Comic Reviews – 10-2-13
This week in comics ranks up there as one of my favorite weeks so far. The first four issues I read were phenomenal in just about every way. Here is my rundown:
Movement #5 – 6.0
Swamp Thing #24 – 8.3
All New X-Men #17 – 9.3
Marvel Knights Spider-Man #1 – 7.0
Savage Wolverine #9
Superior Foes of Spider-Man #4 – 8.9
I’m going to start things off literally and figuratively with a bang. My comic of the week is All New X-Men #17. This comic literally left me awestruck. There are so many Bendis haters out there it’s ridiculous. Overall Bendis received a lackluster reception to his Age of Ultron event due to a plodding story (I enjoyed it very much). Many thought they were going to get the same thing with this event. Boy were they wrong. With this installment of Battle of the Atom, All New X-Men ratchets up the story to epic proportions. Just when you think things are beginning to go stagnant, we are taken to a future where the X-Men’s role in the world is still mysterious to everyone. Who exactly are these “Future X-Men” that came to the present time to send back the young X-Men to the past? Are they really the X-Men? Well, they actually aren’t. The real future X-Men is a different, yet familiar group of mutants (and non-mutants for that matter). While all of this sounds muddled, Bendis has done an amazing job of presenting this story in the most lucid manner possible. Out of nowhere, this is beginning to become my favorite event of the year. I can’t wait for the next issue of Battle of the Atom to hit the stands.
The next comic I read? Superior Foes. Now this is a book that EVERYONE should be reading. Despite the cop-out name for the book, which completely makes comedic sense considering the nature of the book, we are seeing brilliant writing and fitting art. Don’t miss this one, people.
Next up? Lazarus #4. Wow. This series is great. This book’s plot reminds me of a future version of Game of Thrones. We see so many different plot threads going on, including inter-family turmoil, that it seems like we should be completely lost. Somehow, Rucka finds a way to weave these different threads together in a way that is reminiscent of a beautiful quilted pattern. Only four issues in, I feel like I know its universe intimately. Read it.
Can it get any better? Yes. Trillium. I really don’t know what else to say as far as this book goes. I feel like I have exhausted all the positive adjectives I could muster. Needless to say, this is a special book that begs to be read. Don’t wait on this one. Read it now.
Rounding things out, we have a couple of disappointments: Marvel Knights Spider-Man and The Movement. Regarding the former, this is a series that I am going to stick with for now; it is a limited run so my investment won’t be too high. Yes, this Spider-Man book is weird, in fact, it’s the strangest book I read this week. There is just so much about it that simply makes it a chore to read. The art, while it looks good, is just too disorienting to swallow, and yes, I know that was the point of it. Moving on to The Movement, sadly enough, I’m going to be dropping this book. I simply can’t take any more of it. The premise was ok to start with and some of the characters involved are really interesting. Unfortunately, that is simply not enough to redeem itself for me. I can’t justify spending money on this book when I simply can’t get into it five issues in. Too bad.
Finally, I can’t end this without giving a shout out to Jock’s Savage Wolverine. This book looks amazing and the story is shaping up to be fantastic. I love Savage Wolverine because of the fact that it’s nothing more than an artist/writer showcase with little to no care for continuity. Great series.
Well, I’ll be back shortly with this week’s pull. Stay tuned.