Meaningless Awards of the Week- 5/9/07
Book of the Week- Nova #2
Wait, is that a typo? Was Nova really the best book of the week? Man, this must have been a pretty disappointing week. Let’s just go through them all:
Countdown #51- A decent start to DC’s next weekly series, but you can’t expect to blow the walls off the place with part 1 of a 52-part series. Certainly a good set-up issue, but not really a good issue by itself.
Green Lantern Corps #12- Eh. They’ve been milking this traitor storyline for a while, possibly to give the regular Green Lantern title a chance to tie up its storylines before the Sinestro Corps crossover starts.
Nightwing #132- I really like the art on this series, but the Bride & Groom storyline has gone on about 3 issues longer than it should have. That seems like a pattern in Nightwing lately.
Outsiders #47- I’ve very much enjoyed both issues of the Checkout crossover so far. I’d like to see more of these incredibly logically crossovers between titles. Checkmate/Outsiders and JLA/JSA actually have reasons to crossover, unlike, say, Young Avengers/Runaways.
Battle Pope #14- That was the final issue? Way to go out on a whimper, Kirkman. Next time do us all a favor and stop releasing books when you’ve admittedly jumped the shark (as he did with the Christmas issue).
Invincible #41- Man, Invincible has really been in a holding pattern lately. Not much has occurred for a good 4 or 5 issues, besides tying up some dangling plot threads and relationship changes. Of course, whenever that’s the case, Kirkman usually goes right into an incredibly kickass story. Fingers crossed!
Amazing Spider-Man #540- For some reason this book isn’t working for me right now. Maybe it’s because the official “Back in Black” story is coming out much later and much more slowly than the other Back in Black titles. Maybe it’s because the only thing I have to look forward to when it’s over is Joe Quesada (shudder) forcing his way into artists role for the series. I’m sure once it’s over, I’ll like the storyline a lot more, but right now I just have sort of a bad taste in my mouth.
Immortal Iron Fist #5- I really like this series, and have been picking up everything by writer Matt Fraction I can get my hands on, but part 5 in a 6-part series is never very exciting. This is no exception.
Marvel Zombies: Dead Days- This was out Book of Doom.
Nova #2- Despite being absolutely sick of anything related to Civil War and its aftermath, I really enjoyed this issue. Nova is in a position that no one else in the Marvel Universe is in: he gets to decide what side to join after all the fighting is over. The writers were even able to do the seemingly impossible: make Tony Stark seem like a rational human being. Of course, Nova’s powerful enough to take down the whole of SHIELD and the Fifty States Initiative if wanted to, so maybe Tony’s being a bit more civil than he would be with other heroes.
Punisher War Journal #7- Ariel Olivetti’s art is just damn pretty. I can’t get enough of that guy. But if he designed the Punisher “Cap” costume, I might have to rethink that stance.
Spider-Man/Fantastic Four #2- An incredibly fun but incredibly unimportant story. That can be refreshing, but reading this inconsequential, happy-go-lucky Spider-Man story after the amazingly consequential and decidedly not happy-go-lucky Back in Black issue was a bit jarring.
Thunderbolts #114- The team’s best appearance this week was in Nova, but this was certainly a good issue, too. The Thunderbolts seem to be incredibly incapable in their jobs, though. They can’t take down American Eagle, Steel Spider and whoever that chick was? I’d rather have Texas Twister watching my state’s ass than these folks.
So yeah, kind of disappointing, especially considering there were three Robert Kirkman titles this week. I’d have to say Thunderbolts, Spidey/FF, Outsiders and Iron Fist were the best of the batch behind Nova.