Meaningless Awards of the Week- 1/31/07
Dropped Book of the Week- Blue Beetle
When I got done reading Blue Beetle #11 this week, I thought to myself “Why am I still reading this?” I didn’t realize until I looked at the cover that Keith Giffen isn’t co-writing the book. Cully Hammer, whose art I really enjoyed, isn’t on the book anymore either. I don’t know how my interest this book could have dropped off so sharply. But I just don’t enjoy reading it anymore. So I guess this was my last issue.
Least Funny Funny Book of the Week- Ultimate Civil War Spider-Ham Crisis (featuring Wolver-Ham) #1
There’s one thing J. Michael Stracynski forgot about when he was writing this comic: you need more than a funny title to make a funny comic. The issue started out with a decent enough concept: Spider-Ham gets tired of exposition boxes, and goes on a quest to find the thought balloons that have been missing from comics for who knows how long. Then a bunch of unfunny things happen, including a series of splash pages featuring other Marvel heroes as pigs (even though in the Spider-Ham universe, every character is already a different animal). Okay, I got to give it up for the “Devilled Ham,” because that’s just a funny name. But everything else was not funny. And I bought this thing because it was supposed to be funny.
Book of the Week- The Walking Dead #34
Writer of the Week- Robert Kirkman
Art Team of the Week- Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn
Splash Page of the Week
Moment of the Week
Chase Scene of the Week
Surprise of the Week
I don’t know how they do it. Every single time I pick up a new issue of The Walking Dead I am blown away by what I read. Without fail, what I’ve envisioned will happen in the book is not at all what actually occurs. Kirkman & Co. always keep us on our toes. Like this, for example:
How the crap did that happen? What would cause the group in the prison to open all three gates like that? Why would they leave Dale’s RV out in the open? And where the hell did Dale and Laurie and Tyrese and everybody go? Did anyone die? Did everyone die?
A while ago, when the whole “Governor” story arc was just beginning, Colonel Doom and I were talking about TWD. I told him that I hoped Kirkman never went back to prison for the duration of the Governor storyline and when Rick & Co. inevitably got back to the prison, something could be radically different. Then Kirkman did an issue set back at the prison, where everybody’s just sort of hanging out, and I thought, “Well, there goes that idea.” Little did I know Kirkman was just lulling us into a false sense of security so when Rick got back to the prison it would be even more shocking.
The last seven pages of the issue are really worth the cost of the issue alone. Those seven pages were a better comic than anything else I read this week (although, to be fair, it was a pretty crappy week). But then Kirkman throws in a great attack scene and a great chase scene, and a great introduction to one of the new characters. Walking Dead #34 was like two of the best issues of the series condensed into one.
I was going to pick up the new Blue Beetle, but it just seemed almost guaranteed to be eventually shunted onto a lesser creative team, so I never picked it up. Lucky guess on my part.