Weekly Awards for Comic Books From February 6, 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:

Moon Knight #15

Uncanny X-Men #495

The Winner: Moon Knight #15

This week was actually a pretty ordinary week. I didn’t find any of the issues to be particularly amazing reads other than Moon Knight #15. This week was simply one of those weeks where you get a bunch of serviceable but nothing incredible reads.

I had to place Uncanny X-Men #495 into the mix since it was the second best read this week. Brubaker crafted a fine story even though nothing particular happened in this issue. And Choi’s artwork was just drop dead gorgeous. This is some of the best artwork that we have gotten on any X-title in quite some time.

However, Moon Knight #15 was hands down the best read this week. Mike Benson is doing an excellent job replacing Charlie Huston on this title. Benson crafts a raw and visceral story in this issue. Benson clearly understands Moon Knight’s mentally unstable character and delivers to the reader the dark and twisted world that is Moon Knight’s reality. And what is truly special is that Benson shows how Moon Knight’s insanity harms all of those that he loves. Be it Marlene, Frenchie or Rob, it is dangerous to be too close to Moon Knight. And you want to talk about a disturbing ending? Wow, Moon Knight #15 definitely has one as we fully realize that Moon Knight is one seriously troubled individual.

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

The Twelve #2

Justice Society of America #12

The Winner: The Twelve #2

And Countdown to Final Crisis continues to defy the odds by not being nominated for the Sequential Methadone Award for the third straight week. Honestly, none of the titles were horrible reads this week. Instead, what we got were plenty of average middle of the road issues this week. So, the two titles nominated for the Sequential Methadone Award weren’t terrible reads. They were simply the weakest of the issues that came out this week.

Justice Society of America #12 bored me to tears. I already have gone into depth about this issue in my review. Suffice it to say that this title has failed to capture the excitement that the JSA had before it was cancelled during Infinite Crisis. Since it is Johns, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But, he needs to seriously pick up the pace and avoid giving us too many more issues like Justice Society of America #12.

The winner of the Sequential Methadone Award for the worst read of the week goes to The Twelve #2. Now, again, this wasn’t a horrible read. The Twelve #2 was simply the weakest read of the week. And there is a lot that I enjoy about this title. I find Chris Weston’s artwork to be a wonderful match for this title. Weston’s artwork is decidedly Golden Age with a pleasant modern twist to it. And JMS managed to hook me with an intriguing first issue of The Twelve.

However, like many titles that JMS writes, they start off interesting and then fall apart under the weight of his own rambling and preachy PC style of writing. Squadron Supreme is a good example of that. Also, JMS can be predictable.

Case in point, we get to see the blond haired, blue eyed Dynamic Man out and about fighting crime. Dynamic Man is trying to adjust to being cryogenically frozen since World War II and now having to deal with a radically different society. Dynamic Man sees a white woman yelling that a thief just stole her purse. We see a black male running ahead of the woman. Dynamic Man immediately swoops in and grabs the black guy thinking he is the thief. The woman then exclaims that the black man is her husband. Dynamic Man clearly isn’t down with interracial marriages of modern day society. JMS is so predictable that I saw this coming from a million miles away. And of course, Dynamic Man had to be a rubio.

I found it typical JMS and totally unnecessary. It was definitely an infraction of a subsection of the Nazi Rule. The white racist in the world of comic books is so totally and mind numbingly boring. It also over simplifies racism. Trust me; I have dated women of all different races outside of mine including white, black and Asian. I always received dirty looks from the men of whatever racial group the girl was that I was dating at the time. This bizarre repetitive perception that racism is a white disease is not only irresponsible it also gives fails to address the root of racism that lives in the hearts and minds of people of all races. Seriously, my hometown of Miami is as racist as any city and we barely have any white people at all.

Also, The Twelve lost much of its luster once Project Super Powers #0 came out the following week and absolutely kicked The Twelve’s ass. When it comes down to which modern take on Golden Age characters is a more compelling read I have to go with Project Super Powers. Still, there is plenty about The Twelve to like. And The Twelve has so much potential to be a fantastic read. JMS is a talented writer and can deliver a real gem with this title. However, he will have to avoid his inclination to get too preachy and predictable in order to pull it off.

So congrats to Moon Knight #15 for winning the Che for the week and congrats to The Twelve #2 for winning the Sequential Methadone Award of the week.