So these reviews are late. Even though it was a pretty light week for me I had so much else going on that I didn't even finish reading this weeks comics until the 13th. Between work, writing for The Remnant's upcoming album, writing for my upcoming solo album, writing for a secret project, and preparing for a live show there hasn't been a whole lot of time for writing comics reviews. So if you came here this past week looking for reviews, my bad. Well, enough of that. Let's get judgemental about comics!
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.
Here's the list of what I got this week:
Madman All New Giant-Size Super Ginchy Special!
Sweet Tooth #20
iZombie #12
Jonah Hex #66
Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #2
Chew #17
Batman Beyond #4
FIGHT!
Here's the first thing you should know about the Madman Super Ginchy Special: It was the best comic book of the week. Easily. Here's the second thing you should know about the Madman Super Ginchy Special: I am officially disqualifying it from "Best Comic Book of the Week" running. Here's why: it's basically a TPB. True, it only cost $5.99, but still. Come on. Seriously, though, this is a super great book and if you're a fan of Madman or Mike Allred you've already budgeted ahead for this book. CONFESSION! I've never actually read a Madman comic before this. I bought most of Madman Atomic Comics as it was coming out a few years ago from Image, but I never read them. I very clearly remember, however, one of the first times I recognized truly amazing art was seeing the cover of Madman Comics #1 from Dark Horse Comics in 1994. I've been a Mike Allred fan since that moment and a fan of the idea of Madman. But it wasn't until just now that I read a Madman comic. So, for me to have literally zero prior knowledge going into the stories in this book and still turn the last page with that much satisfaction speaks volumes about the quality of the book itself and the appeal of the characters and the talent of the contributors. Mike and Laura Allred's main story is great, Emi Lenox's story is about an emo band actually being super sad aliens who just want to have someone to be sad with, Matt Kindt's story is Jack Kerouac's On the Road starring members of the Atomics (I think), and Tonci Zonjic's story is flat out amazing and really very suspenseful. The pin-ups are also quite gorgeous. It's just a good book, you guys.
SCORE: +1
Sweet Tooth is not a series where you can pick out any one issue and say, "This is the best issue of the series," or "This is the one issue you have to have." Sweet Tooth is a series that draws you into it slowly. It's an upside down pyramid standing on it's point; it builds on itself and as you climb it you watch it spread out around you. I think it may be best consumed as a whole, but that may also destroy you. It's a dire series. It's an exploration into the darkest depths of humanity, but ultimately it focuses on the light that can never be extinguished. I hesitate to say that it's like The Walking Dead, but really, it kind of is. And I mean that in the best possible way. It's a totally loaded statement, though. On the surface it's easy to see the similarities. Post apocalyptic wasteland? Yeah. Small band of survivors? Yup. We are the real monsters? More than a little bit of that, too. That's really where the similarities end, though, and Sweet Tooth uses that genre framework to tell its own story of loss and survival. I realize I haven't said anything about this particular issue, #20, but really all there is to say is this: go get the trades, read from the beginning, and then get this issue. You need to earn your way to this issue. Then, once you've read all the issues leading up to it, you will realize just how good it is.SCORE: +1
iZombie is the other book that Mike Allred currently draws. This is issue #12. Oh, but he didn't draw this issue. Disappointing, right? WRONG! Ever hear of, oh, I don't know, GILBERT HERNANDEZ OF LOS HERMANOS HERNANDEZ?!??! Yeah, that guy. He drew this issue. Oh, did I mention that this series is written by Chris Roberson? You know, the guy who writes that one book. It's kind of obscure. You probably haven't ever heard of it. It's called SUPERMAN!!!! This is one of several planned breaks in the main story. From what I understand, each story arc will be 5 issues followed by a standalone issue that focuses on a character in the supporting cast. Ellie the ghost girl is the focus of this installment. Roberson gives us a look at who Ellie was before she died and how that made her the ghost she is today and shows us a cool moment at the end of the issue depicting the first time Ellie met Gwen, the titular zombie of the series. The coolest part of the issue, though, is a two page spread that manages to do a bit of world building and make me hope the good Mr. Roberson has plans to tell that particular story. Seriously, it would be awesome.SCORE: +1
"Name's Jonah Hex, an' ah'm a bounty hunter." That's all the introduction to the world of Jonah Hex this issue provides. It's also all the introduction you need to jump right in. I'd never read an issue of Jonah Hex before, but issue #66 is perfect jumping on point. Well, almost every issue of Jonah Hex is a perfect jumping on point because almost every issue is a standalone issue. In the issue, Hex trudges some prisoners into a snowy mountain town where dudes are just straight up getting eaten. SPOILER ALERT: The prisoners don't make it. There's more to it than that, though, and it's something that's going to stick with you for a little while after reading. This particular issue is drawn by Fiona Staples, whose artwork is just absolutely stunning. I seriously hope she gets a lot of work soon, and after this issue I'm pretty confident that's going to happen. Writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray do a great job of letting the artist tell the story, which is just fine with me. Not that their dialog isn't good--it's perfect--these are, after all the same writers who made Power Girl and Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters into must read series. There's been a lot written about the wonderful things those guys are doing on this book, which was pretty much the entire reason I bought this issue, and it's all true. This was so very close to taking the "Best Comic Book of the Week" award. So close.SCORE: +1
Do I really have to tell you that Chew is awesome? Really? Ok, Chew is awesome. This is issue #17. It is awesome. This issue sees Tony and Colby team up with the hardcore badass women of the FDA and it does NOT go well. At all. There's a deus ex machina of the absolute best order. Seriously, you guys, read Chew. If every comic book were this good, well... there'd be a lot of really really good comics out there. I think my favorite part about this series is not the story (which is amazing) or the jokes (which are really funny) or the art (which is fantastic). No, my favorite part of this series is the kind of love and detail that goes into the characters. It's so easy to tell that Layman and Guillory enjoy making this book. This was another really close one for the "Best Comic Book of the Week" award.SCORE: +1
Speaking of the Best Comic Book of the Week award... its Batman Beyond #4! It's the start of a new story arc that sees the re-introduction of Batman's best friend Maxine Gibson, who is basically like the new Oracle of the future. She's got some stuff going on that Batman's probably going to be getting involved in pretty soon--in a rescue me from the mess I've made kind of way--but until that happens, Batman, Terry McGinnis, is busy trying to diffuse a situation involving future Dick Grayson and secret identities. There may be tension between the Dick and Bruce Wayne of the future, but that doesn't stop Bruce from trying to intervene and help out his old partner and adopted son. Since this is comics we're talking about, things do not go as planned, but not quite in the way that was not planned. This is probably the comic I was most looking forward to this week and it completely justified it. I absolutely LOVED with a capital LOVED the Batman Beyond cartoon when it was on the air and this comic is looking like it's going to be another quality entry in the Terry McGinnis epic.SCORE: +2
Finally, we have My Favorite Comic Book of the week and honestly, absolutely nobody should be surprised at this. It wasn't even close. Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #2 is a perfect comic book. I'll say that again: This comic is perfect. This is the product of a 30 year old man drawing the story that his 6 year old brother comes up with, which, in all seriousness, is the most original idea I've ever heard. And it's so obvious. Because, what were you doing when you were six? I'll tell you what I was doing. I was thinking about Spider-Man and Batman and what would happen if they met each other and fought. Basically, I was writing my own comics. Young Mr. Malachi Nicholle has the good fortune of having an older brother with both really good art skills and a great sense of humor. There's no way to even begin to describe how much fun this book is. It also contains the best sentence I've ever read in my life: "Truck chucks were like nunchucks made of semi trucks." I defy you to show me a better sentence that isn't contained in an Axe Cop comic.
SCORE: +2
Ok, let's take a look at who is going to live and die this week...
Vertigo: 2
Image: 2
DC: 3
Dark Horse: 2
Well, well, well. DC wins. Again. I grew up a Marvel kid and they didn't even compete this week. Perhaps it's for the best. They will be spared the experience of being trapped in the negative zone to face an oncoming horde of Annihilus' minions in a noble self sacrifice to allow the kids of the Future Foundation and a de-powered Ben Grimm to get to safety. Thanks for reading, guys. See you next week!
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