Let’s go ahead and dish out The Revolution’s weekly awards.
The nominees for the Che for the best read of the week:
Booster Gold #7
Fantastic Four #555
Nova #11
X-Factor #29
The Winner: X-Factor #29
Booster Gold #7 was another good read. Johns and Katz are tacos in the bank on this title. I would certainly recommend this title since it is a consistently good read and offers a good balance of action and plot heavy drama.
Fantastic Four #555 really got me excited about Millar’s run on this title. It seems that Millar might just get me hooked on the Fantastic Four for the first time since I started reading comic books.
Nova #11 was another good issue. I really should post a review or two for this title. Nova really is a quality read that delivers the goods every month. DnA are doing a wonderful job on this title and have impressed me with their work. And that is saying much since I had never been all that impressed with DnA’s work up until Nova. However, I always keep an open mind and I’m glad I did. Nova has been a pleasant surprise and is certainly a title that is worth checking out.
However, I had to hand the Che to X-Factor #29. David continues to serve up one gem after another. The only Marvel titles that can rival X-Factor are Captain America and Iron Man. And that is it. X-Factor is simply on another level compared to almost every other title on the market. And for my money, X-Factor is by far and away the best written X-title that Marvel publishes. The dialogue and character work on X-Factor is second to none.
And now the nominees for the Sequential Methadone Award for the worst read of the week:
Amazing Spider-Man #553
Countdown to Final Crisis #7
The Last Defenders #1
The Winner: The Last Defenders #1
Amazing Spider-Man #553 was another pedestrian read. This title has become such a disappointment. I personally don’t know anyone who enjoys reading this title. Does anyone out there dig this title? I’m interested to hear from people who like the current direction of this title and why. Maybe I’m missing something. I find Amazing Spider-Man to be delivering a rather shallow story, thin character work and an overall juvenile feel to the title. I just feel like I’m stuck in a 1970’s time warp when reading this title nowadays.
Countdown to Final Crisis #7 was a pretty disappointing read. This title is doomed to deliver a substandard ending to this uninspired story. All I can say is that I’m so glad that the end is near. I cannot believe that I honored my initial promise to chronicle this title from start to finish. I have no idea what in the hell I was thinking.
However, I had to give the Sequential Methadone Award to The Last Defenders #1. This issue was a real disappointment. I love the original Defenders and was really hoping that Marvel would make an effort to try and bring back some of that magic. Unfortunately, what we got with The Last Defenders #1 reminded me much more of the unimpressive 2005 Defenders mini-series by Giffen and DeMatteis than the original Defenders.
Casey and Giffen seem confused as to the purpose of this comic book. The Last Defenders reads like a comic book that can’t make up its mind if it wasn’t to be serious, if it wants to be a straight up action comic or if it wants to be a “bwa-ha-ha-ha” comedy. The result is a comic book that is schizophrenic and lacks a cohesive style and vision.
And on top of it all, the roster has a horrible random grab-bag feel to it. This roster comes across like it was slapped together without any rhyme or reason. The Last Defenders definitely reads like a last minute title cobbled together with little thought or planning by Marvel as an effort to flood the market with another Initiative title.
This debut issue was so bad that I doubt I’m even going to bother getting the rest of this mini-series. I certainly would not recommend anyone wasting their hard earned money on The Last Defenders.
So congrats to X-Factor #29 for winning the Che for the week and congrats to The Last Defenders #1 for winning the Sequential Methadone Award for the week.
3 thoughts on “Weekly Awards For The Comic Books From March 12, 2008”
Comments are closed.
Don’t ya just love how PAD handled Rahne leaving? If there is no reason for her to join Cyclops’ murder squad except an editorial whim, why bother to make one up?
As for Defenders, I didn’t dislike it, but trying to give that book a point, kinda flies in the face of the concept. The Defenders never had a point. It’s a playground where weird writers can be weird.
I read part of an interview with Casey where he said that Giffen helped him write the first two issues to shape it up as a pitch to Marvel and they were purposely channeling the old JLI vibe.
that said, some of his other interviews regarding this title make it sound like once Giffen was out of the picture, Casey found the hook he was looking for. From some of the things I’ve rea, a lot of this story is Casey’s homage to those old comics and especially trying to give Nighthawk some credit for his role back in the day. From prviews and comments it looks like this title becomes more about the lengths Nighthawk will go to honor the old “group” and pay back from what they all did to him.
Dunno if it’ll work or not, but as a fan of the series way back when, I’m hoping he can shine some love on the title and the character.
“As for Defenders, I didn’t dislike it, but trying to give that book a point, kinda flies in the face of the concept. The Defenders never had a point. It’s a playground where weird writers can be weird.“
Personally I think that’s really only true of the Secret Defenders team-up book.
I think it’s great to see the Initiative mcguffin being put to use in a classic way. To this point I’m not convinced the concept has been served anywhere near as well as it could’ve been.
I’m trying to think of other Initiatve books… The core title, The Order, New Warriors… For a Fifty-State program, the spread isn’t well represented!