HERO OF THE WEEK: Did the Great Ten miniseries get shortened to 9 issues and nobody told me? Whatever. The Great Ten are the premier Chinese superhero team in the DC universe, and this miniseries hilights each of their members. Great Ten #8 showed off the Shaolin Robot. His origin is fishy, but go with it. Remember those Terracotta warriors (is that spelled right? Whatever) that whats-his-name was buried with? Well, in the DCU, they're robots. They are automatons programmed to kill grave robbers. Implausable you say? Well, it gets worse. Apparently, one of them was given anchient Chinese AI, and was renovated to be one of the super-functionaries of the Great Ten. This totally undermines Will Magnus's position as the creator of the artificial soul, but whatever. It works enough.
What's interesting is SR's position on the team. Everyone on the Great Ten is in conflict with each other. August General in Iron is a government puppet, Accomplished Perfect Physician is a man of the people, Celestial Archer is on both sides of the fence, Socialist Red Guardsman is taking advantage of his position of power, Immortal Man in Darkness is expendable and knows it, and everyone on the team has a weird name. Shaolin Robot is probably the most zen of the group, adapting to all of the chaos and taking the weirdness in stride. After seven issues of personal struggles and problems, it's nice to see that someone on the team is reasonably at peace, even if it's only because he's a robot.
VILLAIN OF THE WEEK: This one is tough. I mean really tough. Alot of my stuff this week hilights heroes more than villains, so finding someone to fill this spot is a challenge. Ultimately, because the issue deserves a mention, it goes to Modeus. Really, the star of Irredeemable #14 is Gilgamos, who's coping with Bette Noir's betrayal while the Paradigm have been captured...for some poorly explained reason. Seriously, in an otherwise brilliantly written series, this is a misstep for the government to turn on the only people capable of helping the Plutonian situation. Anyway, after Bette and Gil bust the Paradigm out (Gil mutilating himself to do it), they teleport away and run into Modeus, who is still possessing the body of young lobotomized do-gooder Samsara, who promises that the Plutonian is coming, and he is pissed. His role is brief, but he does leave an impression.
ISSUE OF THE WEEK: Avengers Prime #1. Doubtlessly. I didn't expect this to be as good as it is. Hell, I still don't know if it's a mini or an ongoing, but it really is well written. This first issue is about the immediate aftermath of Siege and the fall of Asgard, and the first reunison of Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, and Thor Odinson. Even in the wake of massive destruction, Steve and Tony find time to argue. This actually hilights them more than condemn, showing that even with Steve back from the dead, there's still a lot of issues lingering after Civil War. This is great stuff. With all the people happy about Steve's return, it's good that Marvel remembered that he burned some bridges before his assassination. After the mini-confrontation, the trio attempt to seal a portal and end up accidentally pulled into Asgard and seperated. Tony tries to fix his disfunctional armor, Steve beats up a bunch of trolls, and Thor runs into the Enchantress, his fairly psychotic ex. It's definately a good start, with great characterization and a brilliant way to hilight Marvel's trinity. Good on ya.
OTHER THINGS OF NOTE: Serenity: Float On was covered earlier. Go read it. The covering of the issue, not the issue itself. Or both. Whatever.
JSA All-Stars #7 is a book that's avoided the blog for a while. I've never been a fan of the JSA splitting, but I stuck with this book over the regular JSA book because it's got the more fun characters. That, and i'm not the biggest fan of Bill Willingham's writing. Don't get me wrong, he's got dynamite plots and the ideas behind his series Fables are really cool, but his dialogue is just flat. Maybe i'm just spoiled by the likes of Gail Simone and Joss Whedon. I don't know. Anyway, All-Stars #7 was a funeral issue. Team member Damage was killed during Blackest Night and his girlfriend Judomaster steps up to give a eulogy. It's a really nice issue and a great analysis of the two characters. It's a shame they can't all be like this.
And now it's time for the QUOTE OF THE WEEK! Or it would be if I had one. Seriously, I'm tapped out. Go pick your own or something. Or post one here. Again, whatever.
However, because it's the first week of the month, which means we can do WRITER and ARTIST OF THE MONTH!!!
WRITER OF THE MONTH: Last month's was difficult. This one? Not so much. Brian Michael Bendis, if only for sheer volume of work. Bendis finished up three series in one week: New Avengers, Dark Avengers, and Siege. Siege was an admittedly predictable ending to an epic blockbuster, DA was nice character study for the stars of Dark Reign, and NA was a strong emotional close to the first chapter of these character's lives. After that came Avengers and Avengers Prime. The former was a very classic-feeling superhero team and the latter was, as said above, a character-driven story about the main players in the Heroic Age. And he still has time for my favorite Marvel book, Ultimate Spider-Man. All of his stuff has great dialogue and character and are all a lot of fun. Bravo, Mr. Bendis. Bravo.
ARTIST OF THE MONTH: Like last month, this was about which artist left the strongest impression. And that artist is Ed Benes. Benes drew Birds of Prey #1, returning to DC's A-list girls...and I think that's it. If i'm forgetting anything, apologies. But BoP was just awesome. It's sharp and just a bit cartoony, but not enough that it ruins the more serious tone of the book. Gail Simone has called his artwork sexy, and I agree with that. He draws female characters with the same perfect proportions that are customary in comic books, but...I don't know, he just makes them look better. I think there's a touch more realism to his work and more emotional connection to these women and that makes them seem better. Or maybe i'm reading too much into this and making tish up as I go along. Still, his artwork is really dynamic and pleasing to look at, and I look forward to reading more of his work.
Well, thanks for reading everyone. Sorry it couldn't be more substantial, but maybe next time, which, I suppose, is when i'll see ya. Later!
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