Best of #4, 2005 . . . Single Issue

I got all set to do this, and you know what I find? I just didn't buy that many comics this year that can stand alone. They were always part of some story arc or another. So, this category has one issue, just one. But that's fine, I knew when I started this "best of" series that I wanted to mention this issue.

Teen Titans #20. No that isn't the cover to the issue, because the cover quite honestly, is terrible. Still, this story occurs in the aftermath of "Identity Crisis", and deals with Robin's dad having been killed by Captain Boomerang in that story. Though I'm less than pleased Meltzer did that, it's done, and this issue handles it pretty well I thought.

It helps I was still relatively new to the title. This was maybe the fifth issue I'd read, so Johns' writing tics, like having one character give their opinion of their teammates, in place of character development through the characters interacting, hadn't worn on me as much as it has now. Tim is at the tower determined to still enjoy life after his father's death. He isn't going to become the grim, vengful person he saw in the Titans' trip to the future. To that end, he tries to bury all the anger, sadness, grief he feels, especially around Raven. At the same time, we get Tim observing his friends and teammates interacting. Bart getting Superboy to calm down by doing his trig homework for him (I wish I could have gotten my friend Jesse to do that for me). Wonder Girl helping Raven expand her wardrobe, because Raven is going to need some new clothes when she starts high school (Hey, that's right she was going to start school! Any plans on getting to that some time this century Johns? I know I keep harping on that, but it would be something new with the character). Beast Boy making an ass out of himself around the girls. And so on.

But hey, there's action too! The Titans against the Electrocutioner and some thug in Luthor's battlesuit. The 'cutioner says the wrong thing to Robin, and Robin proceeds to pummel him into submission, as it turns out he's not quite as good at repressing his emotions as his mentor. He confides in his friends and the Titans show why they're a bit more like a family than a team, as they do what families do, console.

I love Grummett's art. I think he was the original artist on the Robin ongoing and I was a big fan of his then as well. Nelson and Jeremy Cox as inker and colorist doing a nice job of aiding this. The comic seems bright, and colorful, even with the darker subject. I feel like that fits the book. It's supposed to be more upbeat, not dark. These are still kids, who enjoy being heroes. They aren't all angst-ridden, in part because they have each other to lean on. Really, this was the best story featuring Robin I read this year (which is sad, seeing as how I read Robin).

Well, I'm done. Tommorrow I'll get back to my more standard style of random subject posts. I've got a couple planned about Bill Willingham's run on Robin, matter of fact.

Best of #3, 2005 edition . . . Story Arc

Ok, this has really been the hardest category yet, because I've got five candidates and they bring some slightly different things to the table. One of those is "Black is White and Up is Down" from The Punisher, issues 19-24. Jake at 2 Guys Buying Comics named it his best story arc of the year, and it might be mine, but if you're interested, I'd suggest just reading his post, it's porbably much more coherent than mine would be. At any rate, I'll focus on the other four choices.

Honorable Mention - "Hobgoblin", Ultimate Spider-Man, issues 72-77. It's odd. I thought I was disappointed by this arc, but I think that stemmed mostly from Harry's Hobgoblin being another big, fire chucking thing like his dad. It makes some sense, but it was kind of not what I wanted. Still, I thought the story had emotional power to it. Harry tries to reenter his old life, as Nick Fury has decided it's safe to let him do that. Harry has blocked out pretty much everything that has happened since the explosion at his dad's lab, but bits and pieces slip through.

Then an 'associate' of his father shows up, and lets Harry see the truth, about his dad, and Peter, and everything. So Harry remembers Norman killed his mom, that Peter is Spider-Man, and these facts freak Peter (already spastic from his run-in with Nightmare and Dr. Strange) quite a bit. He starts yelling at Mary Jane, convinced she's going to get killed, while at the same time trying to help Harry through what are clearly some serious mental issues. Even when Harry goes beserk there's a sadness to it, like a wounded animal just trying to get it over with. And as usual Nick Fury shows up, and makes things worse, because Nick Fury is a manipulative bastard. But, he gets punched in the face for it, which as I mentioned yesterday, needs to happen a lot more often.

The reason this only lands honorable mention? Say it with me now: TOO SLOW. This could have be done in three issues easily, four tops, it would still have had emotional punch to it, and there wouldn't have been a series of endings where you feel like you just read 22 pages of nothing. Still it's Bendis, so I guess I shouldn't ne surprised.

3rd place - "New Avengers" Amazing Spider-Man, issues 519-524. What can I say? I love Spider-Man, and in what's been a crappy year for Spidey stories, this stood out. The Avengers deal with something Avengery, Hydra and copycat Avengers. Peter, MJ, and Aunt May deal with moving in to Stark's tower. Spidey gets into a serious brawl, uses his brains to figure out what Hydra was up to, both when they sent out their fake Avengers just to show off their power and as a diversion from their true paln, and when he remembers the Ogalalla Aquifer, and there were just some hilarious moments, usually involving Wolverine. Aunt May dumping Logan's cigar in his drink (actually not too safe, since it was probably whiskey or something), and Peter chucking Logan out the window. And yes, Spidey would do that, it's not like it'll kill Wolverine. The arc gets into the lives of Peter and his family, which is an important part of who Spider-Man is.

The problems? Someone, I can't recall who, pointed out that Peter's life is about how being Spider-Man seemingly ruins his life (he's late to work, misses graduation, misses a date, can't get enough money for Aunt May's medicine because he's fighting Scorpion), but things really aren't so bad at the end of the day (he sells pictures of the fight, he still got a college education, the girl sees the bruises, take pity, and lets him ask her out again, Aunt May's tougher than he thinks). But, Aunt May's house gets destroyed and Tony Stark drives up and lets them stay at the tower? It seems too pat, too easy, set up as a plot device for the whole 'tabloid' situation, though I did like Stark threatening to crush the photographer if he didn't back off. In a world of flatlands, even a small hill can look like a mountain, and I think that's what happened here.

2nd place - "The 'Hood", Batgirl, issues 60-62. Batgirl's settling in as a crimfighter in Bludhaven, and she's going to make life hard for the Penguin. She gets her own place to stay, gets a snitch to keep her apprised of Penguin's dealings, and away she goes. I like this because it's something new for her. Batgirl seems to fight a lot of thugs with guns, and periodically some martial arts expert, probably looking to make a name for themselves, beating the girl who beat Shiva. But shapeshifters and intelligent gorillas, that seems like something a little different. It's the sort of thing that in Gotham, Batman deals with. But Batman isn't here, so it's up to Cassandra.

And the story gives us a look at how she works. Getting the records of the Brotherhood's old battles, figuring out the weaknesses she can exploit. I liked that she let the cops know about the arms deal that was going down. She hadn't exactly hit it off with them in the first meeting, but she realizes it's better to be with the good cops than antagonising them. The scenes where she's delirous and seeing Stephanie (Spoiler) were probably a bit overdone, but I was glad to see someone still remembers Steph, espcially since Robin doesn't seem to be thinking about her much. Too many OMACs I guess.

1st place - "Family Business", Spider-Girl, issues 86-88. Seems a bit out of leftfield doesn't it? At times Tom DeFalco's writing bugs me, just like at times how Ron Frenz draws May's head bothers me (he can't seem to settle on a consistent shape when she isn't wearing the mask). But I think DeFalco is going for more of a Silver Age feel with the book, especially in this story. You've got Spider-Girl 'teaming up' with the children of the Fantastic Five to fight Apox, the Omega Skrull, who's out to redeem himself from an earlier loss by destroying the original Fantastic Four, who are off in the Negative Zone. I put 'teaming up' in quotes because May consistenly has trouble working in a team setting during the story. She's a solo type, and she keeps trying to do things that way. So we have a cosmically powered Skrull mowing down Nova, the Avengers, the Hulk, Namor, and it boils down to Spider-Girl, Franklin Richards and a bunch of kids to oppose him.

There are a few other plot points that go during the story, like Normie asserting control over Oscorp, and whether the Venom symbiote is having an adverse affect on him, given that he's ordering weapons to be manufactured. You have May still feeling guilty about lying to everyone that they destroyed the symbiote, and trying to help her friend Moose through a tough time. The good thing is, while some progress is made on these stories, they don't weigh down the action. Once the fight starts, that's pretty much all May can think about, and so the fight becomes all that's being focused on. DeFalco has a couple of nice moments between May and Franklin, as he tells her a few things about his family, and shows how seriously he takes the legacy of his family name.

Lots of action, layers to the battle that Apox doesn't even know about, the Negative Zone, and we find what's been going on with Reed and Sue Richards all this time. Plus, they get a big happy ending. It isn't earth-shaking, or revolutionary, or any of that other stuff, it WAS fun though, and for all my complaining about this or that with the comics I'm reading, I felt like giving credit to a story that seemed like it just set out to tell an enjoyable story, enough spoken.

Best single issue comes tomorrow.

Best of #2, 2005 Edition . . . Ongoing Series

Couple of rules here. First, I had to still be buying the title at the end of 2005 (so long X-Men, JLA). Second there had to be at least six issues this year (eliminating X-Factor and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man). And art is going to factor heavily, because I can't enjoy a story if the art hurts my eyes (adios Robin). With that being said;

Honorable Mention (it just sounds nicer than "runner-up" doesn't it?) - Ultimate Spider-Man, issues 70-88. I remember hearing this comes out three times every two months, hence 18 issues instead of 12. This is where someone makes the joke about how that meant Bendis gave us almost six issues of actual story. And they'd be right. The hobgoblin story, was good if it had been 3-issues, not six. Still, there was some nice emotional effect, and Nick Fury whether in the Ultimate universe or Marvel needs to get punched in the face a LOT more often (manipulative bastard). The two-part Dr. Strange story had long-term effects on Peter, which I think pushed him towards the breakup with MJ. The Warriors storyline had its nice moments, and the annual was very good I thought. A lot seemed to happen, though maybe just by Bendis' standards. And I've said it before, I love Bagley's art. LOVE IT! And Bendis seems to give Bagley freedom in the fight scenes to draw panels that really let you see the action, give a feel for Spidey's movements, or the force of someone's punch. But yeah, it was still too slow to crack the top three.

3rd Place - Ultimate X-Men, issues 54-65. I'm actually very surprised by this, but when I sat down and went through my books, this was pretty consistently a good read. The "Mr. Xavier goes to the bank" issue was not a favorite, but it illustrated some interesting aspects of Xavier's power. I like Longshot, and I like Ultimate Longshot. I thought the twist of him actually being a murderer and not being framed was nifty, though I'm not a big fan of Ultimate Arcade. Why not just get Kraven the Hunter out of Triskelion if a hunter is what you want? I like Magneto's anticipation and planning, I like that the Phoenix Force has still been a relatively subdued plot point (I hated that Hellfire Club story from a couple years ago), and I don't mind that Havok and Cyclops' powers don't work on each other. The pacing has been pretty good, and they actually seem to have found a way to make Doug Ramsey a useful person. Major props for that.

2nd place - Batgirl, issues 60-71. I think one thing that helps this book is I hadn't read it before issue 58. I knew about Cassandra Cain, understood the basics about her dad and her skill as a fighter, but otherwise it was new. And I think I got in at the right time, as she's moved away from Gotham, and she learns to be an independent hero, how to get information. I like that in fights she's thinking about what's going on. With characters who are good fighters, I appreciate the insights into what they're supposed to be seeing that gives them an advantage (like Grimjack). That she's taking Onyx's advice, getting out there and interacting with people as Cassandra, and that she's learning about being an actual person, not just a crimefighter, definitely cool (I think Bruce Wayne needs to take lessons from her). She's seems like a character with considerable potential for growth, and Anderson Gabrych has made some steady progress in that respect. The issue where Cassandra asks Oracle for help, and actually ends up telling Oracle why she's so mad at her, expressing what she was feeling, I kind of have the feeling that's something Cass rarely does, and I think it's a nice step. Plus, it's one of the few DC books that hasn't had its storylines completely destroyed by Infinite Crisis (*cough Robin cough*). The only reason it isn't #1? I just can't shake the feeling I'm touting it because it's about to be cancelled, the way I read Green Lantern: Rebirth because I figured it was Kyle Rayner's last stand. I'm overlooking minor flaws that may be there, so i can just enjoy while I can.

1st Place - The Punisher, issues 17-29. Hmm, second award in a row won by a guy who frequently shoots people. Sigh, I'm just so violent, I guess. Jake gave this his silver medal at 2 Guys Buying Comics, and mentioned he was not wowed by the "Mother Russia" storyline. I think I may have liked that almost as much as "Up is Down and Black is White". Both of those stories did a good job of giving a feel for what's left of Frank's humanity. I thought that his time spent with the little girl, Galina, especially teaching her that "You never play with guns. What is it you never do? Play with guns? Good." I thought that was actually kind of sweet. I know, sweet, in a Punisher comic? Well, yeah. Plus, Nick Fury, while still being a manipulative bastard, at least backed the person he was being a manipulative bastard to, when the Army tried to screw them over. Anyway, Garth Ennis stuck to what makes the Punisher work; Frank killing lots of people, in a cold, occasionally brutal, tactically smart way, all while demonstrating that Frank still has some human part that can protect, or can be wounded, and when wounded gets extremely pissed off. Leandro Frenandez does a good job of depicting a Punisher that's old, scarred and scary looking, a guy who survived Vietnam, and years of killing mobsters, but didn't do so unscathed. I think it works better for this series where Steve Dillon's somewhat brighter art, more cartoonish to an extent, worked for the somewhat more cartoon-styled Marvel Knights Punisher series.

Next will be best story arc in an ongoing series, probably tomorrow.

Best of #1, 2005 edition . . . Mini-series

A couple of things. I'm going to follow Chris' advice and just lump everything together. I just don't have enough non-Marvel books not to. Two, this will only consist of things I actually bought. So Villains United, while very good, ain't here because I didn't care enough to spend money on it. Three, please remember this is being done by a human, thus it's subjective, and at the mercy of my biases, which are many and often highly irrational. With that said, let's get started. Only five candidates in this category.

Runner-ups (runners-up?) - Justice League Elite. I know why I finished this series (I'm a completist), I just can't figure why I started it. I don't read Superman books, I know nothing about the Elite, really don't much care. I must have had some reason, but it's gone now.

Ghost Rider - The only reason this isn't in the top two is because it's not done yet. Unless Ennis completely screws the pooch, Clayton Crain's art is enough to boost this up there, though I can see what people mean when they say people look too plastic. Ok, moving on.

3rd place - JSA Classified 1-4. Ok technically this was a story arc, but as I don't plan on buying JSA Classified again, I look at it as a four-issue mini. I like the art, I like Power Girl, though I'm still trying to pin down exactly what it is about her personality I like so much. I just can't seem to find the right word. And Johns has a reputation for making magic, so I figured this would be pretty awesome. I was disappointed.

Here's the thing, I read issue #4. Psycho Pirate tells Power Girl "You're a Kryptonian from a universe called Earth-2!" My reaction - Ok. So what? Why does that make her powers fluctuate? Why can't she remember her true origin? I mean, there are plenty of people from Earth-2, like all the old guys in the JSA, none of them seem to have this problem. And so on. I had to read Infinite Crisis #2 to understand what the big deal was. Which means, this didn't do what it said it would, tell her origin, so it can't do any better. Tsk, tsk, Mr. Johns. Very shoddy.

2nd place - Green Lantern: Rebirth - I'll say this right upfront: I don't get Hal Jordan. I don't get what the big deal is about him, why he's so special. Regardless of how hard Johns or Scipio, or the guys at the store try to educate me, I just don't care about him. I was fine with Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern, I don't need the others, and would have rather Jordan died. But, as the Shrew pointed out when she reviewed the book, this isn't written for fans like me. It's written, and I quote, 'for people who when you ask why Hal Jordan is the best, they say "Because he's Hal."' To which I say, uh, ok.

But Johns set out to bring Hal back, and to follow the Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix style; bring him back so that he's absolved of guilt for what the extremely powerful entity did (Credit to Comics Should Be Good, for a post that mentioned Jim Shooter's edict about any return of Jean Grey making her blameless for what the Phoenix did). And damned if he didn't. Is it a copout? Hell yes. But I also think it's an example of Johns' greatest strength, the ability to reach into his butt, and remove the finest silks and polished rare gems from within. I mean, an emotional electromagnetic spectrum? A giant yellow fear thingy? But it worked. As far as I can tell, only two heroes don't trust Hal: Batman, who everyone ignores because he's a paranoid looney, and Hawkman, who everyone ignores because he's a jerk.

I do want mention the art was mostly very nice. Some of the light/shadow effects were quite beautiful. And Johns didn't kill Kyle, which was good, and is probably why I bought the series in the first place. I figured it was Kyle's last stand, so I better enjoy him while I can.

Two minor beefs: One, I thought the lantern symbols popping off the uniforms was kind of silly. It seems like a waste of energy. Two, are the Guardians really more powerful than the Spectre? I mean Smurfs versus God's Hand of Vengance?

1st place - Grimjack: Killer Instinct. I told you there would be bias. I was too young to read Grimjack when it came out (my pre-K years), but my cousin had the first 48 issues, and gave them to me, and I decided I loved the book. And this, as sort of a prequel to John Gaunt's series, does all I could ask for. Violence? Check. Some funny observations/comments by Gaunt, especially during fights? Check. A particularly nice death for a vampire? Check.

The story answers several questions, like why Gaunt used the alias of Chaney, how Gorden Munden can work at Munden's Bar, but Gaunt owns it. How Gaunt's old partner, Roscoe, lost his eye (unlike Deathstroke, it didn't involve getting shot by his wife). And so on. Plus, telekinetic mime assassins, with a gateway to a pocket dimension where their torsos should be! You can't tell me that isn't cool.

I think what makes the story work is that Ostrander and Truman remember what makes their character special and it's all there. Aspects of his life as an arena fighter, as a soldier in the Demon Wars, as a cop, all of which affect the way people look at him. His understanding of magic, courtesy of his time studying with a wizard. The fact that his style of going for the heart of the matter usually ends up costing him. And the fact that he lives in a place where every street corner can have it's own reality, which has all sorts of creative possibilities. The Grinner was back, and for me at least, it was good.