Comics I read this week

Let's see what I brought home from the comic book store this week

Serenity 2 Another fun issue. The crew takes some R&R and gets to perform heroics. Plus, we get to see everyone's answer to the age old question -- "What would you do if you had a gajillion dollars?"

Echo 2 Julie tries to get rid of the mysterious metal that bonded itself to her last issue, but things only get worse. Meanwhile, we get to see more of the mysterious military group behind the goings on. This book is intriguing enough to keep me reading, but I think it will definitely read better in larger chunks.

Groo: Hell on Earth 4 Ah, Groo. Never has a comic book gotten so much mileage out of using the same jokes over and over and over. This miniseries was classic Groo (this time, wrapped around a plot pastiching George Bush, Al Goe, the Iraq War, and Global Warming). Well done, Messrs. Aragones and Evanier!

Spider-Girl 17 Spider-Girl (one of the most successful female versions of Spider-Man that Marvel has put forth over the years) gets in a fight with Arana (one of the least successful female versions of Spider-Man that Marvel has put forth over the years). This book s really a comfort book for me -- it never wows me, but after each issue I'm always glad I read it.

Nova 12 Nova takes on a technarch -- one of the big bad guys from Warlock's race. Warlock of the New Mutants, not Jim Starlin Warlock. It's a decent enough issue, but it had the unfortunate bad timing to come out the same week as the New Mutants trade featuring Warlock's debut. Nobody but Bill Sienkiewicz should ever draw Warlock. Oh well -- it's not Paul Pelltier's fault he's got a traditional comic book art style and he's being asked to draw an expressionist character, and he does a perfectly fine job of rendering the technarch characters in his own style.

FX 2 I'm really digging this book. Why does it take a newcomer who fronts the production costs for his comic to turn out a classic 80s-style adventure book? Isn't there an audience for this sort of thing any more? Assuming there is, could someone like Bendis actually write it? Who knows. All I know is that when you've got a comic where the hero fights subterranean lizard people and the classic Universal monsters, you're doing something right.

Amazing Spider-Man 556 Spider-Man braves the mystical blizzard to try and rescue a van full of scientists. There are some nice character moments with Spidey here, and Bacchalo's art really works with for this story. I only wish Marvel hadn't waited until it's finally getting warm to publish a story aboput a snow storm.

Posted by Jason Fliegel at April 12, 2008 1:03 AM