This week's picks

Pretty solid week and one of the hardest weeks to layout ahead of time. I try to review books by a made-up ranking of importance every week which usually places AVENGERS titles on Wednesday, X-MEN titles on Thursday or Friday, depending on the titles, and solo titles strewn all around depending on lead character or name recognition or what have you. I can typically tell as I'm seeing the list of new comics what books are "Saturday" books. This week had so many good and important titles coming out that I ended up with no books that were truly Saturday books; a case could be made for both SUPERIOR CARNAGE ANNUAL and MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN so I went that way and lopped SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN in with them. ANYWAY. Look, I'm talking a lot about process these days which is awfully odd as it often seems I don't have one but guys, there are WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS OVER HERE.

Black Widow 3

This book just keeps on impressing me. Between a fantastic characterization the likes of which I doubted I'd be seeing so steadily and artwork that blows a lot of the other books out of the water (even many of the good books out there), BLACK WIDOW is quickly jumping the ranks and climbing into a regular spot on this list. Edmondson is building Natasha both with the dialogue and narrative she presents but also just as much in the words she doesn't say. In that way, the terseness of her narration and the shortness of her dialogue build a character far more impressively than overloading her with words to explain her actions. In my head, I can't help likening this to other spy-based shows and movies, like Burn Notice or James Bond, but I think it mixes the best of the genre, building a strong and very complex protagonist without all the hand-holding of "this is the way I'm going to pull this off." Natasha doesn't think about the actions she's taking, she just does. She, of course, particularly as we saw this issue, thinks about the job and the repercussions of the job, but she doesn't think about the actual physical steps she takes because it's all second nature to her. Amazing book so far. After a whirlwind of three releases through January and early February, Widow fans have their first wait coming as issue four won't come out until the second or so week of March. I suppose we'll have to get used to that.

Loki: Agent of Asgard 1

For my big long blurb at the top up there, I'm actually coming into this list woefully unprepared. Despite a solid 15 releases this week, all of which with some import to them, only BLACK WIDOW really jumped out at me as instantly deserving of this list. So the debut of LOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD ekes its way onto this one despite a few shortcomings, just trumping MS. MARVEL, CAPTAIN AMERICA, and PUNISHER. I really like the way that Al Ewing is taking the Marvel Universe Loki and making the character his own. It's not an easy feat and it's something of a bold attempt after Kieron Gillen pretty much exclusively used the character for the past few years, doing a marvelous job in every aspect. Ewing comes in with a new look Loki and, while still harkening back to some of Gillen's stuff and, of course, the mythos at large, made sure to let everyone know this was a new and different Loki now. He goes so far as to erase his presence in the Avengers' database as a symbolic gesture and save Thor from a demon within all in his first issue. With a book that wants to focus so largely on the power of story and myth, Loki is determined to rewrite his own. Of course, Ewing left us with the hint that maybe not everyone wants the "God of Evil" writing of the character gone so quickly. I do think the story relies on cheap jokes now and again and doesn't know whether it wants to be seated in the 616 or the MCU and seems to want both worlds (though it's certainly not the only Marvel book with that problem) but it's a nice starting point and I think it will allow Ewing freedom as he moves forward.

New Avengers 14

While I still find the viewing of other Earths and the way they deal with the incursion problems (or, I suppose, are unable to deal) interesting, the draw of this issue and the reason it lands on this list this week is the characterization and the ongoing drama of Dr. Strange. Strange has undergone some compelling character shifts over the last few years, going from Sorcerer Supreme to not-Sorcerer Supreme to kind of creepy guy (in Fraction's DEFENDERS) to Sorcerer Supreme to incursion team Illuminati member. The latest shift has found him, despite all of his power, unable to really help the team with the threat of the worlds. While Reed, Tony, Beast, Black Bolt, Black Panther, and, well, not really so much Namor (but he's there and wouldn't second guess himself the way Strange does), build devices and come up with as many plans as they can to stop the incurring worlds, Strange finds himself unable to combat the threat with any of his magic. So he's thrown his soul away condemning these other worlds to death (as has been the big moral question of the series) and he hasn't even been able to help. So he's prepared to change that now and, I mean, if he's not going to use his soul anyway, what's the point of having it? So he's selling his soul for approximately five times the power he needs to accomplish what he wants to accomplish. Is Dr. Strange heading down the path of "biggest super villain ever?" Is this all worth it? Will he even survive the process? Plenty happening here and a nice look at Strange who has spent so much time of this book purposely relegated to the background.


Biggest single-line character definition of the week

Why yes, this is a convoluted bonus bit to justify the fact I've been thinking about this line all week and how I was going to fit it into my posts with CAPTAIN AMERICA not making the top picks this week. ANYWAY, were you thinking that maybe Jet Black had turned over a new leaf after playing the savior to the Phrox at the end of her time in Dimension Z? NOPE, not entirely, anyway. She's unsure about it all still but she's not ready to embrace the heroic life. The whole issue is a nice testament to it but her retort to the shopkeeper she sort-of saves is the central line of her character and the antithesis of Cap. "I was just taking out the garbage..." says the old man. Jet's response? "And that makes your defense my responsibility?" Well said, Jet. I mean, if you're a burgeoning supervillain.