Best of the Year: 2012

I think the biggest story in comics this past year was the return of writer Brian K. Vaughn. I think that says a lot that the return of a writer is actually a big story. That his and Fiona Staples' new book, Saga, turned out to be incredibly entertaining and fun and weird and gorgeous is almost a given. The other big deal was the fact that so many books I read ended (Scalped, Sweet Tooth, I Zombie, The Boys). Some books kept chugging along; Image published the 100th issue of The Walking Dead (poor Glenn). Image also re-booted a handful of old Rob Liefeld books and, surprise surprise, Glory turned out to be phenomenal. DC had their first full year of their "new 52" and Batman was the star thanks to great art by Greg Capullo and some very dark and interesting stories by Scott Snyder involving The Joker and The Court of Owls. Marvel copied DC and re-started a bunch of titles with new #1's and shuffled the writers/artists around...and Hawkeye turned out to be their book of the year. Oh, and Peter Parker died. Yeah. So it was an eventful year.

MARVEL NOW! REVIEWS

THE INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #1: C'mon, idiots; it's The Incredible Hulk. That's a great title. Why change it? The Hulk books have been hit-or-miss for a very long time. When was the last great run? It was certainly before my time. Lately they had Ed McGuiness and Jeph Loeb with a red Hulk and over-the-top action and then Jason Aaron's short run was even more over-the-top. This issue feels so safe and dull after those runs. Mark Waid, the fan boys' favorite writer, and Leinil Yu bring Banner to S.H.I.E.L.D. He'll work for them now. Yawn. The art is good when it's people but for some reason Yu is not a good match for drawing the Hulk. Oh, well.
** (out of ****)

ALL NEW X-MEN #1: So in two years will this still be called All New when in fact it will be old? Bendis is writing it and Stuart Immonen is drawing it and the premise has Beast bringing the 60's X-Men to the present day to talk some sense into Cyclops. It's actually a really good storyline even though it makes no sense and Immonen's art is terrific. ***

THOR: GOD OF THUNDER #1: Jason Aaron, Marvel's best writer, is put on this when he should be writing Spider-Man. And even though this copies from both Millar's "Old Man Logan" storyline and Bendis' God-killing serial killer storyline from Powers, it's still a terrific first issue that looks stunning thanks to Esad Ribic's art. The one thing that is fresh is that the book is split into three stories involving the young Thor, the current Thor, and the old, one-eyed, one-armed Thor. Plus, Aaron's villain, Gor the God Butcher, promises to be epic. ***1/2

CAPTAIN AMERICA #1: Great art by John Romita, Jr. and a terrific, old-school, 70's sci-fi type story by Rick Remender, who I usually loathe. I loved Brubaker's run on this book but the last year or so has gotten stale and this is a vibrant, engaging, classic take. A really inviting first issue. ***1/2

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #698

Peter Parker dies in this issue. Okay. Peter Parker sort of dies in this issue. Writer Dan Slott had mentioned awhile ago that something big was going to happen in this issue. Someone scanned part of this issue early and posted it on the internet and the spoilers were all over. I avoided them and was actually shocked by the last two pages. I figured Mary Jane would die or something lame. But no, they actually killed off Peter Parker. The premise has Dr. Octopus on his death bed at The Raft, a prison for super villains. Parker visits him and Doc Ock switches his mind with Parker somehow (it isn't revealed how). Dr. Octopus with Peter Parker's mind dies and Peter Parker, now controlled by Doc Ock, goes on living. That's it. Totally fucked up, right? Well...only if in thirty years Dr. Octopus is still Spider-Man, which I doubt will happen. This all leads into the big #700 issue and next year a new series, Superior Spider-Man #1. Peter Parker is dead, which is a big deal. It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out and how they reverse it (I'm guessing time travel). So Parker is dead. Is he in hell? Quick. Get Jason Aaron on it; Peter Parker in Hell #1. **1/2 (out of ****)

IRON MAN #1

Wait a minute. Iron Man #1? Hasn't that been around since the 60's or something? How is at #1? I think it used to be called The Invincible Iron Man or something...but that's not why it's #1. It's #1 because DC did such a phenomenal job with their 52 #1 issues in September of 2011 that Marvel copied it...sort of. The new Marvel books aren't all coming out in the same month (I think it's like a four month stint), there isn't a new universe with new origins, and not every book is getting a #1 or a new creator (X-Factor is staying the same and Wolverine & the X-Men is staying among a few). But they have changed writers and artists around and this is the second book of the Marvel Now initiative (the first was Uncanny Avengers #1 last month which was typical over-the-top garbage by writer Rick Remender). Deadpool #1 also came out this week but that was awful except for the nice Tony Moore artwork. Iron Man #1 is by writer Keiron Gillen and tracer Greg Land. I wasn't sure what to expect because Gillen did good work on Journey to Mystery but did little on Uncanny X-Men. So far...this book is by-the-numbers and mediocre. There's one great shot of Extremis standing in a plume of smoke that's cool but the rest isn't at all interesting. Land of course is loathed by fanboys for copying his drawings from other sources. That, and all of his women look like porn stars. But Land's art is clean and pretty but the story here is just dull. For a re-launch we all want to be blown away...especially to pay $3.99 for 20 pages. ** (out of ****)

BATMAN #13

It's good to have a plan...right? So Dan Didio & Jim Lee, the co-publishers of DC, and, probably, a few others, created the new DC era by re-launching every book with a new #1 and new creators. There plan didn't stop there. There idea for how to keep things fresh in year two was to re-introduce The Joker in a big event titled "Death in the Family." Honestly? Part one of this new Joker serial is the best book I've read so far in this new DC era. It helps that The Joker is a great villain and it helps that Greg Capullo is one of my favorite artists. & writer Scott Snyder does a terrific job at making this creepy and not silly. The one problem is that this has all been done before. Not better, but this story is far from new or fresh. The Joker had his face cut off in Detective Comics #1 last September and finally returns here by killing a bunch of cops, setting up Harley Quinn to capture Batman, then attacking Alfred at Wayne Manor. Plus...this issue has a die-cut cover. Yeah. Bring on the 90's excess! The extra story drawn by Jock is good but unnecessary but the main story is 24 pages so $3.99 is an okay cover price. It's a good start...but, honestly, I'm still pondering if this is the right thing to do after a guy shot up a Batman movie premiere after dying his hair like The Joker in July. Is it okay that I'm enjoying a violent book? I often wonder. ***1/2 (out of ****)

AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #12

It's over (mercifully) (finally). It took 12 issues to...what? Kill off Professor Xavier, bring back more mutants to Earth...and...is that it? I admit that I actually read this entire event (minus most of the B-titles) and enjoyed a lot of it. There was one good issue that Jonathan Hickman wrote and one issue that had good art by Olivier Coipel. The rest was mostly a mess, but I was at least entertained and curious about the story, which I haven't been in a long time when talking about Marvel events (I might have read one or two issues of Fear Itself and none of Siege or Secret Invasion). In this issue the Phoenix leaves Cyclops, goes into Hope, then leaves the planet. That's it. Seriously. Where's the fucking drama? Cyclops stammers, "Please...kill me. Before it's...," in one panel which means this book could've been dramatic and sad and bloody and awesome. Most of that potential was lost. The art by Adam Kubert is good but the Jason Aaron script is poor and the final panel is awful. Not a good ending to a book that never truly took off. ** (out of ****).

Short Reviews

HAWKEYE #2: Written by Matt Fraction (who's taking over both Fantastic Four books this Fall) and drawn by David Aja, this book is piggy-backing on The Avengers movie that came out in May (apparently Hawkeye was in it...I didn't see it). This book is terrific but thin; it's light, swift, cool, funny, and looks good. But it's totally forgettable. Hawkeye and his friend, Kate Bishop, foil a team of Cirque du Soleil robbers. It's enjoyable but I can't see it going on too long without more long-term storylines. **1/2 (out of ****)

ARCHER & ARMSTRONG #2: Yeah, Valiant is back. I used to read a ton of their books back in the early 90's. I'm hazy as to why they went bankrupt (I guess every comic book company took a hit in the mid-90's when the boom ended), but they're back with a slew of new books. I loved this book back in the day mostly because of the awesome Barry Windsor Smith art. The plot and characters are still stellar; it's like a funny buddy comedy Da Vinci Code. ***

FASHION BEAST #1: Alan Moore wrote one movie screenplay, Fashion Beast, in the 80's. Not sure why it was ever made...but Avatar is adapting it. It's kind of in a dystopian future and kind of about fashion and the main character is a cross-dresser. So far it's eh. *1/2

SAVAGE DRAGON #181: Typical good stuff by Erik Larsen, although it's not stellar, just another chapter amidst an enormous, ever-growing plot. Dragon ditches his species on a new planet and heads home while Malcom and Angel pick up the pieces after an alien attack. **1/2