Return of Comics Countdown

Not a hoax! Not a dream! Not technically too late to do this, since we still have a couple of extra days until new comics come out and the cycle begins anew. As always, I will use this space to count down my personal top 5 of the books I bought this week, and maybe also share some thoughts about other books that didn't make the cut.

Dog of the Week - Fantastic Four # 567. I was so excited when I first found out that Millar and Hitch were going to be the regular team on FF, and had high hopes for their run. But at this point, I am unfortunately just as excited for their exit from the book. Their run hasn't been bad, per se, but it hasn't been great either. In fact, more than anything, its seemed kind of insubstantial - something that is especially bad because of the "big events and big ideas" expectations engendered by Millar and Hitch. This issue was nothing more than a slight "what if Dr. Doom became a good guy" sandwiched into the middle of the main plot. It was set up as if the events might be real at first, but it was pretty obvious from the outset that things were not as they seemed. When we finally found out what was going on - "Doom's Master" was simply showing Doom what is was like to be happy, then cruelly ripping it away - the explanation felt a bit hollow and trite. I mean, does anyone think that Doom's heart desire is to be a good guy (albeit one who is on top of the world)? The big destruction of Latveria here also seems like a bit of a ploy, and I'm almost certain we'll see some way out of it in the upcoming issues. On the bright side, I've really been enjoying Hickman's Dark Reign: FF mini, so the book seems to be in good hands once again in a couple of months.

Other stuff I bought: This week was really kind of a "meh" week for me, comics-wise. I don't have any real complaints about any of the books I picked up (even my "Dog of the Week" was actually a fairly enjoyable comic), but none of them really blew my mind, either. In other words, all this "other stuff" isn't much below the Top 5 in terms of quality. X-Factor #44, Uncanny X-Men # 511, Red Robin # 1, Final Crisis: Escape # 2, Red Robin # 1, Amazing Spiderman # 597.

Honorable Mention: Wolverine # 74. If this had all been penned by Jason Aaron (which I will now focus on exclusively), it would have probably made the top five. He seems to really have a good handle on the Wolverine character, something that is rarer than you might think given the large numbers of Wolverine appearances month in and month out. His story does an admirable job of trying to explain why Wolverine is in at least 3 different team books, along with his solo adventures. Aaron does a pretty decent job with Spidey as well, which is surprising given that Aaron's sensibilities don't seem like they would be a great fit for the web-head. This is my last issue of this title, at least for the foreseeable future, as I am not much for Daniel Way's work, and changing the book to focus on Wolverine's son, Daken, while Wolverine goes off into Aaron's "Weapon X" book really seems like a particularly crass move by Marvel. If they had wanted to give Daken his own book, they should have done so as a new # 1, and allowed Aaron to simply tell his Weapon X story in the main Wolverine title. I'm sure that wasn't done because Marvel correctly figured that not many people would pick up a new title starring Son of Wolvie. So rather than launching that book upfront, they just switched over the main Wolverine title, hoping enough people would keep picking it up out of habit that the absence of... well, Wolverine... wouldn't hurt sales. In my case, they figured wrong, but in the overall picture, they sadly were probably right.

# 5. Batman # 687. I picked this book up with a sense of dread in my heart. I have read very little, if any, of Winick's superhero stuff before, but had always heard mostly bad things about it. Further, I'm not a big fan of Benes' artwork. I thought I'd give this book a try for a while, though, and Winick's first issue did not disappoint. It was a bit odd to read a story about Dick Grayson struggling with his decision to become Batman, since we had just seen an event mini-series covering pretty much the same ground, but I thought Winick pulled it off very well, and captured the emotional weight of losing Bruce Wayne in a way that Battle of the Cowl never really did. I really got the sense, in the scenes with Dick and Alfred, that they were really hurting, grieving in their own personal way that had little to do with a bat-suit. If Winick continues to write Dick Grayson this well, and this comic becomes the place for solo Batman, I think I will be sorely disappointed when the inevitable return of Bruce does occur.

# 4. Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers # 2. This book was a breath of fresh air. A lighthearted, fun romp featuring various animals from the Marvel Universe being chased by Devil Dinosaur - what more could you ask. This was a comics equivalent of a good Dreamworks animated film like Shrek or Kung Fu Panda - light fun for the adults, and appropriate to share with the kids. A welcome break from "Dark Reign of Blackest Shadows, Oh Did We Mention Its Also at Night?" or whatever the latest "serious" superhero stuff is.

# 3. Resurrection vol. 2, # 1. Oni, your Free Comic Book Day offering worked enough of its magic on me to get me to pick up this book, and it followed through. Its a bit too early to tell if there will be much to separate this story from other post-apocalyptic band of survivors fare, but even if not, this is a well-told version of that basic premise, with a bit of a mystery at its heart (what DID happen to all the aliens?) On second thought, I guess maybe that mystery was revealed in Volume 1, since I haven't read it, but heck, its a mystery to me.

# 2. JSA v. Kobra, Engines of Faith # 1. I have been waiting for this book to arrive ever since I got a sneak peek at Don Cramer's art a few weeks back. Most of us had seen his work before, but I know my jaw dropped at those pages - this series is a real leap for an already good artist, and the finished pages are just as gorgeous. The story isn't bad either. Even though I am not all that familiar with Checkmate or even the JSA, I had no problem following what was going on. Troutman seems to be setting up some interesting points about the destructive potential of fundamentalism, as well as how far we will go to combat it. These points are introduced in service to the plot, though, and never come off as preachy or heavy-handed.

# 1. The Unwitten # 2. Mike Carey and Peter Gross set the bar high for this series with the $1.00 first issue, but they clear that bar with room to spare in this issue. This is one of those series that throws a lot at you out of the gate, but it never seems jumbled or confusing. Instead, this book is a nice puzzle, with Carey making you work to try to solve it while assimilating new facts along the way. There are a lot of serious goings-on here, but this book also has some funny stuff in it - I laughed out loud at the first dialogue of the issue, a cocky unicorn saying "you can stroke it if you like." As a confirmed bibliophile, I also love the literary trivia that is constantly being dropped by Tommy (and which I'm sure will figure into the plot prominently later on). Vertigo has really hit the ground running with this one, and I can only hope it continues to garner enough interest for a long run that fully explores the concepts teased in the first couple of issues.