9/29: Week, Weak, Pick.

I thought there'd be more choices for Pick of the Week but really there's just Darwyn Cooke's super-fab New Frontier #6: in case of Identity Crisis poisoning, take one of these for instant relief. See your doctor if symptoms persist. For Pick of the Weak, well....Amazing Spider-Man #512--not just because 2004 is a really bad year for Gwen Stacys, but because a character's mythology means more than just an aphorism and sticking to walls. Runner-up is Metal Gear Solid #1, recreating the experience of a twelve year old telling you about the game of Metal Gear he just played, except wasting some sweet Ashley Wood art in the process.

Trade Paperback: I hate to keep picking reprints of old DC Comics, but looking at the difference between Loeb and Sale's Catwoman: When in Rome and their old Challengers of the Unknown trade is edifying: Sale's always had a love of the full-page splash and the double-page spread, but in Challengers he jams every page with storytelling verve--Bendis' intro rightly points out that Monopoly page, but Red killing his way out of a prison, the crumpled Kirby summaries, the tiny robot making his way across a vent of a panel border, are all pretty masterful stuff, designed to do more than fetch high prices for the original art come convention season. I hate what the mini did to my buddies the Challenegers and Loeb's script gets way, way, way too in-jokey by the end, but it's mighty fine comic book reading and worth checking out.