This week's picks

Woo, tricky week for picking my top three. Only, in my head, one real stand out and everything else was middling, maybe a step over or under, or despicably bad. So let's start with the stand out.

Iron Man 14

This series continues to impress as the characters are so nailed down and well-thought out and the story is so compelling. For this issue specifically, we have characters falling nicely into perfect roles for them, set up beautifully by the way they've been presented throughout the series, such as Death's Head willfully going against 451's orders while not going against his orders, Tony using his ingenuity to escape 451's control, and even 451 with a bit of regret and sadness overpowered by his drive to complete this mission. Just a great book with sharp writing and stand-out characters and a story really worth reading. The stakes have been raised higher than ever for Tony as the issue ends, leading to what will surely be another great issue from Gillen.

Superior Spider-Man 15

Dan Slott's insistence on building up Phil Urich is paying off now as everything Phil has built for himself comes crashing down around his shoulders. Fired by the Kingpin in dramatic fashion and hunted by Spider-Man, Phil's checkbook has been taken away and he still has bills to pay. As his life gets more and more chaotic, he finds himself targeted again by Spider-Man and, unbeknownst to him, by the former Horizon employee he burned, Ty Stone (it occurs to me know I have two cousins, one named Ty and one named Stone, in the same family. That's not ideal). As Spider-Man reveals his identity to the world at large, Phil is surrounded by the bit role players of the Daily Bugle, which should put Spider-Man in a bit of a delicate situation as the next issue starts with a psychopath surrounded by Peter's old friends and colleagues.

Hunger 2

This book is definitely getting in on the weakness of the week. It's edged out Avengers (which would have been in on Manifold's back alone), the other two Superior books, and Daredevil Dark Nights (which was probably the closest bet but still had a couple of lingering problems that irked me). I don't think this is a wholly remarkable book so far (though it will show up in the best panel segment) but the story is enticing, it's well-written and well-illustrated. Can't ask for much more out of a book than that. I'll be interested to see where the mini-series goes after this and what it means for the Ultimate and standard Marvel Universes as a whole when the dust settles. Like I said in the review, I also can't get too close to the characters in this book because I have smart money on one or both of them dying before it's all over.


Best Panel

This one comes from Hunger 2 and it's a pretty astoundingly drawn panel. It rather blew me a way when I turned the page to it. I think it's probably helped by the fact that Ultimate characters can and do tend to die at a moment's notice, meaning that Surfer pulling Nova out of the swarm had been a real threat. Still, even if it hadn't been, the image is very impressive and it's incredibly well-drawn and colored. This panel has stuck with me throughout the week in the way that only the best Best Panels do. Made my job easier, I tell you (though there were a handful of solid covers I considered choosing for a Best Cover segment instead).