This Week in Comics: June 27th, 2007

By Christopher Hoerdemann
www.pipelinernd.com

How Many: 14 books

How Much: $45

Well, whaddya know! Last week, I had 18 books to review, but those were two weeks worth of books. I have 14 books for one stinkin' week this time around! So once, again, this review column will be a bit different format wise. For this installment, I'm going to group books like this........

• Books that met my expectations

• Books that exceeded my expectations

• Books that just....weren't.....any....good

Let's get this show on the road..........

   

Books that met my expectations: Hellboy: Darkness Calls #3, Silver Surfer Requiem #2, Iron Fist #6, Walking Dead #38, Runaways #27, Fallen Son #5, X-Men First Class #1.

What I thought: As opposed to BPRD, I actually kind of get this new Hellboy series. Plus, there's quite a bit of action, and funny one liners to make sure I feel like I get my money's worth. Silver Surfer was exactly what I expected; a somewhat heavy handed, and sentimental look at the Silver Surfer. This issue was slightly better than the first, mostly because JMS's Spider-man characterization is perfect. Iron Fist met my extremely high expectations partly because I've never read an Iron Fist story before, and these first six issues were about as accessible as they could be. Plus, after reading the ending, all I can seem to hear in my head is the Mortal Kombat theme song. Another book that met my unbelievably high expectations was Walking Dead. The delay between the last issue and this one had hardly any effect on my enjoyment of this issue. I still can't pinpoint why this series is so awesome, I just know that it is, and will continue to be. Runaways was okay, but there were some brilliant moments where it looked like Whedon was almost making us readers forget about Brian K. Vaughan. I was positive that Jeph Loeb couldn't mess up Cap's funeral. I was right; Loeb nails the last issue of Fallen Son, which is the best of the entire mini series by far. The last comic that met my expectations was X-Men First Class. It was a comic that reminded me of something I might have seen from a Marvel book back in the 1960's and 1970's. Fun, with no "event" continuity strings attached.

   

Books that exceeded my expectations: Sinestro Corps Special, X-Men #200, New Avengers/Transformers #1, Amazons Attack #3, Black Panther #28.

What I thought: Sweet Fourth of July! Sinestro Corps was too awesome. I'm not even sure that the amount of awesomeness which this comic held inside of it was legal.........that's pretty awesome when you think about it. The art, the story, hell, even the ads were better than anything I read in any other comic this week. X-Men #200 was awesome mostly because it actually shocked me. That's something that is quite hard to do in this age of internet spoilers. New Avengers/Transformers surpassed my expectations because it wasn't completely terrible. It's a fun little read, that Transformers fans will enjoy it. Amazons Attack finally delivered some actual story in this issue. Plus, Pete Wood's art seemed to finally achieve a nice consistent look throughout the book. Black Panther actually was on par with the first Marvel Zombies mini series in terms of quality. I found myself actually cackling at the dark humor in this issue.

   

Books that just....weren't.....any....good: Thor #1, Countdown #44

What I thought: Thor being placed in this category is a little misleading. The content we got was sparse.....passable, but sparse. I just felt like the three-dollar price tag was a rip off, and my expectations were through the roof before I read it.  Those two factors don't exactly help. Countdown is very aggravating. That is all I can really say anymore. I still hold out hope that stuff will happen, and that there will be lots of action like DC promised.

Best Book: Sinestro Corp by far.

Worst Book: Countdown. Yeah, I’m giving this book until week 40 to pick up before I drop it.

Grade for the week: A-

Final Thoughts: Dude…..Sinestro is badass!