Best Comic

Here we are in a new week. I think this is kind of a slump time for DC. I can't think of anything I'm really enjoying these days from that company, though collector's inertia still has me buying books. This week, the new JLA: Generation Lost came out and that was decent. You would think that, if they brought back the team, they would bring back the style of writing, but there's no playfulness at all in the book, save for the comic relief character. Really, what made the team funny back then was the great relationships, and not so much the banter. This newest comic is so concerned with solving the big problem that it can't lay back and let the characters talk to one another in a casual way. This comic was better than most since it was mostly a huge fight with Power Girl.

Three Avengers comics came out this week: The New, The Mighty and The Secret. By far, the Secret Avengers is my favorite. New is also very good because of Bendis' writing, but he has the opposite problem as what I mentioned above: he gets so into relationships that the battles all seem incidental and boring. "Gosh, we're fighting this incredibly tough villain hand to hand, but I'd rather talk about what we should have for lunch." I like the dialogue and character development, but all the characters sound the same in my head. Mighty suffers because of the art. Bad art just fuzzes out whatever story is being told. If all the characters stand around looking grim, I can't empathize with their emotional range.

I grabbed the collectible Fantastic 4 that came out this week. Not gonna open it.

So, the big winner this week is Secret Avengers! Woot! I still like this low-powered group. Brubaker makes the comic gritty, the plots are interesting, and the relationships between characters are developing and feel real. Hope Shang-chi gets to stay on, but it's probably not meant to be. One good scene in this is Shang-chi and Captain America sparring. In an obviously cheap out, both combatants get one good hit on each other, and then Brubaker backs off, 'cause he isn't gonna inflame the nerdrage with showing one martial art master dominating the other. Transparent, but enjoyably transparent.