Worst to First: 12/6

You know it’s a good week when the second-worst book is written by Ed Brubaker and illustrated by Billy Tan. I picked up six titles, a perfect split between Marvel and DC. For those curious, I pick up Image’s Invincible in trade form and I don’t read The Walking Dead because I don’t like zombies, though otherwise I think the book is excellent. Also, somehow I forgot to pick up the penultimate Agents of Atlas. Whoops. To the list…

newuniversal #1

Come back tomorrow, for this is our Book of Doom of the week, and all thoughts will be revealed then.

Uncanny X-Men #481

If it weren’t for the nice bit of Darwin-action at the very end, this book might have finished at the bottom of the list. The writing continues to be interesting, but this was a bit of a lag issue, with not a lot happening. The kind of book that would’ve been compressed into three pages back in the day. Tan’s art was better than the strangely disjointed last issue, though there were a few too many “money” shots of the young Rachel Grey. Umm, Space Porno, anyone?

Detective Comics #826

What’s been great about reading this title is how reminiscent it is of Batman: The Animated Series. That owes to Paul Dini, of course. Here, he gives a typically brief-but-fun Robin vs. Joker story. And, expectedly, it’s impossible not to read the book and imagine Mark Hamill doing a voice-over for the Joker’s lines. The only problem with The Animated Series was that it’s Joker was reduced to the simple trickster of Adam West’s bat-i-verse. Being a kid’s cartoon, Joker could only be mildly threatening. Here, the gloves are off. Joker is vicious as ever, if not moreso, yet is still written in the wonderfully fun way from the cartoon.

Jonah Hex #14

The origin continues. It’s harsh, bleak and disgusting, which is pretty well expected. At first, I thought the cartoon-y art was going to hinder the story, but the style works well enough, though I still pine for the days of Luke Ross. My only qualm (and it’s been an off-and-on problem with this series) is that it’s a bit disjointed. We get a bunch of the origin, then a few scenes of Hex acting out the anger at his father that he stored for so many years, then a somewhat random shoot out, seemingly just thrown in to show how vicious Hex is. Plus, while the story is narrated by an outsider, the person is never shown, so that we readers have no idea who’s doing the telling. Maybe this was made clear last issue, but I missed last issue, as I’m sure others did.

Superman Confidential #2

Sale and Cooke just absolutely nail the “young, vulnerable Superman” thing, which is what makes this issue so great. Really, it’s encapsulated in one panel, when Supes returns to Kansas after battling the volcano and stands in the doorway, his uniform tattered, a look of childish fear over his face. And the response of Pa Kent just takes it to another smart, touching level. Good stuff.

Doctor Strange Oath #3

Narrowly edging out the previouis book, it’s Brian K. Vaughn showing everyone how to make a fun superhero comic. There are so many little clever snippets of dialogue, so many tips of the cap to the fun old comics, so many subtleties drawn and written in. And beyond all those bits and pieces, the series has an interesting storyline, a cool mystery and a mysterious villain. A lot of the credit really should go to artists Marcos Martin and Alvaro Lopez and colorer Javier Rodriguez, who capture the feel of 60s and 70s era comics. How can you top that? Well, this week, you can’t.