Weekly Awards For The Comic Books From October 15, 2008

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:

Booster Gold #13
Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge #3
Guardians of the Galaxy #6
Justice Society of America #19

The Winner: Justice Society of America #19

Booster Gold #13
Writer: Rick Remender
Pencils: Pat Olliffe
Inks: Jerry Ordway

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

Booster Gold #13 definitely exceeded my initial expectations. Ever since Johns and Katz wrapped up their run on this title, we have been getting nothing but filler issues. I was not all that impressed with the filler issues that we got from Dixon. So, I figured that there was little chance that I would enjoy the filler issues brought to us by Remender as DC wastes time until Jurgens takes over as the new writer on Booster Gold.

I was wrong. Remender turns in an enjoyable issue. The time stream is a wonderful plot tool that provides a writer fertile grounds for concocting wild and wondrous adventures. Remender takes full advantage of this literary tool and fashions a story that has plenty of twists and turns. We get a story that moves at a tight and quick pace. Remender does a nice job plotting a story that is focused and is fairly compressed given how comic books are written nowadays.

Starro is a classic villain and Remender does a good job making Booster Gold struggle against this despotic starfish. Remender flashes a nice feel for Booster’s character. We also get plenty of solid dialogue. Remender shows off a nice sense of humor which is necessary when writing Booster Gold.

Olliffe and Ordway combine to deliver plenty of quality artwork. The artwork has a nice clean look to it that makes this issue easy to follow. If you enjoy a good old-fashioned super hero adventure then give this issue a try.

Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge #3
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Scott Kollins

Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10

Johns delivers quite the finale to Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge. This was certainly an action packed issue that moves at a frenetic pace. Johns crams quite a lot into this one issue. Johns also rocks the reader by dropping several bombs on the reader during the course of this issue.

The transformation of Inertia into Kid Zoom was a neat twist. And the subsequent move by Kid Zoom to use his new powers to transform Zoom back into his normal self trapped in his wheelchair was a real stunner. I did not think we would see Hunter back in his original form.

The death of Inertia was inevitable. I am sure that every single reader knew that Inertia was marked for death with the beginning of this story. Even though I am over the constant carnage and death that is dominating DC’s comic books, I have to say that Inertia was a prick and had it coming. I liked seeing the Rogues teaming up to finish off Inertia.

DC keeps piling it on Piper as Piper now has to deal with being an accessory to yet another murder. Piper was the one who stunned Inertia which allowed the rest of the Rogues to step in and finish Inertia off. I hope that Piper gets a break soon. Honestly, Piper has been dumped on so much over the course of the past two years.

I loved the Rogues’ reaction to the news that Barry Allen has come back to life. The Rogues point out how with Jay and Wally it was always fun and games. But, never with Barry. That Barry never gave any of them a break. The Rogues agree that retirement is not an option if Barry is back and that the game is officially on.

This ending did a good job showing the reader the differences between Barry and the other two Flashes in Wally and Jay. This ending was a nice lead-in to The Flash: Rebirth which will deal with Barry Allen’s return to the DCU.

Still, Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge #3 had enough defects to keep it from winning the Che. I guess that it is possible that Weather Wizard’s son is not dead since we never see a body. But, it sure seemed to me that Inertia killed Weather Wizard’s son. Damn. That is taking the blood thirstiness for death at DC to all new levels. I mean seriously, killing babies? No thanks. That did not do much for me.

The artwork on Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge was just slightly above average. I am just not a fan of Kollins’ style of art. If you enjoy Kollins’ work then you will certainly love the look of this issue.

Guardians of the Galaxy #6
Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Pencils: Paul Pelletier
Inks: Rick Magyar

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

DnA cranked out another fun ride with Guardians of the Galaxy #6. This issue concluded the obligatory Secret Invasion story arc. But, the good thing is that unlike many of the Secret Invasion tie-in issues, Guardians of the Galaxy #6 was actually entertaining. DnA treat the reader to equal amounts of kick-ass action and quality character work. Guardians of the Galaxy continues to be a balanced comic book.

DnA also give us a couple of twists at the end of this issue. First, we learn that the Skrulls on Knowhere are actually good Skrulls who are seeking sanctuary from the jihadist Skrulls who are waging their religious war against Earth. But, the bigger twist is the second one when the members of the Guardians of the Galaxy discover that Starlord had Mantis use her mental powers to “nudge” Rocket, Phyla-Vell, Drax, Gamora and Adam Warlock into agreeing to join Starlord’s new super team. The result is that they all are so upset with Starlord’s surreptitious manner in which he assembled the team that they all quit. Therefore, the Guardians appear to be no more.

Guardians of the Galaxy #6 offers the reader good character work, well crafted dialogue, exciting action and a well plotted story that has multiple interesting plotlines being cultivated at the same time. If you enjoy super teams with a Sci-Fi tilt to them then you should give this title a try.

Still, in the end I had to award the Che to Justice Society of America #19. I already praised this issue in my review. Johns has constructed on incredible story even though it is on the verge of collapsing under the weight of possibly too many huge plotlines. Still, Justice Society of America remains DC’s best team title.

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

Batman and the Outsiders #12
Mighty Avengers #19
Titans #6
Uncanny X-Men #503

The Winner: Mighty Avengers #19

Batman and the Outsiders #12
Writer: Frank Tieri
Pencils: Ryan Benjamin
Inks: Saleem Crawford

Art Rating: 4 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 2 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 3 Night Girls out of 10

To put it simply, Batman and the Outsiders #12 stunk. This title has been pedestrian as it is, but it gets even worse with this issue. The long and short of this issue is that the Black Glove has someone pose as Batman and send a code to be downloaded into Remac so the Outsiders can come rescue Batman if he signals for them. Ollie wants to delete the code figuring it is a trap. Batgirl disagrees and reasons that they can track the code and find out who created it and from where.

So, the team agrees with Batgirl’s plan and they download the code into Remac. Unfortunately, the code turns Remac into a huge bomb which causes him to explode and rip apart the lab. Remac, real name Salah Miandad, dies and Thunder suffers such a blow that she is now in a coma. Rex was blown to bits. Grace blames Batgirl for everything and the Outsiders disband.

Batgirl then gets a message from the Black Glove who gloats about destroying everything in Batman’s life including the Outsiders. This prompts Batgirl to swear that there will be an Outsiders even if she has to put them together by herself.

This title is one huge steaming stinking mess. This comic book has had an utter and complete lack of direction or purpose. This title has completely lacked a coherent mission statement or master plan. Instead, this title reads like a comic book where the direction of this title has been trashed and re-thought at least three times. Batman and the Outsiders reads like the writers and the editors are simply making up the story as they go along with absolutely no plan in mind.

Once again, we get more death that has become so commonplace in DC’s comic books. The death of Salah has zero impact on the reader. Why? Because death in general has become just too ever present in every DC title. Also, because no writer ever took the time to grow Salah’s character and get the reader invested in his character.

Another reason is that this death was incredibly lame and clearly smacks of a writer deciding to radically change course with the story and wanting to junk one of the characters that just does not fit into their plans. This was truly a pointless and meaningless death. All of the aforementioned reasons combine to make this death a complete and total miss with me.

And with Batman and the Outsiders #12, this title officially falls victim to The Revolution’s dreaded axe. There is no reason at all for me to keep this train wreck of a title on my permanent pull list at my local comic book shop. And the possibility of Batgirl assuming the main role on this title makes me lose practically any and all interest that I might have initially had in this title.

The artwork did nothing for me at all. This was a pedestrian looking issue. I would only recommend Batman and the Outsiders to readers who are fans of Batgirl’s character. For everyone else, I would strenuously recommend steering clear of this mess of a comic book.

Titans #6
Writer: Judd Winick
Pencils: Julian Lopez
Inks: Prentis Rollins & Bit

Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 3 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 5.5 Night Girls out of 10

Titans #6 was a pedestrian end to a dull story arc. We saw evil Raven take out all of her evil brothers. Then evil Raven attempted to use Beast Boy as a vessel to turn the other Titans into the new version of the seven deadly sins. The logic goes that Raven wants to rule the world with her real “family” the Titans instead of her “brothers.”

Luckily, Donna has a magic crystal that acts as a convenient deus ex machina that conveniently rids Raven of the evil Trigon spirit inside of her and saves the day.

This title continues to be a poor read. The story was shallow and unoriginal. The “Oh no! Raven’s gone evil” story has become totally dull and uninteresting. The character work is still non-existent and the dialogue is average at best. There is absolutely no substance at all to this title.

Having said that, at least Winick gave us plenty of action. And I have to admit that I liked the ending with Jericho inside of Match’s body arriving at the Titans’ HQ. I also enjoyed Lopez’s artwork.

Uncanny X-Men #503 was another disappointing read. I have already filleted this issue in my review. This issue would have easily won the Sequential Methadone Award for this week if it had not been for Bendis’ complete and total waste of an issue in Mighty Avengers #19.

Yup. I had to award the Sequential Methadone Award for the worst read of the week to Mighty Avengers #19.
Writer: Brian Bendis
Pencils: Khoi Pham
Inks: Danny Miki & Allen Martinez

Art Rating: 3 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 1 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 2 Night Girls out of 10

Mighty Avengers #19 was a complete and total waste of paper. This might possibly be one of the worst big event tie-in issues that I have ever read. What did we get with this issue? Well, we began with Marvel Boy trying to contact the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree for a sign as to what he should be doing on Earth. At that point, Marvel Boy then sees the appearance of Captain Skrull-Vell come across the news on the monitor screens at The Cube.

We then see the Skrull virus take down The Cube’s systems and all the prisoners revolt and escape. Marvel Boy then leaves the prison. We then see Captain Skrull-Vell leaving Thunderbolts Mountain totally confused with his mind fractured about whether he is either a Skrull soldier or actually Mar-Vell.

Skrull-Vell then runs across some Skrull Super Soldiers and ends up kicking their asses. Skrull-Vell then blasts into space and sees the Skrull armada. Captain Skrull-Vell then attacks the Skrull armada. Skrull-Vell is overwhelmed and blasted by the big cannons from the Skrull ships.

As Skrull-Vell falls to Earth he thinks about Mar-Vell’s life and states that “Mar-Vell was the name I was given.” Skrull-Vell plummets into the ground. Marvel Boy is on the scene and holds Skrull-Vell’s body. Marvel Boy has a confused look on his face.

Mighty Avengers #19 must have taken Bendis all of 15 minutes to write. We got absolutely nothing new at all in this issue. We have seen everything that happened in this issue before. We have had to sit through Skrull-Vell’s endless personal crisis numerous times. And it gets less interesting with each reading.

This issue was the very epitome of a writer tossing out 100% pure filler in an effort to waste time. There is no reason at all to waste your money purchasing Mighty Avengers #19.

So congrats to Justice Society of America #19 for winning The Che Award of the week and “congrats” to Mighty Avengers #19 for winning the Sequential Methadone Award for the week.

2 thoughts on “Weekly Awards For The Comic Books From October 15, 2008

  1. I like the way you’ve done these little mini-reviews.
    Completely agree with your nominations this week.
    For both the Che and the Sequential Methadone Award.

    I was reading a review for Booster Gold on the CBR site that basically said it was crap, and I was thinking “Is this guy reading the same comic as me”. Glad to see others enjoyed it as well.

    Justice Society of America and Guardians of the Galaxy (GotG) are always a great reads.
    GotG was one of the best Secret Invasion tie-ins, taking a different approach than most titles, and furthering its own storyline at the same time.
    JSA did a great handling of a superhero split without it turning into a brawl.

    Uncanny X-Men has become over sexualised and the dialogue is really bad, which makes it a tough read every month. I want to enjoy it, but all I can think is:- “That is not the way s/he talks” or “that is really stupid”!

    Batman and the Outsiders is a mess, storylines and plot points are introduced only to be blown up a few issues later with a change in writer, direction, or common sense. They knew Batman RIP was coming, they should have thought all this through in advance.

    Mighty Avengers was shit, I don’t know what to say other than that. They combined a few pages from Thunderbolts, some from Secret Invasion, stretched them out, occasionally added some split personality dialogue boxes and put it out as an issue of Mighty Avengers. TOTALLY UNNECESSARY!

    Apparently I had something to say today…….

    What is the Age of Sentry comic like?
    The previews don’t look very good.

  2. Tell me about it…i noticed DC is starting to kill babies. Read Final Crisis Revelations #2, and you see a flash back of some of the evil deeds the bald-cain cult group has done. In the bottom right you see a shadow of them skewering a baby. I found that really distrubing. I know the group is supposed to be evil but that seemed a bit too extreme.

    I for one think that the Weather Wizard’s son death did not occur. It seems that Interia may have just sent him into the speed force or something. I bet a pretty penny that he will return sometime later as a new villain, or maybe even a hero. It would be nice to see a new generation of rouges. There is a new Captain boomerrang, so a new weather wizard may be cool. However, I don’t want them to kill the old one to make room for a new one like they did with captain boomerrang.

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