I’m not sure about all of you guys, but I’m the type of comics enthusiast who’s active on twitter. And not in the sense where I spew e-hate at Ben Affleck for signing on to play Batman (although I did retweet about a dozen or so jokes of various degrees of hilarity.) I prefer using twitter to give props to my favorite creators, because that is the type of thing you should be doing on twitter. Example: Daredevil #30 dropped this week (Marvel Comics, $2.99, 20 pages). Chris Samnee, Eisner winner for 2 years in a row, returned to the book after a 2 issue leave and MAN, he absolutely killed it on this issue. I went on twitter immediately to praise Samnee and he was cool enough to say thanks by the way. But yeah, issue #30 is great. As you can tell by the fantastic cover, the Silver Surfer is in town, and Samnee proceeds to draw the hell out of him, DD and this issue. There’s a double spread that screams poster/print/desktop background. It’s great stuff. Mark Waid isn’t exactly a slouch either, building off of the cliff hanger from the last issue to make DD’s life more problematic and delivering another fantastic story with Chris. Javier Rodriguez‘s color also make this book pop, and I doubt Samnee’s art would look as good as it does with another colorist. A done in one done right, Daredevil #30 is another fantastic issue in a run that can do no wrong.
My other Marvel pull for this week is Avengers Assemble #18 (Marvel, $3.99, 20 pages), an issue where a Kelly Sue Deconnick script got a much needed shot in the visuals department thanks to veteran artists Barry Kitson. Kitson is a huge improvement over some of the artists we’ve seen as of late on the book, and I really hope he sticks around. The issue is the 1st of a 2 part Infinity tie-in, and it’s definitely a solid read, and the type of tie-in you can appreciate without reading (or understanding) the core mini. The book returns to it’s Spider-Woman heavy focus, exploring Jessica’s mind set post event in Hawkeye and the recently concluded Enemy Within crossover. Deconnick has a great handle on J-Drew; she’s a heavily flawed character, but still very down to earth and fun to read. While a few bits of the issue could have done with a little more continuity explanation, and Kitson manages to draw Thor’s costume a few different ways throughout the script, AA #18 is still a fun read.
And finally, here’s my look at the third volume of Fatale (Image Comics, $14.99, 128 pages). Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillip’s excellent noir meets Lovercraft series was a monthly pull of mine, but I decided to go with trade waiting with the 3rd volume, as it’s a series of one shots that I feel read better collected, even sans the cool articles only available in single issues. This done in ones take place before the first 10 issues of the series, telling stories of the mysterious Jo and expanding the series lore a ton. Phillips and Bru are at their finest, and it’s cool to see them tackle settings that they usually don’t deal with. This is a great intro for new reader, and it explains a ton of things for older readers. Fatale’s buzz has died out a bit thanks to the constant barrage of new series launching at Image, not to mention the hype associated with Saga and the Walking Dead, but it deserves to be read in some format. It has a fantastic premise, and a great execution, and is arguably one of the best books Image is publishing today!
