May 2013 saw more turmoil for DC Comics, as James Robinson announced his leaving of “Earth 2”, marking his final project at the company for the foreseeable future. Rumors of his landing over at Marvel Comics on some sort of “Namor” book went through various stages before being ultimately denied. Furthermore, DC’s Digital side garnered far more praise for its “Adventures of Superman” releases than it has on any of its ‘New 52′ “Superman” titles. On the upside, DC’s Vertigo imprint saw its most high-profile new release in some time, as Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy’s “The Wake” premiered to much acclaim.
Things were steady as ever for Marvel, Image Comics, and Dark Horse, as each company released stellar new titles like “X-Men”, “The Bounce”, and “Dream Thief”, respectively.
Marvel characters made waves, with confirmations that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver would be included in the Marvel movie-verse. Quicksilver will likewise make his way into Bryan Singer’s “Days of Future Past” somehow. Marvel’s “Agents of SHIELD” TV series got picked up and showed off several teasers and trailers with fan-favorite character Agent Coulson.
And, oh yeah, Geoff Johns’ final issue of “Green Lantern” saw its release. Pour one out for a job well-done for a very long time. I’m going to go ahead and make this “May 2013 in Comics – The Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern Memorial Edition”:
Best Book of the Month: X-Men #1
Brian Wood and Olivier Coipel showed a synergy of art and story that goes far beyond their relative inexperience working with one another. For my money, the action set-piece at the center of the issue was as thrilling as any in the year so far, thanks to spectacular art from Coipel. Though he won’t be around for the next arc, his work here drawing the ladies of Marvel’s Merry Mutants will be a joy to watch for the time being.
Runner-Up: Five Ghosts: The Haunting of Fabian Gray #3
Worst Book of the Month: Age of Ultron
“Age of Ultron” earns the dishonor again. While Brian Michael Bendis has breathed a different sort of life into the X-Men titles by drawing on the past in really satisfying ways and finding clever ways to use established characterizations, just about the exact opposite could be said for his mega-event title. In “Age of Ultron”, he misuses characters left and right, which could ultimately be excused by the idea that he’s writing in an alternate timeline. But aren’t alternate versions of established characters only interesting if they feel like logical extensions of existing characters? A bunch of new (or returning old) costumes don’t make for great storytelling. Nor do outlandish skips in logic from normally pragmatic characters like Wolverine and Sue Storm or a plot that keeps going sideways rather than forward. With Marvel NOW! doing such great things for the Marvel characters, “Age of Ultron” continues to feel irrelevant.
Runners-Up: Teen Titans #20
Best Writer: Brian Wood
The writers that end up winning this honor each month seem to be the ones that have a lot on their plates. Brian Michael Bendis (monthly offender “Age of Ultron” notwithstanding), Jonathan Hickman, and Kelly Sue Deconnick have all ended up here because they do well juggling a lot of books. This month Brian Wood gets recognition that is a long time coming. The man has been putting out “The Massive” (a harrowing socio-political thing), his offbeat take on Conan the Barbarian, an original trilogy offshoot “Star Wars” title that is getting better and better each month, “Mara” (another terrific sci-fi, social commentary type book), “Ultimate Comics X-Men” and now Marvel 616, adjectiveless, female-centric “X-Men.” That last one has the potential of being his most exciting one of all if he plays his cards right. The point is that this guy puts out a lot of material and it rarely ever misses its mark.
Runner-Up: Joe Casey
Most Disappointing Writer: Scott Lobdell
Surely Scott Lobdell cannot be the “worst” writer in comics. There are plenty of bad books that get published that don’t get talked about on this site, because we don’t want to read books that are exclusively about how nearly naked the writer can get the women in his book. Those books are for someone else entirely, so someone else can enjoy them and that’s fine. Scott Lobdell earns a nomination in this category almost every month, because he gets to write some of the biggest characters in comics and consistently turns in stories that do not contain many of the things that make those characters iconic. He gets to write the “Teen Titans”, for crying out loud, and they are barely identifiable.
Continued belowRunner-Up: Ann Nocenti
Best Artist: Joëlle Jones
Cullen Bunn’s “Helheim” has been a cryptic sort of comic book, so far. It’s content to do its own thing and, I think, has not truly revealed what sort of story it wants to tell yet. Most notably, Bunn seems to be experimenting more with long scenes that have practically no dialogue. Thank the new gods that we have Joëlle Jones absolutely up to the task of carrying those parts of the book. My word, does she make muscly zombified Viking brawling look so good.
Runner-Up: Olivier Coipel
Most Disappointing Artist: Szymon Kudranski
Throughout its release, I praised Kudranski’s work on the “Penguin: Pain and Prejudice” miniseries. The pacing and panelwork in the Penguin story was thoughtful and thematically impactful. There were recurring motifs and dramatic pauses placed within the art that enhanced the menace and the tragedy of the story. The violence was operatic, creating one of the few violent stories of ‘The New 52’ that didn’t feel gratuitous. Here he is again working with Gregg Hurwitz to decidedly disappointing results. The art in “Batman: The Dark Knight” can not lay claim to any of those aforementioned traits. The visuals seem to have no rhythm to them and the panelwork seems designed to befuddle rather than captivate the reader. A style that has looked terrific in other stories, is not executed as deftly in this one.
Runner-Up: Tony Harris – his stunning linework looks like nobody else’s, but the visual storytelling in “Chin Music” went disappointingly awry.
Best Scene: “Helheim” #3
Somehow a sequence in which a frankenstein-esque zombie Viking meets a young woman and asks her to sew part of someone else’s face onto his own head (in not so many words) was one of the sweetest, most heartwarming scenes in comics this month. Friendship is rare.
Runner-Up: Can all of those “Congratulations, Geoff!” pages count?
Best Collection of the Month: Absolute Top 10 HC
Whenever an “absolute edition” of an Alan Moore title sees release, it’s going to be worth picking up. It’s hard for an Alan Moore title to be “under the radar”, but if there is any of his most important titles that I would say goes all-too-often unsung, it would be “Top 10.” “Top 10” is a superhero comic mixed with a police procedural that has plenty of that great Alan Moore social commentary and plenty to say about the medium of comic books itself. I know I’m looking forward to seeing the beautiful Gene Ha/Zander Cannon artwork in an oversized format when I can get my hands on a copy.
Runner Up: Lucifer Vol. 1 TP
Best New Series: Adventures of Superman (DC Digital)
I don’t want to say that the red undies have much to do with this decision, but that would be a lie. Those red undies represent almost everything that is just so right about these digital Superman releases. It’s true that the costume does not make the man, but when they made this particular man not wear a certain costume, it happened parallel to a sea-change in mood that seemed inevitable in the ‘New 52’, one supposes. So now those tighties represent something more than just something to break up the blue on a set of spandex. They represent an approach to Superman that breaks up the monotony of what’s going on in his ongoing ‘New 52’ titles lately. Some of these stories could happen in the ‘New 52’, sure – but they don’t.
Runner-Up: Dream Thief
Best Book You Probably Overlooked of the Month: Dream Thief #1
My review from earlier in the month probably says it best, but “Dream Thief” is the delightful culmination from two creative buddies who put their heads together and came up with a nifty little comic. book. Greg Smallwood has a visual style that draws comparisons to great noir artists like Sean Phillips, but with a unique and thoughtful storytelling sense all his own. “Dream Thief” is an exciting little mystery, wrapped in an attractive package, with plenty of laughs and intrigue. Don’t sleep on this one.
Continued belowBest Reaction Face: Sex #3
Sorry about this.
