Worst to First: 6/13/06

I read a ton of books last week and most all of them sucked. And I mean really sucked. Lots of money spent + little enjoyment = terrible week. This week, thank the Lords of Doom, is about the exact opposite (in part thanks to me giving up on Countdown). There wasn’t really a whole lot I cared to read (and only three made the trip home), but everything was pretty darned good. Well, except that one book…

Worst: Justice #12

Two years later, this bloated epic of nothingness finally comes to a close. It’s probably a bit unfair to expect Kingdom Come from every book that Alex Ross works on, but the guy produces such so seldomly and his painting aspires to such an epic feel that it’s kind of hard not to give him a high bar to clear.

Now, I’m still very interested in re-reading Justice as a complete volume now that it’s finished, but my initial reaction to this penultimate (that means last, right?) issue leaves me thinking that the Justice storyline is a retread of every generic JLA or even Super Friends good-guys-vs.-bad-guys battle. The only real point of interest is the villains’ tactic of masquerading as heroes, but the writer never delves further into the hero-villain relationship. It is all just Brainiac and his evil machinations. Ooh.

While the world has plenty of room for fun, throwaway stories like that, Justice only gets half of that equation right. It offers no fun, only pretensions of intelligence and grandiosity. While the signs were there throughout, this comes out in full at the very end, as Batman is monologue-ing to Alfred (who really brought the yawner on himself by asking the dumbass question, “Sir? Has everything returned to a state of normalcy?”). Batman goes on to deliver about 19,000 words of nothing. He starts by saying he hopes the world will be improved after this latest survival (hints of Watchmen?), then talks about how heroes are only heroes because they faced hardship (and because writers thought it would make them interesting), then imagines a grand future created by today’s struggles.

I hate to go on for so long, but WHAT THE FREAK? That’s the hero babble equivalent of some wannabe-Romeo saying, “Baby, you complete me.” I’ll go ahead and say it: I hate this series. I may not re-read it after all.

Over and out: Green Arrow #75

This is one of those series for me that was always on the verge of being really enjoyable, but never quite reached fifth gear. Still, I’m sad to see it go. We get an action-full finale (penultimate?) with plenty of good moments sans explosions and arrows as well. The deus ex machina of the full JLA save-the-day was pretty jarring and made me lose serious interest in the final pages, which is too bad, because it was a touching and important moment.

Salty: Sub-Mariner #1

This is our Book of Doom this week, so I won’t go into details here. I will say that I liked this book, and I really didn’t expect that I would.

Spacy invasion: New Avengers #31

I’ve been kicking around the idea of starting to read this book. At the very least, Leinil Yu’s art makes me happy that comics exist. I read this issue (it didn’t make it home), and it’s definitely close to being worth a buy. I really like this team, a good collection of characters that play well off each other, but I didn’t give two craps about Civil War, so I’ve been waiting till that fell farther over the horizon. Now, with the revelation that those alien bad boys are up to some nefarious-ness, it’s probably a good time to jump on board. Stay tuned.

Steadily strong: Nova #3

Good grief, when is this book going to start sucking? The only Book of Doom that I ever really enjoyed continues to be great fun. In this issue, Richard fights off the Thunderbolts and slowly learns he has no place on earth. Once again, Richard’s outsider take on Civil War and the fallout are much more interesting and reasoned than anything I actually read within Civil War. His encounter with Penance (who, seriously has the most embarassingly bad costume I’ve seen this year) is top notch, with two guys who’ve changed too much to regain a friendship. The action is slick, the art mostly strong and the conclusion sends Nova back into space, which I was hoping for. Richard needed to see his old home, but now there’s a universe of adventure ahead. (yeah, I know, that was lame. Sue me.)

Best: World War Hulk #1

After a few hours of percolation, I’ve realized why I liked this book so much. Hulk is essentially taking on the hero establishment of the Marvel Universe. That establishment (through Civil War and the Illuminati), has become more villainous than ever before. I’ve given up on a ton of Marvel books in the past year because I just can’t stand the characters any more. So, getting to see them kicked all over the planet (and the moon) is my cup o’ Joe.

I was a bit annoyed that this thing took so long to come out after the buildup, and I haven’t heard any explanation for that, but it works especially well because it doesn’t really try for anything too terribly complicated. The Hulk (acting with his brain and his fists) just out-maneuvers his foes and beats the piss out of them. Good times. I feel almost bad, how much joy I took from Tony Stark’s beat-down. I don’t know, maybe that’s what Marvel intended, to set Stark up as the heel, then rally the fans around his demise. I actually had a geeky fantasy the other day of the old-school Avengers rejoining forces to fight the new paradigm. We’ll see.

Oh, and I have to mention JRJR. The art was pretty darn good, I have to say. I don’t always like the guy (and he doesn’t always like us), but his pages have an epic feel that suits the book to a T.