Fred's This Week In Comics for 3/28/2007

[fred]

I was very surprised by this week. I had very low expectations coming into it. I was happy with the outcome. Did expectation play into that? Possibly, but I'm not too concerned with why. The Publisher of the Week was DC. The Book of the Week was Ultimate Spider-Man #107. The Shit Book of the Week was Wolverine #52. Read the Wolverine section for my previously hinted-at big news.

The average for the week was a B+.

Marvel

Marvel, Marvel, Marvel - what am I going to do with you? They had the Book of the Week in Ultimate Spider-Man #107 and the Shit Book of the Week in Wolverine #52. Daredevil was amazing as always. Strong outings were damaged by bad art in Fantastic Four, Black Panther, and Ultimate X-Men. It's time for them to just ****ing get it together already. Their average grade for the week was a B-.

Ultimate Spider-Man #107 - This was an EXCELLENT issue. I liked it a lot. It was so fun and the story that they're developing is so interesting to me. Bendis writes Peter Parker so well. The dialogue and the sense of humor are awesome. There was a lot of self-loathing in this issue too that rang true.

This was part 2 of the newest Ultimate Marvel Knights arc in which Peter teams up with Daredevil, Iron Fist, Doctor Strange, Moon Knight, and Shang Chi to take down the Kingpin. This issue saw Petter seemingly talk them out of killing the Kingpin. Moon Knight will don a disguise to infiltrate the Kingpin's operation as his bodyguard. They'll use him to get information on how best to take him down. It was also revealed that Iron Fist was a traitor to their group as a spy for the Kingpin. I'm betting that this will cause them problems.

There were several other points from other stories. The last issue revealed that Kitty Pride tranferred to Peter's school. In this issue, she has it out with Peter and reveals that she was thrown out of the X-Men for trying to help him. She's in his school because her mother moved to a house 8 blocks from it. At the end of the sequence, one panel shows Mary Jane having some kind of weird claw issue with her hand that makes you believe that she might not be 'healed' after her run-in with the Oz chemical. Also, when Kitty is introduced as a new student and a mutant they had a very realistic and offensive scene where she had to show the other kids what she could do and answer questions. It's probably what would happen and it's sad really.

The art was solid as usual. A+

Ultimate X-Men #80 - More of the aftermath of the death of Professor Xavier. The story was solidly good. It wasn't as good as Ultimate Spider-Man or even as good as UXM has been, but still pretty good. Yanick Paquette sucks. He's seriously bad and needs to be replaced. I'll have example panels later in the week. It's almost distractingly bad.

This was part 2 of the Aftermath arc. It is revealed that Cyclops, Jean Gray, and Storm have been left the school by Xavier in his will, but that they don't have much money to continue running it. His lawyer advises them to sell all of the real estate holdings they were left to get some liquidity. They come up with a better plan. They ask Lilandra to continue supporting the school and she agrees to. Her only condition is that her man be allowed to stay on to observe because of their ages. Well, their man is with the Hellfire Club. Is Lilandra with them? Does she really believe Jean to be the Phoenix? Will the Dark Phoenix saga come back to life? Only time will tell.

Also in hanging threads, Bishop is sticking around. Xavier left the three a series of warehouses that they didn't know existed. What's in them? Good question. Wolverine left the team to take care of some things. Peter is staying with Northstar in Chicago. Iceman is still a douche. Nightcrawler is thinking of joining the Morlocks. Pyro wants to be a member of the X-Men.

Oh yeah, and Cyclops disbanded the X-Men and it was revealed that Xavier is still alive in the future as a captive of Cable. Almost forgot to mention those things. Of course I'm being sarcastic. Cyclops decided that the mansion was to become a school and that they'll open their doors to mutants everywhere to teach them to co-exist in society. Somehow, that's different from Xavier's dream. And Xavier with Cable(Wolverine) in the future, I don't even know what to say about that. I have to see it play out.

Paquette should think about becoming an x-ray tech or something. This art thing isn't working out. B-

Wolverine #52 - I can't believe that I'm saying this. Are you sitting now? How about now? Good. I'm DROPPING WOLVERINE AND WOLVERINE ORIGINS as of RIGHT NOW. Marvel can kiss my ass. I'm so sick of these assholes stealing from me because I'm too weak to end it. It stops now. No more. This issue, which is number 3 of at least 5, that covers 'the final fight' of Wolverine and Sabertooth was ****ing tripe end to end. It ended with Loeb foreshadowing more Lupine(read furry) involement. Bite my d***. I'm out. F

Fantastic Four #544 - This was great. I like what McDuffie's doing and I have hope for his time on the title. It was fun. I liked the interplay between the characters. I liked the dynamic of BP, Storm, Torch, and Ben working together. I even like Uatu's joke. Yes, the Watcher tells jokes now. Whatever. It worked.

I do not like the art though. This guy needs to go away. I probably would've given the book a high B if it weren't for the art. As it stands, it gets a C+.

Black Panther #26 - I really like Hudlin's stories. I've enjoyed them 95% of the time in Black Panther's latest 26 issues. The problem though is that the art isn't steady. I don't know that they've had the same penciller for 3 consecutive issues during any point in the time since the relaunch. Also, most of the artists have been bad. This guy's stuff was a not so good. It was almost distracting. There were some minor inconsistencies in continuity between this and FF but I suspect that this will continue for the duration of Storm and T'Challa's time at the Baxter Building. It's not so important I guess. I'll make an effort not to whine about it. The art is going to cost them a letter. B-

Daredevil #95 - Do you think that Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark would adopt me if I wrote a nice enough letter? I have so much respect and admiration for both of them.

This is consistently the best book on the shelf every month. I loved the setup for the new arc. I loved the use of Matt's extended inner monologue as narration. I loved the use of Melvin Potter to show Matt again as a good man who believes in justice. I also loved that Matt's back out trying to take the Kitchen back.

And the pencils? BEAUTIFUL. Michael Lark is so good. I love the look and feel of his art. The only people I'd put in his class right now are Darwyn Cooke, Alex Maleev, and Tim Sale. People who know me know that those three are like the holy trinity of what's good in pencilling. A word too on the page layouts: SPECTACULAR. I love the whole narration on the left, panels on the right thing.

I'm intrigued for the story that will be and I loved the issue. It would've been my pick if USM was a little less Amazing or a bit more had happened. The last bit isn't a complaint, it's an observation. Setup's a *****. A


Image

Image had a great week. I only had one book from them but it did get an A.

Strange Girl #15 - This was a great issue. There are so many elements to this book that are great. It's funny, sad, touching, and it makes you want to root for this girl. Bethany is finally on the boat to Europe. Trouble is on the way. Beautiful looking book too. A

DC

DC had an awesome week. They had a slightly lower GPA than Image but I'm giving them Publisher of The Week anyway because it was close and I did only have one Image book. Their average grade for the week was a high A- halfway to A.

Batman #664 - The strangest thing happened this week, I opened my Batman comic and there was actually a comic inside. Odd, I can't remember when that last happened. Stranger still, I actually enjoyed it. It's been a while for that too. I believe it's been 5 months.

Anyway, this was fun and good. I'm intrigued by the story that they're building. I liked Batman parachuting onto the mountain to meet the woman. I liked him taking down a helicopter with a ski pole.

The art was good. A-

Superman Confidential #4 - Damned if I know what's going on this book, but it sure does look nice. It's been so long since the last one came out that I almost forgot entirely what the story was about. I think I remembered some of it by the end. Tim Sale's pencils and the coloring by Dave Stewart are just incredible.

UPDATE: After researching on Wikipedia, I think I understand this story now. I really wish that I didn't have to do that, but it is quite pretty. A-

DMZ #17 - This was really great. Brian Wood does such a great job with this book. Month after month he manages to kill me with the sadness and the horror of this reality that he's created. This was the conclusion to the Public Works arc. I can't wait to see what comes next. The art was cool as usual. A.

Fables #59 - This was really fun. This issue answered a series of reader questions in short one to three page stories. Each story had a different artist. I liked seeing the different art styles. It was cool. Nice to see David Lapham in the group too. It was cool. Fables - great again. A



Shortest review thread in a while.

[acomicbookgirl]

Little by little, Ed Brubaker is going onto my favorite writer list.. I didn't know there was a Superman Confidential comic.. I used to get Batman Confidential but I was just disappointed and dropped it like a bad habit..

[ConorKilpatrick]

Originally Posted by fred

Wolverine #52 - I can't believe that I'm saying this. Are you sitting now? How about now? Good. I'm DROPPING WOLVERINE AND WOLVERINE ORIGINS as of RIGHT NOW.

APPLAUSE

[fred]

Originally Posted by acomicbookgirl

Little by little, Ed Brubaker is going onto my favorite writer list.. I didn't know there was a Superman Confidential comic.. I used to get Batman Confidential but I was just disappointed and dropped it like a bad habit..

I only lasted one issue on that. Whilce Portacio - gross

[fred]

Originally Posted by ConorKilpatrick

APPLAUSE

I feel like a furry admantium-laced weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

[ConorKilpatrick]

Originally Posted by fred

I only lasted one issue on that. Whilce Portacio - gross

I made it two issues. You KNOW a Batman book is bad when I drop it. And it was 99.9% because of the art.

[acomicbookgirl]

Originally Posted by ConorKilpatrick

I made it two issues. You KNOW a Batman book is bad when I drop it. And it was 99.9% because of the art.

I think I did between 3-5 or something like that.. I don't remember but I do remember dropping it..

[ConorKilpatrick]

Originally Posted by acomicbookgirl

I think I did between 3-5 or something like that.. I don't remember but I do remember dropping it..

Number five comes out next month.

Anyway, pick up Superman Confidential. It's much better and probably reads well in one sitting.

[paper]

Good reviews, Fred. I'm glad you're dropping Wolverine Origins. This sends a very positive message to battered comic book readers everywhere.

Okay. So. I got two books this week because my LCS did not receive shipments of others. I was able to pick up Ultimate Spider-Man and Black Panther. Luckily for me, USM was POW.

USM was fun as usual, but personally, I can't wait until Bagley's run is over. All due respect to his record breaking run, but this art is so ungodly awful to look at. I find it distracting from the overall story.

Picking up Batman and Daredevil on Friday.

[fred]

Superman Confidential is great. I couldn't tell you what it was about without Wikipedia but it's SOOOO pretty