Top Five Fridays 2/22/08
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
- Battle Royale Ultimate Ed HC Vol 2
- BPRD: 1946
- Fantastic Four
- Nova Annual
- X-Factor
Dave Farabee’s Top Five Books of the Moment
- Sam & Max: Surfin’ the Highway TP
- The Order
- Optic Nerve
- Batman & the Outsiders
- The Atheist TP
Dan Grendell’s Top Five Books of the Moment
- Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service V.6
- The Order
- Incredible Hercules
- Immortal Iron Fist Orson Randall Green Mist of Death
- Zorro
Randy Lander’s Top Five Books of the Moment
- The Atheist Vol 1 TP
- The Order
- Amazing Spider-Man
- Immortal Iron Fist Orson Randall Green Mist of Death
- Incredible Hercules
David Martindale(D3)’s Top Five Books of the Moment
- Amazing Spider-Man
- The Order
- Immortal Iron Fist Orson Randall Green Mist of Death
- Locke & Key
- Zorro
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Top Five Books of the Week:
1. Cable/Deadpool
2. Incredible Herc
3. Invincible
4. The Order
5. Annihilation Conquest Book 1 HC
Top Five News (Good and Bad) of the Week:
1. Poorly-written major death in Death of the New Gods. Kirby must be rolling in his grave.
but still, extremely glad it’s being collected.
2. Astro City: The Dark Age Book 1 HC included in the May solicits!! YES!! Unfortunately, it’s an advance solicit for July
3. Deadpool knows about One More Day, as revealed in Cable/Deadpool
4. Speakin’ of the Merc, Deadpool to be played by Ryan Reynolds in the Wolverine movie!
5. Fables apparently wrapping up the big Empire story in issue 75 - way sooner than I expected, especially since the all-out war will be featured in 73-75 (only three parts for the finale?). The book lost me a bit at The Good Prince, but I can still have confidence in Willingham not to let me down. This is going to make or break Fables as an ongoing series.
22 Feb 2008 at 6:22 pm
Quote1. The Atheist Vol 1 TP - Finally completed, I love this character and the weird, Warren Ellis style science/supernatural elements without the Ellis writing tics. The art change at the end is unfortunate, but it’s a really good read for anyone with a fondness for X-Files, Global Frequency, etc.
2. The Order #8 - Revelations about the big bad guy team, great action, great art… I’m really going to miss this book
3. Amazing Spider-Man #551 - We’ve only seen half of the creative teams so far, but Guggenheim is looking like the best writer on the Spidey relaunch. Really fun, and I’m sad we have to slog through three issues of Super-Freak instead of continuing with what he’s doing here
4. Immortal Iron Fist Orson Randall Green Mist of Death - Another great one-shot in the pulp tradition, it’s clear that Fraction has enough great story ideas to run this book for years and years, and nice art from Dragotta, Allred and crew.
5. Incredible Hercules #114 - Fantastic cliffhanger ending, great Black Widow/Hercules stuff, this book is great
6. Fear Agent Last Goodbye TP - Dark as hell ending, but a great sci-fi/war story that hits all the EC bases, has great art from Tony Moore and explains a lot of the backstory for the other two volumes.
7. The Order Vol 1 Next Right Thing - I still need to see just how this is going to end before I decide to buy the trade, but it is a really good story
8. Umbrella Academy Apocalypse Suite #6 - Hey, it all makes kind of sense by the end. And features great art, and features dueling symphonies trying to destroy (and save) the world. Inventive, unusual stuff, this definitely earns its hype.
9. Grendel Behold The Devil #4 - Not as impressive as the first three, but still really good. The reporter who has seen too much is probably the most interesting character at the moment.
10. Batman Confidential #13 - Sequel to a story many people have never read, but I kind of liked it despite not having read the original… wish they’d traded the original to read that too
22 Feb 2008 at 11:59 pm
Quote1) Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps HC (Still no love for this book, guys?!). Some ideas would be real lame if it weren’t for Geoff Johns. He could write every book for DC (and Brubaker could write every book for Marvel, for that matter) and I couldn’t be happier.
2) Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall…. - I agree Randy, this book could go on for a long time without getting tiresome. Fraction (and Bru) are developing one of the best supporting casts in comics.
3) Umbrella Academy- I’m already hyped for a sequel. Way has given plenty of room for one.
4) Superman Confidential- B. Clay Moore+ Ande Parks+ Phil Hester= rockin’ & rollin’!
5) Lock and Key- I was impressed and will be putting this on my pull list.
I’ve heard from a lot of people that The Atheist is a great book. I’ll have to check it out. Wasn’t there a rediculous amount of time between issues? I don’t mind late books, but c’mon.
23 Feb 2008 at 7:16 am
Quote1. Cable & Deadpool- Numerous hilarious laugh out loud moments (as Martin mentioned above) and the series goes out on a very high note, possibly one of the best issues of the series.
2. Umbrella Academy- Great ending to a great mini. Hopefully Gabriel Ba is back for the next volume later this year.
3. The Order- Bittersweet quality to every great new issue since each one is closer to the end.
4. Iron Fist- More Orson Randall is always a good thing.
5. Grendel: Behold the Devil- I wasn’t a Grendel fan before this series but Wagner has me hooked.
Overall a very good week. Invincible, Ex Machina and Brave and the Bold were solid as well. Runaways was a bit disappointing though. And yes, The Atheist was horribly late between single issues but it is well worth checking out as Randy says.
23 Feb 2008 at 8:44 am
QuoteIn no particular order . . .
1. Zorro - I’m honestly stunned by the lukewarm reaction to this book by critics I usually agree with (like Chris Sims). I loved Allende’s Zorro novel, and I’m thrilled to see Wagner taking advantage of his ability to use Allende’s origin story.
2. Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death - How can this series keep getting cooler with each new issue? Why don’t more fans realize this?
3. G0dland - Glad to see this book back after too long a wait.
4. Incredible Hercules - If you had told me two years ago that Hercules would have one of Marvel’s best books, I would have laughed in your face. As usual, Ares gets the best line: “No! Blows from an unseen assiliant have felled Wonder Man!”
5. Checkmate - Well, at least Rucka and Trautmann are going out on a good note. Excellent use of Superman this issue. I’ll be dropping the book once Bruce Jones takes over, and I suspect that Checkmate will be dropped from DC’s roster a few months thereafter.
23 Feb 2008 at 10:10 am
Quotecheckmate was real good and i enjoyed batman & the outsiders. finally, a book with ollie i want to read.
23 Feb 2008 at 12:59 pm
Quote1) Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death- The series that just keeps on giving.
2) Runaways: I know it wasn’t Whedon’s strongest effort in this book but it still had some nice bits in it. The splash page as turn-of-the-century “Wonders” go at it was neat.
3) Umbrella Academy #6: Fun ending to a fun little series. Looking forward to the next run later this year (if the editors can be believed).
4) Wanted 1-6: To get geared up for the movie that looks almost but not quite entirely unlike the comic, I re-read this series. It was so good for 5 issues but that last issue just fell flat and, well, the last page was just silly. Millar needs an editor some time.
5) Han Solo at Star’s End: Okay, it isn’t a comic (though it was later adapted into one) but the Daley written Han Solo solo stories that followed the original release of Star Wars is fantastic comic-book-esque fun. A friend gave me the 3 book collection last week and they are just a hoot. The only version of Han Solo this guy had to go from is the original (and best). No “let’s change who shot first” and no “very special editions” and no years of fanboy serving Expanded Universe stuff. Just pure, pulpy sci-fi goodness. I didn’t read these when they came out (though I could have) but am glad I finally got to them.
And Randy, Time Pilot? Seriously?
23 Feb 2008 at 2:45 pm
QuoteI’ve gotta be honest, I’m not as big of a fan of Johns’s writing as I used to be. He’s a damn good writer, but his voice doesn’t really speak to me as much as it used to.
That said, I did want to check out Sinestro Corps at some point, but not at $20 for a partial hardcover. By the time DC gets it all out in softcover (given their usual HC to SC conversion time, I’m guessing that’ll be about when Obama is running for his *second* term in office ;), I’ll probably have lost all interest. That’s what happened with Johns’s Green Lantern. I probably would have bought GL: Rebirth if it had come out in SC initially, but when it finally came out in SC, I’d lost my interest. And they’re *just now* releasing No Fear, the first 6 issue trade, in April, which is insane, given that the series is now 25 issues in.
Whew. OK, rant about DC’s insane hardcover/trade policy on some series over. The general point, I guess, is that I’m interested enough to check it out, but it hasn’t been available in a format I’m interested in yet. And by the time I got interested when the singles were out, they were sold out.
Crazy late. Hester even mentions it in the introduction. Doesn’t go into specifics, but it sounds like one of those unlucky projects where several things went wrong. But they’ve fixed them and are trying to get it on-time for a relaunch, which I hope happens soon.
At any rate, the issues were late, but the trade is absolutely worth it. It’s a self-contained story, too, although the character will be going on to further adventures in an ongoing series later this year, if all goes as planned.
You should definitely pick up the Grendel: Devil By the Deed HC when that series is finished. It’s a great telling of Hunter Rose’s story.
23 Feb 2008 at 2:55 pm
Quote1.Ex Machina-This almost felt like an issue from the beginning of the series when it was at it’s best.
2.Hawaiian Dick-I missed out on the second issue but I still love this series. I should just drop the damn thing and wait for the trade.
3.Grendel:Behold the Devil-Wagner never fails to deliver.
4.True Story Swear To God-Very strong issue. First issue of the series that I’ve read even from when it was self published. I can understand the great reviews it gets. I was *however* put off by the planned implosion box by Tom while watching the towers fall. Could be he was just generializing and was in disbelief from what he was seeing especially since the rest of the issue is so great. I hope that is the case and will give him the benefit of the doubt since I don’t know him. I wouldn’t wanna throw him in the nutball category like Charlie Sheen and Willie Nelson.
5.Zorro-Feels the damn good to have Z back in comics. I wouldn’t quite put it as being as good as Lone Ranger quite yet. The book is still quite young though so I’ll hold judgment. I can not wait for the Man with No Name.
6.Batman and the Outsiders-Green Arrow joins the team. How cool is that. I just hope he doesn’t do a Catwoman and be cut from the team so quick.
7.The Spirit
8.Superman Confidential-Ah. Hester and Parks drawing at DC again. How sweet it is.
9.Hulk
10.Incredible Hercules
11.The Brave and the Bold
12.Superman/Batman
23 Feb 2008 at 4:08 pm
QuoteIt’s only the first five chapters of the story, and for hardcover price? That’s so not worth it it’s crazy. DC really needed to do the Annihilation model for this, and the first Conquest book did in fact come out a few weeks ago with about ten parts of story packed into it.
DC could have easily done one hardcover for the main Sinestro Corps story, along with the one hardcover for the companion material (which comes out next month and does seem worth the price). Or hell, Sinestro Corps is so popular that they really should have just done a Planet Hulk-sized hardcover and fit both the main story and the accompanying material in there. Collecting it the way they did is a major screw-over to the fans.
23 Feb 2008 at 5:36 pm
QuoteWhat Randy said and what Martin said. It isn’t my interest that’s the issue, it’s the format and the price. Eventually, I will read it. Eventually.
23 Feb 2008 at 6:46 pm
QuoteThe Sinestro Corps HC would have seemed better timed a few months ago, BEFORE the story wrapped up.
1. Grendel: Behold the Devil
2. Zorro — Am I wrong in thinking Matt Wagner’s obvious greatness is not fully recognized?
3. Checkmate — Naysayers should note that Bruce Jones hasn’t officially been deemed new writer beyond the next arc (that I’ve seen). Can I hold out hope for Ostrander?
4. Immortal Iron Fist and the Green Dance of Lifey Death — Can this get any cooler.
5. Umbrella Academy — Certainly following in the footsteps of quirky super-heroics like Hellboy or Doom Patrol but still, great series, I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Charming characters. Gabriel Ba seemed like a perfect choice on the art. I want more.
6. Showcase Presents Green Lantern volume 1 — An impulse buy on a snowy day for $9.99. Worth every penny. Horribly hokey in some regards (”Oh I hope I can get a date with Carol Ferris…*sigh*”), but it’s hard not to appreciate some of the concepts John Broome introduced here. The Weaponers of Qward, the Anti-Matter universe, Sinestro, Hector Hammond, Star Sapphire, the Guardians of the Universe, the Green Lantern Corps all making their first appearances — and that’s in the first dozen issues. Geoff Johns’ GL owes quite a bit to these originals. I want to see the current GL go on dates in costume! Gil Kane on the art. I’m tempted to buy the GL hardcover archives in order to appreciate the true menace of YELLOW in Hal Jordan’s life. Ahh, good stuff.
23 Feb 2008 at 7:15 pm
Quote1. Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall & The Green Mist Of Death
2. Amazing Spider-Man
3. Incredible Hercules
4. Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite
5. Ex Machina
23 Feb 2008 at 8:25 pm
QuoteI take it that no one has The Spirit on their top 5 or even top 10 list for this week, meaning that people here aren’t impressed with the new writers for the series? Oh well, I was meaning to drop some titles lately.
Shame about Rucka leaving Checkmate. I do hope Ostrander will take over as the new writer, assuming it’s not cancelled before he gets the chance, as I like his Suicide Squad.
23 Feb 2008 at 9:49 pm
Quotemartin, are you saying fables is due to end on #75?
23 Feb 2008 at 9:59 pm
QuoteHey, now… I had some fondness back in the day.
Of course, after buying it, I immediately progressed to the fifth (final) stage and realized that I might never play it again. Whoops.
Unlike Joust, which is awesome and totally worth the $5 to get on XBox Live.
Wagner is indeed one of the greats… which is what made Zorror a rare misfire for me. I’ve liked almost everything he’s done, and loved most of it, so I was surprised to be left so flat by Zorro.
You can, but I’m pretty sure Jones is the new writer up until the inevitable cancellation. But if Ostrander somehow came onboard, I’d definitely start reading.
Honestly, I just didn’t even give it a chance. I was interested in reading Darwyn Cooke’s Spirit, I don’t have much interest in reading almost anyone else’s. Most of the rest of the Panteon dug Spirit #13, the “jam” issue with a variety of top talent, but it didn’t rate above an “eh” for me, confirming that it was Cooke (and J. Bone & Dave Stewart), not the character, that held my interest.
24 Feb 2008 at 1:10 am
QuoteNope, but Willingham seems to be heading for a major shake-up involving the war with the Adversary. So a big part of the book may be coming to an end.
But as far as I know, no end-date for Fables is planned. And while I’m a guy who likes his books (especially his Vertigo books) to have endings, honestly, I’m OK with the open-ended nature of Fables. It’s never had a major misstep, and only a few minor ones.
24 Feb 2008 at 1:12 am
QuoteI see what everyone means by the format (I would definitely prefer an entire single volume with loads of extras). I put it on my list for the story alone which is one of the few good things DC did right in 2007.
24 Feb 2008 at 2:01 am
Quote1. The Order: Man, I am bummed that this gem is cancelled. Such a interesting book, with an adult take on superheros. It figures that it didnt catch on. Can we move this to the MAX line and keep it around for another hundred issues? Or at least a season two?
2. Catwoman: I’m still loving this book. Best book at DC, hands down.
3. Iron Fist: Orson Randall & the Green Mist: Fraction is just bringing the quality with every book he writes these days.
4. Batman & The Outsiders: I bought this as a lark, but it was really fun. I had some problems with the characterization of Green Arrow, but overall a fun action book with pretty art. This might get added to my pull list.
5. Umbrella Academy
I also liked Checkmate and Mighty Avengers, and would have liked Angel after the Fall, except the pencilling on that book brings it down a few notches. Its really hard to read at points.
24 Feb 2008 at 2:39 pm
QuoteI don’t know if he’s just trying to save face or anything, but Matt Fraction said that ending The Order was purely his own creative decision, and had nothing to do with the sales.
24 Feb 2008 at 5:15 pm
QuoteOn a Kitson’s interview, the title wasn’t selling enough for Marvel to justify leaving Kitson on the title, seeing as they are paying a lot money for him because he’s exclusive. Instead of getting a new artist on the title, Fraction decided to end it.
24 Feb 2008 at 7:20 pm
QuoteInteresting. I won’t pretend I’m not a bit disappointed at that - Kitson’s terrific, but I could easily see The Order working with a different artist. Still, I have to respect that decision.
25 Feb 2008 at 8:16 am
Quote1. Order (bought the trade and liked it a lot although part of me wishes they’d ramp up the action
2 perhapsanughts enjoying it
3 Nova (trades)
4 Jonah hex
5 not a comic but I QUITE like the latest Alfred Hitchcock magizine
note (s) I THOUGT the end of the current Terror inc was litterally a mess. As in you may want to tone the gore so we can at least SEE SO MANY Better ways to go with terror
A Go the golgo-13 route and focas on how Terror effects the word
b do what Matt Fraction does with punisher plug him into the MU why was Razor back not in Civil war? Terror killed him
25 Feb 2008 at 3:41 pm
QuoteThat’s a bummer, because while Kitson has been a big part of what I enjoy about The Order, I don’t think that it was worth tanking the book rather than continuing with a different artist. But I can understand, if Fraction was worried about getting an artist who wouldn’t work with the book, or if he was just enjoying the collaboration and didn’t think his heart would be in the book without Kitson onboard.
While it may not be a mistake for Fraction, though, I do think it’s a shame for us readers, who are losing one of the top three books Marvel is putting out right now.
25 Feb 2008 at 9:40 pm
QuoteI’m down to check out some work by Phil Hester. I think I’ll start with Deep Sleeper or the Wretch before I get to the Atheist.
Based on what I read about his works, Phil seems to be a spiritual or religious guy. All of his stories seem to involve spirits or souls that only live in material human bodies for a short time but never die.
Hey, I also noticed the Starman Omnibus is slated for June at Amazon instead of May. But hopefully it will be worth the wait. Is Starman really as good as people say it is and will it pass the test of time or is it outdated? Was it only good because it added depth to a superhero character rather than just telling action tales. I feel like the hype around it is from mostly people that read the initial run from the 1990s. I guess what I’m trying to say is sometimes it seems certain comics are more famous for their role in comic book history and how they helped changed the genre. As Sam Gafford wrote about Starman at popmatters.com, “Starman heralded a revival of superhero characterization away from the dark, ‘grim and gritty’ legacy and back to the root concept of heroism. It helped redefine the idea of modern superheroes with its strong grounding in DC history and modern sensibilities.” But how will it read now without the historical context?
Thirdly, I just watched a David Lynch film and read an article about the film Donnie Darko. I think the comic book world needs more creators that are the comic equivalent to the aforementioned director and film. Grant Morrison can’t hold it down by himself forever. How cool would a comic be with a Donnie Darko vibe.
Well, time for me to make like a fetus and head out.
26 Feb 2008 at 1:46 am
Quotesorry, one more thing…
To quote myself, “I guess what I’m trying to say is sometimes it seems certain comics are more famous for their role in comic book history and how they helped changed the genre.”
I guess I should provide an example. Two years ago I had finally had enough of hearing about the Watchmen by Alan Moore so I finally decided to check it out. I loved the book and I love Alan Moore as much as the next comic reader, but I couldn’t help feel a little disappointed. It was a good read but I think all of the constant references in other reviews had me going in with the bar set too high.
When I went back to look at articles and reviews, they all said things like, “Watchmen was a watershed moment in comics”, or “it change comics by adding a human element to the characters”, or even ridiculous statements like, “the story of Rorschach was groundbreaking because it added a ‘conspiracy theory’ element that helped paved the way for comics and television shows such as the X-Files.”
Basically, to get the full impact of the Watchmen, I would have had to be reading comics before the first issue came out in order to fully appreciate it. Well, I think I was nursing my mom’s tit when it first came out. But at least I was able to enjoy the story.
In conclusion, I would like to go back to Starman. Sam Gafford wrote in the same article after the run for Starman ended…
“And now the time has come to say goodbye to Jack Knight and all his friends. To bid adieu to the city of Opal. To the enigmatic and quizzical Shade. To the gallant O’Dares. To the alien Starman, Mik. To the many characters, places, and events that made Starman unique and one of the few titles that I actually couldn’t wait to receive every month. After all, it is not often when one has been present for the creation of a new mythology. In the film Excaliber, Merlin quiets the celebratory knights who have brought all England under Arthur’s rule with a shout and a demand for respect as one day they will be able to tell their children that “they were there… with Arthur . . . on that day.” We were here with James and Jack and Ted and David and Solomon Grundy and Shade and all the rest. And even though we might not boast of it to our children, we can feel a bit of that pride knowing that we were a part of something special. Would that it happened more often.”
Yeah, well I wasn’t there. But hopefully the Omnibus won’t be a waste of 50 bucks.
26 Feb 2008 at 2:42 am
QuoteThoughts on Amazing Spider-Man, as I noticed it was in a couple of the Top Five lists:
I’ve just read the first two stories in one big chunk and I liked them. I wasn’t blown away, but they were solid, with good world-building and pacing, mostly good dialogue and very good art. I’m usually not a fan of the photo-referenced trend, but McNiven and Larroca both stepped up to the plate and hit solid triples, if not home runs. Larroca had some clunky moments, but some awfully imressive moments, as well.
I found much of Guggenheim’s Spidey dialogue to be funnier than Slott’s, which was surprising, and the subplots in both stories are interesting, with lots of great things to be explored and expanded upon. There’s a lot going on in these books and they don’t feel at all decompressed, which is nice.
The villians: I like Mr. Negative and am curious how his story is going to play out, but I was less interested in Menace. I would have appreciated finding out a bit more about him, but they are obviously setting him up as an unfolding mystery along with Jackpot and that’s alright with me.
All in all, enjoyable stuff, with Slott’s issues just slightly better than Guggenheim’s but not by much. I’ve only read the Daredevil story from Bob Gale, which was fun, and I’ve never read anything from Zeb Wells, so they’re both going to have something to prove. I like Phil Jimenez’s art, but I love Chris Bachalo and feel his quirky style is going to mesh well with Spidey. Once I’ve sampled all the writers, I’ll likely switch to trades for budgetary and space reasons.
Of course, I would love for them to realease the collections as paperbacks first, then 12-13 issues in oversized hardcovers later for those who are interested. I am not a fan of the premiere hardcovers.
Thoughts on the experiement so far?
26 Feb 2008 at 10:38 am
QuoteIf it helps, I read Starman for the first time via trades between Christmas 2003 and Christmas 2004, and I thought it was great. I’ll admit I didn’t fully get into it at first: I thought the first story was good, but not great. The Hawaiian t-shirt story, however, started to change my mind. By the time I got to “Talking with David, ‘96″ (the pirate one) and “Sand and Stars,” I was hooked.
Believe it or not, I actually felt the same way the first time I read it. I’ve yet to read it in its entirely again, but the more I’ve thought about it and re-read portions of it, the more I’ve realized that Watchmen played with the superhero genre and the comics medium on a level that few comics have done since.
Now V for Vendetta, there’s a Moore classic that clicked with me right away on the first read.
26 Feb 2008 at 10:45 am
QuoteWatchmen gets a lot of points form me for Many reasons..
1. Moore was smart enough NOT to try to force his story into “THE SHOCKING JLA story you never thought you’d read. A world is born ages and sort of DIES within Watchmen making in a REAL graphic novel. Novels having endings
2 the simple fact that Watchmen used text and pictures TOGATHER so well set it WELL above most modren comics. How many recent comics have totally confused you by trying the old “LOOK THAT says more than words ever could nonsense?
3 Also there’s a fairly good “Whoduit?” under all the other layers
best ROB
26 Feb 2008 at 2:19 pm
Quote