This week's picks

Hey guys, I want all of YOU to know this is a cheat because I didn't actually get around to reviewing MIRACLEMAN and REVOLUTIONARY WAR: SUPERSOLDIERS. But here's the thing: MIRACLEMAN won't make this list because it was released thirty years ago originally and REVOLUTIONARY WAR: SUPERSOLDIERS won't make this list because it wasn't very good. So let's assume that's my review for them (here, look, I'm really cheating on these because both my MIRACLEMAN and REV WAR reviews would be nearly exactly the same as they've been, one talking about the revitalization of an old series and one talking about how tone doesn't match concept) and we'll move on to the TRUE PICKS OF THE WEEK.

Avengers Assemble 24

This week was particularly hard to choose the top books, to the point where I had to go back and read my own reviews to see if I liked books or not. AVENGERS ASSEMBLE was one this week that kind of caught me by surprise at how much I liked it. I've liked this book throughout its run and I believe it's made this list before and that should come as no surprise; they've had good stories, I really like Kelly Sue DeConnick's writing, they focus on pretty good characters and build them up well, etc. That said, this arc feels like it should never have been as good as it was. Young superhero gets trained by a handful of Avengers at various times as a pitch reeks of maudlin talks of responsibility and the meaning of being a superhero. Instead, this one comes with as much depth and in-fighting (albeit minor, mostly in terms of how heroing should work) as you'd expect from a book from DeConnick and Warren Ellis. There's been a lot of good stuff and now getting to see Tony Stark work with young Anya is a refreshing breather from the subterfuge and stealth and brutality we've seen the last few outings with the Spiders and Wolverine. Really good, really fun stuff. I'm surprised this book couldn't find a home, though I don't think it was advertised particularly well.

Hawkeye 15
Next up is Sir Always-On-This-List as HAWKEYE delivers another great issue. There have been times where I've thought about pulling books like HAWKEYE or NEW AVENGERS or YOUNG AVENGERS from this list because they make it so consistently that it feels like putting them on here is just taking up a spot you already knew. On the flipside, though, this is a really good book you guys. HAWKEYE is consistently one of the Marvel books that I'm thinking about well after I've read it, one of the plots I remember from issue to issue despite the amount of Marvel books I read in a month (I often have to glance at a review from the previous issue for other titles or have to start reading the new issue before I go "ooh, that's right"). It's just really good work and it's as deep as any Marvel book out there without feeling the need to talk down to the audience. Fraction and Marvel hit a home run with Aja, a proven commodity who has some really expressive and truly beyond belief work with HAWKEYE but they managed to hit ANOTHER ONE with Annie Wu (obviously this is now going beyond this issue) who does some of the best facial expression work in the business. It's all needed as this book relies as much on the art as any other book out there. It's a great symbiosis of the writing and the art telling a story in the best way possible.

Thunderbolts 22

I've had to think recently about why I dislike those quirky introduction captions, the ones like FEARLESS DEFENDERS had and MIGHTY AVENGERS has, that say things like "Luke Cage: Wishing he'd bought cellphones" or "Power Man: Just walked in the door." I think the issue, largely, is that they don't seem to serve any purpose whatsoever beyond shoehorning in a joke that's not necessary. It's creating humor where humor isn't necessary and where it may even break the tone. On top of it, it's the sort of old-fashioned thought of "we have to introduce every character every issue because how else would people know who this is?" This is a really long and roundabout way of saying it can be hard to write humor in books, particularly humor in books where you want the action to mean something. I think MIGHTY AVENGERS is doing a much better job now than it was at the start of the series and beginning to develop its own tone regardless of those captions. THUNDERBOLTS, though, is effortlessly creating really fun characters (doesn't hurt when you have Deadpool interacting with a team in any capacity, assuming the writer can handle Deadpool) and really fun situations and moments all while maintaining a really good tone and pace with some great action and meaningful consequences. Reliably fun, reliably good, reliably capable of making this list.