COMIC PICK OF THE WEEK! 12/6

The COMIC PICK OF THE WEEK is my weekly rundown of comics I picked up for the given week, where I pick the best of the bunch. Then I invite everyone to join in and post their favorites for the week in the comments!

This week, I didn't get through many of the week's new books as I was traveling, and therefore caught up on a trade, manga, and run of issues. I also hit a comic shop in Old Town Sacramento, No Boundries Comics, and picked up a back issue and some local books I'll be taking a quick look at...

First, I'd like to start with the big 2 releases for the week I did make time for...

NEW UNIVERSAL #1 - Warren Ellis reimagining Marvel's aborted New Universe from the mid/late 80's? Yes please! Salvador Larroca turns in an evolved style here as well, and I find myself really liking the book. It's all setup though, and when that's done right, it makes for great comics. The trick is keeping that momentum... We'll see.
SPIDER-MAN REIGN #1 - This book is on most people's radars because it's a potential future epic for Spider-Man, in the style of Batman the Dark Knight. I was keen to grab it cause it features the return of one of the industries best artists, Kaare Andrews! Well, turns out it's more than in the vein of Dark Knight, it is Spider-Man Dark Knight, and Kaare Andrews isn't doing the art, Kaare Andrews by way of Frank Miller is what we have too. Wow. Whether the book is good, or bad, it's kind of hard to care when it's such a blatant homage/rip-off of Dark Knight... I mean, something inspired by it fine, but this seems wayyyyyy too derivative.
X-MEN #193 - This is the conclusion of the first Mike Carey Chris Bachalo arc (from the previous week)... Sorry but, snooze...
JEREMIAH HARM #1 - Picked this up in the back issue 50% off bin at the Sacramento comic shop cause I'd been looking to try it as I'd heard and seen good things. The art is great, but the story is a bit confusing, and the main character is more then a little lame. I'm much more into the villains he's chaising than I am Mr. Harm...
APOCRYPHA #1 - This was one of the books by a local creator I picked up in Sacramento. Features some decent black and white artwork in a mature story I'm not sure I get the point of yet. It's billed as six issues, and I hope they work them all out. I think there's enough talent there to keep pursuing further, but it's not ready for prime time...
SCOTT PILGRIM #3 - Scott Pilgrim, and it's not the pick of the week?!? Hey, maybe if I'd read this when it came out, cause it is of course great, but as you'll see, it was a tough week, with 3 really great things to choose from. Any way, another great installment of the Pilgrim storyline. Things are perhaps settling into a bit more familiar territory here, so some of the magic is curbed. It is a great and highly recommended book though...
BLAME! Volume 1 - Blame! is already 6 volumes in from Tokyopop, and I can't believe I haven't had a chance to read these yet... I wasn't too worried about investing in that many volumes of a book I'd yet to read though, because after seeing Tsutomu Nihei's Wolverine Snikt, I knew he was a creator I'd absolutely love to see the works that inspired that Marvel mini of. Volume 1 did not let down. It's immersive and engrossing. Just like Snikt, the protagonist wanders through a massive future architecture, that's so well realized you can't help but be thrust into their world and therefore engaged with it. There were a couple scenes where I utterly could not follow what transpired without repeated viewings, but other than that the book is masterful in it's simplicity. Turns out Nihei was an architecture student, and it shows, as constructs we traverse are richly conceived and depicted, and that's what really sells the concept. Can't wait to read the next volume!

So what was so good that I had to not pick two books I loved?!?
PICK OF THE WEEK: ASTONISHING X-MEN #13-18

Since the second run of Joss Whedon and John Cassaday had reached it's halfway point recently, I thought it'd be a good time to get caught up there. I don't love everything Whedon does, Firefly and Fray, those are some of my favorite works in recent years, Buffy and Angel, not so much. But man, I love Whedon on the X-Men. His trademark scripting is showcased of course, but he also really gets the X-Men and the characters he's using, and the plotting is also phenomenal. Oftentimes, big time comic writers will impress with openings of arcs, or ideas, but falter in climax or execution (cough**Mark Millar**cough), but not Joss. He writes a tight story from start to finish, and this latest arc is by far his best yet.

Do I even need to mention the artwork of John Cassaday and colorist Laura Martin?!!

Great stuff, great X-Men, great comics!!

How about you, what's your pick this week???