This week's picks

Kind of a tough week to pick three books. I think there were some pretty weak books out there but the strong books were pretty exceptional. Let's see where this takes us.

Thor: God of Thunder 4

Expect this book to appear up here relatively often if it keeps up where it's at. It's marvelous storytelling with a particularly compelling character. Over the last few years I've really come around on Thor, who I truly despised after reading the original Avengers. He was just boring to me, like the Superman of Marvel. He seemed unbeatable and unbeatable is boring. I've talked a lot this week about needing a villain that plays to Thor's level and this book has found it. To have a villain that can examine Thor through all of his major personality stages is a stroke of genius.




Punisher War Zone 3

I still admit to being kind of surprised by liking this so much. I do like to see the Avengers drop in on Punisher and to see that the heroes of the world occasionally have to dedicate time to dealing with him. Rucka's control and understanding of Punisher and of Thor and the Marvel Universe is impressively strong. With any lack there, this book fails. Instead, it's good, it's intriguing and it's totally worth reading. Also, always nice to see Spider-Man interacting with other Avengers in casual situations, like walking through Avengers tower. He seems to always need to be crawling on the ceiling and occasionally popping his head in front of people he's in conversation with. Like, dude, we can see your human legs. We know you can use them.


X-Men Legacy 4

This was a tough last call to make. I was torn between this, Cable and X-Force, and Superior Spider-Man, all of which were very good, but this one won out just because of how different it feels. Cable and X-Force was interesting and the team feels very connected and natural already, Superior Spider-Man rung in a new(ish) era for Spider-Man and brings the book to a whole new and exciting place, but this book so far has examined a lot of questions in a very little time. In this issue alone, we get a lot of thinking on parenthood, Professor X's "dream," the role of the X-Men in the world and in the dream, and many other things. It also delves into Legion's extensive powers and lets us see his selection and knowledge of them. It's well done, it looks good, and it asks worthwhile things. Keep up with it.



GUYS, my reviews are done for the week. I'm writing this before the 49ers game ends so tomorrow we'll see my mood before I select what I'm going to write about or if I can bring myself to write anything. I GUESS YOU'LL KNOW MONDAY.