Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Weekly Rankings For 03/25/09

Here are this week’s comics ranked prior to reading them:

8. Battle for the Cowl Commissioner Gordon #1
7. The Muppet Show #1 of 4
6. Star Wars Legacy #34
5. X-Force / Cable Messiah War Prologue
4. Captain America #48
3. Elephantmen #17
2. GI Joe Origins #2
1. Indiana Jones and the Tomb of the Gods #4 of 4

I passed on Oracle this week and opted for the Commissioner Gordon issue instead.

Here are the rankings after the first read through with a mini-review:

8. X-Force / Cable Messiah War Prologue

Kyle, Yost, Choi & Oback

Thirty three pages of story plus a bunch of bios for the key players in the back, all for $3.99. However, a lot of the story retells what has transpired in the Cable and X-Force titles. There is nothing wrong with that, but I was looking for more original story in this one and because I follow the other titles this issue became almost optional. The only real development is that each side, Cable and Bishop, get surprise (somewhat) allies. I’m not saying this was a bad comic or a total waste. It’s actually one of the better recap type issues you can find, I was just expecting a little bit more to the plot than we seem to have gotten. If you plan to follow the crossover and you haven’t followed the main series you need this issue.

7. Indiana Jones and the Tomb of the Gods #4 of 4

Williams & Sears

This series finally wraps up three seasons late. It’s not a bad issue but Indy stands on the sidelines for way too much of the comic. He has some great dialogue, but usually these stories wrap up with him eye deep into trouble, but in this one he is hanging around in the shadows watching. It’s not very Indy like. Also I was a little lost about what exactly they found. They fight over the key for three issues and now the key opens the doors to….what? Is it a giant plant? I’m not entirely sure. The comic had some great moments and the switch in artists wasn’t a problem at all.

6. GI Joe Origins #2

Hama & Hawthorne

This story almost entirely focuses on Snake Eyes. Even though he is laying in bed the entire issue we have lots of Snake Eyes, past and present. Stalker meets his old commander at Snake’s “funeral” while some robbers break into Snake’s room and find his Silver Star. The issue is okay. I struggle with what this series is about. We aren’t getting to understand anything about the formation of GI Joe. Why is Hawk the commander? Where did they find Snake Eyes from? How did they recruit Duke, Scarlett, etc? Instead we are getting the building of Cobra from the ground up and heavy focus on Snake Eyes. If this series doesn’t have Cobra yet and the main series has the Joes only discovering Cobra then what purpose has GI Joe been serving all this time between Origins and the main series? Two issues in and I am left a little confused about this title’s direction.

5. The Muppet Show #1 of 4

Langridge & Digikore Studios

The first issue in the attempt to move the show into comics was fairly good. It wasn’t totally great but it was fun in its own right. The plot for the comic is that Kermit is depressed and those around him are trying to cheer him up. All this goes on in and out of the show which has Pigs in Space and some other skits. The tough part about the comic was the singing. Without a tune it’s tough to just read the songs. However, the physical humor translated very well on the pages. I did miss that they didn’t have a celebrity on the show and I felt Statler and Waldorf weren’t present enough but I still liked the comic. For those looking to go back thirty years this might be fun for them.

4. Captain America #48

Brubaker, Guice, Ross & D’Armata

A fine issue wraps up a short arc. Sure, Bucky is trying to stop the mad scientist, Chin, from killing off half the world for population control, but the real story here is how Bucky is shying away from being Captain America. You would think this arc shows that he feels more comfortable dipping back and being the Winter Soldier. It seems like Bucky likes the idea of Captain America, but not him being Captain America. It’s probably not a coincidence that he relies on luck to get him out of his scrapes. This is a good issue using some very obscure villains. It’s not the Death of Captain America arc, but is a good story nonetheless.

3. Battle for the Cowl Commissioner Gordon #1

McGraw & Mandrake

This issue takes a look at how Gordon is dealing with the apparent death of Batman. This type of story has been done before and will be done again. However, this one puts Gordon in the role of victim as he’s held captive by Freeze. Freeze helps make Gordon wake up and realize he is a crime fighter himself and he can get by without Batman always watching his back. He may not know how to defuse the device that Freeze has but he knows how to catch a crook. This issue really was a good one shot that danced around the topic of Batman not being around anymore.

2. Elephantmen #17

Starkings, Moritat, Steen, Bautista and Wright

A case study of Tusk, the crazy Elephantmen. This issue is great because it takes a very simple storytelling technique and turns it on its side to provoke some thought. Here’s Tusk, hunted like a monster, but the real monsters are the men who want to electrocute him like a rapid dog. But Tusk is a mindless monster, so why shouldn’t they hunt him down and kill him? I mean, what purpose does he serve? Tusk gets befriended by a near blind old woman. This opens up an interesting dynamic. Does Tusk even know or aware of what he is doing? This comic is at its best when it shows off the personality of the humans who interact with the Elephantmen and that’s exactly what we get here. This is a great issue.

1. Star Wars Legacy #34

Ostrander, Duursema & Parsons

Tremendous issue. This one covers two stories as follow-ups to the death of Krayt. First, Darth Wyrrlok has to manipulate the other Sith to follow him while he conceals the death of his master. We also find that he has offspring that I suspect will one day kill off dear old dad. The other plot has Cade constantly crossing over to the dark side to keep his childhood love interest Azlyn alive. He brings her to his Uncle where he decides to save her using something worthy of the Skywalker line. This issue managed to open a lot of doors to future plots while not completely derailing the ideas already presented in previous ones. It’s interesting to watch the Skywalkers make familiar mistakes. I can make the claim that this is the issue to jump on with because it truly is the dawn of a new era.