Geek Goggle Weekly Rankings For 10/22/08
Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Weekly Rankings For 10/22/08
Here are this week’s comics ranked prior to reading them:
9. Wolverine Manifest Destiny #1 of 4
8. Daredevil #112
7. GI Joe A New Beginning #0
6. Hulk #7
5. Captain America #43
4. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic #34
3. Superman New Krypton Special #1
2. Secret Invasion #7 of 8
1. X-Men Legacy #217
Here are the rankings after the first read through with a mini-review:
Dixon, Atkins, Hama, Feister, Costa, Gage & Fuso
Three short stories, an interview with the overall creative team and some sketches and thoughts behind the character’s outfit’s redesigns. It’s worth the $1 cover price. However, each of the three stories doesn’t feel quite right with characters having no feeling. Their lines all feel as if anyone could be making them. The art is difficult to distinguish Joe from Joe in two of the stories. I’m not a fan of the reboot, but the spy-like stories are in my wheelhouse, which these are.
8. Hulk #7
Loeb, Adams & Cho
There are two stories here. Banner wanders into Vegas and fights a pack of Wendigos (as the grey Hulk). Red Hulk is confronted by She-Hulk and friends in another big fight. The issue gives some decent dialogue that is a fairly entertaining. The art has more details than previous issues and make the comic have some depth visually. The story makes no sense when you consider Banner isn’t being hunted down for “escaping” or that the red Hulk isn’t trying to find Banner to achieve his objective. But hey, this issue isn’t terrible. I actually laughed a little at some of the stuff in here and I am fairly interested to see where this goes. Although, the bar has been set pretty low.
Brubaker, Ross, Laguna & D’armata
Don’t let the rank fool you, this is a good issue. However, it does start a new arc and it doesn’t have the same grand feel as the previous one did. That’s not a bad thing, but it does start on the ground floor and provides a bit of a breather issue. Bucky has some good interaction with Natalia as their relationship seems to be growing. This issue has some flashbacks to World War II to help setup the villains chasing after Bucky in this issue. Bucky has a good fight with Batroc to help keep the issue moving fast. The artwork maintains the same feel we’ve seen all along with this series.
Brubaker, Lark, Gaudiano & Hollingsworth
A very good issue. Things get really tense between Matt and Dakota as the affair creates a ton of fallout emotionally for both of them. The other half of the issue has Lady Bullseye and company put the Black Tarantula and Iron Fist through some tests. The issue has good action versus drama storytelling. The comic is hooking me as the arc starts to really build momentum. I particularly liked the awkward feel to the conversations that Matt and Dakota had. They felt very real to me.
5. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic #34
Miller, Ching & Atiyeh
A lot gets revealed as the Covenant begins to fall apart. We get a lot of information as Gryph finds Krynda as Zayne is getting lectured by Haazen and Lucien. There isn’t a ton of action and the explanations aren’t terribly clear, but the story is unfolding nicely as the story is coming to its conclusion. It’s a very good issue.
4. Wolverine Manifest Destiny #1 of 4
Aaron, Segovia & Rauch
Wolverine unpacks his stuff and finds a spearhead. He ventures into Chinatown to confront some of his past. He killed someone fifty plus years ago and now he returns to clean up what he left behind. The comic is fun and has outstanding setups and artwork. The only part that was a little annoying was that I sat around trying to figure out if these characters all fit into some previous Wolverine story or if they were new to the mix. That, and threatening Wolverine with death is kind of moot at this point. Why not just threaten him with pain? I almost passed this up but I am glad I got it and plan to carry this mini.
Carey, Eaton, Hennessy & Keith
An excellent issue as Daken falls more in with the villains. Wolverine and Xavier team up and invade the wrong group of bad guys, thus, falling into a second group’s trap. It’s a good plot that is layered and complicated. Xavier is again faced with his past of being a jerk and it again works really well in this story. I enjoyed this issue and I hate everything about Daken which should tell you how good this issue really is. I cant even begin to guess where this story is heading.
Bendis, Yu, Morales & Martin
A huge battle. This issue is a lot of fun. All the Marvel U favorites get some good face time and have some dialogue that fits them. The issue gives a good twist at the end to set up the finale. The art jams a ton onto each page. The comic has some drama, some comedy and a lot of action. This restores my faith that an event doesn’t have to be status quo changing or require wikipedia to understand it. This was a fun reminder about why comics are a great pastime.
1. Superman New Krypton Special #1
Johns, Robinson, Gates, Woods, Frank, Guedes, Sibal and Magalhaes
A brilliant issue. The first few pages deal with Pa Kent’s funeral and Superman’s reaction to everything which is outstanding. The bulk of the issue sets up the villain collection that is forming a nice little army to kill Superman. Meanwhile, Superman catches up with his Uncle who has been freed (along with his city) from Brainiac’s bottle. Kandor’s other Kryptonians aren’t exactly falling in line with blending into the background of Earth. This comic sets up the whole crossover very well and really makes great use of the core characters. The story has layers of drama thanks to the outstanding artwork. This issue shouldn’t be missed.
