Worst to first

It’s been a heck of a week, but since I picked up a ream of comics this week I figured I’d drop some reviews, even if they’re a bit late. So, without further ado, here’s last week in comics, from worst to first.

Batman #659

Wow, what a steaming pile. I mean, really, honestly, this was awful. I spent probably 20 minutes trying to come up with something worse I’ve read in the past two years and nothing came to mind. Heck, it might have been five years. A combination of art straight out of the Kubert school (in the bad way), nonsensical writing and a villain that seems a combination of Leatherface and the Hunchback of Notre Dame led me to drop this book from the pull list.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #14

See the Books of Doom.

Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #5

Just a little bit off from previous issues. Way more confusing and less WOW moments. But the series has been strong so far, and I can’t say enough about Daniel Acuna’s art. Any book in which Uncle Sam pitches an evil bastard into the moon is solid in my book.

Sam Noir: Samurai Detective #3

I started reading this last month and it’s a consistent hell of a lot of fun. Between Manny Trembley and Eric A. Anderson, I’m not sure who writes and who does the art, but both are excellent. The caption boxes read like straight out of the Maltese Falcon, just with more swords. And the black and white art is heavily computer-influenced, but in a good way, for the most part. A few places have a bit of a weird feel, but otherwise it’s great, reminiscent of the Kill Bill sequence in which Uma maims the 88 guys.

52 #30

Much like Doom DeLuise, I thought this week was a strong edition. Again, I don’t like seeing The Question killed off, but I suppose Montoya could be a good fit for the mantle. And it was great seeing Nightwing not totally blow.

Captain America #24

The sequence at the start between Sharon and the Nick Fury-bot made the whole thing worth it. Of course, everything else was as good as usual.

Crossing Midnight #1

A very strange new book from Vertigo, written by Mike Carey. It’s about two kids born in Nagasaki, each on one side of midnight. Their father asked for a blessing upon them before they were born, which later on leads to all sorts of hairy crap. It’s a bit of a dense read, but the feel is great, a mix between Spirited Away and the Japanese horror flicks that are all the rage these days. The art was mostly strong if a bit plain for such a fanciful series. And I couldn’t tell for awhile whether the children were both girls or a boy and a girl. Just sayin’.

The Immortal Iron Fist #1

Ed Brubaker is great. Iron Fist is cool. David Aja draws Iron Fist extremely well. Only complaint: it was terribly disjointed, intentionally I’m sure, but that’s going to turn some readers off. I say stick it out.

Batman/The Spirit

What makes this book great are all the little jokes and nods to the reader in both the writing and art. I loved that Jeph Loeb and Darwyn Cooke didn’t try to make this serious, instead just having as much fun as possible and writing the plot in the old-fashioned way of being totally ridiculous and implausible. Good times, and hopefully a nice primer for the upcoming Spirit series.