So here's how it'll work, at least to start. Everybody knows that everything in the world ever is a competition, so every week the publishers of the comics I read will be fighting for ultimate supremacy; hence "DC versus Marvel". I'm not limiting contestants to only DC and Marvel; I just shortened it for the sake of a catchier blog title. Books will be ranked from -1 to +1 which will add to or subtract from each publisher's overall score. Two +2 scores will be given per week for "Best Comic" of the week and "My Favorite Comic" of the week. I hope it never comes to this (because I don't usually like to buy bad comics), but if a book is just super terrible I may give a score of -2. When all scores are added up I will declare a winner and all other publishers will be killed. Thankfully, this is comics so nobody ever stays dead and we'll start right back over next week.
American Vampire #13
Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #516
Captain America #616
Detective Comics #875
Jack of Fables #50
Jimmy Olsen one shot
Scalped #47
Scarlet #5
Thor #621
Walking Dead #83
Zatanna #11
FIGHT!
Ok, let's get our first -1 score out of the way. Even though I really did enjoy BLACK PANTHER: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR #516, it was flat out disappointing. It's not Jefte Palo's fault. He's filling in for Francesco Francavilla, who is probably the best artist in comics right now. But here's the thing: Jefte Palo's art is kind of amazing. I think this is his first time drawing Black Panther since the issues he did with Jason Aaron during Secret Invasion (which is hands down the best thing to come out of Secret Invasion) and you can tell Palo's been eager to do it again. No, the disappointment falls on David Liss, the writer, whose first few issues on the title were pretty good, if a little shaky. There's several things about this issue that completely took me out of the story with how dumb they were. For instance, the police and TV news crews showing up outside Vlad's home out of nowhere to investigate a crime that I'm pretty sure they had no way of knowing about yet. Also, Vlad's younger son helping a lobotomized boy escape from a sealed chamber in a pitch black basement during a power outage? Seriously? The issue is just a little bit undercooked. I will say this, though: Liss writes a good Spider-Man. Spidey's a scene stealer and thank goodness he was in more than a few scenes.
SCORE: -1
One thing I've noticed with Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev's SCARLET is that the review scores at most sites I read started off at "AMAZING SUPER GOOD OMG MESSIAH OF COMICS OMG!!!!" and then steadily started decreasing with each issue. While I agree that the first issue of the series was really really good, I don't think the quality of subsequent issues has dropped that much. Or at all, really. SCARLET is a solid read every time and this issue, #5, closes out the first arc with a police incited riot, a new job for a good policewoman, and a new supporting cast (that we don't meet quite yet). I'm sticking with this one and anticipate enjoying the experience.
SCORE: +1
Here's the thing about CAPTAIN AMERICA #616: it's really good. Is it worth the $4.99 price tag? Well......... yeah, actually it kind of is. Not only is the continuation of Ed Brubaker's story super solid (and honestly, it's been fantastic from issue one) but Marvel took an interesting turn with the back up material. Where they might usually reprint a decades old issue they instead gave a few creators who have never worked on Cap take a crack at him. Of course, Howard Chaykin gets his obligatory pages, which tell a flashback story that is just plain good. The stand out story, though, belongs to Cullen Bunn and Jason Latour. Bunn, who writes the always amazing THE SIXTH GUN, proves once again that he's awesome with his pages. It's a really moving story about finding and fighting spider robots in a small town after a natural disaster, which I'm pretty sure is one of the more ridiculous sentences I'll write this week, but it's true. Frank Tieri and Paul Azaceta's story about a smug art dealer is probably the best callback to Cap's time as a comic book artist you'll ever read and Kyle Higgins, Alec Siegel and Pepe Larraz's story about a war-ravaged town coming together will hit you in the same way as that scene in CASA BLANCA where the locals outsing the Germans in the club. Which is to say it will hit you hard. Mike Benson, Paul Grist, Ed McGuinness, Travis Charest and everyone else all turn in some solid stuff as well. It's a great comic, really. I also thought it was kind of cool that Marvel celebrated Cap's 70th anniversary on issue #616, which is the kind of thing only a super nerd like me would notice and appreciate.
SCORE: +1
Thor #621 is the end of Matt Fraction's first story arc on the title. It's also the last issue of the series, which is reverting to it's original title of JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY with Kieron Gillen writing and Fraction is moving over to THE MIGHTY THOR and getting a sparkling brand new #1. It's ALSO the best issue of Fraction's run yet. It's pretty much a nonstop brawl with what someone (I can't remember who or where) described as "Odin and Thoth screaming at each other Dragon Ball Z style," and even though that person numbered that in the reasons they disliked the issue, I thought it was kind of awesome. The problem with this issue is that the ones that came before it (other than the first of the run) were kind of boring. It could be that I had my expectations too high since Matt Fraction has been one of my favorite writers since I started reading comics again, but his THOR just never clicked with me the way I had hoped. I'm going to wait on the new titles to see what others think. I'm hoping they'll be back up to the Fraction standard, which is to say, super awesome.
SCORE: 0
I have to admit, I wasn't that big of a fan of AMERICAN VAMPIRE when the series started. It wasn't bad by a long shot, but I just couldn't get into it all the way. I stuck with it, though, and here's why: because from the beginning I liked Scott Snyder's part way more than Stephen King's. Fortunately, it's Snyder's book and not Mr. King's so it's pretty much been amazing since issue #7. But this is issue #13 and the beginning of a new story arc taking place during WW2. And guess what. It's super good. I really love how Skinner Sweet has the ability to fit into the role of bad guy in whatever setting he's put into. And as much as I hate the idea of vampire romance, Snyder has a good thing going with Henry and Pearl. Basically you should read this book and if you haven't read the previous 12 issues that's totally ok because you don't need any of the backstory to get into this new story line.
SCORE: +1
SCALPED #47, on the other hand, is the polar opposite of AMERICAN VAMPIRE's perfect jumping on point. Your enjoyment of this issue, like almost all of the others in the series, is completely dependent on your having read all the others that came before. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. On the contrary, Jason Aaron and RM Guerra's sprawling and tragic story is absolutely my favorite comic book series currently being published. It is not possible to recommend this series enough and you should stop reading this right now and run to your nearest comic shop/bookstore and buy the first 7 trades. This issue takes us back into the home and upended life of Dino Poor Bear as he looks at something that isn't there and sees what he wants to see. The narration lets us know that this is a turning point in Dino's life and I really don't want to watch him go down this new road. Not because I think it'll be bad comics, but because Jason Aaron has made me really care about what happens to this character. And every character in this series.
SCORE: +1
There was something just a little bit off about JACK OF FABLES #50. I don't know exactly; maybe it was that I'm upset it was the final issue of the series. It could have been that after 50 issues I wanted a different resolution for the stories and characters than what Willingham and Sturges presented. I don't know exactly. I have a sneaking suspicion, though, that it just wasn't as good of a comic book as the previous 49 issues have been. If you're already reading JACK OF FABLES there's no way you're not going to pick up this issue--and rightfully so, because it's still a good comic and the final issue of an amazing and fun series. I won't go into any details, but just... steel yourself.
SCORE: 0
I basically have the same thing to say about THE WALKING DEAD #83 as I did about SCALPED. It's been an amazing series from issue #1 and how much you enjoy it and are affected by it is going to be absolutely dependent on how many issues you've read going into this latest one. Basically, in this issue everything goes wrong. EVERYTHING. And if you've been reading the series you know exactly what that means.
SCORE: +1
In the coming weeks you'll begin to notice a theme in the comics I buy. Especially the DC titles. This week you get the first glimpse. ZATANNA #11 wraps up the latest story arc in which Zee deals with her fear of puppets. There's also the return of a big bad guy at the end of the issue in a moment that is pretty much perfect. Jamal Igle jumps on board with the series this issue, which I'm pretty excited about since I loved his work on SUPERGIRL, even though I'm a little disappointed Cliff Chiang didn't get to finish this story line. The thing about Paul Dini's ZATANNA is that it's consistently a fun read with very little baggage. It's one of those comics that really captures the essence of how much joy and wonder is in the super hero genre. It also is probably the best example of how much better at magic based comics DC is than Marvel.
SCORE: +1
Picking up the award for Best Comic of the Week is DETECTIVE COMICS #875. It's another Scott Snyder winner and good golly is this one a creeper. Before I talk about the story, let me just say that if Francesco Francavilla is going to take time away from BLACK PANTHER to do comics like this then I'm perfectly ok with that. He's an amazing artist and his work here is top notch. Story wise, this comic should have suffered from DC's recent decision to cut back up stories from their issues, but seeing as how Scott Snyder is pretty much amazing it turned out to be the week's best comic. The opening scene with Harvey Bullock on the roof of the police station is one of those moments that absolutely defines a character. The rest of the issue follows Commissioner Gordon as he reopens a case from his days as a lieutenant in Gotham while reminiscing on a seemingly unrelated incident involving his son, who's a bit of a psycho. It's absolutely a perfect comic and no other book even came close this week for Best Comic.
SCORE: +2
And finally, My Favorite Comic of the Week goes to the one and only JIMMY OLSEN one shot. Incidentally, this is another comic that exists because of DC's "war on back-ups" and much of the comic can actually be found in recent issues of ACTION COMICS. I'd read the first chapter of "Jimmy Olsen's Big Week" in Comixology's free preview and immediately knew that it was going to be something special. When DC announced they'd be collecting all seven chapters in one issue I may or may not have squealed with joy. There's no real way to be sure. I believe this issue was the first time Nick Spencer (now known as "super star writer Nick Spencer") had worked on a Big Two book and it's every bit as brilliant as we now know Nick Spencer can be. This may be the best thing he's written yet. It's just pure fun. From Jimmy literally saving the world from a horde of alien invaders by boring them away to becoming Co-Superman to contacting Superman via morse code to come save him from an evil genie but only after he finishes reading a book, this is simply perfect. I think all that stuff would be fun no matter what, but Spencer is really able to anchor it and make it mean something by using it all as Jimmy's way of winning back his girlfriend, Chloe Sullivan (from Smallville, which I've never watched). It was the most expensive book in a week where both CAPTAIN AMERICA and JACK OF FABLES cost $4.99, but even at $5.99 you will feel like you drastically underpaid once you turn the last page. One store I went to on Wednesday has sold out already, but luckily I found a copy elsewhere. Get this comic book. Read it. And then let someone else read it. It's that good.
SCORE: +2
That's all of them this week. Let's see what the final scores are....
MARVEL: 0
DC: +5
VERTIGO: +2
IMAGE: +1
ICON: +1
DC is the big winner this week, which should come as no surprise since they took both awards. All the other publishers except Marvel this week were killed when a microscopic Jean Loring traveled through phone lines and accidentally left tiny footprints in their brains. Marvel, the unfortunate loser of the week, was killed by Captain Boomerang.
Thanks for reading, everybody! See you next week!
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