A remarkably small week! Only seven titles (3 Marvel and 2 DC/Wildstorm and 2 indies) came home this week. The Avengers continue lead the pack, while Brightest Day doesn’t suck. There is a painful lack of X-Men: Second Coming offerings this week. Sometimes books sit on the desk unread because I’m not caught up (for example, Dust Wars from this week is a first issue of a sequel, whose first two-part story still waits for my complete attention). Sometimes I like to save them to read in small clumps or story-arcs (like Irredeemable this week). Sometimes I set books aside that I know (think) are going to be good to savor them. Then, if the week gets away from me and they’re still sitting there. The Spirit and Streets of Gotham are two books that deserve better than waiting two weeks before being cracked open. Next time…
The Score Card
AVENGERS: THE ORIGIN #3 ★★★★★
HAWKEYE AND MOCKINGBIRD #1 ★★★★☆
AVENGERS PRIME #1 ★★★☆☆
BRIGHTEST DAY #3 ★★★☆☆
JOKER'S ASYLUM : THE RIDDLER #1 ★★☆☆☆
Released May 19, 2010
BATMAN: STREETS OF GOTHAM #12 ★★★★★
THE SPIRIT #2 ★★★★☆
Unread
IRREDEEMABLE #14
DUST WARS #1
LEGEND
★★★★★ = Really, really good.
★★★★☆ = Better than average.
★★★☆☆ = Average.
★★☆☆☆ = Below average.
★☆☆☆☆ = Not good.
☢ = Unreadable.
Breaking it Down
The Top Dog (Greg’s Top Pick of the Week)
AVENGERS: THE ORIGIN #3 ★★★★☆ (w: Joe Casey/a: Phil Noto) Noto’s artwork still carries the day in this series and Casey’s plot continues to hold together the classic Avengers origin while respectfully re-imagining it for a more civilized time. “The Origin” really captures the essence and nature of the all the characters, even Reed Richards in a guest appearance. Time is hard for comics, where time keeps moving though characters never age. It is difficult to modernize an old story and still keep true to both what has gone on before and what is going on right now. Most of these kinds of stories wind up pretty bad. “The Origin” is the rare exception.
The Good
BATMAN: STREETS OF GOTHAM #12 ★★★★★ (w: Paul Dini/a: Dustin Nguyen) Streets has been the best Bat-book for about a year now. The long-running Zsasz storyline has come to a fantastic close and the new storyline begins almost before you realize it’s started. Damian “cleans up” a loose thread from the Zsasz arc and Dini goes a long way to establish the young Boy Wonder as a permanent fixture in the Bat-mythos.
THE SPIRIT #2 ★★★★☆ (w: Mark Schultz/a: Moritat) The Spirit has not only been a wonderful introduction to the storied world of the Spirit but does so with a better than average story and fantastic artwork. Schultz’s story and character work are simple, straightforward and delightful. Moritat’s art continues to develop with very heavy influence from Miller & Janson’s work in the 80’s: a brilliant complement to the plot.
HAWKEYE AND MOCKINGBIRD #1 ★★★★☆ (w: Jim McCann/a: David Lopez) This series deserves better than it is going to get (10 issues, 15 tops...). Hawkeye/Clint Barton done well is a fun character to read and watch play. He has a checkered past, a sense of humor and a gunslinger/knight in shining armor sort of noble streak that have always made him fan-favorite. Mockingbird/Bobbi Morse is still just a knock-off of Black Widow, Black Canary, now Ms. Marvel, or whichever female spy Bendis is toying with this week. The unfortunate comparison to Black Canary is inevitable and doesn’t favor poor Bobbi. The overall plot of H&W is pretty good and like any good first issue, this one is chockfull of star-spangled guest stars. There’s even a little spoiler of things to come for one Steve Rogers which is kind of interesting. One of the best bits in the series is the WCA… which long time readers (myself included) may have been bilked into thinking this was a reincarnation of the old West Coast Avengers (WCA), thankfully its not. It is something far worse off and something way better to read about (at least so far). There is also a little Mockingbird mystery afoot, which may go a long way to help separating her from the pack, hopefully.
AVENGERS: PRIME #1 ★★★☆☆ (w: Brian Michael Bendis/a: Alan Davis) Avengers: Prime #1 gets a higher grade on the strength of a few pages where Steve Rogers and Tony Stark get into post-Siege. Time-travelling or reality-jumping stories are usually gimmicky and shallow, as it is difficult to tell a good story, build a complete universe/backstory and fill it with interesting supporting characters. So imagine what happens when Stark, Rogers and the God of Thunder stumble into one of those nexus of reality things. Of course, you can probably already guess (seeing as how the rest of the Marvel Universe has moved on post-Siege) that whatever happens (plotwise) is going to be like one of those classic episodes from Star Trek where they go along way, do a bunch of cool things and end up in front of the same planet they started at in the beginning of the show. Still there is undoubtedly more Bendis-goodness in store for Rogers and Stark. The back-up story is also a pretty good re-telling of the Avengers’ origin.
BRIGHTEST DAY #3 ★★★☆☆ (w: Geoff Johns & Peter Tomasi/a: Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Ardian Syaf, Scott Clark & Joe Prado) It is hard to imagine that Brightest Day seems to be holding its own despite itself. The miniseries and connected DCU titles are loosely held together by the inane idea that there is some unifying plan behind the “resurrection” of a dozen DCU heroes and villains. Oh yeah, and the White Lantern. None of that makes any sense and the more that Johns and company tells the less interesting it becomes. The Brightest Day series actual is less of a contiguous story and more like a collection of barely-related stories featuring second-rate characters. A good portion of these are mind-numbingly painful to read: Deadman (which is apparently the central, unifying story), the Hawks and the jury is still out on Aquaman. On the other hand, the Martian Manhunter and Firestorm sequences are at the very least interesting reading. Surprisingly the artwork is neither disjointed (with so many artists), nor in any way spectacular – you would really expect at least one of them to stand out, and none of them really does.
The Bad
JOKER'S ASYLUM : THE RIDDLER #1 ★★☆☆☆ (w: Peter Calloway/a: Andrews Guinaldo) The Riddler kicks off the second Joker’s Asylum series with a bad romance that would make Lady Gaga blush, well maybe not. The actual story is more hampered than augmented by the Joker’s narration (continued interruption). It starts off decently, has this faux “End” and then continues through the rest of the issue. Now that is odd pacing. The mystery is kind of fun, though the ending leaves a lot to be desired.
The Reading Order
BRIGHTEST DAY #3 ★★★☆☆
JOKER'S ASYLUM : THE RIDDLER #1 ★★☆☆☆
AVENGERS PRIME #1 ★★★☆☆
HAWKEYE AND MOCKINGBIRD #1 ★★★★☆
AVENGERS: THE ORIGIN #3 ★★★★★
