Meaningless Awards of the Week- 11/7/07

Best Color- Red

Best Kryptonian- Krypto

If there’s one thing I got out of Superman #670, it’s that there are just too many damn Kryptonians left alive. There are a grand total of six Kryptonians in this issue, which sort of makes the title “The Third Kryptonian” a bit ridiculous. Superman seems a lot less special when there are five other people out there with the exact same powers he has (not counting characters like Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter who have similar powers and power levels). Christopher Kent should be written off as soon as possible; Superman with a kid was my least favorite part of Superman Returns. And DC’s not going to be able to use the name Superboy anytime soon, so what’s the point? It seems like the new Kryptonian lady’s gone for now, so that’s good. But one Kryptonian I don’t mind having around is Krypto. Sure, it’s a completely ridiculous concept that reeks of the Golden Age, but Krypto looked pretty damn cool wiping the floor with those bounty hunters. I think the trick is to use the Canine of Steel very sparingly. Makes me wonder whatever happened to that Krypto solo story they had advertised for an issue of Superman a year ago.

Best Writer- Ed Brubaker

Ed Brubaker could win Best Writer juts about any week he put out a book, but when he puts out three in the same week, it’s really no contest. Criminal continues to be the second best non-superhero books I read (after The Walking Dead, natch). The third-person narration gives the book a really unique voice. The Immortal Iron Fist continues to impress me, especially considering I neither knew nor cared about the character ten issues ago. And considering how good his Uncanny X-Men has been featuring a bunch of c-listers, it was great to finally see Brubaker have a chance to play with the big guns.

Best Surprise- Peter Milligan was kinda good

The Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul has given Nightwing yet another stay of execution and convinced me to pick up another issue of Grant Morrison’s wretched Batman, but the real surprise is that Robin #168 didn’t completely suck. The first post-Adam Beechen issue was a huge step down for what had been one of the most consistently good DC titles since One Year Later. Peter Milligan’s name attached didn’t give a tremendous amount of confidence that this would be any better. Turns out, it wasn’t half bad. Freddie Williams III sticking around on art certainly didn’t hurt, and Damien was even kept to a minimal amount of whining. And to be fair, “my grandpa’s trying to steal my body to put his soul in it” is a pretty good reason to be a little whiny. Does anyone else think that’s not Ra’s under the bandages, though?