! When is the spidey podcast coming out?
02 Mar 2008 at 7:56 am
QuoteJust two for me this week — Captain America and Hellblazer. They’re probably my two current favorite books on the market. I would have considered buying Silent Hill, but it wasn’t at my store.
Last week, I bought that promo that contains the first three issues of the new Thor series, and I have to say these are some of the worst comic-books I have read in about 5 years. JMS’ condescending, clichéd dialogue out of the mouths of the Great Plains townsfolk was painful, and his attempt to reconcile Katrina within the Marvel Universe was every bit as forced, awkward, and wrong-headed as his attempts to reconcile 9/11 in Spidey.
At this point I’ve tried out four of JMS’ titles and every one has left a really bad taste in my mouth. He is just an awful writer. I can’t believe Millar and Bendis get consistently killed while this guy mostly gets a free pass.
Anyway, I did love the Thor art.
02 Mar 2008 at 10:17 am
Quotejms? like his ff like the 12 pretty much hated Thor and Spider-man
Bendis is a good enough writter I just don’t like his work. And Millar? Well I simply don’t understand liking his work
02 Mar 2008 at 2:23 pm
QuoteRob, thanks for the recommendation. Will look into it this week for sure. And how did I miss RASL?? Didn’t see it at my shop this week. Will see if they still have any this week. I am fan of Smith being partially through the color trades of Bone and done with Capt. Marvel. I didn’t like the ending of Capt. Marvel as much as the beginning but it was still great stuff. Even better, it was something I could read with my 8 year old (a major theme in my comic book searches more and more, it seems).
02 Mar 2008 at 4:32 pm
Quotefill
fair warning that NOVA does not end in Nova but in FF 209-210
and since I was 5 when I read those ff’s i’m not sure how long afterwards there was some kind of Rom story
02 Mar 2008 at 6:53 pm
QuoteAt this point I’ve tried out four of JMS’ titles and every one has left a really bad taste in my mouth. He is just an awful writer. I can’t believe Millar and Bendis get consistently killed while this guy mostly gets a free pass.
If it’s any consolation JMS does indeed get his fair share of sh!t on the internet — he is the one who ret-conned a torrid sexual affair between Gwen Stacy and Norman Osborn — and I generally don’t care for his work, either. I did like Supreme Power while it lasted, though.
Top Five Books:
1. RASL
2. Captain America
3. The Immortal Iron Fist
4. Criminal 2
5. X-Men First Class
Honourable Mentions: JSA Classified (Wildcat!), Lucha Libre, Locke & Key, Wormwood Gentleman Corpse Calamari Rising (was that this week?), Batman (Bat-Mite!!), and Legion of Super-Heroes (the art is just so damned pretty, and I’m a sucker for a pretty face.).
Overall an excellent week I would say.
02 Mar 2008 at 8:43 pm
QuoteTo be fair, the Osborn/Stacy affair was Joe Q’s decision. JMS wanted the kids to be Peter’s. I’m not sure that’s any better, but it certainly does much less damage to Gwen’s character (though potentially more to Peter’s)
02 Mar 2008 at 9:15 pm
Quoteoh I don’t have a top five but this was a good week
STar trek Romulans would be 1
Dan dare IS 2
Thunderbolts intermational incedident is 3 and could have tied for 2 but the art made me think of GUmby
02 Mar 2008 at 9:16 pm
QuoteTo be fair, the Osborn/Stacy affair was Joe Q’s decision. JMS wanted the kids to be Peter’s. I’m not sure that’s any better, but it certainly does much less damage to Gwen’s character (though potentially more to Peter’s)
I’d read that was the case but wasn’t sure if it was indeed JQ who ordered the story change; either way, I find it appalling.
Spider totems, organic webbing, Gwen Stacy + Norman Osborn, radioactive semen, deals with the devil: Spidey’s sure been through some rough times over the last few years. And yet, like an abused wife promised she’ll never be beaten again, I keep returning for more bullsh!t.
03 Mar 2008 at 12:09 am
QuoteI hear ya man. I myself dropped all the Spider-books after The Other, only to start back up again with One More Day (because BND intrigued me, and I assumed I’d be lost if i didn’t start there). I want to like it, but there’s just so much baggage at this point that I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to embrace this new status quo. My comic budget is about to shrink very soon, and that will be the first book that gets cut, but I’m sure I’ll come crawling back at some point. Oddly enough, I’m still loving Ultimate Spider-man though (in spite of its much-maligned writer).
03 Mar 2008 at 1:01 am
QuoteWorth mentioning:
Action Comics — Call in the Subs! I haven’t enjoyed the Legion this much since the Legion Lost/DnA days. And did Rainbow Girl just go from a one panel reject in Adventure #309 to being able to wield the power of the entire emotional spectrum (including green/willpower, *wink*)? Sign that girl up!
Crime Bible — Wow, great series. Was I the only one unable to see how this was going to play out? I hope Rucka’s “3 DC projects” include more Question, even as a supporting character. We know it doesn’t include more Checkmate, that’s for sure!
Jack of Fables — Part of me wishes Jack and its parent Fables didn’t come out in the same week in order to spread out the goodness.
03 Mar 2008 at 7:57 am
Quoteon Spider-man (and a lot of “bigger” Marvels I just cannot silence the little voice that says “Bullshit is no fun anymore.” I can’t care about a character that’s just JQ’S toy
03 Mar 2008 at 12:03 pm
QuoteThe sad thing is, it seems to be happening more and more. Maybe it’s time for Joe Q to move on and let someone else take over Marvel editorial.
Agreed. I’d love to see Brubaker’s take on villains like MODOK or the Serpent Society; if he can make Arnim Zola and Crossbones into menacing adversaries, I’ll bet he could do something interesting with other C-listers.
03 Mar 2008 at 12:50 pm
Quotewas pretty up on cap untill they had that issuse that was just “Bucky sees the skull and Doom do uh SOMTHING. I was not on fire to read the next
03 Mar 2008 at 2:40 pm
Quote1.Captain America-Plenty of great action and some beautiful Butch Guice artwork. It’s really hard to tell him and Steve Epting a part.
2.Criminal 2-Sean Phillips never ceases to amaze me with his work. The shadowy imagery always jumps out at me. If there is such a thing as living breathing artwork..his is.
3.Daredevil-Excellent finish to this arc. It’s going to be intresting to see where DD/Matt goes from here. I honestly think he’s the best character Marvel has right now.
4.Action Comics-This has been a great ride and it isn’t even over yet. Looks like Kal-El is gonna kick some ass in the finale.
5.Mouse Guard-It was a very long delay but it’s great to have the book back finally. I can’t wait to find out more about Celenawe. It also has some bats out of hell that were really cool.
I dug Rasl not quite as much as everybody else but I’ll be on the second issue. Maybe that’s why it’s not higher is because we have to wait until May.
JSA was very good. Great to see KC Superman meet up with DC Superman. Fables was very good. Sad for there not being a BB/RR relationship. Transformers:Devastation ended decently enough. It doesn’t hold up quite as well with the prior five issues and felt more like a launching pad for whats next. Having Galvatron involved never hurts though. Jack of Fables was ok. Not a great finish for it either. I am looking forward to the upcoming western arc.
03 Mar 2008 at 2:59 pm
QuoteI’ve read all of the PM & IF Essential, and scattered bits of the IF and PM Essentials (which I bought after finishing PM/IF.) My recommendation is to pick up Power Man & Iron Fist first. It’s surprisingly good ’70s type stuff, and while there are backstory and supporting character elements referenced from the previous issues of Power Man or Iron Fist, so far at least the team-up stuff is much better, as the creators had figured out what worked about both characters.
I dug the movie, but I think it mostly works as a trailer for the graphic novel. All the really cool bits, like using the Challengers of the Unknown, or the Losers facing off against Dinosaur Island, or young Hal Jordan meeting Chuck Yeagar, or Wildcat’s final boxing match being against a young Muhammad Ali, are missing from the trimmed down movie. Which is more or less about the Justice League.
But it’s still a damn solid animated outing, and the voice casting is probably the best of any WB animated show thus far. Boreanaz and Harris were my two favorites as well, but I also thought they did an excellent job with King Faraday, Lucy Lawless as a boisterous Golden Age Wonder Woman and Brooke Shields kinda kicked ass as Lois Lane.
Honestly, for me, Kevin Conroy *is* Batman in voice, but Sisto did an awesome job here making me forget that. Btw, Sisto’s been kicking around in a few good roles of late… check him out as a hard-boiled retrieval specialist in the complete Kidnapped on DVD (great show that NBC killed too soon, but it’s finished on DVD, and it’s like a good 13-hour Tony Scott movie) or as a verbally abusive jerk husband in Waitress, to name two off the top of my head.
That’s interesting, because I’m JMS hater #1 around here (I put him in the same “Get these guys out of Marvel” trinity as Bendis and Millar, actually) and after hearing the rest of the Panteon talk about liking Thor, I gave it a shot on some review copies this week and kind of liked what I read. Admittedly, I’m only halfway into the third issue, and it is slow-paced, but I’m kind of digging his take on small town Oklahoma and I like the notion of Thor having to restore Asgard and the Asgardians, it’s a good premise for an ongoing.
I’m kind of hoping it’ll go the Supreme Power route, where JMS loses interest or whatever and someone else takes over. Except instead of Daniel Way taking a good concept and turning it lame (as happened with the promising Supreme Power), I’d like it to be someone good. Say Matt Fraction or Greg Pak or Jeff Parker, for example.
I have to admit, I’ve grown somewhat disenchanted with Brubaker’s villains. Because he seems to like them so much that they win. Seriously, I’m pretty much off Daredevil because the point of the story seemed to be Show ▼
How is that satisfying as a Daredevil reader? In a similar way, Red Skull gets to finally kill Captain America and see his destruction of America plot come to fruition. Has he suffered even a minor setback in the past 35 issues of Cap? In X-Men, Kid Vulcan gets to take over the Shi’ar Empire and mack on hot bird lady Deathbird (c’mon, you know she’s freaky in the space sack.)
Meanwhile, the heroes get their loved ones abused or killed, get demoralized or killed themselves, or win only the slightest of Pyrrhic victories. Brubaker’s an incredibly good writer, but the tone of every one of his books seems to be dour and overwhelmingly bleak.
Immortal IF excluded, but I think a lot of that is down to Fraction’s style, which tends to be a little more anarchic and upbeat.
Wow, I’m late to the party this week, aren’t I? Well, if anyone still cares, here are my picks for the week:
1. RASL #1 - Damn. I mean, the guy has written one of the defining small press books, and now he comes back with what looks like another one. Like s1rude said, it exceeded my high expectations.
2. Fables #70 - Nice little epilogue/palate cleanser after the recent story, as the Farm Fables discuss whether or not to head out for new territory now that it’s open to them and there’s a surprising and sweet (yet appropriately melancholy) reveal about Rose Red and Little Boy Blue. Poor Blue! You know what they say, lucky in Vorpal Blades and Adversarial ass-kicking, unlucky in… wait, is that what they say? It doesn’t sound right.
3. X-men First Class Vol 2 #9 - I love Paul O’Brien’s reviews, but I just don’t think he “gets” this book. He’s always going on about how it doesn’t quite fit into continuity, or doesn’t feel like an X-Book, which is exactly why I love it. It’s old school fun without being old-fashioned, it’s X-Men characters in pure superhero situations, it’s extrapolating from what could have been there in the less character-developed Silver Age and making it come to life beautifully. Scarlet Witch, Black Widow and Marvel Girl working against Hydra? Gold, baby, gold. And using Black Widow’s original (cheesy, yes, but well-done here, and I’m glad to see it even though I like her black costume better) costume as a jumping-off point for a Colleen Coover short? Genius.
4. Criminal 2 #1 - Another dark, life sucks premise and tone, but you can’t deny the craft, and I was completely invested in this little crime tragedy tale. The format really didn’t seem any different, though, making the relaunch seem like a purely commercial gimmick, but hey, if it can bump up sales, I say relaunch the damn thing every three issues.
5. Captain America #35 - For all my gripes about Brubaker above, this is still one of the most consistently great reads in superhero action comics on the stands. And Guice’s art was fantastic.
6. House Of M Avengers #5 - Not a *great* conclusion, considering how much I loved issues 1-4, but solid enough that I’ll probably pick up the trade. You know that “Marvel ’70s” period book that Dave F. and I have mentioned in podcasts? (Or have we? Maybe it’s just been in conversation at the shop). Gage should totally write that as an ongoing.
*Screw* Millar’s “1985.” I want Gage’s “1973.” And then on into ‘74, ‘75, etc.
7. Marvel Adventures Iron Man #10 - Nice use of Spider-Woman, clunky “heroes fight, then team up” bit but I can forgive it for a great use of a classic villain (not a traditional IM villain, either) and the best Tony Stark/IM we have going, outside of his guest role in Brubaker’s Cap.
8. World War Hulk Aftersmash Damage Control #2 - Like House of M Avengers, not as good as it’s earlier issues, but still fun. And a great, funny last page.
9. Mouse Guard Winter 1152 #3 - Agree with others that this one was kind of slight, but it’s beautiful to behold, and will read great in collected edition.
04 Mar 2008 at 4:38 pm
QuoteWell, some time ago I realised that the only stuff of his I liked was the creator owned stuff. Everything else is pretty terrible. For me about the only exception to this rule is The Twelve.
Now maybe its simply that JMS can’t rise above the awfulness that is the Marvel Universe. I don’t know.
19 Mar 2008 at 2:24 am
Quote