The Best Sequential Art I Read Last Week: March 18 – March 24, 2015 / A Tie – BATGIRL #40 SUPERMAN #39

I am a comic book collector and happy to be one. I might say “proud” if I hadn’t, over a year ago, switched to reading digital as opposed to print comics. I feel a bit robbed of the tactile sensations of the hobby – of the turn of the page, the sneaking look to the panel a page over, the bagging and shorting and stacking and filing. Though I read my comics in a different medium than I used to, I still treat each Wednesday (comic book delivery day to specialty shops around the country) as different from the other days of the week. I subscribe and now, rather than go to the comic store to be handed the books pulled for my “Hold Slot,” I click a button on my iPad and watch them download.

Then I read them.

Rare is the week that I don’t read them all between Wednesdays and some weeks I have, well… let’s just say more comic books in my digital downloads than a grown man should. Comic book legend Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit) is one of the most influential men even to put pencil to drawing board in the pursuit of making comics. So influential was he that the industry awards (think the Oscars or the Emmys or the Grammys) are named The Eisner Awards. He called comic books “sequential art,” perhaps because he became embarrassed by his profession when he had to admit what he did for a living. This is my weekly reaction to the comics I read.

I read 10 comics last week: Superman #39, Chrononauts #1, Amazing Spider-Man #16.1, All New X-Men #39, Batman Eternal #50,  Batgirl #40, Batgirl: Endgame #1, Princess Leia #2, Batman/Superman #20 and Star Trek/Planet of the Apes #4.

The best comics I read last week were Batgirl #40 and Superman #39. It was a very, very good week!

As it turns out, what I want from superhero comic books is that the superheroes featured in them are actually heroic. In two very different comics this week, I got just that from the title characters. The creative teams on Batgirl and Superman are really clicking right now. On the one hand, in the case of Superman, that is all about to change as the title is about to have a creator shift. On the other, in the case of Batgirl, my hope is we can settle in for a long ride from the current creative team.

Batgirl has been a terrific read since co-writers Brendan Fletcher and Cameron Stewart took over scripting. It’s been amazing to look at since the highly talented (and fun Twitter follow) Babs Tarr began penciling it. From the moment the book moved the protagonist to the Burnside neighborhood of Gotham City, redesigned her costume and gave her an outlook on life more suited to a happy 20-something than a damaged character with a 50+ year publishing history, this has been a wonderfully fun book to read. It’s not that the team isn’t taking on some real issues – they are. And it isn’t that they’ve not put the character in real jeopardy – they have. What works here is that it is clear that the creative team knows Batgirl, loves Batgirl and has a plan for Batgirl. That that plan seems to include giving back the Oracle persona to the DC universe in a creative and remarkable way is just icing on the cake.

If you’re not reading Batgirl, you don’t love comics enough. Period.

Superman #39 is Geoff Johns’ swan song as the writer on this title. He’s been matched with John Romita, jr for this run and they’ve been a great team. Anyone who’s read one of my weekly picks before knows I love Johns and I am very sorry to see him leave the book if only for one scene he wrote this month. In fact, Superman #39 is the co-pick of the week because of one line spoken by a powerless Superman: “You think I only step in front of guns because I’m bullet-proof?”

If there is line that better explains who Superman is and can be, I’ve never read it.

Bravo, Mr. Johns. Bravo.

The Best Sequential Art I Read Last Week : February 18 – February 24, 2015

I am a comic book collector and happy to be one. I might say “proud” if I hadn’t, over a year ago, switched to reading digital as opposed to print comics. I feel a bit robbed of the tactile sensations of the hobby – of the turn of the page, the sneaking look to the panel a page over, the bagging and shorting and stacking and filing. Though I read my comics in a different medium than I used to, I still treat each Wednesday (comic book delivery day to specialty shops around the country) as different from the other days of the week. I subscribe and now, rather than go to the comic store to be handed the books pulled for my “Hold Slot,” I click a button on my iPad and watch them download.

Then I read them.

Rare is the week that I don’t read them all between Wednesdays and some weeks I have, well… let’s just say more comic books in my digital downloads than a grown man should. Comic book legend Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit) is one of the most influential men even to put pencil to drawing board in the pursuit of making comics. So influential was he that the industry awards (think the Oscars or the Emmys or the Grammys) are named The Eisner Awards. He called comic books “sequential art,” perhaps because he became embarrassed by his profession when he had to admit what he did for a living. This is my weekly reaction to the comics I read.

I read 10 comics last week: Batman Eternal #46, Avengers World #17, Batgirl #39, Justice League #39, Batman and Robin #39, Batman/Superman #19, Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man #10, The Multiversity: Mastermen #1, Superman/Wonder Woman #16  and Uncanny X-Men #31.

The best comic I read last week was Batgirl #39.

What a fun read this book is. As a former teacher (for 10 years!) at an all-girls high school, I think I know a thing or two about young women and, although Batgirl and her supporting cast are about 5-7 older than the girls I worked with, I can say that they read very, very real to me.

Cameron Stewart and Brendan Fletcher are killing it. They are writing a Barbara Gordon who is endearing and vulnerable but tough and tenacious all at the same time. When she questions herself in this issue, the reader feels it. When she seeks out Dinah for her friendship, the reader wants the two to bury the hatchet. When she is confronted by the reality of her latest adversary, the reader is rooting for her. That’s a lot for comic book writers to inspire in their readers but Fletcher and Stewart deliver the goods issue-after-issue. From Barbara’s move to Burnside to her radically cool costume redesign, this book has been a great read for months. If you’re not on board, get there.

This is the book I would give a non-comic reader to introduce them to the medium. It’s that good.

Much of that credit has to go to Babs Tarr who is drawing something we don’t see enough of in comics: realistic women. Her characters, cartoony and fresh, look as though their analogues could actually exist in the real world. Both the women and the men she draws are distinct and clear representations of the genuine article. She knows how to capture expressions and, lately, her inclusion of illustrated side-thoughts are creative and compelling.

Batgirl is the second best Bat-Book on the market (after Snyder and Capullo’s Batman) and that’s saying something. I look forward to it each month.

The Best Sequential Art I Read Last Week – November 5 – November 11, 2014

I am a comic book collector and happy to be sure. I might say “proud” if I hadn’t, over a year ago, switched to reading digital as opposed to print comics. I feel a bit robbed of the tactile sensations of the hobby – of the turn of the page, the sneaking look to the panel a page over, the bagging and shorting and stacking and filing. Though I read my comics in a different medium than I used to, I still treat each Wednesday (comic book delivery day to specialty shops around the country) as different from the other days of the week. I subscribe and now, rather than go to the comic store to be handed the books pulled for my “Hold Slot,” I click a button on my iPad and watch them download.

Then I read them.

Rare is the week that I don’t read them all between Wednesdays and some weeks I have, well… let’s just say more comic books in my digital downloads than a grown man should. Comic book legend Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit) is one of the most influential men even to put pencil to drawing board in the pursuit of making comics. So influential was he that the industry awards (think the Oscars or the Emmys or the Grammys) are named The Eisner Awards. He called comic books “sequential art,” perhaps because he became embarrassed by his profession when he had to admit what he did for a living. This is my weekly reaction to the comics I read.

I read 9 comics last week: Gotham Academy #2, Spider-Verse Team Up #1, Action Comics#36, Amazing Spider-Man #9,  Avengers and X-Men: Axis #4, Batman Eternal #31, Detective Comics #36, Grayson #4 and Superman Unchained #9.

The best comic I read last week was Gotham Academy #2.

DC Comics has put out two titles the last few months which really should demand readers’ attention if readers are looking for great comics. The first is Batgirl, which has been completely retooled and reads like the spiritual successor to Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye. Great read and should have been my pick a few weeks back, but I was slow in the draw on this one. The second book is Gotham Academy.

This is a wonderful comic – Hogwarts in Gotham – and is an example of the best that happens when a writer’s vision perfectly matches an artist’s style. Writers Becky Cloonan and Brendan Fletcher are creating a terrific story. They know how to write teenagers, which is refreshing, and they know how to create both the short and the long game. The first two issues of the series have set up characters and conflicts and each has paid off before issue’s end, but have also sown the seeds for long-term stories which appear compelling. It’s great work.

Karl Kerschel’s art is note perfect for this book. The kids look like kids, the adults like adults and the slight manga influence is right at home in the title. His work is dynamic and broad when it needs to be but is at its best when the camera pushes in close on the characters and we can see the work he’s done drafting them.

Olive Silverlock is a great protagonist (her name and appearance are pleasant reminders of the pre-New 52 Batman love interest Silver St. Cloud – I doubt there is a relation, but I am hoping). She can carry the book and I am already wrapped up in her story.

As I mentioned with Arkham Manor, if the expansion of the Batman line continues to yield books like these, bring them on!