Comic of the Week: Despite me floundering in the end of Kieron Gillen‘s Journey into Mystery (which, the more I think about it, might be one of my favorite comic runs by anyone of all time) all week, whistfully sighing waiting for Marvel to announce that he is writing that teen team-up book with some of my favorite characters ever (WHEN, Marvel, WHEN?), and the craziness involving travel and business trips for the boyfriend, I haven’t even gotten to last week’s comics yet! But a commitment is a commitment, and I promised you folks an update. So I had the unfortunate burden of heading to Culver’s for comics lunch and reading my entire weekly draw from this week. And there was a lot to read.
I should probably give you all a sense of scale. This was a slightly heavy draw week off of my pull list at my friendly local comic shop (flcs, going forward). I had 20 books waiting for me today, spreading between the big 2 (Marvel & DC Comics) and some smaller franchise and independent books. So when I say something was the best of the week, that means it surpassed about 17-19 other titles each week. That means I read approximately 80 comics a month. It also means I’m poor.
So, what won out this week? It was a weird pull, because for a change I had a wide spread across a bunch of genres. Valiant’s Harbinger, Mike Norton & Tim Seeley‘s Revival, Brian K. Vaughan’s Saga, and Nate Cosby & Ben McCool’s Pigs #8 were all tight this week, turning in some of the best work yet on all titles. For big payoffs, AvX #10 was pretty sweet (been waiting for a decent moment in this title, as its definitely been dragging). Some books that surprised me were X-Factor #242–big emotional moments, but almost no build up left me wanting to feel more than I did. Red Hood #12 almost made it to the top of the pile, as the storytelling was honestly as tight as I’ve seen Lobdell do since he started his run. It felt very much the epic, star-spanning swashbuckling story they were clearly aiming for with the cover font choice. Avengers Academy 35 (which just announced its end date this fall and I’m trying not to cry) had big emotional payoffs this week and ties for the top spot. I’m going to miss the characters something fierce, despite Christos Gage‘s comment that they may be living on in some way in other title in the MarvelNOW iniative. They won’t be the same without his heart and soul filling them up with awesome.
The winner for this week, however, is DC Universe Presents: Kid Flash. What? A one-shot in an anthology series wins best of the week? HECK YEAH, it does! For starters, I didn’t realize how much I missed Fabian Nicieza‘s voice in DC’s teen heroes. I love Scott Lobdell‘s Teen Titans, but Fabian was my go-to guy that made me seriously love Tim Drake–and he does wonder with the New52’s Bart. Under Nicieza’s guidance, Kid Flash comes across more serious in this one-shot than in the main Titans book, more experienced and wiser while at the same time keeping his humor and awkwardness that made Bart one of my favorite DC heroes ever. He also goes up against teenage human/dinosaur hybrids that are pretty complex for brand new, one-shot characters. And that’s just the start. I almost want him to lead a team of these dino-kids in a longer running mini-series. The art by Jorge Jimenez is sleek and speedy. I didn’t exhale until I finished the issue, as it was one beautiful ride that slid effortlessly from panel to panel. This makes me crush so hard for this creative team, as well as all of the characters. So if you like dinosaurs, Flash, Bart, or just great teen characters (that ought to be most of you), DC Presents: Kid FLash (#12) is the one comic you should buy this week.
Song of the Week: Well, last week it was Primadonna, by Marina & the Diamonds. Early this week, it was Want U Back, by Cher Lloyd. But lately I’ve found myself listening to the remix album of Imagine Dragons’ It’s Time on Spotify on endless repeat. It’s been really energizing, good habit reinforcing, and makes me dance around the house with my gym shorts on. No videos of the latter.
Favorite Meal of the Week: This week has been boring for food. Leftovers and frozen dinners. I’ll Have more exciting things to report next week.
Best Media Stuff of the Week: Well, the Madonna Bar Mitzvah Boy is big on the gay blogs this week. I feel envious of him, that he’s comfortable enough in himself, and his family and friends that he could let loose like that at so young an age. I definitely used to wish to do things like that at that age. But I think the two best media making the rounds the last week, in the last week or so (keep in mind, some of this is dated but I found it this week) is the story of the momma dog saving her puppies from a burning building in Chile and an old story I found on Kieron Gillen’s tumblr stream about the magic we can give to each other when we rise about ourselves and try to be selfless, even in the smallest ways. That story made me cry, so it wins this week. Read it here.
latenightstirfry 