Meaningless Awards of the Week- 6/13/07


Unlike Jean-Claude Van Doom, I didn’t enjoy this week’s comics very much. Nova was great, Green Lantern Corp was pretty good, and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was decent. Everything else kind of sucked. So I’m going all negative this week.

Exiles 95Worst Writer of the Week- Chris Claremont, Exiles #95
Ugliest Cover of the Week- Exiles #95

In just a few short months Chris Clermont has managed to take pretty much all of the enjoyment out of Exiles, which for six-ish years now has been one of absolute favorite comics. I don’t understand it. His work on the core X-Men titles was rarely bad and New Excalibur is still a fun title, but his Exiles has sucked so far. Focusing the book around Claremont’s pet project Psylocke, at the expense of all other characters, is probably at the heart of the matter. I’m not even sure Claremont knows the rest of the cast; they certainly don’t act the same as they did when Tony Bedard, Chuck Austen or Judd Winick were writing the title. Claremont has kicked two characters (three if you count the bugs) out of the book in the short time he’s been there, with pretty much no reasoning behind it. He’s abandoned the entire “bugs trying to save the multiverse they put into peril” storyline that has been the backbone of the series since day one. Sure, it’s still a group of six characters from different realities trying to save the multiverse from collapsing upon itself, but there’s really no reason for theses characters to do this anymore. Everyone but these six has given up, for no other reason than they didn’t think it was important anymore. Makes me wonder why I should consider it important anymore. Please, Marvel, get Claremont off this title ASAP. I want to love the Exiles again.

Worst Ending of the Week- Justice #12

I’ve enjoyed every issue of Justice that I’ve read since it started two years ago. Even if I had a hard time remembering what happened in the last issue, there was always at least one moment in each issue that was just so completely awesome that all the negative stuff just sort of faded away. Like when Green Arrow shot the “kryptonite” arrow at Supergirl. Or when Braniac was dissecting a still very much alive Aquaman. The last issue of Justice didn’t have one of those moments, so all the negatives were pushed to the front. There was just way too much going on in this issue, yet none of it was particularly interesting. The Justice League had already beaten the bad guys for the most part last issue. This issue was about cleaning up the loose ends, and there’s nothing more exciting than cleaning up, right? It’ll probably read better as an epilogue to the complete story than as a stand alone issue; it would kind of have to, wouldn’t it?

PWJ 8Worst Issue of the Week- Punisher War Journal #8

At the beginning of the issue, Frank is tied up in the desert, getting the living crap kicked out of him by the Hate-Monger. At the end of the issue, Frank is tied up in the desert, getting the living crap kicked out of him by the Hate-Monger. In the middle, nothing important happens. Oh, I’m sorry, the sidekick guy lets his girlfriend get abducted, which I guess is supposed to be important (so important I don’t remember either of their names). Also, Frank designs his Cap rip-off costume. And G.W. Bridge gets fired from SHIELD for the second time in the series. Sure, Ariel Olivetti’s artwork is still sweet, but the writing (especially the pacing) this issue was just horrible. Matt Fraction normally puts out really great stuff, like Immortal Iron Fist, the Sensational Spider-Man Annual and every other issue of PWJ, so I don’t understand where he pulled this sack of crap out of.