Week's End - July 19th 2009

With a very big week it was a bit of a tough choice but I was still able to pick out some winner’s for Week’s End.

Comic of the Week: Blackest Night #1

All right all right, obvious choice I know. Though really Blackest Night and Streets of Gotham #2 butted heads and it really was a tough choice. Streets of Gotham has a lot going for it, but in the end the thing that made Blackest Night better was 2 things. One is that it felt worth 3.99, whereas I could care less about the Manhunter back up in streets of Gotham and the two is that the art was much better.

Also of course there is the fact that Blackest Night felt ten times more epic than any other comic out this week. It blew the competition out of the water, resurrected it as a Black Lantern and invaded Oa.

Runner Up: Streets of Gotham #2

Moments of the Week: Blackest Night #1, Amazing Spider-man #599 and Streets of Gotham #2

So we’re going with 3 moments this week as I just can’t decide on one.

Blackest Night #1: All of a sudden I miss the Sinestro Corps

A simple shot of all the resurrected Black Lanterns from the Green Lantern tomb. Damn that is epic as all hell. It must have taken Reis days to draw that. So much incredible detail. And Guy’s reaction is priceless.

Amazing Spider-man #599: Norman Osborn is a family man

What makes this moment so great for me is Lilly’s shocked look. Maybe she’s finally regretting let Norman plan the old Osborn seed in her. I am actually liking this twist as it’s pretty funny seeing Norman actually care about another living being. I doubt he gives a damn about Lilly and as everyone says he’s going to snap her neck the second that baby is born but still.

Also I’m going to be honest, I don’t blame Norman for going after Lilly. She looks great and she’s a nutjob? Forget Harry, she was made for Norman. It’s practically a soul-mate thing. So hey maybe she’ll survive (doubt it) and there really will be a relationship there. That’s a big maybe, but still.

Streets of Gotham #2: He's the goddamn new Batman

Wow, seriously this was pretty brutal for Dick. The meanest he’s ever been is smacking someone around and kicking them in the face. I don’t recall him ever pushing someone through a billboard. A billboard, people. Those things aren’t flimsy and like tissue paper, their tough, and I don’t care how much armor you wear, being pushed all the way through one is going to hurt.

Runner up: Scar eats a guardian

Cover of the Week: Captain America #601 Marko Djurdjevic 70^th anniversary variant

Not too many great covers to pick from this week. So I’m going to go with another one of the anniversary variants, Djurdjevic continues to excel at these. My only real complaint is why would they do this for issue #601 when #600 was such a big deal? It’s confusing to say the least.

Runner up: Streets of Gotham #2 by Dustin Nguyen

Character of the Week: Firefly

I’m going to have to give Dini some serious credit for taking one of the more dull Batman villains and actually making him a credible badass. It was shocking enough that he turned the boring Hush into a credible threat but damned if Firefly isn’t one of my new favorite villains. He was just great all around.

One of his best lines had to be how he got a kick out of seeing the chemicals from his blood. Looks like Tony Daniel’s brilliant plan for Black Mask’s return isn’t so bulletproof when you’re dealing with a psycho like Firefly.

Hopefully Firefly’s short defeat is just that, short, and that he’ll be back on the streets of Gotham sooner than later.

Runner Ups: Hal Jordan, Hawkman, Scar

Artist of the Week: Ivan Reis

While Reis’ style doesn’t appeal to me very much I can’t deny that his artwork was incredible nonetheless. The detail alone could win him the award, but what really seals it are all the big splash pages he pulls off like when Hal is showing Barry all of who died. It’s some really incredible stuff that has me excited to see what he can pull of next month.

Comic I wish I got: Superman/Batman #62

A great looking issue to start of Albuquerque as the main artist for Superman/Batman. I must admit I’m tempted to start reading the series just for his great art, especially his real evil looking Batman. This story has gotten a lot of positive feedback which makes me want to read it even more, I’m sure it was great.

Collection of the Week: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader HC Deluxe Edition

Despite the title being a mouthful, wow, this was an absolutely incredible story. I don’t want to talk too much about this as I have special post coming real soon near the end of next week where I’ll get more into it.

Just to sum it up in a few sentences I must say this is the near perfect farewell to Batman. If you’ve ever liked Batman, comics, movies, cartoons, it doesn’t matter. If you’ve ever enjoyed a Batman story than you must buy this as it is the love letter to all Batman fans as well as the Dark Knight himself from Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert. A powerful, twisting and emotional epic that shouldn’t be missed.