This week’s comics

This, my friends, was a good week for comics. I’m going to format this post and steal Fin Fang’s countdown format since he doesn’t do it anymore. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s my

Top 7 Books of the Week!

But first – a quick mention – for thoughts on Deathblow #1, check out this week’s upcoming Book of Doom entry. And for word on Week 25 of 52, check out what Doom DeLuise had to say.

7. Justice #8
This book comes out so infrequently that I forget what’s going on, so I’m just buying them and waiting for it to be done, so I can sit down and read them all. But it sure looked pretty.

I’d like to put it at 6th place and put the Civil War book at 7, since I would still buy this issue and I wouldn’t recommend Civil War: Choosing Sides, but since I didn’t even read Justice, I don’t think that’d be fair.

6. Civil War: Choosing Sides
Essentially Marvel’s version of DC’s recent Brave New World, this is a handful of short introductory stories for upcoming series or current series sporting their new directions. I bought it before realizing that, and seeing that the cover and first few pages were drawn by Leinil Yu, thought it was some stand-alone story by him. In a way it was, but I was hoping for more than just those 8 pages. His Venom looks quite nice, though.

5. New Avengers #24
I continue to dig this book, and continue to think it’s another great supplement to Civil War. Bendis gives Tony Stark a speech at the end that finally characterizes the pro-registration side as something more than fascists. It still has that undertone of dishonest Stark schmoozing, but you can end up wanting to believe him and see how someone reasonably could.

4. Daredevil #90
Daredevil continues to walk right into a trap in his quest to solve the mystery of Foggy’s murder and fall for every woman that moves. Lines like “This is sounding more and more like nothing that helps me” solidify why Brubaker is fit to write this book.

3. Captain America #23
The continued focus on people who are not Captain America makes for an interesting companion to Cap’s starring role in Civil War. Bucky’s working with Nick Fury now. We get exposition and fighting. Good times.

2. Action Comics #844
I’m normally not a big fan of celebrity writers, since it seems they get to come in and do whatever they want, continuity be darned. Richard Donner’s debut might end up fitting into that category, but the writing carried enough gravity that it didn’t matter if it was a big departure from the status quo, and Adam Kubert cranked out some of the best art I’ve ever seen from him. He’s always been my favorite of the two brothers, and I know that each deserves to be viewed as his own man, but look at that disfigured disjointed mess over in Batman and then look at this bold and expressive spectacle over thisaway. I’m pumped about this series, even if it means we have yet another Kubert on a story about yet another child injected into the life of yet another DC bigshot.

and my favorite book of the week is
1. Superman / Batman Annual #1
I can’t tell you the last time I’ve had this much fun reading a comic book. Entitled “A Re-Imaginary Story,” this is a new tale of long ago, when Superman and Batman first figured out each other’s identities. Starting out on a cruise-gone-bad through the Bermuda Triangle, a space-time anomaly of some sort brings the Earth-3 heroes and villains into the middle of a mess worthy of a fine sitcom. The characterization is great, the intertwining plots are a blast, the action is a hoot, and the extra treat is the portrayal of Deathstroke’s “good guy” doppelganger. The story is funny, but it’s through great writing (and admittedly a few cheap gags, but not enough to ruin the flow) that fits into an action-packed superhero story mold rather than pulling the reader out of it.