Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The (Very Late) Weekly Round-Up: 11/10/10

Hey there loyal readers! I had a wedding to help prepare for and then go to last week, so I wasn't going to do last week's Weekly Round-Up. Then I got my comics for this week and holy crap was there some awesome stuff. Not talking about everything this week, but I will cover the 4-way tie for my issue of the week. Each one is a great book and each one is worth the cover price on the front.
If I had to pick one book of the four, I think Amazing Spider-Man #648 would take the spot for various reasons. For one thing, It's a huge comic: the main story is 39 pages with an 8 page back-up to go along with it. For $4 there aren't many other comics that pack that much of a value. And it's not just a great value, it's easily the best one-shot Spider-Man story of the year. And that's counting those Rhino issues ( #617 and #626 if I remember correctly) which were both amazing issues.

The main story is actually two stories in one, but each one centers around the idea of Peter Parker (in both personas) going "Big Time". The first half centers around Spider-Man and the his teammates from the Avengers working together to face off against Doctor Octopus' army of "Macro-Octobots" from destroying New York City. The next part focuses on Pete's non-heroing life, with his roomate Michele moving back to Chicago and Pete looking to get his living arrangements figure out. While the second half isn't nearly as action packed as the first, it does a great job of introducing us to the supporting cast of the book.

For people staying on the book it's nothing major, but for people just hopping on, there's a lot that's changed since Brand New Day began and there are a few more changes that happen by the end of the story. One big change is Pete's new job as a scientist at Horizon Labs, which is described as both an Apple Store and Willy Wonka's Factory mixed togther and "Pixar meets The Baxter Building". The overall story also does a great job of building on upcoming plotlines, such as the reformed Sinister Six (Doc Ock, Rhino, Mysterio, Electro, Chameleon, and Sandman) putting a huge plan together and the Kingpin hiring the Hobgoblin to steal an experimental replacement for Vibranium being made by Horizon Labs. Combine all of this with the delicious art stylings of Humberto Ramos and you've got one hell of an issue, with a nice back-up featuring Spider-Girl, who's about to get an ongoing of her own. This is a hell of an issue and easily a must read for fans of Spidey.

Atomic Robo is also out this week, with the first issue of the 5th volume of the series "Atomic Robo and the Dangerous Art of Science". This issue takes us back to the 1930's, where Robo is still living with Tesla. What's awesome about this issue is we get to see a very different Robo than the one we're used to: in the first four volumes, we've gotten to know the Robo who was an "Action Scientist" who takes on Nazis, Lovecraftian monsters, and talking genius Raptors. Here, we get to see a younger Robo who's not nearly as focused. His fanboyish naivety over getting to see a masked man taking on mobsters is comedy gold. We're also going to see a bit more of the feud between Robo and his greatest enemy, Thomas Edison, which will be so awesome. It's a bit of a surprise to have it back so soon, I'm used to having almost a year between volumes, but it's good to have it back on my stack and I'm looking forward to seeing what Clevinger and Wegener have in store for us in the next few issues. And as usual, there's a few of those delicious Robo pin-ups from other artists that usually populate the back of the issue, though I'm sad to see the lack of a cool back-up story. Those are usually really fun to have.
Knight and Squire #2 is also out this week and it's a great read. If I had to describe this title, I think the best way is like this: Knight and Squire is what you'd get if the BBC had mad the old Adam West Batman show from the 60's. This issue we has the Dynamic Duo of the UK facing off against The Morris Men, a group of men looking to make England a place for the wealthy, straight, white man. The issue is a blast, with a mix of British charm and campy goodness that mix together just right. Now, I do have to warn you: if you aren't very familiar with British people talking, you're not going to understand a third of the dialog in this book. Cornell does a good job of explaining a good bit of it all with a short entry in the back explaining most of it for those who aren't familiar with Morris Men and even point out a few of the inspirations for some of the things going on in the issue itself. And for what you miss in dialog, the book makes up for in humor. One moment in particular, where Knight and Squire steal some disguises off of a pair of guards had me laughing out loud until my ribs hurt. If you're even remotely a fan of Batman and the idea of the Club of Heroes, then definitely pick this issue up.

And lastly, the 4th book tying for my "issue of the week" is Justice League: Generation Lost. This issue was the first thing I read this week and it's still the one that hit me the hardest. This issue has Magog facing off against Captain Atom in one huge smack down. It's one hell of a showdown with an ending that made me say "Oh $#!%" before putting down the book to take in what just happened. Before this series I was skeptical of Winick. After this issue I can now say that I take back anything I may have said about the man's writing. This is a fantastic read and a chilling issue. Max Lord is back and Judd Winick is showing us just how much of a crazy, evil, magnificent bastard he is. If you're looking for a Justice League book to read, this is the one you should be reading. This is the best new series from DC this year and if you haven't begun reading it yet, then go pick up the back issues or preorder the trades, because no one should be missing this.

And that's it for this week. 4 books that you should be reading, each one earning my choice as "issue of the week". Come back tomorrow or Thursday for this week's books, because Batman Incorporated is starting up and it's gonna be awesome!

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