Book of the Week

I read some comics today, and there were a few that I really liked.  I'm bringing this column back for some quick reviews.

8-25-10
Fantastic Four 582
Marvel
No.  I won't shut up about this book.  It keeps getting better and better.

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9-1-10
Scarlet 2
Icon/Marvel
I also talked about this book last month.  The second issue didn't disappoint.

9-9-10
American Vampire 6
Vertigo/DC
I'm really glad with the way this issue turned out.  Even though there's no doubt that the Stephen King story greatly increased sales, I think it really hurt the book's pacing.  It was tough to get into this series with each issue split into two 16-page stories.  I really liked this issue.

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runner up
Booster Gold 36
DC
I really love the direction this book is going in.  It's the only DC-proper title that I'm reading.  I hate what they've done with the DCU in recent years.  So it really surprises me that even though Booster deals with these plot lines, it does so in a funny and sad self-aware kind of a way that's really amazing.

Muchos Melvins

Just kidding.  See what I just did?  I went the other way this time.  I'm actually going to do a Book of the Week.  Serious, this time.  Here we go:

Book of the Week
            or
International Incident 2: Electric Boogaloo

5-12-10

I mentioned this a while back when it was first announced, and I'm happy to say that Booster Gold 32 lived up to my expectations.  In true Giffen and DeMatteis fashion, this book is hilarious.

The humor counter-balances surprisingly nicely with some real serious, heart-breaking moments.  Being a time traveler, Booster (mistakenly) jumps to Daxam in the midst of The Great Darkness (for those of you who don't know, we're talking about genocide).

Anyway, its a great start and seems to leading into some great stuff.  I should also mention that Chris Batista's artwork is great.

On the other side of that coin, I feel like I should mention Justice League: Generation Lost, the twenty-six issue miniseries written by Giffen and Winick starring the JLI kicked off the same day.  Unfortunately, this book isn't nearly as good as Booster Gold.  It's played serious, and Maxwell Lord is like the most dangerous villain in the DCU, and I just don't think the characters work well like that.  Bummer.  I guess you can't win them all.

International Incident

I've always said that the Vaudevillian Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire Justice League is one of my all-time favorite runs in comic book history. Although, Maguire didn't draw all of this, I'm including Justice League (later retitled Justice League International and Justice League of America), Justice League of Europe, Formally known as the Justice League, and I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League.

Kieth Giffen and JM DeMatteis have since become known for telling superhero stories in Vaudeville tradition. In fact, I think that there were like three JLI covers with Blue Beetle saying to Booster Gold, "This is another fine mess you've gotten us into."

The trio also made a Defenders series a few years back, and recently were doing Metal Men backups in Doom Patrol. When those were cancelled, I was so upset that I dropped every DC book I was buying. Kind of. Doom Patrol was the only DC book I was buying. Unless you count the two Vertigo books.

Anyway, as you can imagine, I got a huge boner when I looked at DC's May solicitations. First off, Giffen and DeMatteis are taking over Booster Gold with issue 32 with a Kevin Maguire cover.

Also, the Justice League International will be returning in Justice League: Generation Lost. Although, this one, I'm not quite sure of. First, it's a Brightest Day thing, and I couldn't finish Blackest Night. Secondly, I think its something like a 26 issue mini. But mostly, its written by Giffen and Judd Winick, who I don't dislike, but have never read anything of his that I really enjoyed. Hopefully, it will still be funny. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Either way, I'm happy to see the characters.