ROUND EIGHTEEN: New Comics for June 22, 2011 (and a little bit about the last two weeks)

First off, no. I'm not going to apologize for not posting reviews for the last two weeks. Secondly, yes. I did read those comics. Third, yes. There will be new music in the form of a free downloadable ep from Adam WarRock and myself very soon, which happens to also be the reason why all my writing time was dedicated to rap music and not reviewing comic books.

Anyways, here's what you missed:

June 8, I bought these comics:
American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #1 (of 5)
Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #519
Booster Gold #45
Mega Man #2
Morning Glories #10
Punisher Max #14
Scalped #49
Ultimate Spider-Man #159
The Unwritten #26

All of them were really good, except Black Panther, which was a really bad comic book gussied up with amazing artwork. My favorite comic book that week was Mega Man #2 for somehow being able to pack emotion into an issue where Rock destroys 3 of 6 Robot Masters. The best comic book that week was Scalped #49 for the scene where Dash and Catcher have a shootout on the inside of a pickup truck.

The following week, June 15, 2011 I bought these comics:
Batgirl #22
Cinderella: Fables are Forever #5 (of 6)
Deadpool Max #9
Generation Hope #8
Invincible #80
Power Girl #25
Supergirl #65
Uncanny X-Men #538
X-Factor #221

All of these comics were also very good, except Deadpool Max #9, which, as another reviewer pointed out in a much more timely manner, suffered greatly from the lack of Kyle Baker's particular brand of pop-art insanity. My favorite comic book that week was Batgirl #22 because an American superheroine in London is a phrase I never knew I needed to type so badly. The best comic book that week was Generation Hope #8 for Teon's courtroom-survivalist evolution and all of the potential madness that last page promises.

Old business now properly handled and out of the way, let's talk about this week's comics, shall we? Here's what I bought:
Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #520
Captain America #619
Fables #106
Ultimate Spider-Man #160
Zatanna #14

Not a big pull for me this week. It looks like I'll be able to make some progress towards catching up on Booster Gold and playing Darksiders on PS3, which it turns out is a super fun game. I digress... Let's get judgmental about comics!

Do you remember the movie A Night at the Roxbury? No? Well, that's ok. Because Adam Beechen remembers it just fine. This fun little done-in-one by the writer of the also quite fun Batman Beyond series begins with Zatanna lecturing her cousin (imagine Johnny Storm as a stage magician) about responsibility and then he's attacked by a succubus because he wasn't responsible enough to see that one coming. So, of course it's up to Zee to responsible her cousin out of the mess he irresponsibled himself into in the first place. This issue is a perfect addition to a series whose trademark is adventure lite.
SCORE: +1


Captain America is one of those series that if you're not already reading it, you'll never ever know how consistently great it is until you're reading some top ten or twenty list of all time best runs ten or twenty years from now and you see Ed Brubaker's Captain America on the list and you go, "I remember when that was coming out..." and so you pick up the omnibus or essential reprint and about the time you get to the second or third story arc you say, "Oh my god, this comic book is fantastic." And then you keep reading. Forever. This issue sees Bucky reunite with the Black Widow after a daring-but-reckless prison break and, more importantly, it has Nick Fury in a suit shooting missiles at robots as drawn by Chris Samnee. I once met Mr. Samnee at a convention and shook his hand and thanked him for his work on Thor: The Mighty Avenger. If I ever meet him again I'm going to shake his hand and thank him for this comic.
SCORE: +1

A lot of hubbub has been raised about this issue already and I'm sure a lot of much more skilled writers than I will have much more insightful things to say about it. So all I really want to say about it is that, for some reason the big moment didn't really resonate with me emotionally the way I thought it should have. I think that may actually be a failing on my part and not the comic. This series has always been one that is best read in trades or arcs and I think that may be what happened with this issue. It's pure momentum in the issues leading to this one and the fact that real-time and not story-time has passed between the last page of the last issue and the first page of this one detracts from the overall effect of this issue. All said and done, Ultimate Spider-Man remains Ultimate Spider-Man and it's a great comic. My favorite super hero book on the stands, hands down. Also, I'm not sure if it was intentional but there's totally a shout out to the cover of Action Comics #1 when Peter smashes Norman Osborn with a truck, which was pretty cool.
SCORE: +1

The Best Comic Book of the Week was Fables #106, which finally wraps up the Mister Dark saga while leaving a few new threats and twists on the table. The manner in which Bill Willingham actually deals with Mister Dark seemed, to me, a little bit too tidy at first. But after a couple more pages I realized that it's absolutely in keeping with the tone of Fables as a whole. The series has never shied away from actiony bits but even when it happened it was always in such a way that there seemed to be more talking than hitting/stabbing/doing. For most comics that would be a bad thing, but it absolutely works in Fables. That's what I pay my $2.99 to see. I look forward to reading more Fables comics in which they stand around talking the whole time.
SCORE: +2

I've been giving this series a hard time. But for good reason; the last few issues have been really, really bad. The only saving grace for this book was that the art has been consistently phenomenal. Best-looking-book-on-the-racks good. With this issue writer David Liss shows off some of the reasons he was given the job in the first place. The dynamic between Storm and Black Panther is just and absolute joy to behold. I laughed out loud several times during their banter. There are still some of the same qualms I had with previous issues but not on any of the pages where Storm and Black Panther are together. Not that I even need to say it at this point, but Jefte Palo's artwork is just amazing. This is My Favorite Comic Book of the Week.
SCORE: +2

Well, there you have it. New comics reviewed on the same day they come out. I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't been there to witness the whole thing. Just don't get used to it. Score tally!
Marvel: 4
DC: 1
Vertigo: 2

Marvel wins this week, meaning they get to live to fight the resurrected zombie black lantern versions of DC and Vertigo. Thanks for reading. See you next time!

Oh, also don't forget to check out Changeling, the new webcomic by our other reviewer, Luke and Joe Hunter, who doesn't review comics here..............yet.