What's that? Another weekly regular occurrence? I can hardly believe it - three weekly segments on my blog now, with this one being all about a favorite of mine, and a favorite of yours as well I'm sure - comics. Within this segment I'll pick a couple favorites from my weekly pull along with a random pick that may have slipped through the cracks.
Definitely won't be interesting to everyone, but I love comics so this is what you're going to get!
Co-book of the week: The Goon #25
Back in March, I threw down a review for the first OGN related to this series called Chinatown and pretty much raved about the series. As well I should, as Eric Powell's bizarre series is one of the best ongoings on the market today. This week we see our boy the Goon at a crossroads: leave his home and find happiness perhaps, or stay and protect his friends (he's the only hope for the town) and live a miserable existence. Harder question than you'd imagine to answer, as the character for all his toughness is ultimately a good guy and doesn't want people to suffer because of his actions.
This continues the path of seriousness that Powell has taken this once off-the-wall and frequently laugh out loud series down, and as much as I loved it before, it may be actually better since he restarted releasing the series. The story has progressed more in the past five issues than it had in the previous 20, and we still get entertaining yarns and glorious art from Powell - I don't know what changed...a new colorist, new inker, new art style for Powell, but this book is one of the best looking things on the market right now.
Every comic reader should be on this book. It's a must read, and has been for the entirety of its run. This issue is a fine example of all the Goon brings to the table, but would not be good for someone who has not read the rest of the series.
Co-book of the week: Action Comics #866
Since directly after One Year Later finished (a five or six issue stretch that DC imposed upon all of their books after Infinite Crisis), Geoff Johns has been the creative mastermind behind Action Comics. While his run started off very well, a combination of pairing with Richard Donner for writing and Adam Kubert's incredibly slow pencils curbed any momentum the series developed. Finally, after more than a year, that arc ended and we were graced with a new member of the creative team: Gary Frank.
The Johns/Frank team is nothing short of a match made in heaven, as brilliantly exemplified in this issue. They've already recreated the magic behind Superman's relationship with the Legion, and now they're giving us a reborn Brainiac for the ages. Also, they're finally tackling the Clark Kent side of things, as we see Johns exceptional work of handling even the most mundane of situations is just as exciting as his action work.
So long as this book continues to be released on time, it will likely continue to be one of the best books DC is releasing (Vertigo not included) and even rivals the work Johns is doing currently on Green Lantern. Exciting things are afoot in this book, and now is the best time to jump on.
"You shouldn't miss it, but probably did" book of the week: Captain Britain and MI:13 #2
I'm a big fan of Paul Cornell's comic work. This Doctor Who series writer wrote one of my favorite mini's of the past few years with Wisdom, and now he's tackling a major Secret Invasion tie-in and handling the job better than some of the most seasoned comic vets. Cornell's writing on this book make this lowly American genuinely care for the British heroes desperately staving off invasion, all the while maintaining the wit and bizarre happenings that ran rampant in the Wisdom series.
Plus, Pete Wisdom is in it. I legitimately would buy anything if he was featured. The guy is awesome.
2 comments:
I need to try out The Goon at some point, as it seems to be a horror-noir, which should be right up my alley.
As for Action -- did you find it tough to jump back on the boat for the new arc considering the lateness of the last one. I have to admit, I've kind of given up on the series, even if the first couple of Donner/Johns issues weren't bad.
(Having Frank for the art is a huge step up over Kubert, in my opinion. I can't remember now if Frank had lateness issues with Supreme Power or not...but hopefully this comes out on time).
Haven't read issue 2 of CBaMI:13 yet, but the first issue was very good. It's nice to have a decidedly British feeling book on the market -- reminds me somewhat of the older Vertigo books from the early 90's, back when they had a more superhero bent to them. I just hope this series makes enough sales to last more than 12 issues.
Well, I only ditched Action on the fill in issues. I started picking it up again on the Superman and the Legion of Superheroes arc (which was stellar, recommended reading), and then carried on from there (even finishing out the Donner/Johns arc). I feel as if anyone can jump in on this arc though, and not have a problem.
As for Supreme Power, what I originally heard was it was JMS spreading himself too thin and not getting to focus on that book. If you look back at Frank's work on Hulk and even Midnight Nation, he was nothing but timely.
You definitely need to get on the Goon. If defined by a genre, it'd be a horror-noir-comedy for sure. Entertaining as all hell.
If you like CBaMI:13 (nice acronym), check out Wisdom. It's Cornell as well and has way better art, with the underrated Trevor Hairsine on pencils. He does a stellar Bryan Hitch impersonation.
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