Mixed Plate Comics- Week of 8.25.2010

With the official word at the shops on Comicbook Wednesday becoming Comicbook Tuesday starting sometime next year, gives us an additional day to rev books-- I was thinking, hmm.. I suppose my weekly reviews won't be out on Thursday--well even though I am usually late.  Hence the change in the column to simply- Mixed Plate Comics.

So there you go and here are the lucky books that I swooped on:  Justice League Generation Lost #8 / Action Comics #892 / Black Widow #5 / Astonishing X-Men #35 / Gotham City Sirens #15 / The Avengers #4 / Batman #702 / Fantastic Four  #582 / Time Masters: Vanishing Point #2 / Wonder Woman #602 / Superman: Secret Origin #6  / Superman Batman #75 / Secret Warriors #19

If this is your first time peeping this- we pick the top weekly reads usually 3, but sometimes 5 if there are that many more Wednesday pulls.

5  The Avengers #4  Brian Michael Bendis & John Romita Jr.

To be honest I typed in Gotham City Sirens, glanced one more time at Avengers with the rad future Tony Stark cover and decided to give both books a quick re-read.  As much as I love Bedard's crafty humor, the iconic Bendis/Romita team-up can not be denied in my top 5.

As much as we have seen the dismal future stories- Days of Future Past, Dark Knight Returns, Future Imperfect, Old Man Logan and so on-- Bendis has kept this fresh, original and not just another time-trip tale. 

I so love when creators give props to the legends like Bendis and Romita are doing by bringing back Peter David/George Perez creation- Maestro and as we can expect in any book that just so happens to have, Wolvie and Hulk collide, it's safe to say we will all be seeing more than just some bromance action like right over <-- there.

The perfect serving of action and humor served fresh monthly by this relaunched Avengers title.

4  Astonishing X-Men #35  Warren Elllis & Phil Jimenez

 I hate that this book has ended, but Ellis and Jimenez truly delivered on a finale that gives this title the respectful ending it deserves.  Not only for what was created by the original duo of Cassaday &Whedon but primarily for what Astonishing X-Men has meant to longtime fans of those fab mutants.

The title of Astonishing X-Men is like a promise that guarantees this is where you need to be if you want to read the consummate legacy tales of the X-Men.  Ellis, Bianchi, and Jimenez- thank you for doing your thing and putting your balls on the line following what are now considered the master storytellers of the X-Men (sorry Chris Claremont and John Byrne- but I think even you would agree).

I am and always will be a Emma Frost fan, Armor is a badass second coming of Kitty Pryde (oh yeah even she busted the fast ball special a few times huh?) and what a great way to end the title with the classic animosity between Cyke and Logan.  Astonishing.

3  Black Widow #5  Marjorie Liu & Daniel Acuna

The opening salvo of Black Widow has been fab and gotta love how many different ways Liu and Acuna kept us trapped in the deadly web of this book.  Effing genius that Natasha actually has some kinda killer STD that she passed off to her lovers...superfly that she got to haze in Lady Bullseye to the supervillian community.. and her link to Wolvie & Buckycap/Avengers..equals a hat-trick of geek gold!

From the teasers on the next creative team to take on the Widow-- Duane Swiercynski and Manuel Garcia and that fly Travel Foreman cover-- I am gonna see how well they continue this book that went from only a random pickup to top 10 title.

2  Action Comics #892  Paul Cornell & Pete Woods

I can't recall Deathstroke vs. Lex Luthor in all of the many iconic matchups I have read and I think to myself why?  Well, I suppose it was so Paul Cornell and Pete Woods can be the first! 

Lex's wit and genius taking on the ultimate tactical strategist was a thing of beauty to see and to connect it with any emotional trigger-- how a Black ring feeds-- kicked booty.  And how does Luthor make Slade realize how pissed he is for what goes down?  Gettin' him in the pocketbook baby!  Cha-ching!

Action Comics, since the badass creative team took over, has been a Top 3 book, only after Green Lantern & any Winick title (whether PG of JLI).  It just seems perfect that Brightest Day has in many ways allowed for so many other characters and scribes/artists to unearth the best of the DCU.  These AC Finch covers even rival some of my fave Ethan Van Sciver works.



1  Justice League Generation Lost #8   Judd Winick & Aaron Lopresti

Much love to Winick for being the only storyteller outside of Giffen & DeMatteis to blow my mind on busting a JLI book that can be taken seriously and in a whim break you down into laughter.

Lopresti is on that level with Guillem March and Adam Hughes on drawing the female anatomy like no other.  Right?!

The team dynamics have really fallen into place and I enjoy how Rocket Red and Fire are the comedy relief-- with Booster being more the leader and Beetle as the up and coming young-gun.

Generation Lost has made both of these cats go from demigods to straight comicbook immortals IMO.  It has to be one of the best things ever to be involved in work that allows for mutual growth as artists and for your audience and peers to see it.


Max Lord is being written and portrayed as well as I can remember any of the top-tier villains have been covered whether it be Luthor, Joker, Darkseid and Sinestro. 




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big O

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Mixed Plate Thursday- Week of 6.17.2010

The Hawaiian-time edition (in Oahu now) with a light week thanks to some books that never made their way to the West Coast (Birds of Prey #2 & Batman Beyond #1) so I just scooped up these 6 regular pickups: Brightest Day #4 / DCU Legacies #2 / Blackwidow #3 / The New Avengers #1 / Dark Wolverine #87 / Executive Assistant Iris #5

1  Brightest Day #4  Geoff Johns, Peter Tomasi, Ivan Reis, David Finch, Adrian Syaf

The twists and turns of this bi-weekly continues following the likes of dem cursed Thanagorians, the Aqua-peeps (hmm...looks like they are trying to make up for killing off a prominent ethnic character- Ryan Choi/Atom 3, by bringing us a Black kid as the new Aqualad..) Deadman, who was caught playing peeping-tom on Dove and you know Hawk has to rough em up a bit.

Like most multi-collab books- the art, tone and pacing can at times be splintered like an annual, but with Tomasi and Johns at the helm of BD-- the quality has been solid, keeping this book on top of my read and review pile.

2  DC Universe Legacies #2   Len Wein, the Kuberts & JH Williams III

I didn't plan on making this a regular read, but with the legend-- Len Wein along with the whole Kubert clan-- how can this not be mandatory reading for all.

DCU Legacies plays family tree with heroes/villians from the Golden age (to those of today, ish 3 starts on Silver Age) which isn't a new take by any means but the fresh, contemporary approach -- throwing JH3 in the mix to bust his sick seq(uencial madness)
on the original Seven Soldiers-- only makes things more compelling.

DCU Legacies is a title replacing some of the reads that have fallin out of flavor- which I will go into later.

3  Black Widow #3  Marjorie Liu & Daniel Acuna

Marjorie Liu has taken this sexy spy-thriller to greatness which wasn't what many thought could happen especially following the mighty pen of Paul Cornell in the mini.

What I love most about Black Widow is the retcon approach of making the Black Widow program kinda like the Soviet version of Weapon X.  This pushes her mythos into being like a female Logan-- making us question things like where her allegiance is really held, who are these mysterious enemies that stole her database (and baby?)-- and the most important of em all- just how old is this fly mama?  Daniel Acuna rips it and I will keep flipping this with these two creative killers on board.


The bottom 3 of my pulls have come to an end thanks more in part to better books being out there that I wanna keep throwin my 3.99 at.  So in place of New Avengers, I will be covering Secret Avengers, Dark Wolvie will be killed off for Black Widow and the Aspen title that mainly peaked interest cos of those incredible covers (Manapul on #2- yeahyah!) will be replaced with the higher substance of Daytripper.

Aloha!!


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big O

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