Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Weekly Rankings For 11/19/08

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

5. Supergirl #35
4. Uncanny X-Men #504
3. X-Files #1
2. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic #35
1. X-Men Legacy #218

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

5. Uncanny X-Men #504

Fraction, Dodson & Ponsor

A harmless and not a very memorable issue of Uncanny. It’s got a fine story and has some interesting moments, but the issue doesn’t really contain too much to sink your teeth into. This issue has Colossus pondering the loss of his loved one. It’s okay and provides some interesting moments with Nightcrawler, but isn’t very impressive. The second piece to the issue has Emma mind probing Scott looking for the reason he is so distant of late. It provides an interesting look into how Cyclops views women, but again doesn’t provide much in the way of a story. It’s a lot of setting up for this arc in this issue. The art has its moments, particularly the Colossus-tattoo parlor scenes. All in all this one is for the die-hards only.

4. Supergirl #35

Gates, Igle & Champagne

The good news is that this issue is not essential to the New Krypton arc. The bad news is I don’t really care for Supergirl, nor do I understand her overall purpose. This issue attempts to address her origins. Personally, I didn’t really see the need to know this information, but it was done pretty good. This issue’s highlights include some good General Lane scenes and insight into Supergirl’s parents. The artwork is very good. As a whole, I was impressed that I came away from this issue fairly interested in the character, but I would have preferred more heavy involvement in the New Krypton arc.

3. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic #35

Miller, Ching & Atiyeh

For thirty five issues this comic has followed Zayne and his fight to clear his name from his former masters who killed his classmates. This issue ends it all. It does so with a bang. It leaves a little open for future stories, but the main plot points all get wrapped up. I found the issue to have a small amount of letdown because there were just so many plots to wrap up, it was hard to jam in everything to a satisfactory conclusion. The issue had a small twist near the end to keep you guessing. The artwork was outstanding as usual. I can’t say this is how I thought the arc would end, but it’s been an excellent story all along.

2. X-Files #1

Spotnitz & Denham

A fantastic issue. Scully and Mulder are checking into a suicide that may have been a murder. It involves shady government deals, conspiracies, cover-ups, unimaginable diseases and some good detective work. It’s a classic X-Files story. It has a great cliffhanger that uses all of the elements that the story was building throughout the issue. The artwork was brilliant but had some close-ups in such dark tones that it was tough to distinguish between the characters. This was an excellent read.

1. X-Men Legacy #218

Carey, Eaton, Hennessy & Keith

Brilliant story. It has battles between the brawl: Wolverine and Shaw as well as the brains: Xavier and Sinister. It has a twist at the end with Daken. It has some good dialogue from Wolverine and Xavier and it helps to define their relationship further with the plot and the problems from the plot. This arc has been a pleasant surprise and this issue was a fun read. The part about the art that I liked the best was how capable, but still aged, Xavier looks. It’s nice to see him not just as some bald, old man in a chair once in a while.