Marvel's Best And Worst: Graeme Looks At Comics From 7/13, 7/20

It's been awhile, but that's because of too much work/vacation/too much work, respectively. But! Finally! Comics! Well, some of them, anyway. DAREDEVIL #1: I dropped the previous version of this title midway through Ed Brubaker's run, because it was just too dark for me (I read the collection of Shadowland the other week, and saw that I'd probably made the right decision), so the idea that Matt Murdock would essentially have to choose to actively try to be happy in this new series would've made me interested, even without the creative team of Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera and Marcos Martin. But with them, it's just amazing: Waid's script is smart, funny and tight, and both Rivera and Martin just make the book sing with their art. An Excellent debut, and I can't wait for the second issue.

GREEN LANTERN # 67, WAR OF THE GREEN LANTERNS AFTERMATH #1: It may have been ridiculously delayed and come out in a strangely paced form - although, admittedly, one that makes much more sense once you've read the first issue of the spin-off Aftermath series - but there's something about Lantern #67 that works, despite itself. Geoff Johns is at his best playing with these characters, and making them part of a ridiculously melodramatic story with weirdly compelling, slightly disturbing subtext, I think, and Doug Mahnke's art can make almost anything look good on the page. I kind of wish that he'd had time to stick around for Aftermath #1, which... isn't bad, necessarily (It's better than writer Tony Bedard's GLCorps run to date, I'd argue), but is let down by the art that kills the story by filling it with stiffly-posed, emotionless figures that bring everything to a halt (Blame Tyler Kirkham, whose half of the book is by far the worst). It's a shame, because there's a lot in the writing that I like, particularly the idea that the Guardians essentially fired Hal because they're scared of him, as well as the whole Corps being told to have a day off, more or less, because they're all in shock. If Bedard could get another artist for his New Guardians book come September, this might've been enough to get me to pick it up, but sadly, he's sticking with Kirkham. Lantern: Good, Aftermath: Okay.

SUPERMAN #713: Dear DC - I can't believe you're not letting Chris Roberson stay with this character after the reboot, especially when he gives you issues like this that demonstrate that he really, really loves the character and is doing his best to save the book from the depths of mundanity that JMS took it to. I'll admit that there's almost nothing Portland-y about this trip to Portland, OR - Clark goes to a Sundollar coffee shop, and not Stumptown? Bad show, Mr. Kent - but I loved the various suggested tales to illustrate why there "must be" a Superman. Having Jamal Igle show up with some nice art didn't hurt, either. Good, even if it'll all end in tears next month.

ULTIMATE FALLOUT #1-2: Talking of ending in tears... Am I the only person who thought that the first issue of this felt like it was created to be Ultimate Spider-Man #161? It was more enjoyable than the last few issues of that title, if "enjoyable" is the right word - Brian Michael Bendis provided the emotional punch that "The Death of Spider-Man" lacked, and Mark Bagley... well, he does his best to keep up, at least. The second issue, though, was a mess in comparison, split between three different creative teams and seeming like it: there's no cohesion or connection between the interludes, and it reads like someone's put together a preview book of excerpts instead of something that's supposed to be a story in and of itself. #1 was Good, but #2 pretty much Awful - and that's before I get to pointing out that Bryan Hitch's Ultimate Thor has become Chris Helmsworth thanks to the movie, and then wonder why a comic costing $3.99 only has nineteen pages of story.

But that's enough about me. What did you think?