This week's picks!

Another pretty solid week on the books and all that's left to do is break down the most highly recommended books we had this week. EASY PEASY.

Black Widow 5
I wrote a review later on this list about five times talking about how it had barely beat out BLACK WIDOW because, unfair as it is to BLACK WIDOW, it's held to a higher standard because of four amazing issues to start it off. Then, as I kept trying to explain why it had barely beaten it out, I found myself disagreeing with my own arguments. So here we are, replacing PUNISHER with BLACK WIDOW on this list. I thought that PUNISHER had the upper hand this week in the narrative, which Edmondson uses in both books, but I liked the action, the characters, and the art more on BLACK WIDOW, enough to push it just past the great action, characters, and art on PUNISHER. In truth, it was also partly because Natasha made Molot Boga get sucked into a jet turbine and because of the panel right before it happened (seen at left). Great, great book.

Moon Knight 2

This one definitely stuck with me through the week. The layout, the narration, the chilling midway point as your comfort in the narration takes a turn; it's all perfectly handled and it makes the book a really quick and tense, though gorgeous, read. The initial narration, simple black print on a white background, reminds you of Moon Knight and therefore quickly reads like Moon Knight's narration, not to mention that it sounds just like his origin. Then you realize that it's not just a character saying it while all the action goes on, it's the character behind the action saying it and it forces you to wonder if Moon Knight is killing these people. Then, when all of the eight targets on the page have been killed, the first person you see in the aftermath is Moon Knight himself. It's a wonderful turn and just about the best way for Ellis and Shalvey to show us how crazy we even think Moon Knight is, that we believed it could have been him. Amazing, thought-provoking, mind-blowing, great stuff.

New Warriors 3
Also just beating out PUNISHER this week, I think that NEW WARRIORS had a real turnaround issue this week. I don't think the book was bad in any way before this issue or anything like that, it just felt like it was going to take longer to set up with all of the moving parts and the big storyline that Yost was creating. However, this third issue really did a great job explaining our plot and further establishing our characters, all in a pretty quick reading twenty pages or so. Really well done by Yost and artist Marcus To as they continue to build the world of these young superheroes and start to get the audience a little more situated. Bonus points go to NEW WARRIORS this week for giving just about the simplest but most accurate breakdown of so many of the off-shoot races on Earth, like mutants, Atlanteans, Lemurians, Inhumans, Eternals, Deviants, GOD SO MANY.


BONUS PICK OF THE WEEK
Captain America: Winter Soldier
Seriously, just everyone go see it. Though I imagine if you're on this blog, I probably don't need to tell you.

This weeks picks

Kind of a slow week this week. Not a lot of standouts and not many that'll really stick with me but surely enough to fill this list out, right? Right?

Daredevil 36

It's a little hard to add too much weight to this finale as the book will pick up again next month with the same creative team. Fortunately, that's not really why it stands out this week. The fight and the court case are all good, particularly as Matt realizes just why he's protected his identity for so long and just what that protection has meant. There are a couple of really nice pages in the issue but the real driving force is the opening scene between Matt and Foggy. They have one of the best relationships in comics and one of the most unique and it's come through pretty well here as they've repaired their friendship pretty solidly (though it still had its bumps this volume) and the series ends with Foggy, despite the pressure it'll bring on him and the health care it will take away, urging Matt to reveal himself as Daredevil. Very nice stuff.

New Warriors 1

I don't think this was a perfect first issue by any means. I wasn't blown away by it in the same sort of way I was by NEW AVENGERS or BLACK WIDOW or HAWKEYE though, if I compare every book to those, most books will lose. What I really liked about this book, though, is it was a very confident set-up book. Sometimes writers on a new book will try to cram too much in or try to introduce too many storylines all at once. What makes this number one even better is that, looking back at it, it feels like this book very much could have had those problems as it showed a bunch of our new heroes and showed them all up against a new enemy but it never felt overloaded or slow. It moved well, it had a good tone, and I think it's planting seeds that will work pretty well. Very interested to see where this one goes.

Punisher 2

I don't know that this was really the best book out there this week and it certainly makes this list as a benefit of the slow week but all of these qualifications don't mean that this book isn't still worthy of consideration or of checking out. One of the things that this book is already doing really well is one of the intangibles of any sort of literature or media, creating a tone. It's still pretty early and so there's not really a way to even guarantee what that tone is but it's certainly establishing a unique and consistent feel for the series. A lot of that tone is built with Mitch Gerards' art and colors but I think Edmondson has also shown between this book and BLACK WIDOW that he understands the worlds that his characters inhabit. Time will still tell if this is a really top-notch book, more than just a top-notch Punisher book, even, but there are certainly hints of a greater world and greater character development and plot here, all helped by the established tone.