This week’s books – 9/28/11

The last premiere week of the new 52…and I think Marvel put out some books too.

 

AQUAMAN #1: Do you think Aquaman is lame? If so, this issue spends a good deal of its page count telling you how wrong you are. Which might feel like a bit of a waste to readers who liked Aquaman to begin with, but maybe it was necessary, I dunno. Still, it was well drawn and well written, so I’m looking forward to #2 as long as they got it all out of their system.

BLACKHAWKS #1: Yeah, I don’t know about this. Not a great introductory issue for the characters, the purpose of the organization, or even the type of threat it was formed to face. I might revisit the first trade if there’s good word of mouth, but I’m out for now.

BRILLIANT #1: (Here’s a book Josh wouldn’t review!) A decent opening and central premise (using science to create super powers in “the real world”) devolves into a bit of a mess of an introduction, where Bendis’ Mamet touches are particularly clear and yet ineffective. Whether I pick up the next issue will depend entirely on if I remember this book exists a month from now, which is not assured.

FLASH #1: This was really good, which surprised me a bit. The visual storytelling was just fantastic; I saw more out of Manapul in this issue than I had in the entire last series. The plot was solid superhero fare, and featured a thankfully less grim Barry.

THE FURY OF FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MEN #1: First of all, fuck you, title, you’re “Firestorm” from now on. Second of all, the book has an intriguing premise in these”Firestorm protocols”. But the villains are so far rather generic and uninteresting, the conflict between Jason and Ronnie feels a bit forced, and the end of the issue feels rushed and confused.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #1: Good setup. Not enough John Constantine for me, but plenty of Shade.

NEW AVENGERS #16 POINT ONE: Hope you were dreadfully missing Norman Osborn in the year since he’s been away, because here we go again.

TEEN TITANS #1: That’s three up and three down for Scott Lobdell; maybe I’ll try him again the next time he makes a comeback. (This wasn’t terrible, but I don’t have enough interest in the Titans anymore to work up the strength to think about the continuity implications of this apparent scorched-earth reboot)

ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #2: I still feel like we’re learning more about Miles’ supporting cast than him, but at least what we’re learning is interesting. I really like his father, and find myself hoping he isn’t the sacrificial family member that teaches this new Spider-Man about power and responsibility.

 

^ One Comment...

  1. Kwame

    I can’t believe how much I loved Aquaman, the argument between Jason and Ronnie was dumb to me, but the premise of the book as a whole was interesting.

    ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #2 got me a little teary eyed when he had that talk with his father. Haven’t read the others (JL: Dark sold out), but I think I’ll check out Flash now.

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