This week's picks

This week is a really hard one to pick three stand-outs. I don't want to say it was a weak week for comics, but it wasn't particularly strong. I don't know if there was any book that was particularly stand-out negatively but there weren't many positives either. A lot of middle-of-the-road sort of books, at least for my tastes this week. That said, I found it pretty easy to pick the top two. The third one came down to three choices (maybe four) and that's, frankly, still a little undecided.

Avengers 7

I've liked this book overall, despite any complaints I might have had about being confused. Being a little confused isn't a bad thing. It means you're writing a story that is likely worth telling. Of course, it doesn't always mean that, but this story so far is compelling and it lets the reader feel like all of the pieces are out there drifting about, waiting to fit into place. It's a pretty great feeling when you can see how this pieces are about to be placed or just to see them floating around and occasionally reappearing to let you know they're still there. Also, this one left me with the best grasp on an Avengers issue so far in this Hickman run. I actually felt like I had a grip on where things stand, though he's creating his own new mythology so I could be way off. It's also not bad, though, to not know exactly how the series is going to play out.




Ultimates 22

Like Avengers, I found myself pretty happy with the way this book is shaping up. I tend to feel a little removed from the Ultimate Universe, even though I've read a great deal of it. I can't explain it, I just don't feel as comfortable on that side of the multiverse. This book felt like it went a long way to re-orienting me in this world, even though some big plot pieces came up. It's not like they sacrificed an issue to do a tidy little clean-up; they still had a solid plot and a solid amount of characters in the book, it just didn't feel at all forced. Not that it always does or anything. Look, I'm talking myself into a bit of a hole here. Just suffice it to say I enjoyed this book this week. Is that reason enough to pick it for the top picks?




Cable and X-Force 5

Where I specifically didn't think that Avengers and Ultimates, despite being easier to read than some of their other issues, were breaks from the action to reset where they are, I very much saw that in Cable and X-Force this week. Like I've said time and again, an issue where less action happens is not necessarily a weak issue, as long as it's not the norm. In this case, we've had four pretty great issues that were fairly action-packed and gave us a good sense of how this book is going to shape up. Taking a fifth issue to slow things down for a moment and give us some deeper character moments is just as important as them jumping into the next arc. I think it was a good play and I think this was a pretty great issue all around. Honorable mentions for books that DIDN'T make this spot include Winter Soldier 16, Iron Man 7, and Superior Spider-Man 5 (particularly Winter Soldier and Iron Man; I never thought I'd say this, but the most obnoxious part about this Spider-Man book right now is Peter Parker).