5/29/13

This is the best fifth week that I believe I have ever experienced. Whereas there wasn’t a clear BEST OF WEEK option the past couple of times out, I would feel comfortable awarding that to at least the first three issues I read. And the rest were all just about as strong. Let’s just call it BEST FIFTH WEEK and leave it at that.

X-MEN #001 — Wow. When this team and premise was announced, I was expecting the jaw-dropping business and the crew did not disappoint. Coipel and Martin are unparalleled, just amazing damn pages. And Wood bringing in an XX version of Sublime as the initial series antagonist is brilliant and perfect. With Bendis burning it down just about every week on his two core titles, Aaron amok with Wolverine and his entire school, and now this title, I’m not sure the merry mutants have ever been this strong across the board. Really, just a terribly high caliber of material. My favorite part is how Coipel almost undersexualizes the women. Really, check out the cover, no brokeback poses to be found or a ridiculous surplus of skin, just the quiet dignity of a bunch of beautiful women who can kick your ass. Very refreshing. My sole quibble with this issue is that Wood has Kitty utter the anathema “OMG” in-dialogue at least once (the second time is unattributed). Which is absolutely the worst and so much more disappointing to be found amidst an issue in which everything is going along to such perfection. Really glad and grateful, though, to have this series suddenly in the world. Looks like it's going to be a terrific ride.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #1 — What a terrific reading experience. For $3.99, you get the first three ten-page stories that were released digitally a few months back. And this anthology packs all kinds of punch. Jeff Parker & Chris Samnee kick things off with the story of a telekinetic run amok. Pretty dark ending, too. I kind of feel like our hero should have figured out what was going on, there. The final story is solid, though I writer Justin Jordan flubbed the opening line of Bizarro dialogue, which is tough to recover from. Shouldn’t it be “AM NOT BIZARRO?” The line without “NOT” had me thinking for pages that this was actually Superman somehow transformed into Bizarro because there is no way that Bizarro would ever introduce himself as simply Bizarro. It doesn’t work that way. Bizarro language is hard. Riley Rossmo’s art was crisp, it must be said. My absolute favorite, though, was the second story, “Fortress,” by Jeff Lemire & Jose Villarrubia. If the guys from SWEET TOOTH on a Superman story has any sort of appeal for you at all. I was over the moon when I realized, love not knowing who the creators are going to be and then finding out that what’s in your hand is actually treasure. And it’s such a great premise, I was all but slapping my head that I hadn’t thought of it myself over the course of all these years while simultaneously marveling at the facility with which these greats executed the concept. It filled me with wonder and delight, which, really, is what keeps me coming back every Wednesday. Just wonderful.

THE WAKE #1 — An immaculate first issue. Bookended by terrific headscratching moments set in the future and distant past, we get a strong dose of characterization of our protagonist and a string of supporting players before the real hook lands right where it’s supposed to. Sean Murphy’s art has as much detail and compositional brilliance as ever and Matt Hollingsworth’s subdued palette helps this pages stand out from everything else on the rack, even recent issues of END OF DAYS or HAWKGUY. And the story was so engaging that I straight up forgot that they all but give you that final splash page on the cover. This is, quite simply, how you do it.

MORNING GLORIES #27 — Another forty-page monster from Spencer/Eisma. We get more secret origin of Casey as her own inciting incident and plenty of crazy-talk speculation starring Hunter and Future Jade. Entertaining heady material, I love that it’s already gotten so convoluted that they’ve got to provide two pages worth of text and that wonderful little all-ages strip just to barely begin to explain all of the madness that we’ve seen thus far. Pretty terrified what that kind of thing is going to look like in a couple of years. Or, I mean, around #75? This thing makes L O S T seem pretty much linear.

CHEW #34 — Colby finally teams up with Savoy while The Collector and Tony talk it out over, what else, a feast. And but man, Layman just tosses off those “food-weirdo” Latin names and powers like it’s no big deal, makes you wonder how many he’s got tucked away in a notebook somewhere. As fast as I used to fly through those trades, I’m impressed by how substantive each single issue is, plenty going on every time out. This is, no problem, consistently one of the finest books on the rack every time it shows up.

INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #008 — The Simonson arc ends as it began, a tremendously fun romp through a Hulk/Thor teamup. I particularly enjoyed the physicist’s explanation regarding gravitons for Mjolnir being able to be lifted only by those it deems worthy. It was terrific getting to see Simonson draw Thor again. There was certainly enough Kirby krackle to go around.

NEW AVENGERS #006 — What’s probably the first arc comes to a close as everything comes around full-circle and none other than poor T’Challa pulls the crackling Kirby energy plug on another universe to save the good old 616. This is more A-list performance from Epting/Magyar/D’Armata, strong strong work all around. Six issues in, this book still feels like an event unto itself, some of Marvel’s most prominent heroes banding together to save their very universe from omega-level cataclysm. Kind of makes you wonder what Hickman’s got queued up for an encore.