After re-capping all the DC Zero Issues, I get to talk about something else that happened this month!
Psych, I still talk a lot about the #0s.
Best Book: TIE: Wolverine and the X-Men #17/Hawkeye #2
For a dyed in the wool DC geek like me to pick two Marvel books as the best issues of the month, you know they must be really good. Like, unbelievably good.
“Hawkeye,” albeit in a small sample size, is pretty much the ideal street-level hero book. Tons of action, humor, ingenuity, and absolutely beautiful artwork.
Contrast that with “Wolverine and the X-Men,” a simple concept stuffed with absurd characters, with the focus this month on the most absurd and wonderfully weird character in all of comics.
There is nothing not amazing about these two issues.
Runners Up: Wonder Woman #0, B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth Return of the Master #2, The Shade #12
Worst Book: Deathstroke #0
It is really rare for me to read something I completely dislike on just about every level. That, friends, is what “Deathstroke” #0 was for me. It is cheesy, boring, didn’t advance the story much and, to cap it off, just added more layers of bullshit for Justin Jordan to wade through with “Team 7.”
Runner Up: Various other #0 issues
Best Writer: James Robinson
As a self-acknowledged fanboy for James Robinson, this seems like a biased fit. But in the past month, he made sense of the first eight issues of “Mister Terrific” in his “DC Universe Presents” story, wrote one of the better #0 issues with “Earth 2,” and wrapped up “The Shade” in a really wonderful way.
Runner Up: Jason Aaron
Most Disappointing Writer: Geoff Johns
Geoff Johns is the writer that got me back into comics, and every month that realization stings a little more. I’m actually a fan of his recent work on “Green Lantern,” but the Baz origin this month really felt forced and cliched. Add to that Billy Batson becoming a panhandler in spandex and Aquaman being the most decompressed comic in recent memory (hat tip to Vince Ostrowski for saying that and it hitting me like a ton of bricks), and he has simply gotten away from what made him great in the past. Hopefully “Justice League of America,” with its less than A-list cast will get him back to writing character development again instead of explosions and “Green Lantern’s got this!”
Runner Up: Dan Slott
Best Artist: Cliff Chiang
“Wonder Woman” #0 pulled off a great trick – it managed to be a Silver Age style tale that didn’t mess with the DCnU timeline at all. The tone of both the script and the art was spot on, and presented a lovely tribute to that era of comics. One of the topics we espouse frequently on The Hour Cosmic is the idea of a second Wonder Woman book, and I would read the shit out of this book on a monthly basis:
Runners Up: Jae Lee, David Aja
Most Disappointing Artist: Humberto Ramos
Look, I get stylization, and I understand that not everyone digs everyone else’s style. I really do. But Ramos went a bit overboard on “Amazing Spider-Man” this month, with proportions that were insanely off and characters that just looked silly. Take his Cap, for instance:
Runner Up: Fernando Dagnino
Best Scene: The levels Doop will stoop to
Runner Up: The Batman of Japan
Worst Scene: Hawk and Dove standing in the sky, just chillin’
Continued below
Runner Up: Shazam is all about cash, yo
Best Conclusion to a Series: Spider-Men
Most of us were pretty skeptical of this mini, but most all of us have been shut up. While I’m still not sold on more 616/Ultimate crossovers, I’m glad this one was as good as it was.
Runner Up: Resurrection Man
Worst Conclusion to a Series: Voodoo
The team on “Voodoo” has been doing good work within a bad plan since almost day one, and this book doesn’t so much conclude as shift over to another sub-par book, “Grifter.” With the exception of a more clear origin, nothing in this book wraps up in any way.
Runner Up: Captain Atom
Best New Series: Happy
It has been a while since Grant Morrison got to play outside of the superhero sandbox, so it was nice to get a taste of this recently neglected side of his writing mind.
Runner Up: Guarding the Globe, Team 7
Best Gimmick: “Son of Tavern Tales,” Skullkickers
The Skullkickers boys are some of the nicest and most willing to “go for it” of any creators I can think of, and the “Tavern Tales” books, which fall between arcs, are just as enjoyable as the regular issues, give the main team a month off, enhance the mythology, and get you psyched for the next arc. It is a great device that more books should adopt – it solves the issue of how to give the main crew a breather without letting quality suffer.
