Weekly Awards For The Comic Books From May 28, 2008

Let’s go ahead and dish out The Revolution’s weekly awards.

The nominees for the Che for the best read of the week:

Batman #677
Final Crisis #1
Giant Sized Astonishing X-Men #1
Marvel 1985 #1

The Winner: Batman #677

We got absolutely spoiled this week with plenty of fantastic reads. Despite my annoyance over the rotten shipping schedule, I completely enjoyed Giant Sized Astonishing X-Men #1. Now, would it have been nice if this title could have actually met its shipping schedule? Yes. And did Whedon unnecessarily stretch out this story? Yes. But, the fact is that Giant Sized Astonishing X-Men #1 was a good read.

Now, for the record I am not nor have I ever been a Kitty Pryde fan. But, I loved how Whedon wrote her in this issue. Kitty’s heroism and sacrifice made me a big fan of her character. Seeing Kitty phase the massive rocket bullet through the Earth was simply bad-assed. And I dig Kitty’s tragic fate. It removes her from the playing field without killing her. Whedon makes it so that another writer will be able to bring her back at some point if they so desire.

Marvel 1985 #1 was a great debut issue. Millar delivers such a subtle story that moves along at a wonderfully measured and restrained pace. This title has the potential to be a fantastic read.

I completely enjoyed Final Crisis #1. Morrison turned in a wonderfully written debut issue. I truly appreciate a story that challenges the reader. And J.G. Jones turned in some gorgeous artwork. This is exactly the quality of artwork that I expect from a big event title.

However, I had to give The Che for the best read of the week to Morrison’s other title: Batman #677. I have already glowingly praised this issue in my review. Suffice it to say that Morrison is blowing my mind with his Batman RIP story arc. This is an incredibly crafted mystery story.

And now the nominees for the Sequential Methadone Award for the worst read of the week:

New Avengers #41
Uncanny X-Men #498

The Winner: Uncanny X-Men #498

This was such a strong stable of comic books this week that there weren’t any truly awful reads. Uncanny X-Men #498 and New Avengers #41 just happened to be the two weakest reads this week. They were not horrible issues, they were just decidedly average.

I had to give the Sequential Methadone Award to Uncanny X-Men #498 only because the pacing on this story arc has been mind maddeningly slow to the point where it makes Bendis’ New Avengers run seem fast paced.

I decided to trot out a new award this week. This one will go to the comic book that was the most surprising read of the week. This is reserved for an issue that I had extremely low expectations for leading into Wednesday, but turned out to actually be a good read. So, here are the nominees for Most Surprising Read of the week:

Action Comics #865
Daredevil #107

The Winner: Action Comics #865

Daredevil #107 was much better than I expected. Brubaker’s run on this title has cooled off a bit as of late. And this upcoming four issue story arc didn’t sound particularly exciting to me when I read the previews. However, Brubaker turned in a beautifully written issue. My favorite scene was when Matt was obsessively washing his house with bleach in a vain attempt to get Milla’s scent out of the home. It was such a powerful scene.

However I had to give the award for Most Surprising Read of the week to Action Comics #685. This was a great little read. I was already to dismiss this issue as pure filler. That Action Comics #865 was just an effort by Johns to burn some pages and waste time until the next major story arc. I was wrong.

This was a wonderful character piece centered on the Toyman. Johns treats the reader to a rich and complex take on Toyman’s character. The reader is repulsed and at the same time deeply sympathetic to Toyman by the end of this issue. I cannot believe that Johns actually got me to like a character like the Toyman.

So congrats to Batman #677 for winning the Che for the week, congrats to Uncanny X-Men #498 for winning the Sequential Methadone Award for the week and congrats to Action Comics #865 for winning the Most Surprising Read of the week.