This Week's Stack

This week was pretty heavy as far as my budget is concerned. Partly because of "Superboy Annual #1" but what can you do? This week's haul included: Wonder Woman #16, Before Watchmen: Minutemen #6, Uncanny X-Force #1, Justice League #16, Bedlam #3, Nightwing #16, the aforementioned, Superboy Annual #1, Red Hood and the Outlaws #16, Supergirl #16, and Uncanny Avengers #3.

I have hung in there with the "He'l On Earth" crossover but I am finding that it hasn't progressed much since He'l and Supergirl entered the Fortress of Solitude. I love crossovers, but this one has stalled. While the Superboy Annual was fun, the banter between Superboy and Superman got stale fast. I will stick with the event. I only hope the Superman issues will rise to the level of Batman issues of the "Death of the Family" event to make it worth my while and my dollars.

Speaking of "Death of the Family" this week's entry's were both hit and miss. The Nightwing issue was solid. It carried through on the Joker's direct attack on Nightwing and Haley's circus. The destruction of the circus and Joker handing Christina a spike covered mallet to say "Hello" to Dick with is as creepy as anything moment I read so far. What's under the DOME?!?!?! Which brings me to Red Hood. The last two issues have been a nice addition to "Death of the Family" but issue 16 had a lot to be desired as an actual tie-in. I like the advancement of Arsenal's leadership abilities but it would have been a better as a Teen Titans issue.

Uncanny X-Force was my surprise of the week. I had only hoped that the Marvel NOW! relaunch of the series could live up to my expectations of Rick Remender's fantastic run. Sam Humphries really delivers and I can't wait to see what's next. Check out my review. There is a great Spider-Man-esque style in the Uncanny Avengers that has kept my faith going in this series. Thor as an agent of the Red Skull via Charles Xavier is very intriguing. The best of the rest? Wonder Woman #16. Brain Azzarello and Cliff Chiang continue to deliver top notch writing and art and the conclusion of Before Watchmen: Minutemen #6 from Darwyn Cooke has been the best of the Before Watchmen titles. "Throne of Atlantis," from what I can only assume is directed from the mind of Geoff Johns, has been one of the best events from DC recently. This week's issue of Justice League continues a next level issue from Johns and artist Ivan Reis. If I were to cut my pull-list down to just 5 issues Justice League and Aquaman would definitely make the the cut.

Finally, I am a Bedlam defender. When this series started there was, what I thought, an unjust amount of criticism of Madder Red to Joker comparisons. While it can be easy to make that connection I find it a lazy one. Nick Spencer has attacked his contradictions of conscious and reform of Madder Red with conviction which has made the read even more engaging. His writing is catered to Riley Rossmo's art and Jean-Paul Csuka's colors to a tee. While the Joker may be the inspiration, Madder Red is his own style of psychopath. Bedlam is well worth your time.

Until next Wednesday. Happy reading!

Thank you for the Bedlam review. I read the first issue and loved it, but I wanted to see reviews on issues 2 & 3 to see if it was worth following. Looks like it is.

Thanks for your review on the H'el event, makes me sure that I'm not missing too much by not having any Superboy comics... They never looked particularly good at first glance or even when I peaked inside the books. Now I know I'm not missing too much.

Red Hood and the Outlaws is pretty much a mixed bag with me... I'm not sure what to make of it. Starfire's got some raunchy appearance in it, if I'm not mistaken (nearly nude bikini and talking about having sex with guys left and right), so all things considered, do you think it's worth picking up some earlier issues and getting caught up with the series?

@minigunman123: I can't speak for Director, but I picked up the first TPB and by the end of it any qualms I'd had about it sucking or about Starfire being purely a sex toy were pretty much resolved. The second arc (not in TPB yet) deals directly with Starfire's backstory and she kind of surprises everyone with how awesome she is. I won't deny that there's a bit of fanservice happening there but by all means that shouldn't be your only reason for writing the series off, because it's actually pretty darn entertaining.

@director421 Here's a question: I'm someone who has never read a Super-anything comic, nor a Wonder Woman comic. If you had to pick one that's been most consistent, what would it be? (And by all means if there's more than one that's really worth the time, feel free to touch on that).