Weekly Awards For The Comic Books From December 17, 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:

Spider-Man: Noir #1
Supergirl #36
X-Men: Legacy #219

The Winner: X-Men: Legacy #219

I already gave Spider-Man: Noir #1 a positive review. This was a solid debut issue for this mini-series. However, as much as I enjoyed this issue, the slow pace of the story and the inconsistent artwork prevented it from winning the Che.

I liked Supergirl #36 and gave it a solid score in my review, which has not been posted yet. This was a technically well written issue and my only dislikes with this story were personal ones. I think that your average comic book reader will enjoy this latest installment of the New Krypton story.

However, I had to give the Che for the best read of the week to X-Men: Legacy #219.

X-Men Legacy #219

Writer: Mike Carey
Pencils: Phil Briones
Inks: Cam Smith

Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

X-Men #219 was a great read. I know that The Revolution has not had the time to do a proper review of X-Men: Legacy, but believe me that it has nothing to do with us liking this title or not. Carey has done a fantastic job on X-Men: Legacy and consistently delivers a quality constructed and carefully crafted read each and every month. X-Men: Legacy is certainly offer technically superior writing than what we got over in Uncanny X-Men.

I had my reservations about X-Men: Legacy in the wake of Messiah Complex. However, Carey has proved my fears unfounded and has impressed me with the high quality of work that he pours into this title. Each issue has offered an intriguing look into Xavier’s relationships with the various characters in the X-universe.

X-Men #219 takes a look into the contentious relationship between Xavier and his “brother” the Juggernaut. Carey plays with the question of whether the Juggernaut is a person who became a villain due to misfortune or if he became a villain due to choice. It was interesting to see how Juggernaut makes it clear that he chose to become the Juggernaut. That he was never a victim of the Cyttorak, that it was a blessing. That he got the ability to keep moving no matter what gets in his way. Juggernaut emphasizes that the only times he regrets where the ones when he sat back and did nothing and tried to be like Xavier.

Carey effectively explains why Juggernaut ever helped the X-Men and his motivation for being the super-villain that he is today. The best part was how Xavier handled the Juggernaut. Juggernaut told Xavier that this was the end and that he was going to kill Xavier after their little face-to-face talk.

Then Carey pulled out a stunning twist by having Xavier hand Juggernaut a small decorative box and telling Juggernaut to open it after he killed Xavier. Juggernaut decides to open it first and sees that the small box is empty. Juggernaut then kills Xavier.

Carey shows the reader Juggernaut living out his life to its fullest and enjoying being the Juggernaut. Juggy kills the X-Men and steals a ton of money and parties with hookers. We see Juggernaut relaxing in his den when he decides to look into the small box once again. He opens the box and sees himself sleeping in his bed.

Suddenly a giant Xavier opens the roof and peers down on Juggernaut. We then see that the Juggernaut is actually inside of a box that the giant Xavier is holding. Carey reveals that the meeting and this entire issue has taken place inside of Juggernaut’s mind. That Xavier approached the Juggernaut while he was sleeping and entered the Juggernaut’s mind.

Xavier then says that he knew that the Juggernaut would kill him. Xavier says that Juggernaut was right that redemption is not always possible, but that understanding is. Xavier says that he better understands the Juggernaut now and he knows the path that the Juggernaut has chosen to walk. Xavier then closes the lid and says “For your sake…don’t stray onto mine.”

What a fantastic finish that had the reader full satisfied and smiling at Xavier’s balls of steel. Carey continues to deliver the most fascinating and intriguing version of Professor X that I have ever read. Carey gives Xavier enough edge without deviating from Xavier’s core personality. I like Xavier’s approach to confronting Juggernaut on Xavier’s terms.

Carey gave a nice sense of closure to the ongoing rivalry between these two “siblings.” And I liked how once Xavier fully understood that Juggernaut is who he is out of his own decisions that redemption was simply not in the cards for Juggernaut. And the end result of Xavier threatening Juggernaut to stay out of Xavier’s way was further proof of Xavier’s ballsier and sharper manner of dealing with his enemies.

Carey continues to craft plenty of excellent dialogue. The character work has also been well done. X-Men: Legacy #219 was a well plotted and paced issue that hooked the reader’s attention from the start and did not let go until the end. What was also nice about this issue was that it was very new reader friendly. This was a one-shot issue and Carey gave just enough back-story that newer readers would fully understand the relationship between Xavier and Juggernaut.

If you have not given X-Men: Legacy a try then I would recommend doing so. Carey is doing an impressive job with Xavier’s character. And Xavier’s quest that causes him to cross paths with various characters from his past makes for quite a remarkable read.

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

Mighty Avengers #20

The Winner: Mighty Avengers #20

There was really no need to bother with nominating any other title for this award. Yeah, Invincible Iron Man #8 was weak, but the fact that Tony Stark is out of the government and returning to his roots made me happy enough.

Uncanny X-Men #505 was another weak read. Fraction continues to struggle with crafting quality dialogue and not getting sidetracked by goofy, preachy and pointless dialogue or narration. Fraction also continues to display a poor feel for Colossus’ character.

However, I do think that Fraction is slowly improving with each issue and that the general direction of this title, while nothing special or highly original, is at least entertaining enough to be satisfying cotton candy for the brain.

No, in the end, there was no reason at all to waste time nominating any other title for the Sequential Methadone Award of the week when Mighty Avengers #20 so loudly screamed out for it. I already have properly critiqued the weaknesses of this issue in my review. The funny thing about this issue is that if Bendis has not utterly imploded in the final six pages of this issue then Mighty Avengers #20 would have won the Che award for the best read of the week. That is how much I enjoyed everything Bendis gave us up to the funeral scene.

So congrats to X-Men: Legacy #219 for winning The Che Award of the week and “congrats” to Mighty Avengers #20 for winning the Sequential Methadone Award for the week.