Quite a stack this week (though, to be fair, it also includes last week's books), so let's dive right in.
Amazing Spider-Man 562-563: A nice little two-parter about a guy who takes bets on superhero fights and the trouble he gets into. The Bookie is one of those concepts that just doesn't work for me, like Night Nurse. Sure, it makes perfect sense that there would be someone making book on superhero fights. But it just seems a little too on the nose for me. Oh well. Setting thata aside, the story is fun, and features the first Brand New Day story with a classic Spider-Man villain (or villains, as the case may be).
Amazing Spider-Girl 21: I'm not sure why Tom DeFalco felt people were clammoring for a story that built on the Clone Saga, but that's what we're getting. It's a good comic, though, full of that classic Spider-Man mix of teenage angst and superheroics. I'm intrigued to see where DeFalco is going with the clone stuff, though.
Iron Man: Legacy of Doom 3: Michelinie. Layton. This is what Iron Man is supposed to be. For example, this comic features Iron Man and Dr. Doom, and one of them is clearly heroic and one of them is clearly the villain. You can't always say that about a comic Iron Man appears in these days.
Clan Destine 5: A nice wrap-up to the mini with what I hope is a nice set-up for the next miniseries. I'm not sure I liked this mini as much as I liked the original Clan Destine series, but it was definitely good comics.
The Twelve 6: This comic is slowly winding its way toward something resembling a plot, but it sure is taking its time doing so. Thankfully, the path Straczynski is taking in getting to the plot is entertaining, so I'm happy to go along for the ride. Quite honestly, if we never get anything more than a dozen issues of a bunch of guys adjusting to being 60-odd years out of time, that would be OK with me. On the down side, I'm not sure how I feel about Rockman's new origin. It's touching and poignant, but there's just something cool about an underground civilization that it seems such a shame to lose that.
Angel: After the Fall 8 & 9: Issue 8 is the last part of the arc that looks at what happened to the gang immediately after the end of the TV series, and it's OK. In Issue 9, the gang is reunited and instantly, this book gets two orders of magnitude better. The fun of a Joss Wheedon TV show (or, in this case, a Joss Wheedon comic book) is the witty reparte among the characters.
Trinity 2 & 3: The Trinity (along with Grene Lantern and the Justice League) fight a giant purple monster named Konvikt who has a little monkey on his back name Graak. The backup in issue 3, about a woman who reads tarot cards, is somewhat interesting, but the rest of this book isn't grabbing me. I really wanted to be one of the cool kids who read a weekly book, but this just isn't doing it for me. If I'm feeling really generous next week, I may pick up issue 4, but odds are that I'm done with this book.
Guardians of the Galaxy 2: I'm really digging this book. It's a serious book, but it doesn't take itself too seriously. I also appreciate the fact that Abnett and Lanning aren't ignoring the original Guardians of the Galaxy. Good stuff.
Spirit 18: A fun little mystery involving mummies and the Octopus. This book is pretty fluffy under Evanier and Aragones, but it's fun fluff, and quite frankly, there just isn't enough fun fluff in superhero comic these days.
American Dream 4: I don't know if it's the inker or if Todd Nuack's art has changed, but there was a time when I couldn't stand anything the guy drew. I passed on Young Justice solely because I didn't want to read a book drawn by him. But this is good stuff -- attractive art in keeping with the tone Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema set in Spider-Girl.
Brave & the Bold 14: Deadman teams up with Green Arrow. If only they could have gotten Neal Adams to draw it. How come Mark Waid is still writing this thing -- I thought he was the Editor in Chief at Boom Studios these days?
RASL 2: Well, this is definitely much less all-ages than Bone was. The story's moving at a good clp, though, and it's definitely got my attention.
Booster Gold 10: Well, we all saw this coming but i was still hoping there would be some way to avoid it. Has there been a better pair in the history fo comics than Blue and Gold? You can keep your Batman and Robins and your Maggie and Hopeys -- give me Booster and Beetle any day of the week.
Justice League of America 22: McDuffie finally gets to write his own book instead of being chained to Salvation Run or Final Crisis, and it's so much better than it has been. This is the first part of a story featuring the return of a classic JLA villain, and it's a good start to the story.
Posted by Jason Fliegel at June 22, 2008 10:26 PM
Waid's last issue is #16; after an arc by Marv Wolfman, J. Michael Straczynski takes over.
Waid's only current freelance assignment is some upcoming issues of Amazing Spider-Man. Let's hope the Waid of B and the B and not the Waid of Legion of Sullen Pricks shows up.
For me, it wasn't that the Bookie didn't work conceptually, it was that he and his father were thoroughly unlikable characters and I didn't care what happened to them. Also, that Peter was not telling Vin he didn't have a job when he and Robbie were discussing quitting the DB well within earshot of him. Otherwise it was a lot of fun, and the best use of the Enforcers in years.