New Comics - May 3rd - Part Two

Part Two

Last summer All Star Batman and Robin 1 came out the week of San Diego Comic Con. It was a book that any mainstream follower was curious about and I wasn't prepared to wait until I got back to my pre-ordered copies to wait to check out the book. So I paid my three bucks and grabbed an issue from a nearby retailer. Now I spend plenty of money and the Con each year on books that I'd really like to read, but some are destined to be read that night in the hotel room and others are crying to be opened immediately, so I did what any self-respecting comic fan would do and folded the book up and put it in my back pocket, knowing that I would soon be able to eke out a few minutes to read it. I did, and was able to satisfy the craving that unrealistic expectations sometimes need. Sometimes a comic book is just 15 minutes of silliness.

• Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 8 (Marvel) - It's at least good to have series artist Mike Wieringo back on the title, as he is the main reason I started buying it, and the main reason I didn't buy the last issue, with another artist filling in. The story, however, in this issue led me to decide that I don't need any more issues, even with Wieringo back in the fold. This issue starts off reading like a "What If?" and finishes with an "imaginary" future. All of it leaving me with an attitude of "Who Cares?"
• Marvel Team-Up 20 (Marvel) - This issue of the Robert Kirkman romp is plenty of fun and plays with one of my favorite super-hero story clichés: see how the unwitting hero deals with newfound powers. Good light hero book, the perfect kind to roll up and stuff into a back pocket if they didn't cost three bucks.

Two titles this week that made their way out of the preview pile at the shop and into my reading stack:

• American Virgin 3 (DC/Vertigo) - This issue seems to indicate that the title has picked up an inker. Jim Rugg of Street Angel has jumped into the art team, and the improvement is evident. I see penciller Becky Cloonan as someone with great promise who continues to grow issue by issue and title by title into an exciting and skilled artist. The art in this issue takes another jump forward in quality. The story however has begun to spin its wheels a little. Steve T. Seagle is a writer who always seems to be on the edge of greatness with story ideas, but slips back into the middle when it comes to exectuion. This title gives me high hopes and I look forward to each issue with anticipation, but there had better be more payoff than from the last ongoing Vertigo title I remember from him, House of Secrets, which I continued to buy for the impressive Teddy Kristiansen artwork more than the never-got-anywhere story.

Truth, Justin, and the American Way 2 (Image) - My purchase of this title reveals my continued search for funnybooks that are actually funny. While a little too much of the humor relies on the "chicken fat" included - non-stop throwaway visual references to 80's pop culture - this book is so well drawn and manages to tie enough humor into the characters and situations that I am enjoying it quite a bit. I don't expect every humor title to bring the funny as readily or comfortably as the great humor titles of the past (Mad, Zap, Groo and Hate leap to mind), but this title is reaching for the heights and is at least reaching the upper middle. Giuseppe Ferrario's art is stunning, and looking up the spelling makes me realize I should be googling his previous works to check them out, actually, here you go: as I said, stunning.