For those looking for our weekly review podcast for the week of 8-22-2007, unfortunately Davids and my day jobs have been taking up much of our time lately. With the need to focus time on our jobs, which keep us in comics, we will return for a podcast review of the books for 8-29-07 Until then, there is a post on the forums for anyone wanting to discuss the previous weeks books. (Anyone as mad as I am about "Back in Black"?)
Written by Sean McKeever, Geoff Johns, Marv Wolfman, Todd Dezago
Pencilled by Randy Green, Mike McKone, George Perez, Todd Hauck
Inks by Andy Lanning & Sandra Hope, Marlo Alquiza, George Perez, Lary Stucker
Letters by Rob Leigh
This week provided a strong showing that I didn't expect. Avengers-The Initiative was great and Countdown finally picked up with an action packed issue. My choice for this week's honor of book of the week though went to the nostalgia fest that was Teen Titans #50.
Let me start by saying that this issue wasn't entirely built on nostalgia. However, it surprised me to see that writers and artists from the past (even young justice!) returned to deliver flashback moments that pushed character development of characters that have been dead or gone for years. Hell, we even got a great Wally West/Kid Flash story. It was great to revisit the various teams and watch how these teenagers have grown up together. Most importantly, they act like teenagers, they fight and bicker, their hormones are out of control, they sneak out and do stupid things, and most importantly they trust and confide in eachother. which anyone who went through their teen years with a strong group of friends will understand. I was excited for every turn of the page. Between the flashbacks though, we were offered sneaks at what is in store for the new team of titans, Blue Beetle joining the team, Ms. Martian's crush on Robin, Cassie and Tim exploring a new romance, and last but not least...well, I won't spoil it here for you...catch the podcast for that.
The art also stood out as amazing. Randy Green is hopefully on this book for the rest of it's span. He brings just the right look to the team that makes them look and feel like teenagers and not just little adults. Hopefully this title can keep the momentum from this issue going for a long time. The Titans are back!
I guess marvel is following DC's Countdown picture promos and released a page of art from newcomer Marko Djurdjevic. I don't know who he is, but I'm excited to see what else he can do because the page looks awesome. Apparently this preview (which starts this december) has something to do with Civil War. We see Wolverine, Cable and some sentinels so I think it may connect to the upcoming messiah complex storyline and that is a younger Captain America so here's hoping it's Bucky. I have no idea who the guy in the upper right corner is but I'm intrigued......and just a little worried.
Eric was tired of all the big events and chose Robin #165 as the book of the week because of its great stand alone story. We also discuss what we thought of JLA #12, Ultimate Spider-man #112, Booster Gold #1 and more. This week we also give you our top 5 under-rated characters.
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Written by Joss Whedon
Art by John Cassaday
Coloring by Laura Martin
Lettering by Chris Eliopoulos
Oh Astonishing X-men,why must you change? Joss, John, please oh please stay.
I'm sure that has to be the opinion of many X-men fans out there because this is simply THE X-men book out there right now and I still don't know how Whedon is pulling all of this off. I can't even go into detail about what's going on in this story because it's so deep and organized and I have a good feeling that I don't even know what's truly going on. Whedon has these characters down flat which is simply amazing for only writing X-men for 22 issues and I am simply giddy about how this story is going to end.
John Cassaday cannot be denied his glory on this book though, as his art is simply breathtaking. Cassaday is one of the few artists that probably doesn't need a writer to tell a story because his art is so strong and has it's own sense of emotion. His detailed characters leave me staring at pages for minutes and he has the best facial expressions that I have ever seen. Some of them are simply priceless.
This has been a powerhouse team on an amazing run, one that I am sure will go down in comic history and rightfully so. I am excited to see where this run is going to take the x-men and how Whedon and Cassaday will leave marvel's mightiest mutants. I won't spoil the end of this issue in this review but you better be sure that I'm excited to talk about it on this week's podcast!
Joss, John...Make Mine Marvel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Written by Adam Beechen
Pencils by Freddie Williams II
Colors by Guy Major
Letters by John J. Hill
I've been mentioning lately how good this book is and this week fate has dropped it into my lap for a review. With a week of several strong contenders, this was still the book that I had the most fun with. Nothing spectacular happened in this book, which isn't a bad thing. It' s just a continuation of the great level of work that I've come to expect from this team. Ever since "one year later", this book has been on a continuing level of greatness much to my joy.
I've always been a fan of Tim Drake. It's been interesting to watch him grow from the plucky twelve year old from when we first met him, and follow him along the tragic path his life has taken, bringing him to the competent, moody, seventeen year old he is now. Within the last several issues, Beechen has crafted a rogues gallery hellbent on Tim's destruction. This issue starts us out with Tim abiding by the villains rules and facing them alone in a hospital full of hostages. The lone hero facing the madhouse of villains is a common concept in Batman books. This isn't a new storytelling device but it is one that I really love. Tim's confidence as he starts to take them down is equally brilliant (Remember the scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" with the swordsman and Indy? That's pretty much the beginning of this issue). As the stakes gradually rise, we watch our hero gradually start to wear down. Needless to say, the fight scenes were excellent.
I cannot say enough good things about Freddie Williams II. His animated style suits this book perfectly. The energy is intense, fast paced, at sometimes shocking, and Tim Drake has never looked so badass! I strongly recommend this book to anyone thinking of trying it. Thanks to a few flashback scenes, this issue can be picked up without the reader having to collect previous issues. On the verge of big event burnout, this book is the perfect antidote.
X-Factor #22 was the best thing that I read this week for its deep plotlines, great humor and a little girl named Layla Miller who "knows stuff". We also discuss New Avengers #33, Green Lantern #22, Green Arrow Year One #3 and more. We finish off the show with our picks for the top 5 comic stories that we would like to see get made into animated movies.
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This week after the first couple of pages of New Avengers:Illuminati #4, I just knew it was the best book of the week. We also discuss JSA #8, Thor #2, New Warriors #3 and more. And we finish the podcast off with our picks for the top 5 best video games.
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Written by Peter David
Art by Pablo Raimondi
Coloring by Brian Reber
Letters by Cory Petit
I haven't really talked about this book since we started the podcast and the last couple of issues have been kind of a letdown but this was a great issue and reminded me why I love this book so much.
Peter David is revisiting his X-Factor team from the 90's and while that team never seemed to be a serious or even an important team, David has made his new X-Factor team more of the street level X-men and shows just how much mutants need that right now. David can write Madrox than anyone else and let's just be clear that this is a Madrox and Friends book and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, it's great seeing a character like Jamie Madrox go from being in the background, to taking on the leadership role of the team.
But the best part of this book is Layla Miller and that's why I picked this as the book of the week. I was big fan of House of M and I have loved what David has done with Layla afterwards but I really want to know more about her. When Bendis was doing House of M, he stated that Layla Miller would have a big impact on the world post House of M and that never happened so I would like to know more about that. I'm not going to ruin anything for people who haven't read this book yet but Layla has been struggling with her powers for a while and in this issue.....well it's not looking good for her.
So kudos to David for striking lighting twice in the same place and giving us an unbelievably character driven X book, if you're not reading this, go pick up the trades now and tell everyone that you know. After Astonishing X-men, this is the best X-men book out right now.
And Endangered Species part 7 was in this book, I had mixed feelings about that so check out the podcast to hear more on how this story is going
This week Eric was a little disappointed with two different Batman books and ended up deciding that Amazing Spider-man #542 was the best book he read. We also discuss those Batman Books, Batman #666 and All Star Batman and Robin and more. We go over the breaking news from Comic-Con and we finish off with the top 5 reasons that we love comics.
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Written by Brian Michael Bendis & Brian Reed
Art by Jim Cheung
Inks by John Dell, David Meikes & Mark Morales
Coloring by Justin Ponsor
Lettering by Cory Petit
This was actually a pretty hard week to pick a "best book" because everything was actually really good. A part of me didn't want to pick this book because it's so predictable but that's not really what this podcast and site is all about. The bottom line is that this is the best book that came out this week and as of right now I think that the only other book fighting against Illuminati for book of the year is the Sinestro Corps storyline.(Although that's not really a book.....but this is also a mini-series....ah never mind!)
Bendis and Reed really know what they're doing here and as a Marvel fanboy I am simply awestruck by their writing. This book basically starts off with a bunch of male super-heroes complaining and bickering about women and love and ends with a young boy that could have a huge impact of the Marvel U, positive or negative.
I must also say that Jim Cheung is my new favorite artist. I never saw any of his stuff until Young Avengers and I was instantly in love with his pencils. His art is both dynamic and soft and the way he is able to capture emotion in his art is simply amazing.
I do have a lot of questions about this book, just like the other Illuminati titles. We saw in the Young Avengers/Runaways mini that Marvel Boy has already broke out of the Cell, where is he now? We know Captain Marvel is indeed coming back and it's been said that is will be Mahr Vell, so how does Noh play into that? Is this really leading up to another Kree/Skrull war?
This series has raised a lot of questions and that was it's intent to a grand kudos to Bendis, Reed and Cheung for telling a grand story so far. I can't wait until the last issue comes out and we see how all of this is going to end.
What did you guys think of The New Avengers: Illuminati #4
