AVENGERS #675 "NO SURRENDER" PART 1

Marvel is pretty much a mess these days. The Hulk (Bruce Banner) and Wolverine (Logan) are dead, and The Amazing Spider-Man flagship title and every X-Men book are mediocre. There are bright spots on the margins (like Ms. Marvel), but the big deal super-hero books should be the good ones, right? Even DC realizes that. Marvel is losing Bendis this year, and supposedly they're doing a shake-up this summer (Dan Slott is rumored to finally be leaving The Amazing Spider-Man). Things change of course and every lull eventually recedes. They're trying to pump new life into the flailing Avengers books this year (probably because a new Avengers film is coming out in May) by doing a 16 part, weekly epic starting this week titled "No Surrender." And while the plot so far is as fucking dull and by the numbers as can be, at least the art is super colorful and vibrant and pretty good. Pepe Larraz did the pencils and ink for this issue. I give major props to the colorist, though. David Curiel made this book look exceptional. As for the plot, three writers (Mark Waid, Al Ewing, and Jim Zub) co-wrote the whole epic. It's about earth suddenly disappearing and reappearing somewhere else and a bunch of natural disasters occurring. There's a villain left to be unveiled, and the climax has an old hero, Voyager, showing up (everyone seems to think this will turn out to be The Invisible Woman from The Fantastic Four). The book looks great but is an all action mess. It probably doesn't help that a) Captain America was evil last year, b) The Hulk is dead, and c) Thor's a chick now. That means this book tends to focus on lame, super-B heroes like The Wasp and Lightning (yawn). This book is 30 pages of art and $4.99. If a kid wanted to actually buy all 16 parts he'd have to, like, start stealing other kid's lunch money or start pimping himself out. Thanks, Marvel. *1/2

The BEST ART and BEST COMIC BOOK of 2017: BATMAN: WHITE KNIGHT by Sean Murphy

 Sean Murphy has been quietly drawing some of the coolest looking books in recent years like The Wake (with Scott Snyder), Joe the Barbarian (with Grant Morrison), and Tokyo Ghost. But when he finally stepped up to the major leagues and put his spin on Batman, he finally achieved greatness. The simple idea behind Batman: White Knight is this: what if The Joker turned into the hero and Batman became the villain? And it's shockingly not silly but ingenious, compelling, interesting, and gorgeous to look at. Murphy is writing the book as well and it turns out that he's just as good at writing Batman as any of the other major writers of the past. The book has sold out and been extended. This proves it's already on the shelf with the great Batman books of history. And sure, I'm a sucker for anything Batman, but this is truly something unique and special. 

 

Best Writer of 2017: BRIAN K. VAUGHAN "Paper Girls" "Saga" "Barrier

As long as Brian K. Vaughan is writing comic books he'll probably be the best writer. He's like Frank Miller and Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore were in decades past: pillars of the field, legendary. I will admit that Barrier, his weird web comic, was a beautifully drawn misfire (Marcos Martin did the pencils), but Paper Girls got weirder, funnier, and better than it's ever been this year and Saga continued to entertain in strange, amusing, and touching ways. Both Saga and Paper Girls are so totally fucked up in the best sense. They're light years from anything "normal" or safe and yet they're hugely satisfying and sheer page-turners. It was another banner year for Vaughan.

The Best Covers of 2017

Best Issue of 2017: THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA #7

The first issue of this series came out on October 8th, 2014. This issue, #7, came out on July 5th, 2017. So, yes, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the writer of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (and Afterlife with Archie) is probably the laziest writer on earth. I'm not entirely sure why the delay. Aguirre-Sacasa does write other stuff (he worked on the American Psycho musical a few years ago and is a producer of the TV show Riverdale), but how long does it take to write a comic book? Certainly not more than a day (unless you're Alan Moore, who stuffs his issues with tons of prose). I can't really complain, though, as Sabrina and Afterlife with Archie are two of the best comic books on the market. And this issue, #7, was stellar. It tells the history of Sabrina's father, Edward Spellman, who, at a young age, started conjuring spells and awakening demons and getting into all sorts of sadistic, fucked up shit. This book is dark, evil, compelling, creepy, and super engrossing. The art, by Robert Hack and Jack Morelli, gives it a vintage, Tales from the Crypt style. It's like finding a dusty old tome in an attack and opening it up and realizing you've just awoken an ancient evil.