Weekly Awards For The Comic Books From May 6, 2009

As always, we got plenty of great comments from the followers of The Revolution. I believe that the followers of The Revolution are some of the smartest comic book fans that you will find. And each week you guys prove me right. The comment of the week goes to Iocus for his comment on the review of War of Kings #3. Iocus kept it short and sweet when he posted:

“Oh my God, they killed Smasher! YOU BASTARDS.”

Well played, my friend.

All right, let’s go ahead and dish out The Revolution’s weekly awards.

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

Agents of Atlas #4
Flash Rebirth #2
Irredeemable #2
Jersey Gods #4
Destroyer #2
War of Kings #3

The Winner: Destroyer #2

We got spoiled last Wednesday with so many great reads. It is going to be difficult to pick just one title for the Che. We reviewed Agents of Atlas #4, Flash: Rebirth #2 and War of Kings #3. They were all good reads, but they were not quite good enough to garner the Che in this highly competitive week.

Jersey Gods #4
Creative Team
Writer: Glen Brunswick
Artist: Dan McDaid

Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10

Jersey Gods #4 was another quality read. Brunswick and McDaid continue to impress me with their work on this title. We continue to get parallel stories as half of the issue focuses on the Gods of Neboron combining their bodies to create two Celestial styled beings in order to combat the meteor that is threatening to destroy Neboron. Meanwhile, Zoe is on her own adventure as she helps renowned and eclectic fashion designer, Delia, take on a gang of violent and dangerous thugs who are making knock-off versions of Delia’s clothing.

Brunswick continues to display a knack for whipping up plenty of great dialogue. The dialogue has a nice natural flow to it. The various characters continue to developed and display more unique personalities.

Brunswick has a nice sense of humor, but he never overplays his hand. The witty banter is properly placed and this issue never becomes a simple “bwa-ha-ha-ha” story.  

Jersey Gods #4 is a well balanced read as Brunswick gives the reader a good mix of dialogue heavy scenes and cool cosmic action scenes.

I continue to enjoy McDaid’s style of art. McDaid’s artwork truly shines in the scenes on Neboron compared to the scenes in New Jersey.

Irredeemable #2
Creative Team
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Peter Krause

Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Waid turns in another gem with Irredeemable #2. This issue focuses on the Plutonian’s girlfriend, Alana Patel. We learn how Patel and the Plutonian met and how their romance blossomed. Patel became quite famous as the Plutonian’s girlfriend. We then learn that Patel got angry when the Plutonian revealed his secret identity to Patel when he asks her to marry him. Patel learns that all along, the Plutonian was Dan Hartigan, the nerdy but nice guy at her office who had a crush on her.

Patel was angry that the Plutonian hid this fact from her. Patel thought he was having a joke at her expense. Patel then vindictively reveals the Plutonian’s secret identity to their co-workers at the radio station. The co-workers then immediately go to broadcast this stunning breaking news on the radio. The Plutonian is able to race to space and destroy the radio station’s satellite before his identity was broadcast.

Plutonian races back to the radio station and informs that all of his co-workers are dead. That they all know the most dangerous secret in the world. That his enemies will go to great lengths to get this information. That his enemies will torture his co-workers and their families to get this information. Plutonian says that his co-workers’ lives are worthless now and there is nothing he can do to save him.

The Plutonian then tells Patel that he still wants to marry her. Patel rejects the Plutonian and says that she doesn’t even know him anymore.

We then learn that Modeus, the Plutonian’s greatest enemy, is now working with Mr. Quibit in the heroes’ effort to find and stop the Plutonian.

Irredeemable #2 was a well paced and plotted issue. The story is moving at a steady pace, but make no mistake; Waid is taking his time with this story. Waid is giving the reader a detailed and deep story with plenty of substance for the reader to chew on.

I remain utterly fascinated with Waid’s “Superman gone bad” with the Plutonian. Watching the heroes madly scramble to stop the world’s most powerful superhero is intriguing. The story is full of tension as the reader realizes what a terrifying villain a character like Superman would make.

However, I went ahead and gave the Che to Destroyer #2. I have already reviewed this issue. Needless to say, I thought that Destroyer #2 was a wonderfully crafted read.

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

Invincible Iron Man #13
Power Girl #1

The Winner: Power Girl #1

We already reviewed Invincible Iron Man #13. I was unimpressed with Fraction’s effort in this issue. This title continues to be an incredibly imitative and dull read. However, Invincible Iron Man #13 was not the most disappointing read of the week.

Power Girl #1
Creative Team
Writers: Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti
Artist: Amanda Conner

Story Rating: 3 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10

I am not the biggest Power Girl fan in the world. But, I dig the JSA and I have always liked Power Girl on that title. I also think that Power Girl has plenty of potential to be an interesting character that can support her own monthly title. The Revolutionary who is the huge Power Girl fan is Shawn. And when Shawn informed me that he was not impressed with Power Girl #1, my expectation for this title took a serious drop.

At any rate, I gave this title a try mainly due to Amanda Conner being the artist on this title. I love Conner’s artwork and she most certainly does not disappoint with her work on Power Girl #1. Conner delivers a fantastic looking issue. Conner draws an appropriately sexy enough looking Power Girl without being pornographic. What is particularly enjoyable are the great facial expressions that Conner gives the various characters. This really helps to breathe life into Gray and Palmiotti’s script.

Unfortunately, I found the writing to be average at best. The dialogue was run of the mill and never pulled the reader into the story. Power Girl’s personality was rather bland and generic. There was a lack of depth to the story overall. This issue was a fairly thin read that does not take long to blast through.

What was most disappointing is how the two villains in this issue simply had to be sexist males. Was it not enough that Bevlin is simply a creepy scientist who has no morals or scruples when it comes to how he conducts his research? Was it not enough that Bevlin has less than honorable end goals with the devices that he wants to create? Does he really also have to be sexist on top of it? Bevlin’s sexist comments felt so contrived and forced and added nothing of substance or interest to his mad scientist persona.

And seriously, since when did the Ultra-Humanite need to be given a sexist angle in order to make him more of a compelling villain? The Ultra-Humanite is a major league DC villain that has been around since 1939. He hardly needs this goofy sexist angle to his character.

The result of the obligatory sexist angles to both male villains made Power Girl #1 come across as rather uncreative and painfully predictable. I really hoped that Gray and Palmiotti would not go down this hackneyed path with this title.

So congrats to Destroyer #2 for winning The Che Award of the week and “congrats” to Power Girl #1 for winning the Sequential Methadone Award for the week.

1 thought on “Weekly Awards For The Comic Books From May 6, 2009

  1. Wow. This book is almost a perfect example of cognitive dissonance – it features a woman who has a costume that pretty much encapsulates the creepy objectification of women in comics fighting against… those darn sexists!

    But really: is there anything to recommend this book? More ridiculous “This is how businesses should be run – as NGOs!” stuff because almost none of comicdom’s liberal writers can bear to see profitable business itself as an honest, viable calling; a superheroine who has literally no “hook”, who is a knock-off of a knock-off; absurd-on-their-face attempts to make her credible as a real woman.

    Look: Wonder Woman at her best supports one mildly-successful comic. What in Heaven’s name made DC think Power Girl was going to work?

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