Man, it’s August. It was a big month for comics last month so let’s dispense with the pleasantries and get right to it, no? Read on!
Best Book — “The Walking Dead” #100
“The Walking Dead” reaching this kind of achievement was a testament to how successful creator-owned books could be, but it also proved it could still be filled with heart wrenching scenes where characters you’ve literally cared about for years will die in the most grisly ways you can imagine. This book was one of the best examples of why this book continues to be as successful as it is, and why it’s a cultural icon and multimedia juggernaut.
Runners Up — “Chew: Secret Agent Poyo” #1, “Spider-Men” #3, “Daredevil” #15
Most Disappointing Book: “Wolverine and the X-Men” #14
It’s not that I hate this book by any stretch of the imagination. But it was definitely not up to the level that Jason Aaron had been churning out since the book’s initial release some months ago, and Molina’s art was subpar compared to the heavyweights that usually art this book, Chris Bachalo and Nick Bradshaw. I expect better, but I didn’t get it. Shame.
Runner-Up: “AvX” #8
Best Writer — Mark Waid (“Daredevil” #15)
This is based solely on his work on the venerable Marvel title, which is considered by many to be the best book Marvel is currently putting out (me included). While Daredevil #15 might not have been as good as The book of the month, it has such a high quality of its own and a consistency that puts Daredevil in a pedigree all its own.
Runners-Up -Brian K. Vaughan (“Saga” #5), Tim Seeley (“Revival” #1)
Most Disappointing Writer — Jason Aaron (“Wolverine and the X-Men” #14)
It feels unfair to single him out for one book, but he’s the only person I can think of whose writing in one book, which was merely a tie-in to an event, was at all disappointing, but it really was that annoying. This book could be better, and it wasn’t. Why Jason, why?
Best Artist — Gary Frank (“Batman: Earth One”)
Gary Frank is usually The Guy I Want to Draw Superman All the Time (along with Frank Quitely), but his OGN entry with Geoff Johns, “Batman: Earth One” was proof he could be just as good a Batman artist. It’s photo-realistic but not distractingly so. His interpretations of the characters are some of my favorites, and he knows how to draw a beat up Batman for sure.
Runners-Up – Sara Pichelli (“Spider-Men” #2-#3, Charlie Adlard (“The Walking Dead” #100)
Most Disappointing Artist – Terry Dodson (“Avenging Spider-Man” #9)
Once again, it’s not that I hated the art, but I’ve definitely seen better from Dodson. Everything wasn’t “Dodson-y” enough. It was a bit messy. The lines weren’t up to the quality they’re used to. There’s no real depth in the panels.
But after that’s all said, a Dodson book is still better than half of the art out there. In the same breath, however, for a Dodson book, this was not as good as I expected it to be.
Best Scene – 616-Peter meets Ultimate Aunt May and Gwen Stacy (“Spider-Men” #3)
Brian Bendis is one of the best Spider-Man writers that have ever written the character. Whether it’s for Ultimate Spider-Man or Avengers, he can balance the humor of the character with heart breaking scenes you knew were coming, but were still unprepared for. In “Spider-Men” #3, Peter Parker discovered the Ultimate Peter was dead, and instinctively went to visit Aunt May to see if she survived. He just so happened to have found that in this reality, Gwen Stacy outlived him, which tore him up inside. Great stuff.
Runners-Up: Glenn’s death (“The Walking Dead” #100), Batman gets beat up a lot (“Batman: Earth One”)
Worst Scene – Cyclops has no idea how plate tectonics works and nearly kills me in the process (“Wolverine & the X-Men” #14)
I spoke about this in my review, but let me just reiterate that the various plates that make up the outer crust need to move. Sometimes it causes earthquakes, but that’s par for the course. Instead, Jason Aaron makes Scott Summers seal the San Andreas Fault in order to prevent these earthquakes. The unfortunate thing is, that action would increase pressure along the fault until the seal ripped apart anyway, destroying everything along the fault, which just happens to include me. GD-it, Scott, California has been through enough!
Continued belowBest New Book – “Revival” #1
I was not expecting to like “Revival” as much as I did. However, Tim Seeley’s twist on the zombie genre proved to be one of most creative in recent years, and it made for an entertaining, terrifying, and most importantly FUN read. You should be picking this up if you like zombies.
