With the end of the month comes some unfortunate news: I am leaving the Multiversity Comics team. Don’t worry, there’s no bad blood, life just sometimes gets in the way of what we enjoy. Thanks very much to all of you who read my articles and enjoyed them. You may see me stepping in to do a guest article every now and then, but that’s about it for a while.
Enough of that though; let’s get on with the month in review. There was a lot of good and a lot of bad this month, so there were plenty of tough choices to make. Follow the cut to see my final verdicts!
Best Book of the Month: The Unwritten #16
Holy cow was this great. I honestly don’t even know where to begin with this issue; so much more happened in the span of a mere 30-ish pages. Every issue of The Unwritten has consistently been 9.0-quality or higher, and this one was even better than usual. It certainly ended on a very surprising note, but if there’s one thing this series has proven, it’s that nothing is as it seems. I’m so excited to see where the story goes from here, but then again, I’ve said that with every issue.
By the by, I have been reading Ex Machina in trades, so I apologize if you’re bothered that Ex Machina #50 didn’t make the top spot.
Worst Book of the Month: Amazing Spider-Man #639
The most recent issue of O.M.I.T. was mediocre, and the first one was alright. The second part, however, was awful. It was pretty much just a big showcase of how little Joe Quesada gets Peter Parker and — even more so — Mary Jane. The art was nice when it wasn’t from Quesada, but that’s a small saving grace when the rest is almost unbearable. I’ll be honest, there were probably worse issues published this month, but they don’t involve one of my favorite classic characters.
Best Scene of the Month: Franklin and Val jump into the unknown in Fantastic Four #582.
This was such a great ending page that really captures the sense of wonder and adventure that has been permeating all throughout Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four. While I miss Dale Eaglesham fiercely, Neil Edwards did a great job in this issue (otherwise I wouldn’t have picked this as the best scene, now would I?).
Worst Scene of the Month: Peter resuscitates Aunt May in Amazing Spider-Man #639.
This was just incredibly groan-worthy. Suspension of disbelief, anyone? I already cited my grievances with this scene in my review, so let’s move on.
Best Writer of the Month: Jonathan Hickman
The Unwritten was the best book of the month, but Hickman is juggling three books much better than Carey is juggling two. I don’t mean to make it sound like X-Men Legacy isn’t very good (indeed, it’s probably my favorite X-Book); however, Secret Warriors, Fantastic Four and S.H.I.E.L.D. are each about as good as the other, with Secret Warriors being better on one month, Fantastic Four being better the next and S.H.I.E.L.D. being just as good the one following. I’m amazed with the amount of consistently good work Hickman can churn out, and I hope he keeps on keeping on.
Worst Writer of the Month: Felicia Henderson
Sure, Teen Titans wasn’t in a great place after Geoff Johns left, but Henderson has really run it into the ground. The Hunt for Raven has been terribly uninteresting, and she has no clue how to write any of the characters that are involved with the team. When I claim that I’m ready for J.T. Krul to take your place on a book, you know that you’ve screwed up.
Best Artist of the Month: Roberto De La Torre
De La Torre seems to be ignored by some reviewers, but I’ve really liked everything that I have seen by him. His style fits in very well with the tone that Alex Maleev gave Daredevil while working with Bendis, while still remaining fresh and unique. I’ve been enjoying his work on Daredevil much more than Billy Tan’s contributions, and am glad to see him take over.
Worst Art of the Month: Image United
Rather than picking a single artist, I chose to look at Image United as a whole for this category. The idea regarding a bunch of artists drawing their own characters is nice in theory, but in practice… well, not so much. Even though the artists each have similar styles, there are subtle enough nuances that make the amalgamation a bit jarring to look upon. Plus, I strongly dislike nearly all of the artists involved, so there’s that.
Well, that’s that I suppose. See you all around.
