Grading the Comics: August 8, 2008

You're probably watching the Olympics, my friendly readers, but just in case...

• AUTHORITY #1 - Okay, the WildStorm Earth is WAY messed up. Gotta see how this plays out but it's a different kind of place to set superhero stories. The heroes are facing serious problems on several fronts, not the least of which is that half the team is... well, let's just say they've seen better days as a group and leave it at that. And things are not looking up, either. B
• BOYS #21 - Part three of a four-part digging into the back story of why things are so jacked up in NYC especially, it has a lot to say about how superheroes don't work the way we think--even in the most cliche of situations. A-
• FINAL CRISIS #3 (OF 7) - Gotta admit, I'm not sure where this is going or what I think of it. Some interesting images but I don't know if it jells for me. Still, Barry's back! B-
• FX #6 (OF 6) - A neat six-issue mini, tightly plotted and very well drawn, with a cool Silver Age vibe to it. Here's hoping there's more on the way. A
• HULK #5 - Is it me or is the Red Hulk way too powerful to believe? C'mon, a monster that shrugs off She-Hulk or Abomination (old and new) I can buy... shrugs off original green Hulk, maybe... shrugs off Thor slamming Mjolnir into his face? Um, no. Well drawn but the enemy is amped beyond my suspension of disbelief load limit. C-
• STAR TREK ASSIGNMENT EARTH #4 - A nice done-in-one from John Byrne, who has a real affinity for Classic Trek. Hopefully he'll be on this title for a long while to come, 'cause I'm enjoying it a lot. A
• TRINITY #10 - Some interesting ideas but I'm not any closer to knowing if I like this story or not. Great art but... I'm not locking into the story. C+
• ULTIMATE ORIGINS #3 (OF 5) - Another story that seems a little too unfocused. We get to see Young Magneto and Young Professor X doing their bonding thing in the Savage Land, amid the original Brotherhood (guess the Evil Mutants part came later), while the modern FF try to figure out what this HAL 9000-meets-Stone Age probe is supposed to be doing. Um... halfway through and I have no idea what's really going on. Not good. C

Okay, that's it for this week. Overall not bad but not stellar either. Comments?

This Week's Comics

Okay, so I didn't grade last week's books.

Doesn't mean there weren't winners and losers in the bunch.

First, this week's books:

• ACTION COMICS #867
• BOOSTER GOLD #1000000
• BPRD THE WARNING #1 (OF 5)
• CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI 13 #3 SI
• DETECTIVE COMICS #846 RIP
• JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #17
• NUMBER OF THE BEAST #7 (OF 8)
• SECRET INVASION #4
• TRINITY #6
• ULTIMATE ORIGINS #2 (OF 5)

We'll see which of these come out thumbs-up this week.

As for last week...

• BATMAN #678 RIP - Reminded me of an episode of Starsky and Hutch, where Hutch was addicted to narcotics by the bad guys; in the '70s, you could do that and the character would be "clean" by the end credits, while now it'd be the focus of a season-long story arc (with the possibility of backsliding). Very interesting... A
• BOYS #20 - What can I say, Ennis and Derenick keep this comic rolling, even in a story where the real "action" is two conversations and a clean-up job. A
• FX #5 (OF 6) - I'm a longtime John Byrne fan, so this series continues to please me. (See more below) B+
• SAVAGE DRAGON #136 - Erik Larsen would be getting a better grade if this book came out more than once in awhile, but I do like his stuff. B-
• STAR TREK ASSIGNMENT EARTH #3 - A story about Gary Seven and Roberta that shows some forward momentum for one character (plus a bittersweet flash-forward); some really good storytelling by JB. B
• TRINITY #5 - So far, the weekly isn't blowing the doors off my fanboy brain but it's holding my interest. So far. C+
• WALKING DEAD #50 - Man, Carl sure has grown up in the past four years. He really lets his dad have it, too, venting all the horror and suffering he's gone through to reach a point of being self-reliant. Great storytelling and a return to the big danger being--zombies! A-

Astute friends of the site will notice some deletions from the list I posted last week. So be it-- some titles were sold out, others I chose to drop at the store rather than purchase.

Anyway, that's this week AND grading the comics, so... make of it what you will.