Best Book Nominees for Wednesday, June 22

I’ve heard the only things you can count on in life are death and taxes. (Or maybe if you’re from Baltimore it’s death, taxes and Cal Ripken.) But if you’re reading comics, the only things you can count on are death and reboots! Bunch of beginnings and endings this week. Onto the Nominees!!

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #40 – Final issue! A retrospective extravaganza full of double-page spreads and a very nice send off to both the Outsiders and Geo-Force. James had to love it! I thought it was excellent.

BATMAN GATES OF GOTHAM #2 (OF 5) – If you are reading Detective Comics you have to read Gates of Gotham. Just a guess but I think this mini-series might have been scheduled for the next story arc in Detective, before, you know, DC decided to cancel everything and start over. Anyway. Cassandra Cain. Damian. Commissioner Gordon. Penguin. Hush. Some bridges. And Wayne Tower gets blown up! It’s great.

BRIGHTEST DAY AFTERMATH THE SEARCH #1 (OF 3) – Tricky little book. Are we still interested in anything Brightest Day, due to the oft mentioned gorilla in the room otherwise known as the new DCU? Or are we even more interested in Swamp Thing now that we know Scott Snyder will be writing the series in the new DCU? I say… yes and yes! And this was a good issue. Very heavy John Constantine. Loved the way they introduced Constantine to the mainstream DCU and how they handled him meeting Batman for the first time. And having Zatanna, who previously existed in both the core DCU and the Vertigo Universe, act as a go between (she knows them both) was excellent.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #619 – Last issue! Sorta. Like how they are wrapping up the Winter Soldier story. Like how they are laying the groundwork for Steve Rogers to put back on the correct uniform. And the Black Widow is pretty cool. Not sure how it all plays into the one armed mostly dead Bucky in Fear Itself but I have been enjoying my Captain America lately. July will bring us Captain America #1 and Captain America & Bucky #620. And you thought DC had cornered the reboot market! Wrooooooong!

COBRA ONGOING #2 – I still like it. Serpentor. Croc Master. Dead Joes. It’s all good.

FABLES #106 – Wow. That was quick. And both the North Wind and the Dark Man are gone! At least for now. Very quick wrap-up to a story that’s been going on for quite some time. You might feel a little cheated. I didn’t. Had no idea how they were going to defeat the mighty, mighty Dark Man anyway and I thought it was a very reasonable, albeit quick, ending to the second major story arc of Fables. Gonna be very interesting to see what happens next.

FLASHPOINT LOIS LANE AND THE RESISTANCE #1 (OF 3) – All back story. And I loved it! Lois Lane is in Paris when the Aqua-wave hits! She survives. Jimmy Olsen does not. Then Lois gets captured by the Amazons! For 32 weeks! Can’t believe how much ground they covered in this issue and I still can’t get enough Amazons and Atlanteans action.

MIGHTY THOR #3 – Oliver Coipel and a Silver Surfer/Thor fight! Nuff said!

ROCKETEER ADVENTURES #2 (OF 4) – Not quite as good as issue #1. Still very enjoyable. Thought Betty Saves the Day by Darwyn Cooke was the best of the bunch this time around.

ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #160 DOSM – Yep. Spidey is dead. It was a very heroic death. Even looked like he might actually survive there for a while. Ultimate Fallout is next as Marvel’s Ultimate Universe gets rebooted. What?! Another reboot. DC should have trademarked it.

X-MEN LEGACY #251 – Legion and the X-Men are hunting down his lost personas! It’s really good. Love how they manage to make the lost personas believably powerful while at the same time allow Legion to defeat them very believably easily. Tough to do. And the pace rocks. Lots and lots going on. And really only part two. X-MEN LEGACY #250 is a great place to jump on board.

See ya!

Rusty