Best Book Nominees for Wednesday, February 13
Again? Again. C’mon, doctor, this is getting ridiculous. You’re not going to let me nominate any Marvel books again this week? I just can’t accept that. UNCANNY X-MEN #1 doesn’t deserve a nomination? No? No. Well then. If I can’t nominate it, I’m just gonna talk about it! And I must say that I liked UNCANNY X-MEN #1 quite a bit. Fit smoothly into everything that’s going on. Defined Cyclops and his team even more. Art was good. Story was good. Think it was well worth reading, especially if you’ve been following the mutants post-AVX. So why no nomination? Maybe a little light on the POW. Little light on the WOW. And the last page doesn’t count. Last page was good. Last page was interesting. Totally will have to see how the last page plays out. Which sums up the issue. It was well done. It was interesting. And I am absolutely reading more.
Felt that way about AVENGERS ARENA #4 and CABLE AND X-FORCE #4, too. Really liked them both. Series I am enjoying. Thought Avengers Arena did a real good job of delving into some characters this issue. Thought the Darkhawk end really opened up some new possibilities and questions. What happened to our beloved Darkhawk? And I was very happy to see that Cable and X-Force wrapped up the Eat-More processing plant giant blob monster mini-arc. Blob monsters are never a good idea! But it did help lay the groundwork for the main plot: Cable is a terrorist and they are gonna hunt him down, which looks to be the focus next issue.
More Marvel? Sure! WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #25 I enjoyed. Maybe not as good as last issue. But once again way better than the circus arc. Series seems to have found its footing again and the rest of this Savage Land/Dog story should be good. And SECRET AVENGERS #1 was a very good first issue. Set up the premise perfectly. It’s Hawkeye. It’s Black Widow. It’s SHIELD. It’s Black Ops. And it’s the new Nick Fury. Yep. There’s a new Nick Fury and he’s in Secret Avengers!
Speaking of #1 issues. KATANA #1 was actually pretty darn good. Thought the art was fairly dynamic. Didn’t think it "popped" of the page exactly, but the layouts and style I liked. Story read well. Learned about Katana and her sword. Her history. Her dilemma. Surprised I liked it as much as I did.
I also really liked FATALE #12. It was a very straight-forward one shot. It was set in France in 1286 AD. It was about a witch. Totally got a Hellboy feel off of it. It was good. And I would totally be remiss not to mention STAR WARS #2. If you liked the first one, you will like the second one. And the first issue won the poll! Feel free to vote for it again.
But to me the week comes down to two books. That’s right. Two books.
And my massive two nominees for Best Book of the Week are…
BATMAN #17 – SPOILER ALERT #1! The conclusion to Death of the Family. And I was very surprised how it played out. We’ve been speculating how it would end. What does the Joker have under the covered serving dish? Well, first of all there were multiple dishes. And they had fake flunkie masks in them. And it really had nothing to do with how the story ended. Does the Joker know the identities of the Bat-family members? Well, second of all the Joker doesn’t seem to care about secret identities. And it really had nothing to do with how the story ended. So you’d think I might be upset, confused or discombobulated as to how the story ended. And you might be. But I just wasn’t. I liked where it went and liked what they did. Damian at one point said, “So it was all a twisted joke.” Once again you can take that two ways. Thanks for teasing us (the readers) with things that ultimately didn’t really matter. But I didn’t take it that way at all. A twisted joke is what the Joker is ultimately all about! He didn’t want to kill them. He doesn’t want to know their secret identities. He just wanted to play an elaborate twisted joke. And it was a great one! Ha Ha Ha! Furthermore, I have to mention BATMAN AND ROBIN #17, which was nothing but multiple dream sequences. But in Alfred’s dream he blows Joker’s head off with a shotgun and after waking up from this “nightmare” he drifts back to sleep with a smile on his face. Best two pages of the night! That’s what I think of your twisted joke!
WALKING DEAD #107 – SPOILER ALERT #2! What did Negan do to Carl? Much speculation also abounded. The answer? Nothing! Yep. Nothing. And I loved it! And I loved what Negan had to say. I can be reasonable. Yes, if you mess with me I’m gonna mess you up, but can we not try to work together. Very easy to say when you’re the man in charge and we’ve only ever seen Negan in charge at this point. But he’s trying to be reasonable. Crazy Rick is going off half-cocked, pretending to be Tony Chu (Chomp!), lying to his people and planning a war! I’m telling you I’m thinking about changing sides! At least until Carl’s in charge. Letters page! Even Mr. Kirkman had to comment on his own truly terrific cuss line. It was a doozy. One of the best I’ve ever read. Although not to be repeated here. And it has now been confirmed Jesus is pronounced biblically not spanishly. Here comes Ezekiel!
As to the Best Book of the Week? I’ll just call it a tie and let y’all sort it out in the poll tomorrow. See ya!
Rusty
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Regarding Batman, thought it would have been better as just an arc inside of Batman, as an event it was over hyped and therefore hard for ending to be as big a deal as expectations.
Still not sure why this is such a big wedge between everyone.
In hindsight, it reads as a really good Joker arc. Seems very consistent with the character, with some creepy new emphasis for the new 52. It may have lasting consequences in how the “family” relates to Bruce, but there was no big status quo change. That makes sense, but doesn’t quite justify the “event” status.
That said, they got readers to check out the other Bat-titles and maybe there will be a bump in sales on those books. That’s the real goal of these crossovers anyway.
I really liked how Batman 17 ended. Loved Uncanny #1. Star Wars rocked. TWD don’t yell at Carl, you’ll make him angry, you wouldn’t like Carl angry.
Jim: It is a big deal depending on the tie-in issues. At least for Nightwing, I felt like the Joker dug deep into Grayson’s soul, and shattered his worldview. Probably more than the other former sidekicks, Grayson appeared to be taken down a peg by the Joker. So the driving wedge worked for me.
As for the rest, I’d venture to say Joker made it more personal than the rest are used to, and as a result they are licking their wounds.
Shawn – it did not work for me. The “death” felt fake. Still want to re-read as a collected edition with just the Batman book.
Shawn – That never came across to me.
Well then I guess I can understand your apprehension. But for me, I felt like the Joker knew which buttons to push and I bought the story. I say that as someone that did not enjoy the last two issues of Batman either. This issue made the rest of them worth it.