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Dandy Warhols’ frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor discusses the coming reissue of “One Model Nation” from Titan Books and the procedure of revisiting the historic play of the Baader-Meinhof Gang.
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Greg McElhatton gives “Angel and Faith” #6 4 stars, stating Christos Gage and Rebekah Isaacs’ late chapter features “an adroit development, one that will enthuse a lot of readers.”
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By: Robert Kirkman (writer), Charlie Adlard (artist), Cliff Rathburn (gray tones), Rus Wooton (letters) & Sina Grace (editor)

The Story: Is this promise of an unexampled colony a blessing or a threat?

Five Things:

1. How do you know who to trust?  - I really do like how TWD continues to be about everything BUT the zombies.  How do you know who to trust?  Clearly, no one can survive in this zombieland on their own, but where do you stop your circle or trust?  Rick’s gang has added new folks before: Michonne, Abraham, the Arlington folks…  Clearly, more people is potentially better, but only if it is the right kind of more.  If “more” means “more Governor” or “more cannibals” then it’s a bad thing.  And of course anyone who has survived this long in the apocalypse is going to be a little paranoid due to natural selection.

2. How badass is Rick’s gang? - Rick makes an interesting observation towards the end of this issue: His gang is pretty darn badass and maybe they don’t have to worry about running into bad guys because they’ll just kill them if they act funny.  How true is this?  What evidence do we have that Rick’s gang is all that tough?  Let’s see, they got smashed by the Governor.  They crushed the cannibals.  So, their record would be 1-1.  I guess they did take out that other group that attacked the Arlington compound about 10 issues ago, but that wasn’t really a fair fight with Rick’s group being fortified.  And, Rick’s group is clearly tougher than the original Arlingtonites, but those sheep are so wimpy that it kinda defies reason that they would have survived this long (it’s almost a plot hole).  I think it’s not THAT clear that Rick’s group is badass.

3. Adlard does great storytelling. - Simple storytelling excellence is easy to take for allowing, but when you also review books wish the GI Joe comics, you realize that you can’t just assume the the storytelling will be solid.  With Adlard, you rarely get anything flashy (although there are some pretty vistas in this issue), but you can always tell the characters apart and the action is always crystal clear.  There’s even a neat fight scene in this issue where Rick smashes a dude to the pavement and each panel flows from the one before.  That’s slick because we’ve all see countless comics that make you wonder, “how the hell did he land on the RIGHT side of his face if he was being thrown like THAT in the panel before?  Did he do a flip or something?”

4. A little slow… - I know that TWD is a slow burn kinda comic and I don’t want to lose that, but I honestly wouldn’t mind if this series picked it up a little.  Nothing too fast.  Just like listening to a podcast at 1.5X.

5. Andrea?  Rick?  Carl? - Remember when it was a big deal that Rick and Andrea hooked up 4-5 issues ago?  Now that doesn’t even rate an adverted?  Where’s Carl?  Can Michonne talk anymore?  These issues are becoming very Rick-centric.  If the overall story is going to advance slowly, I’d like to at least check in on all of these smaller issues, not to mention that I think the Rick/Andrea dynamic has a lot of potential.

Conclusion: After sucking wind for a few issues, TWD has a nice bit of forward momentum again and that’s great.  This series has a wonderful quality where Kirkman could probably merely ad lib for years because we’ll always want to know what happens next.  Still, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if they stepped on the gas a little bit.

Grade: B-

-Dean Stell

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Filed under: Image Comics Tagged: Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn, Dean Stell, Image, review, Robert Kirkman, Rus Wooton, Sina Grace, The Walking Dead, The Walking Dead #93, The Walking Dead #93 review
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Courtesy of Marvel, CBR brings you progression looks at unexampled title on vendue next Wednesday including “Hulk” #48, “The Twelve” #9, “Uncanny X-Men” #6, “Uncanny X-Force” #21 and more.
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Marvel Comics has relinquished its entire beggary info and frost creation for title transporting in April, 2012, including “Avengers Vs. X-Men,” Wolverine,” “Ultimate Comics Spider-Man” and more.
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Green Lantern Comic Book #170 DC Comics 1983 VERY FINE

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Jeff Parker and Kev Walker’s “Thunderbolts” #169 gets 5 stars from CBR reviewer Doug Zawisza who calls the series “the one book that you didn’t cognize you were missing, and shouldn’t be.”
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By: Mark Millar (writer), Leinil Yu (pencil), Gerry Alanguilan (ink), Sunny Gho (colour), Clayton Cowles (letter) &A; Nicole Boose (anthologist)

The Story: Will Simon/Superior do a trade with the devil to relieve Earth.

Four Things:

1. Has a maize-y summertime flick knowingness. – I tin totally seat this being a summertime pic and I’m sure Millar has either already signed with a manufacturer or is hard at washing securing such a trade.  That’s not a badness situation because this could be a mass of merriment to seat on the big surface.  The tale is linear, doesn’t ask too much of the bookworm and has a happy ending.  This comic could be adapted without too much tizzy.  Yay!

2. Great linework. – For me, the existent champion of this Stations has been the Yu/Alanguilan creation squad.  Even if the art is a much more realistic than I like, I can still appreciate what’s departure on here.  The hard thing with realism is that you have to nail it and that takes special artists to not give us face that autumn apart when you stare at them for too long.  Yu and Alanguilan are up the challenge.  They also do a pretty well job of capturing the superintendent-powered action, which is (again) hard for realistic artists to pull cancelled (for the same reason a photograph almost never has the vitality of the real situation).  My only fear when I see a comic like this is that they’re inspiring other young artists….who are far LE talented….to draw like them because this is NOT a style that looks commonweal when it isn’t done well.

3. Sunny Gho is a very diverse colorist. – I’ve been really impressed with this hombre’s skillfulness.  This coloring power be a little solon highlighted than I usually form, but he’s doing it largely within the orbit of the linework, so I tin trade with it.  But, this colouring is 180 level away from the gorgeous lavation that he’s done on the Velocity miniseries from Top Cow (where I former was exposed to Mr. Gho’s wash) and on the current Incredible Hulk for Marvel.  He’s definitely a colorist to livelihood an oculus on.

4. Ultimately light, fluffy and a little predictable. – I’ve been pretty positive on this series, which is going to brand people wonder why it isn’t getting a “A” popping below.  Ultimately what holds this series dorsum (for me) is that it’s too light and fluffy.  It’s a good time and you’ll enjoy it and the art is pretty, but there’s nada in this comic that is departure to get seared into my brain (example….the embellished in Kick Ass 1 where Kick Ass has been brutalized by the badness hombre and he stood up, pulls up his pants, grabs a chair-leg and swears he’s leaving to beat the crap out of them).  It’s pretty obvious that Millar is thinking film right when he wrote this series and sometimes you’re going to return summertime fluff….and that’s ticket.  In some ways, this series reminds me of the film Super 8 from close summer.  That film was cute and made a lot of appropriation, but I didn’t LOVE it.  If they’d made Super 8 a little darker or a little edgier, I would have liked it more and it would have made 1/10 the money.  Such is life.  And, Millar has hardly lost it…..he’s still doing edgy work that pushes the restricted of decency like Nemesis or Kick Ass 2.  You just won’t find that edginess in this Stations.

Conclusion: Light, enjoyable and not to fill.  This will brand a playfulness film when it semen putout and I’ll be access there in formation to salary my appropriation and then complain that it wasn’t edgier. 

Grade: B

-Dean Stell

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Filed under: Marvel Comics Tagged: Clayton Cowles, Dean Stell, Gerry Alanguilan, Icon, Leinil Yu, Mark Millar, Marvel, Nicole Boose, review, Sunny Gho, Superior, Superior #7, Superior #7 review
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Courtesy of Marvel, CBR brings you progress looks at unexampled title on auction next Wednesday including “Astonishing X-Men” #46, “Captain America & Bucky” #626 “FF” #14, “Secret Avengers #21.1″ and more.
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The CW has ordered a pilot for “Arrow,” a retelling of DC Comics’ Green Arrow from “Green Lantern” screenwriters Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim and “Fringe” alum Andrew Kreisberg.
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FORWARD

Welcome to WCBR’s year end comic book industry report card. Sorry it’s a little, but we figure it’s better late than never. But just like 2010′s list,  WCBR’s report card is a list of titles that we enjoyed and disliked for the entire year 2011. To encourage debate amongst the writers (and eventually you guys, the readers), we decided to let everyone have their say. Let us know if we’re nuts, or if you can see where we’re coming from with the picks. Thanks for and again, Happy New Year! -Ray

BEST ON-GOING SERIES

Batman/ Detective Comics - Okay, I’m sort of cheating here, but given that Batman is really just a continuation of Scott Snyder’s exploration of Gotham, it only seems fair. Quite frankly, Scott Snyder’s run on Batman ranks as one of the greatest Batman stories of all time and when all is said and done, Snyder will no doubt be seen as having one of the best runs on the character.  For me at least, his work has actually cast a shadow on Grant Morrison’s work with the character.  Really, Snyder has done the unthinkable: he’s made Morrison look secondary. This run had it all: great artwork, huge dramatic tension, creeping, overarching mystery, and a constant darkness that played over the entire story.  Oh, and since this is a Snyder comic, we also got some good old fashioned horror.  The highest praise I can give Snyder’s Batman and is that, despite being a superhero book, it’s one that can easily be given to non-comics readers and be just as enjoyable as it is for the hardened Bat-fan. -Alex Evans

Warlod of Mars -  Dynamite’s adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars has delivered quality writer, art, color and production values from day one, and has followed this up with a three-part original connector to get us to The Gods of Mars. This is always top of my pull list and unlike other titles and even publishers I tend to sample here and there, I never miss an issue. -DS

Amazing Spider-Man – Do you know how many issues of ASM came out this year?  25!!!!  There were a few issues that dipped into the C-range, but there was a LOT of excellence too and it all came in a nice, tight and coherent package.  Dan Slott deserves a LOT of credit for his clever writing and the Spidey books are also boasting the best cadre of artists at Marvel.  Great stuff.  Runner-up: American Vampire -Dean Stell

BEST NEW SERIES

Journey Into Mystery – Far and away, Kieron Gillen’s Journey into Mystery was the best thing to come out of Fear Itself.  In fact, it’s also some of the best work of Gillen’s career.  It’s charming, it’s emotionally compelling, and it’s epic.  Gillen somehow manage to balance comedy, charm, and wit with grand, fantasy storytelling, creating a narrative cocktail that is head and shoulders above the rest. Journey into Mystery is populated by characters that are absolutely lovable and a world that is escapism for anyone’s inner child.  And yet, it remains smart and gripping throughout.  If comics could be hugged, Journey into Mystery would be smothered. -Alex Evans

Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris – Whereas Warlord of Mars is covering known territory, Dynamite’s Dejah Thoris series breaks new ground, offering up the very best features of pulp tradition and a true channeling of Burroughs’ style and creativity.   -DS

Blue Estate – Crowded category, but I think Blue Estate is a deserving winner for giving us a fast-paced and fun look at a crime comic.  I love all the weird characters who populate this world and think that series creator Viktor Kalvachev has done a wonderful job of managing a rotating cast of artists to give us a wonderful looking book.  Blue Estate also features some of the best covers in the business.  Keep an eye on this Kalvachev dude.  Runners-up: Witch Doctor, Rachel Rising, Spaceman, Wolverine & the X-Men, Vescell -Dean Stell

BEST MINI SERIES

Criminal: The Last of the Innocent – It’s true that the creative union of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips can do no wrong, however, with the Last of the Innocent, both Brubaker and Phillips went out of the box, really stretching the creative limits of the Criminal template, if such a thing exists.  This isn’t a crime story in the traditional sense of heists and cops and gangsters.  Rather, it’s an emotional tale of missed opportunities, domestic unhappiness, and the pain of nostalgia.  The result is by far the most personal Criminal story we’ve ever gotten, one that is decidedly different from all that has come before.  Brubaker has commented on how taxing it was to write this series, and that’s really no surprise.  The story is so intimate that it hurts. -Alex Evans

Warlord of Mars: Fall of Barsoom and Severed – Stylistically, they are night and day, but each sets down a powerful market in the field. Fall of Barsoom tells the tale of the last days of Barsoom’s golden age, its tipping into savagery. It is a world of soft super-science. Severed is the haunting, terrifying early 20th century nightmare the reader is being inexorably dragged to. Both stick to the insides of the mind long after the covers close. -DS

Loose Ends – Another CROWDED category and I am giving the award to a series that isn’t even finished yet.  Ha!  So, why Loose Ends???  Well, for one thing, I love the modern-day, Southern, redneck crime tale.  What Scalped is for Native American reservation crime, Loose Ends is to the small-town, redneck, meth-lab set.  And, the art in Loose Ends is GLORIOUS.  Chris Brunner’s linework is top shelf stuff and the coloring by Rico Renzi takes it to a whole other level.  Runners-up: Criminal: Last of the Innocent, American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest, New York 5, Rocketeer Adventures, Severed   -Dean Stell

BEST STORY (OR STORY ARC)

Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris -  I felt that X-Men Schism made a strong showing, but Dejah Thoris’ Colossus of Mars arc was so much raw, page-turning fun that I have to give it top marks. -DS

American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest – This great story featuring vampire hunters going into Nazi-occupied Europe and doing battle with a brigade of Nazi vampires was HOT.  Not only did Scott Snyder write the heck out of it while fleshing out his American Vampire world, but Sean Murphy contributed incredible art.  Murphy is one of those artists who even other comic artists go ga-ga over.  Dude is super talented. -Dean Stell

BEST ARTIST

Francis Manapul – I’ll admit that I was severely tempted to give this to JH Williams III for the second straight year.  However, Manapul’s art on the Flash has been truly fantastic, creating the best looking Flash comic that I have ever read.  Better still, since the relaunch, Manapul has made the absolute most of his being both artist and writer. The result has been a true fusion of art and script in storytelling.  But what really sets Manapul’s work ahead is his innate understanding of the Flash’s powers and the way he portrays it on the page.  You feel Barry’s speed and you innately understand the feeling and operation of Barry’s powers.  Manapul has created a beautiful, lush, and likable world, but one that is animated by the Flash’s powers.  Manapul has crafted a comic where the reader experiences the world just as the Fastest Man Alive Does and the result is visceral and exciting. -Alex Evans

Lui Antonio – Antonio spent the year laying down a beautiful, evocative Mars, struggling for its air and existence amid the dust and savagery of its ruins. The action was ever-present and the aliens and their artful technology. Had Edgar Salazar had more time on the series, he definitely would have been a strong contender. -DS

Gabriel Hardman – This is a tricky category because you have some guys who do great work but only give us 3-4 issues per year (JH Williams, Sean Murphy, Jim Cheung, etc.).  Hardman is every bit as good as those guys AND he cranks out a monthly book.  He’s also his own inker.  I wish more artists had Hardman’s work ethic and talent.  Look for his glorious work from 2011 in Hulk and Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes and see him in 2012 in Secret Avengers.  Runner-up: Greg Capullo -Dean Stell

BEST NEW ARTIST

Andrea Sorrentino – Truly, Sorrentino has got to be one of the best finds that has come courtesty of DC’s New 52.  His work on I, Vampire has been startling and unique, dripping with dark atmosphere and mood.  Indeed, it’s one of the rare books where, while the story and script are fantastic, they are completely overshadowed by the magnificence of the art.  Sorrentino’s work is of a sort where the primary focus is on world-building.  We get dark, shadowy urban environments, where monsters lurk around the corners and under the streets, a world where characters are subsumed darkness, burdened by their guilt and flaws.  Sorrentino builds the comic far more than any script ever has and really, one gets the feeling that with I, Vampire, Sorrentino has created a fully realized artistic sandbox into which any writer can plug in his script and characters.  Simply put, Andrea Sorrentino is a dominant presence. -Alex Evans

Edgar Salazar & Daniel Indro – Edgar Salazar recently took up the reins of Warlord of Mars while Daniel Indro laid down the art under the direction of Alex Ross in Flash Gordon. Both artists are eye-shockingly powerful in the alien settings and their differing stylistic approaches to expression and action, and both deserve a lot of attention. -DS

Lukas Ketner – This is a weird category defining “new” is hard.  But, I’d never heard of Ketner before seeing his work in the pages of Witch Doctor and his comicbookdb.com listing is pretty skimpy, so I think he counts as “new”.  This guy is seriously good.  Every time I look at his work it reminds me of Bernie Wrightson.  Check it out now!  Runner-up: Nick Bradshaw. -Dean Stell

BEST WRITER

Scott Snyder – Scott Snyder’s ridiculously fast ascendancy reminds me a great deal of Brian K. Vaughan’s several years back.  Simply put, everything Snyder does is golden.  His name on a book has become a guarantee that you are holding an A-grade comic.  In one year, he has relaunched

Swamp Thing into one of the best comics of the New 52, he has continued to put out some of the greatest Batman comics of all time, he’s continued to maintain the same high level of quality in American Vampire, he’s expanded American Vampire into a franchise by writing the superb Survival of the Fittest mini, and he continues to co-write the creator owned Severed which, also, is fantastic. Like I said, everything he touches turns to gold.  Snyder is, quite simply, one of the best storytellers working in comics today.  His comics are dense, atmospheric, and, whatever he writes, it cuts to the core of whatever concept he’s working on and extracts any and all potential to the maximum extent possible. And the most ridiculous thing of all?  Snyder put out his very first comic work in the form of a short story for Marvel in 2009, with his first ongoing series kicking off in 2010.  He has gone from putting out his very first work in comics to, between all his series, selling in the ball park of 280,000 comics in September alone. -Alex Evans

Once again I’m going to pick two. Paul Jenkins really blew me out of the water with his work on Thor Heaven and Earth. He had single-issue stories with tight plots and powerful emotional blows. Scott Snyder and Scott Tuft (I’m consdering them as one for the purposes of the top picks) are in my end-of-the-year listing not because of tight plots and strong emotions, but because of the ability to create a tone of mounting inescapable dread. -DS

Scott Snyder – This is the easiest category on the list.  Snyder is pretty new, but in the last year he gave us ~12 issues of American Vampire that were mostly B+/A- material.  Plus, he finished his instant classic Black Mirror story in Detective Comics.  Then he relauched Batman as the best of the new 52 at DC.  And….he’s co-writing this great miniseries called Severed with his childhood friend.  Oh yeah, and Swamp Thing is great too.  Scott has never written a single issue that is even “meh..  He’s like a baseball pitcher that is still working a perfect game in the 18th inning. -Dean Stell

BEST NEW WRITER

Arvid Nelson – This is always a toughie. How new do you have to be? I’m going to fudge this one a bit and offer up Arvid Nelson as best new writer, because I don’t think he’s gotten the audience he deserves yet, and because he started a new title this year (Dejah Thoris). Already last year, he was helming the adaptation of Warlord of Mars, but his talent and creativity had more scope in the Dejah Thoris spin-off which has been such a breath of fresh air for Barsoom fans.  -DS

BEST SINGLE ISSUE

Amazing Spider-Man #655 – Dan Slott and Marcos Martin really nailed it in this issue that dealt with the death of Martha Jameson.  The first half is silent and Martin does a masterful job of showing the little ways that the death of a spouse would manifest.  That scene of Jonah waking up because her alarm was going off on the other side of the bed is just haunting.  Then, the second half is pretty good too as it shows Spidey coming to grips with his responsibilities.  Just wonderful stuff.  You won’t find a better superhero comic.

BEST TRADE PAPER BACK OR ORIGINAL GRAPHIC NOVEL

Habibi – I didn’t read a lot of OGN’s this year, but Habibi is a very powerful work.  Craig Thompson’s beautifully illustrated of a boy and a girl sold into slavery in the middle east has so many touching and moving moments.  Plus, it is impossible not to respect the labor of love that a work like Habibi is.  This isn’t something that a creator belches out in a month. -Dean Stell

Tiny Titans – DC came out with several volumes of their Tiny Titans TPB and those things are ingenious. I own every one for my son and we laugh out loud reading them. Fine, fine work. Too bad the series is coming to a close, but buy the trades for your kids. -DS

BIGGEST SURPRISE

The Flash – I was extremely skeptical about this series.  Artists turned writers?  That’s not often a good thing.  Frankly, were it not due to my dedication to the Flash, I would not have even given this book a try.  However, I’m glad I gave it a shot and it’ll be on my pull list for the indefinite future. Manapul and Buccellato make the most of their being in charge of both art and script and the result is a kind of synchronicity that is pretty hard to find when artists and writers are separate.  That said, we all knew the art would be gorgeous.  The big surprise here is that the story is actually pretty good as well.  The superheroic feats by the Flash are incredible, the way he uses and expands on his powers are creative, and really, Manapul and Buccellato are giving us a feel-good, classic superhero story that can be enjoyed by all ages.  It’s a book that’s pure fun in a way that only superhero books can be. -Alex Evans

Severed – there was nothing in the reporting and interviews that can really prepare you for the experience of reading Snyder and Tufts’ opus. The grip the series takes on the reader is altogether unexpected. -DS

That Marvel is such a slowpoke when it comes to same-day-digital comics.  Good lord folks, JUST DO IT!   -Dean Stell

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

Flashpoint and Fear Itself – It didn’t feel right to pick one over the other because, let’s be frank, both of them sucked. I actually feel that Flashpoint is, however, the technically worse book.  While Fear Itself was just extremely mediocre and forgettable, Flashpoing was just a downright mess.  Geoff Johns found himself forced to do far too much in five issues – attempting to create an entire world and have us become invested in a universe worth of new characters, all while developing a story and prepping a relaunch in the process.  The result is a complete, disastrous mess.  It’s hard to care about 90% of the characters, nothing is every fully developed, and the ending is mind-bogglingly asinine.  Oh, and don’t get me started on the sheer number of spin-off miniseries, most of which sucked.  Seriously, that had to be some kind of record.  The sheer number of tie-in miniseries and one-shots was mind-bogglingly, and I can only think of two that were actually any good. Then there’s Fear Itself.  The first issue was promising.  It was meant to be a comic capturing the spirit of the times, the political tension and anxiety of our current cultural climate.  Well, it started that way…but it ended up being a completely simple-minded story involving guys with hammers whacking things until the heroes got their own weapons to whack them back with.  And….this was spread over no less than 7 issues, the last of which was giant-sized.  I fail to understand how a series with such lofty aspirations could end up being so incredibly underachieving and bone-headedly simple. Oh, and the best part of all?  The three epilogue issues (no joke, numbered #7.1, #7.2, and #7.3) basically undid anything of consequence that actually occurred during Fear Itself.  Not only was the series completely lacking in substance, but there’s really no reason at all not to forget it.  -Alex Evans

Brightest Day – The ending of Brightest Day pretty well represented the unevenness of the series overall and was quite a disappointment for those of us who stuck out the 24 issues. In close second in terms of disappointments were Defenders #1 and #2. I was really hoping for a revival of the quirky oddness that made the Defenders of the 70s and 80s so charming and unique. This series so far has been a tongue-in-cheek, irreverent diminishment of some heroes who are really worthy of more (Dr. Strange and Iron Fist specifically).   -DS

Fear Itself – Man, this was a piece of shit.  Even with ~90 days to cool off, it was shit.  Has the “death” of both Captain America (Bucky version) and Thor ever caused so little discussion?  Not to mention that the aftermath series basically undid everything of import that happened in the series.  By the end, even the reliably awesome Stuart Immonen was turning in mediocre art as if he read the script and said, “God, this sucks.”  FI also spawned about 15 mostly lousy miniseries and wasted a LOT of fanboy money.  Terrible. -Dean Stell

WORST ON-GOING SERIES

The whole Fear Event left me cold, but not enough for me to declare anything as bad as “worst ongoing.” -DS

I don’t know.  I don’t read bad comics. -Dean Stell

WORST NEW SERIES

Red Hood and the Outlaws – I find Red Hood to be an uninspired character and I found the demeaning new characterization of Starfire to be appalling, insulting and offensive. Offensive for artistic purposes is above board and lots of people do it right. Demeaning women to pander to puerile pubescent boys is no good under any circumstances. Cut this series out of continuity as soon as possible.   -DS

BEST CHARACTER

Kid Loki – Despite only being introduced this year, Kid Loki is fast becoming my favourite Marvel character.  He’s funny, he’s lovable, he’s charming; he’s just impossible not to like.  He’s the anchor of the fantastic Journey into Mystery and he’s probably the best thing about Matt Fraction’s Mighty Thor.  The character simply lights up the page.  He’s well-rounded and fully realized and so downright huggable.  Best of all, he has fantastic dynamics with any and every character he runs into.  His run-ins and general love for modern technology are also always, without fail, cause for a laugh or three. -Alex Evans

Thor – Thor and Daredevil each made some really interesting reading in 2011, but I’d have to tip toward Thor for the expansion of his mythos, the fine work being done in Journey into Mystery and especially Jenkins’ work in the Heaven and Earth miniseries. -DS

Wolverine – Huh?!  Wha?!  Wolverine?!  Well…you know what?  The Cannuck had a pretty good year.  He was in: some good Avengers/New Avengers stories, Wolverine & Spider-Man, that awesome Red Right Hand arc in Wolverine, Wolverine & the X-Men and Uncanny X-Force.  Also a central player in the Schism event.  And most of these stories were outstanding and important to the Marvel universe. -Dean Stell

MOST ANTICIPATED SERIES or EVENT of 2012

Saga – Brian K. Vaughan is returning to comics.  Is there really anything else to say about this comic?  Oh, and it’s a creator-owned ongoing.  From the guy whose only two prior creator owned ongoings are Y: the Last Man and Ex Machina.  There is seriously so little to say about this book beyond the fact that if you are not pre-ordering it, you are wrong and in dire need of correction. -Alex Evans

All the new #1s at Vertigo! – In March we get THREE new series launching at Vertigo.  I still love my superhero comics, but they just aren’t as good as a series like Scalped or American Vampire or Sweet Tooth.  Vertigo hadn’t launched a new ongoing series since I Zombie which is up to issue #21 and I was fearing for the future of the imprint.  Glad to see that 2012 looks like a BIG year for grown up comic books. -Dean Stell

I’m really looking forward to Tarzan from Dynamite and I can’t wait to see where they take Flash Gordon. -DS

Filed under: Features, Other Tagged: picks of the year, the best in comics 2011, Weekly Comic Book Review
Weekly Comic Book Review

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By: Jeff Lemire (writer), Alberto Ponticelli (artist), Jose Villarrubia (colorist)

The Story: Man-made monster versus monster made of man!  That might not have made sense!

The Review: I’ll be honest; I made a hard-and-fast, conscious choice to avoid O.M.A.C. from the moment it was announced.  My reasoning, perhaps unfair, was the idea of Dan Didio working on the writing end of things seemed like a very risky one.  Nothing I read of his work (either on The Outsiders or his Metal Men feature in Wednesday Comics) proved otherwise.  By the time strong reviews convinced me to try out O.M.A.C., it was too late, and it was on its way to cancellation.

So I travelled into this issue without, as the editor’s caption on the first panel proposed, any familiarity with the events of Didio’s end of the crossover.  Fortunately, you don’t need to read his companion title to enjoy this one.  Lemire starts his story by following Frankenstein from the moment he receives his mission to take down the One Man Army Corps, and at no point do you feel like you’re missing anything crucial.

Even better, the issue is just as enjoyable throughout as it has been all along.  It’s great fun seeing all these various, acronymed organizations in the DCU beginning to intersect, and the tension that naturally accompanies the overlap of authority of such agencies.  Personally, I’d bet my money on S.H.A.D.E.; they may lack the class of the more espionage-oriented Checkmate, but nothing beats their mad-scientist tech, similar Palmer’s “recovery nanopires” showing up in virtual reality at the concluding minute to defeat Brother Eye’s invasion of their computer systems.

Besides, S.H.A.D.E. has the superior cast of characters by far.  Admittedly, I’m not truly familiar with any member of Checkmate (besides the infamous Maxwell Lord, still running in good grace at this point, and the less-renowned Sergeant Steel), but come on.  Could anyone really beat the sheer audaciousness of Frankenstein or Father Time?

In a weird way, the two complement each other very well.  Father Time’s outrageous cockiness is a joy every time it manifests (to Lord: “The world’s getting weirder, and you’re a dinosaur.”), yet there’s a genius tactical brain in that little girl’s body, as he gambles everything to capture Brother Eye.  Meanwhile, Frank comes off aloof and stolid, but he’ll surprise you with a frenetic energy of his own when his blood gets going: “I am the undead prince of vengeance.”  But while the two evidently work very well together, Frank won’t stand for Time’s obscure goals if they go against his finely-tuned sense of justice, a conflict this issue foreshadows.

Many crossovers tend to leave the ongoing story of a title hanging, but Lemire manages to work in a fairly important plot point regarding Frank’s origins.  While most of us are well aware of how Frank came to life, we forget it came at the cost of the body parts obtained by various dead people.  After his encounter with O.M.A.C., he learns from Nina that given time, she can uncover the DNA sequence of each person he’s made from.  Who knows what significance this knowledge will bring, but be sure Lemire will know how to deliver it for max impact.

Ponticelli proves in this issue he can do more than draw monsters that look frightening and adorable at the same time.  We’ve seen how he brings a rough fleshiness to the characters that looks very organic, but his depiction of S.H.A.D.E.net’s virtual world has a very smooth, convincing symmetry indicating Ponticelli is well capable of going the other direction of sci-fi aesthetics.  I don’t talk enough about Villarrubia’s colors, which vary from dark and earthy to pastel and ethereal when needed.

Conclusion: With this first mini-crossover of the new 52, Lemire sets a good example for crossovers to come: entertaining clashes of characters, a solid basis for the plot, and some substance for the title’s personal direction.

Grade: B+

- Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: - Honestly, if I could do it, I’d slash off O.M.A.C.’s ridiculous Mohawk for a trophy, too.  It’d make a good story at a dinner party, at least.

Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews Tagged: Alberto Ponticelli, Brother Eye, Checkmate, Dan Didio, DC, DC Comics, Father Time, Frankenstein, Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E., Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #5, Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #5 review, Jeff Lemire, Jose Villarrubia, Maxwell Lord, Nina, O.M.A.C., Ray Palmer, S.H.A.D.E., Sergeant Steel
Weekly Comic Book Review

By: Gail Simone (writer), Ardian Syaf  & Vicente Cifuentes (artists), Ulises Arreola (colorist)

The Story: As if Gotham doesn’t have enough problems without an Occupy movement.

The Review: Back in the days when I was blithely pursuing an English major, totally ignorant (or at least in denial) of the fact that I had no idea what to do with it once I got it, I took a class focused on modernism and post-modernism in literature, during which I was introduced to the stream-of-consciousness narrative style.  Frankly, I’m not a fan.  It truly takes an irregular voice to do it work, differently it merely drones and rambles and grows atrocious humdrum.

Unfortunately, quite a bit of what I’ve read on this series and also The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men (Simone’s other title) has done just that.  I’ve stated it before, and I’ll state it again: Simone merely doesn’t compose this internal narrative stuff with the same dazzling energy as she does dialogue.  So practically of Batgirl’s commentary feels more like repetitive, excess blather than insight, either into her character or the situation at hand.  A good sample of what I mean is when she witnesses a mafia boss headshot his three sons: “His family.  His sons.  These were his sons.  Okay.  It’s Gotham.  Crazy lives here on a long-term lease.  That’s Gotham.  But this…I don’t know what this is.  I think I’m gonna be vomit.”

The core problem of all this is that it breaches one of the fundamental rules of storytelling: show rather than tell.  Taking the sample I’ve given you, Batgirl spends a divide of clocking and text trying to converted us how awful it is that a father would eliminating his sons in cold blood—and on its face, it is pretty awful—but the fact is our acquaintance with these men last no more than a few pages, and we never see a sign of affection between them the whole time.  In fact, if Batgirl didn’t tell you their blood relationship, you’d think they were nothing more than common partners in crime.

About the only time Batgirl’s narration gets some zip is when Simone lets Babs reacts to what others are saying rather than doing.  There’s a simple reason for this: since comics are a visual medium, we can already see what people are doing; we don’t need it described to us.  But since characters can’t exactly express out loud everything they’re thinking as others speak, it’s quite fun to read their unsaid thoughts.  When Babs’ mom tells her how she wants them to be friends, Babs’ “And it’s allll about what you want, right?” captures her resentment and sarcasm perfectly.

We get yet another shiny new villain in this issue, just as challenging and even more obtuse than the last.  Our few glimpses of the maiden with vari-colored hair gives us no idea what she’s after, but she seems to be of a liberal bent (“American-made cars, guzzling gas and nearly killing innocent women.  Tsk.”) and she must have some kind of magnetic personality, given how quickly others spontaneously spring into action to defend her, including none other than Bruce Wayne.  That twist, at least, is something worth waiting for in the next issue.

Syaf hasn’t really delivered anything worth raving about, but he’s always been a reliable partner of art for Simone’s words.  One thing that struck me as I read this issue, though, is his preference for drawing Batgirl from the bottom down, which seems a rather contrived way to swing about town.  There are other logically nonsensical stylistic choices he makes however, nearly all of which appear on the first page: the flock of bats leading Batgirl’s way; where the heck she’s swinging from, considering her tremendous height above a bridge, etc.

Conclusion: I dunno.  While the reading hasn’t been terrible by any means, Simone still seems to be struggling to capture the spark that will make this title live up to its hype.

Grade: B-

- Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: - No offense, Alysia, but the logic that “older is ever better” is a largely upper/upper-middle class pretension.  Unless you can prove to me this building is better looking and has more history to it than simply being old, I’d tear it pop for an urban renewal project any day.

- Anyone have any clue or speculation as to the significance of “338”?

Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews Tagged: Ardian Syaf, Barbara Gordon, Batgirl, Batgirl #5, Batgirl #5 review, Bruce Wayne, Commissioner Gordon, DC, DC Comics, Gail Simone, Ulises Arreola, Vicente Cifuentes
Weekly Comic Book Review

By: J.H. Williams III &ere; W. Haden Blackman (writers), J.H. Williams III (illustrator), Dave Stewart (colorist)

The Story: Screw the Ghostbusters—Batwoman’s on the lawsuit!

The Review: Kate Kane as Batwoman faced a peck of scrutiny from the moment she came into existence, and although her sexual preferences were the most controversial, I think even if she’d been straight as an arrow, people would still look at her with a doubtful eye.  Anyone who takes on “Bat” in their agnomen is bound to have rugged comparison made on them, and since she presumes to make herself as the hen like to Batman, she has still more to inhabit up to.

So it’s been a succeeder pleasure to see her doing just that.  While her method and credence to the washing have obvious difference, she’s demonstrated but as much of a hyper-competency and zeal to do the most ultra thing to get the business done.  You may have been wondering how she planned to grapple with the Weeping Woman; ghosts aren’t exactly inside the Bat-house’s usual line of work, after all, not even with the Dark Knight himself.  And it must be said, the spiritual tactic she U to figure out what’s to be done, and her execution of it, is both surprising and superb, something Batman would do in his most esoteric, probably the better praise of all.

And variety any great Bat-narration, Batwoman’s challenge with the Weeping Woman has just as much dramatic depth as it does action.  What really makes the scene sing is how it shows Kate as both human and superhuman at the same time.  If we tin take the theory that every Batman rogue represents some different aspect of the Arminius’s character, and apply it to Batwoman, the Weeping Woman represents Kate’s grief and guiltiness maiden the surrender of her sis.  While she will probably always think of Beth with rue, Kate makes it clear she will no long feel guilt over what hap, as it was not her fault.  The Weeping Woman, however, tin’t stating the same.

I win’t spoil the gene for you by describing the specifics, but I can chance that in addition to showing Batwoman’s ability to be both unmoved and compassionate at the same time, we also get a name drop of her next label, one the D.E.O. also deprivation to return downwardly.  While Chase and Bones describe Medusa as a “felon cartel,” that begs the inquiry: what the euphemism kind of criminal cartel can summon daemon to possess isolated spirit and obligate them to abduct kids?

But if the II agent aren’t relation the unit fact to Kate, that’s really nil new for the D.E.O.  Though their offering to Kate seems to be in commonweal religion, and we knowing Chase is relation the fact when she say she had zippo to do with Bette’s hospitalized status (though she conveniently neglect to chance what she did between finding Bette and sending her for treatment), we also know their true goal is to return at Batman.  That said, Kate and Batman both knowing what the office’s really after, though neither reference how they’ll trade with it feather the formation.

For anyone at all in dubiety of the exaggeration about Williams’ artistic ability, that former leaf should option your doubt to residue.  Actually, I deliberation it’s a perfective example of what set William apart from eventide success artist kind Francis Manapul.  To depict Kate’s meditative hunting for response, Williams uracil twine of size foursquare panel in a very similar mode to Manapul’s portrait of velocity-knowledge in The Flash.  Williams’ approximation, however, has a sense of command that gives it a logical beat in clip with the cookie, and his usage of the imaging underneath the panel ground the disjointed image, gift you a cognisance of what she herself is experiencing as she meditates.

Conclusion: A remarkable spark in every manner for Batwoman’s former clip putout activity, resting on her own accolade.  This is easily ace of the finest offering DC has in IT accumulation of rubric, and absolutely deserves every spot of extolment it’s been precondition.

Grade: A-

- Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: - And the Award for Cleverest Burn spell to Kate Kane, when she tell Mr. Bones: “That’s the second time tonight soul WHO should be slain has said that name to me.”

- I freaking adoration that Mr. Bones is wearing a champion-spangled necktie.

Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews Tagged: Batman, Batwoman, Batwoman #5, Batwoman #5 review, Bette Kane, Bruce Wayne, Cameron Chase, D.E.O., Dave Stewart, DC, DC Comics, J.H. Williams III, Kate Kane, Mr. Bones, W. Haden Blackman, Weeping Woman
Weekly Comic Book Review

The 12-component superhero epos Mark Millar calls “my Star Wars” has an agnomen as champion illustrator Frank Quitely share the first thought-image from “Jupiter’s Children.”
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