This week's picks

Lot of books out this week which always makes it trickier to narrow down. I also feel like there were a lot of books that were solid but weren't huge blow-away issues. A lot of them were nice or were great for set-up, but weren't huge rewarding books. That makes this complicated but FORTUNATELY, I'm on vacation AS WE SPEAK (thanks to the magic of technology and being able to post in advance) so I guess whatever?

Hawkeye 9

I always want to add TONS of Aja art in here, but
Natasha being amazing is always worth choosing

Another beautiful little book. This issue is another in a long line of great character pieces that also advance the plot and give us a real sense of an ongoing emergency. Between Darlene Penelope Wright's warning of "if you have to make a list of Avengers to kill, who do you go after first?" and the murder of Grills/Gil at the hands of the clown, we know things are on the move. We also know that Clint is in some hot water with his friend-girl and his other Avengers pals and that he probably wouldn't go to them for help even if he did know what was coming. Writer Matt Fraction is pretty great at connecting with his fanbase, too, which helps put some things in greater perspective and focus for this Hawkeye series (as well as helps spread awareness of The Rockford Files and the many great parts of David Bowie). On top of giving a page-by-page breakdown of his experience with this week's issue, Fraction re-posted an image from 30 Rock showing the character Pete saying "I'm good at archery and kind of want to die" and called him the "patron saint of team Hawkguy." Kind of a wonderful statement about the book. Aja's art and Hollingsworth's colors keep impressing like crazy and some of the style choices in this book (mainly the attire and hair choices of the lady Avengers we see) are brilliant. Another great entry to the series.

Avengers Arena 7

I really like the way Arcade is characterized in this issue. Hopeless does a good job taking a villain that, by all rights, is pretty pathetic and showing him as pathetic, even though we know he's doing impressive things with this island throughout the series so far. When this book was announced, I was skeptical enough about the idea of a bunch of teen heroes being sent to an island and fighting for their lives. When I heard that the villain behind all of this was Arcade, suddenly the idea that this would be anything more violent and/or threatening than his previous appearances were all out of my mind. Instead, the book has consistently delivered with real concern for the safety of the people on the island. On top of that, Arcade seemed suddenly like a real threat but didn't seem like he'd undergone some kind of crazy grit-enhancer. His personality was the same but his powers were upped. This issue explaining his transformation could have hurt the whole story a lot. Alternately, Hopeless showed us a completely broken Arcade reignited by his love for what he does and with an assistant who was willing and able to make it happen. It's both given us a much better sense of the character and kept us intrigued by the whole situation instead of removing us from it with more questions. Perfectly executed, well-timed, and a general boost to the quality of what was already a great book.

Avenging Spider-Man 19

There were a few other options I was toying with for this spot this week. Ultimates was up there but got knocked out pretty quick, preferring to see how the next issue pans out. Avengers and X-Treme X-Men were both on the table and easily could have made this list in a slightly weaker week. Fantastic Four could have snagged this spot and nearly did when I started thinking about this list last night. The closest competition, though, was Thor. After re-reviewing both books, I decided to go with Avenging Spider-Man because I think the Thor issue this week was a great set-up issue to get us excited for this arc (and therefore a solid issue as a whole) but that it'll have an even better chance of making the list next time, when the ball starts really rolling on the action. Avenging Spider-Man had seemed kind of like a long-shot at the start of the week, but I find myself consistently impressed with the tone of the book and the sudden seriousness of the situations. Otto has faced some real threats lately and is maneuvering things to his liking, even if the audience isn't quite sure what his end game is just yet. On top of that, I'm impressed again as Avenging Spider-Man appears to so effortlessly tie to Superior Spider-Man. It's brand management at its best and it's something to behold. The team-up this week, pulling Sleepwalker out of near-retirement, considering how long he's been on the bench for Marvel, was well-executed and created some new intrigue for a character probably few readers are totally familiar with (I know I sure wasn't). Finally, the art tipped it over the edge this week. Checchetto and Rosenberg knocked this one out of the park and gave us some really great dream images with mixes of realism and surrealism and a sharply defined ghost Peter Parker to create a contrast. Well done all around.