The Good Stuff.
In the interest of helping the mainstream comics industry by both promoting their best stuff and ignoring their less successful attempts, we (I) at Mainstream Art take time out of our busy schedule to inform our readers about the best of the best of the week's comics. Here are my picks for the last couple weeks.
All-Star Superman #7 - I'm listing this in The Good Stuff, because I haven't yet started a feature for The Best Stuff Ever. Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, and Jamie Grant are unstoppable. All-Star Superman is everything I want from a Superman series, blending the best of the Silver Age fun with 21st Century storytelling. Every issue is a blast. The above preview is only the briefest glimpse into the awesomeness of this book, because I didn't want to spoil the surprises. If you aren't reading this series by now, beg your LCS for forgiveness and pick it up!
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #17 - Another staple of The Good Stuff, Sean McKeever's incredible series continues to rock with David Hahn on art chores. Hahn's style is fresh and suits the series, which is great because a lot of fans like me were worried about how the series could continue without the previous artist, Takeshi Miyazawa. Christina Strain's pitch-perfect colors also do a great job maintaining series continuity.
Superman Confidential #4 - Two industry giants, Darwyn Cooke and Tim Sale, bring us this co-created early Superman adventure with style and emotion. Like All-Star Supes, Superman Confidential is a welcome throwback to loose continuity adventuring, thankfully separate from the DCU crossover mania. It's really just so much more gratifying to see one (or in this case, two) creator's take on a character, running month to month.
The Mighty Ant-Man #7 - Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker are together again! I finally got caught up on this series this week. I'd really liked the first issue, but just hadn't actually sat down to read the issues since then. It's great. The new Ant-Man is such a jerk. A typical dude with sexist, self-centered issues, who causes other folks problems but to the untrained eye just seems like an average guy. He's that guy at work. Yeah, him. In this issue, Cory Walker takes over the art from Phil Hester, who kicked off the series with style. Cory's art blends perfectly into the Ant-Man universe, and his take on the character just rocks.
New Avengers #29 - Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Yu have been forging new ground on this series since the post-Civil War Avengers split. I'd be happier if Yu's art was getting inked, but I love the crazy team lineup. Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, and Spider-Man on a team led by Luke Cage!? I can't decide if I consider it a great team...or THE GREATEST team. I don't really care for the Mighty Avengers lineup, with Wonder Man and Ms. Marvel, but the contrast is great. The government run team is all elite (and white) and the underground team is all underdogs (and racially diverse). Bendis, you get a high five.
Batman #664 - Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert are doing a pretty solid job on the Batman title (when they're not being interrupted by fill-ins), but I'm mostly just including this issue to show off this particular panel of Batman standing guard over Gotham City. Wow, man. I cropped the image a bit, so grab the issue to see the whole thing. Bonus points to Jesse Delperdang on inks and Guy Major on colors.
All-Star Superman #7 - I'm listing this in The Good Stuff, because I haven't yet started a feature for The Best Stuff Ever. Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, and Jamie Grant are unstoppable. All-Star Superman is everything I want from a Superman series, blending the best of the Silver Age fun with 21st Century storytelling. Every issue is a blast. The above preview is only the briefest glimpse into the awesomeness of this book, because I didn't want to spoil the surprises. If you aren't reading this series by now, beg your LCS for forgiveness and pick it up!
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #17 - Another staple of The Good Stuff, Sean McKeever's incredible series continues to rock with David Hahn on art chores. Hahn's style is fresh and suits the series, which is great because a lot of fans like me were worried about how the series could continue without the previous artist, Takeshi Miyazawa. Christina Strain's pitch-perfect colors also do a great job maintaining series continuity.
Superman Confidential #4 - Two industry giants, Darwyn Cooke and Tim Sale, bring us this co-created early Superman adventure with style and emotion. Like All-Star Supes, Superman Confidential is a welcome throwback to loose continuity adventuring, thankfully separate from the DCU crossover mania. It's really just so much more gratifying to see one (or in this case, two) creator's take on a character, running month to month.
The Mighty Ant-Man #7 - Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker are together again! I finally got caught up on this series this week. I'd really liked the first issue, but just hadn't actually sat down to read the issues since then. It's great. The new Ant-Man is such a jerk. A typical dude with sexist, self-centered issues, who causes other folks problems but to the untrained eye just seems like an average guy. He's that guy at work. Yeah, him. In this issue, Cory Walker takes over the art from Phil Hester, who kicked off the series with style. Cory's art blends perfectly into the Ant-Man universe, and his take on the character just rocks.
New Avengers #29 - Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Yu have been forging new ground on this series since the post-Civil War Avengers split. I'd be happier if Yu's art was getting inked, but I love the crazy team lineup. Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, and Spider-Man on a team led by Luke Cage!? I can't decide if I consider it a great team...or THE GREATEST team. I don't really care for the Mighty Avengers lineup, with Wonder Man and Ms. Marvel, but the contrast is great. The government run team is all elite (and white) and the underground team is all underdogs (and racially diverse). Bendis, you get a high five.
Batman #664 - Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert are doing a pretty solid job on the Batman title (when they're not being interrupted by fill-ins), but I'm mostly just including this issue to show off this particular panel of Batman standing guard over Gotham City. Wow, man. I cropped the image a bit, so grab the issue to see the whole thing. Bonus points to Jesse Delperdang on inks and Guy Major on colors.