Geekshow

The Five – Comics for February 18, 2009

Captain Wednesday takes on The Great Unknown, digital comics, a super-powered Batman and more in this week’s installment of The Five!

Welcome back to the latest addition of the five, my top comic books of the week, plucked from my reading stack. It was another light week in the amount of titles released, and unfortunately the quality did seem to (finally) suffer. Every three or four weeks it seems the industry throws out a collective dud, and for me, this week was one of them.

With that in mind, only one title seemed to stand head and shoulders above the rest – Invincible #59. I have just recently found myself getting into Invincible, going back and absorbing the previous five years worth of stories. Robert Kirkman’s Image book does a nice job of nurturing this story. If you have yet to pick up an issue of Invincible, this week is a good starting point.

Invincible #59 is not as much about Invincible as it is the innocent lives he impacts. Every so often you will see a superhero comic present an issue from this point-of-view usually it comes across too syrupy or preachy. Kirkman however found the right mix of motivation and consequence as a new self-named nemesis to Invincible, Powerplex, has entered the scene.

Powerplex gets a true and realistic back story. What Kirkman does is brilliant as you can see the guy is on the fence. He knows what he needs to do, but he is still a nice guy at heart. It is his ultimate battle and the cost of it with Invincible, that seals the deal in making him a Wrath of Khan villain for our hero.

Even if you do not care for the title, you don’t want to miss this issue as it was a thing of beauty.

Next I present what may be a first for me, an Image double-shot and one-two punch at the top of my recommendations in The Great Unknown #1 by Duncan Rouleau. This issue was a terrific premiere as it laid just enough seeds to want me to come back for more, all the while being interesting enough to keep my turning the pages. It did not hurt that Rouleau’s unique artistic style told a wonderful story, as did his words.

From what I can gather, The Great Unknown is about this slacker type dude who is brilliant but so unmotivated (sound like anyone you know?). The first installment introduces us to Zach, who when we meet him is an arrogant lout who does not hold his liquor to well. Intrigued, you should be, because each page just gets that more interesting.

Finally the mainstream companies break into the five. Marvel’s Dark Avengers #2 shipped this week. I don’t know if it was the anticipation of this issue (I was really looking forward to reading it), but the end result wasn’t as good as I hoped and did not knock my socks off.

Definitely an interesting story as Norman Osborn’s new “hero” team starts to figure out how to work, all the while keeping Ares and Sentry interested (which is no easy feat). No sooner does Osborn give a terrific motivational speech (sarcasm!) to his new team than they are thrust into action – isn’t that always the case for superheroes?

Unfortunately, their first mission is “rescuing” Dr. Doom from Morgana Le Fay. I think Cap would have passed on this first assignment, but that is just my opinion. Bendis does a terrific job once again with the words and Deodato’ pencils do a great story.

Superman Batman #55 gets my fourth spot. I am usually a big fan of this book, but have not been loving the current storyline with Batman getting Superman’s powers. It’s a tale that is as old as Superman, take away his powers and give it to someone close to him. In chapter three of SuperBat by the Mike’s Green and Johnson we finally get to see some real impact on Batman’s psyche as his relentless and obsessive self-imposed mission becomes the end all and be all, but with super powers.

Meanwhile, Clark is battling for his life after making the mistake of trying to enjoy a nice normal evening out with his wife. Why is it whenever a hero attempts to be normal, they must suffer? Why are the comic gods so sadistic when it comes to even a little happiness? Anyway, after a lackluster first two issues, part three finally peaked my interest.

Rounding out my five for the week is a reprint (that’s how bad this week is), Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk #2. Granted it has been several years since Damon Lindelof’s story had seen the light of day, and after this we will finally get to see the end. It may have been worth the wait if the first two issues are any indications of what we can expect.

Issue two is told mostly from the Hulk or Bruce Banner’s perspective, as the latter attempts and ultimately (no pun intended) fails each time to reign in the anger that proves to be a deadly catalyst as the Hulk comes into being. The last panel sets up the next issue perfectly and makes one breathless in anticipation for what should be an awesome smack down between everyone’s favorite Canuck and angry green man.

Before I go, I would like to rail against this week’s issue of Amazing Spider-Man #587. There is a fear in the industry that one of these days the bean-counters at Marvel are going to push for online-publishing only. Well the first steps may have been taken this week as in ASM 587 on page 11, panel four we are prompted to go online to Marvel.com for a free tale that will explain what exactly happens between panels two and four.

I am not a cynical sort by nature, and this type of ploy has been used before, generally to get me to buy another book. But to push the audience to the net, to get them to read a story online (which for the most part has not been done) is a slippery-slope as Captain Mal Reynolds once stated. And I am not liking it … not one bit.

That is it for this week, sorry for the ramblings, and don’t forget to tip your pizza delivery guy … peace.