52 week 1 (via Hibbs) & shipping this week

52 WEEK 1: Well, I'll be the odd man out on this one. Perhaps I'm just able to compartmentalize my thinking a little more than Jeff or Graeme, but (except for the first two pages, where they kind of force the point) I was able to divorce my brain from INFINITE CRISIS pretty easily and look at this comic on its own merits. The first thing I like was the "re-compressed" story-telling -- there's a lot of characters in here, and a lot of things going on, and I thought this was agreeably dense.

I also liked the "heroic structure" -- we have 2 characters that have bottomed out (Montoya, Ralph), a hero who lost his way (Booster), an anti-hero (Black Adam), an unalloyed hero (Steel... heh, unalloyed), and a question mark (The Question) -- this is a lot of potentially juicy character arcs as each comes to "Heroism" from a different place.

That 52 appears to be more about character than event is, to me, the real selling point of the book, and, while, sure, it is a 52 week "event", I think this may be a balm for "event storytelling" if they keep this kind of character-driven focus.

I'll happily stipulate that this isn't a comic for the ages -- it probably won't win any Eisners (though I can see it being nominated for Covers, or, possibly, publication design), but as a reason to come into the comic book store each week for the next year, well, it seemed like a worthy start to me.

If there are problems, they come down to continuity ("How/why did he..."), some waste (those first two pages would have been better with a little exposition, I think), and a better "cliffhanger" (the issue kinda just stopped), but, all things considered, and not being a cynical bastard for just one minute, I'll go with a tentative (though lowish) GOOD for this first issue.

Here's what's shipping this week:

100 BULLETS #72 2000 AD #1484 2000 AD #1485 52 WEEK #2 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #34 (A) ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN THEBOY WONDER #4 ANGEL SCRIPTBOOK #3 ANNIHILATION NOVA #2 (OF 4) AQUAMAN SWORD OF ATLANTIS #42 BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #205 BATMAN YEAR ONE HUNDRED #4 (OF 4) BETTY & VERONICA SPECTACULAR #74 BITE CLUB VAMPIRE CRIME UNIT #2 (OF 5) BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #113 BOMB QUEEN #4 (OF 4) CAPTAIN AMERICA #18 CONAN #28 CYBERFORCE #3 DMZ #7 DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS #340 DORK TOWER #33 FALLEN ANGEL IDW #5 (OF 5) FEAR AGENT #4 FELL #5 GODLAND #10 GREEN ARROW #62 HAUNT OF HORROR EDGAR ALLAN POE #1 (OF 3) JACK STAFF #10 JEREMIAH HARM #3 JUGHEAD #173 MAJESTIC #17 MAN-BAT #2 (OF 5) MANHUNTER #22 MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS #1 MARVEL LEGACY 1970S HANDBOOK MICKEY MOUSE AND FRIENDS #289 MOON KNIGHT #2 MS MARVEL #3 NEW MANGAVERSE #5 (OF 5) RED SONJA CLAW DEVILS HANDS #3 (OF 4) RETRO ROCKET #2 (OF 4) REX MUNDI #18 ROBIN #150 SCOOBY DOO #108 SGT ROCK THE PROPHECY #5 (OF 6) SHADOWPACT #1 SIMPSONS COMICS #118 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #162 STAR WARS REBELLION #2 SUPERMAN BATMAN #25 TALENT #1 (OF 4) TALES FROM RIVERDALE DIGEST #11 TRANSFORMERS GENERATIONS (IDW) #3 ULTIMATE X-MEN #70 WOLVERINE ORIGINS #2 WONDERLAND #1 X-MEN #186 X-MEN FAIRY TALES #1 (OF 4)

Books / Mags / Stuff ANIMATION MAGAZINE JUNE 2006 #161 BACK ISSUE #16 BEAR VOL 2 DEMONS TP BLACK PANTHER BAD MUTHA TP BLURRED VISION VOL 1 GN CAPTAIN AMERICA WINTER SOLDIER VOL 2 PREMIERE HC CASTLE WAITING HC COMIC CREATORS ON X MEN SC CONAN VOL 3 TOWER OF THE ELEPHANT & STORIES HC FAMILY GUY VOL 1 GN (OF 3) FORTEAN TIMES #210 FRANK MILLERS SIN CITY LIBRARY II HC HOTWIRE COMIX AND CAPERS GN ILLUSTRATION MAGAZINE #16 JUXTAPOZ JUNE 2006 VOL 14 #6 KRAZY & IGNATZ 1937-1938 SHIFTING SANDS DUSTS CHEEK POWDERED LEES TOY REVIEW APR 2006 #163 PHANTOM LEGACY GN VIDEO WATCHDOG JAN 2006 #125 WALT DISNEYS VACATION PARADE #3 WAR FIX HC WINSOR MCCAY VOL 7 EARLY WORKS WOLVERINE CLASSIC VOL 3 TP X-FILES VOL 3 TP X-MEN FIRESTAR DIGEST TP X-MEN POSTER BOOK Y THE LAST MAN VOL 7 PAPER DOLLS TP

This week's ASSHAT is a tie -- either JACK STAFF #10, which should have arrived in, uh, September? Or the JUST-less-late,-but-FAR-worse-because-it-missed-Christmas of the SIN CITY LIBRARY v2 boxed set. Fuck, that's a REPRINT, too!

What did you think?

-B