Comic Book of the Week: New Year Edition

I’ll start by saying yes, this is a bit late, but I still wanted to share my Comic Book of the Week for the first week of 2013. I only picked up a handful of books that week, so there wasn’t much in the way of competition. But it probably wouldn’t have mattered much with All-New X-Men on the shelf. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve no doubt come across my praise for the time traveling mutant book by Brian Michael Bendis, Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger, Marte Gracia and Cory Petit. It’s a great book and easily one of my favorite Marvel NOW! books. All-New X-Men #5 keeps that trend going.

This fifth issue introduces a few more elements to an already good story. One of those is Beast’s health issue resulting in a new physical mutation. Another is the manifestation of Jean Grey’s telepathy much sooner than it originally had. We also see the chasm developing between her and Scott. Present-day Scott continues in his role which is something akin to an NCAA football coach recruiting talent around the country. In the place of top talent are young mutants who’ve just discovered their powers. There’s some interaction between young Scott and Logan that’ll make you think about their relationship over the years and from here on out.

The young X-Men have voted and decided to stay in the future to solve the situation. The Icemen have a moment that’ll leave you saying “yeah, that’s Iceman.” Left in the dust is poor Angel who, unlike the rest of the team, has yet to encounter his future self. If you’re curious about that conversation, look no further than issue #6, which is available as of this writing.

I think Stuart Immonen is doing the best work of his career on this title. With Wade Von Grawbadger and Marte Gracia doing the inking and coloring, respectively, they’ve been publishing a beautiful comic. Two artists assist in this issue: Craig Yeung on inks and Jason Keith on colors. The best visual is a two-page spread with young Jean Grey in the center of images she pulls from Beast’s mind showing some of her finest and not so finest, moments with the team. The art team makes the effort to distinguish between the two time periods in the borders as well as in a lighter shade of colors. Good touches on both counts.

All-New X-Men is a great book. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, as an X-fan who questioned this book in the beginning, I’m fully on board with what Bendis is doing. His writing is on point. Combine that with Immonen’s pencils and you have one of the best Marvel NOW! books on the shelf.

Cover of the Week

Happy Day After New Comic Book Day! That’s an official day, right? Well that doesn’t matter. I’m still reading books from last week since I’ve been playing Xbox for the past few days. That’ll be made up this weekend though. Lots of good books I’m looking forward to reading.

One of the books I’ll be reading is All New X-Men #3. And who drew this good-looking cover? The team of Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger and Marte Gracia. Take a look.

There are two pieces of information of which you should be aware. The first is I love Cyclops. That’s actually well documented. The second bit is I’ve been a fan of Immonen for sometime. If you read my book of the week post for All New X-Men #1, you already know that. His work along with Von Grawbadger and Gracia has made for a good-looking book.

I like to see Scott let loose with the blasting and such. Any artist depicting that will likely get cool points from me. I’ve never seen it like this though. Here, Scott is just radiating awesomeness. Stuart has the blasts all over the place. The coloring in the explosion and lasers makes the cover pop.

And that’s that comic book family. Happy reading to you all.

Book of the Week

Here we are on New Comic Book Day Eve and two days before Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it anyway). Speaking of new comic books, a subject I discussed on twitter yesterday, there are 20 comics I’ll be picking up this week. You know what I’m thankful for? A holiday weekend that allows me to read all 20 books without worry of work or school. I foresee some good reading ahead of me.

Before we get to my favorite, take a quick look at the competition for the week. All New X-Men #1, Amazing Spider-Man #697, Batgirl #14, Batman #14, Extermination #6, Gambit #5, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #184, Green Lantern Corps #14, Invincible #97, New Avengers #33, Thief of Thieves #10, Thor: God of Thunder #1, Venom #27, Wolverine and the X-Men #20 and X-Men Legacy #1. With all that, let’s give a round of applause to writer Brian Michael Bendis, penciller Stuart Immonen, inker Wade Von Grawbadger, colorist Marte Gracia and letterer Cory Petit. All New X-Men #1 opens the next chapter for the X-universe.

I’ll admit I questioned Bendis handling the X-Men when this move was announced. Granted, this is just the first issue so we haven’t had much time with the X-Men from the past. But I obviously enjoyed this issue and look forward to the next. If you’re a long-time X-fan (as I am) and was hesitant about this: pick this up.

Cyclops has been liberated, he re-joins Magneto, Emma Frost and Magik in recruiting the newly mutated citizens of the world. The Cyclops fan and X-Man in me immediately fell in love with a three particular panels in which Cyke declares his stand on mutants in the world and the X-Men. Immonen’s depiction of Summers making the “X” with his forearms is an image I won’t forget. And I can thank the art team for that.

Stuart Immonen and Wade Von Grawbadger have collaborated before and you can expect the same high quality level of work here. And who doesn’t want more Immonen art? His characters look great all around. From a storytelling standpoint, his pencils convey the script well. Marte Gracia adds in his colors to really make the book come alive.

I’m looking forward to what this book will bring, even with my previously stated reservations. Long live the X-Men.

Avenging Spider-Man #7 Review

Avenging Spider-Man keeps rolling with a rotating partner and creative team. This month Kathryn and Stuart Immonen team-up with Wade Von Grawbadger, Matt Hollingsworth, and Joe Caramagna to pair Spidey with our favorite gamma powered lawyer, She-Hulk.

First, I’ll say that I don’t know much about She-Hulk. I’ve never had a problem with her, but I’ve never read much of her. But it was nice to see her appear in two books in the same week. My point in saying that was I didn’t know what to expect from her character. I imagined her to be a more laid back type of person. Again, that’s coming from a person with little knowledge of the character. She’s very serious and certainly annoyed by Spider-Man, which honestly isn’t unwarranted.

Second, the story is titled “Wadjetmacallit?!.” I kid you not. Odd, right? Well it definitely fits the story. This issue starts off with our heroes teaming up to take out some sewer creature. How did they happen to team-up? I have no idea. After this they head to an Egyptian exhibit and encounter Bastet, goddess of cats. And of course, there are TONS of cats.

Spidey maintains his usual charm. And of course that means annoying She-Hulk. Stuart Immonen’s visuals are what you’d expect from him. I really don’t have much to say on that front. I do like his She-Hulk though.

I really wouldn’t recommend this book. If you’re a She-Hulk fan, you might like it. I won’t guarantee that though. Seven issues and this is easily the least entertaining of the series.