The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

[LOLtron]

Hello everyone and welcome to the final regular installment of Top to Bottom for the year. I shall be on vacation this coming weekend and the next two are the wonderful holidays. Keep an eye out though for my Best and Worst of 2011 followed by a wrap up of the year in review.

Also, another huge congratulations to MrOrangesoda for winning our first contest! There will be more in 2012. Thanks everyone for reading and responding. It means a lot. Happy New Year!

1. Villains for Hire #1

Really there should be no surprise here at all. The duo with the most does it again. The villains that have been brought together by the Purple Man are fascinating and their first heist goes completely south thanks to the interference of another enterprising group of villains with the same M.O. Art and story are right on the mark here making this exactly what a Secret Six fan is missing. My Score: A-

2. Action Comics #4

I can't figure out how a writer that I've never been a huge fan of, other than his own creations, has always seemed to do it right when it comes to the Man of Steel. Chronicling the early days of Clark Kent, Grant Morrison once again channels the very best that he can do to bring not only another great chapter but the re-introduction of Steel. He moves these characters forward like the pro that he is. This book is one of my favorites of the new DC. My Score: A-

3. X-Factor #228

Peter David is consistent with this title, with some issues rising above good to close to great. The recent arc with Bloodbath has been as close to great as he's gotten in quite a while. I hope there's a way out of this for both Jamie and Guido (especially Guido) but this issue proves that Peter David has invested so much time and energy into these characters that when the big issues hit, you really care what happens. My Score: B+

4. Justice League International #4

This team has had quite a year and Peraxxus is making it worse. This continues to be a nice blend of the old and new with Dan Jurgens allowing each character a chance to shine. The wit and humor is more grounded here which is fine with me and Booster and Batman working as equals is constantly a winner in my book. Great pencils by Aaron Lopresti enhance the serious... unfortunately there is a but... but this hasn't quite got up there with Lost Generation, but it's pretty damn close. My Score: B

5. Moon Knight #8

I'm loving this series and I have no idea why. Bendis has never been one of my "need to read" writers but there's something about this version of Moon Knight that has tickled me. I have to admit that I've always been a big fan of Count Nafaria, so that is a big part of it. I also like the concept of Mark's fractured mind becoming the Avengers. My Score: B-

6. X-Club #1

The art in this book is more fun than the story. This is not to say that the story is bad, it isn't, but not being a fan of techno-babble in any form made this a rather quick read. I skip over all that silly non-sense and move forward as quickly as possible. This book has quite a bit of it and if that sort of thing is your bag then this book is absolutely for you. If your favorite parts of ST:TNG was the six minute explanation of how they were going to alter the warp core so the Enterprise could Wang Chung, then this is definitely for you. My Score: C+

7. Stormwatch #4

There is nothing wrong with this book at all. We finally get to see some good interaction between Midniter and Apollo and the story takes some really cool twists and turns. Paul Cornell really does have a great grasp on this book. He's been able to set his own tone which also gives a nice nod to the original series as well. Still not a fan of Martian Manhunter being in this book and so far the only real reason he seems to be here is for name recognition only. Still there's something that seems to be missing but I can't seem to put my finger on it. My Score: C+

 

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[Eli Katz]

Man love for Morrison and Bendis ... we hardly know ye.

[Starlord]

Tell me about it!!

Either Grant gets Superman or I get Grant doing Superman. Not sure which.

Bendis' crappy writing has just worn me down to the point that I can't tell what is bad and what is horrible anymore.

[Stephen Day]

Bendis' crappy writing has just worn me down to the point that I can't tell what is bad and what is horrible anymore.

The thing about Bendis is that he's always been at his strongest when writing solo street level heroes. He's not a bad writer overall, he's just out of his element when writing stuff like Avengers.

[mrorangesoda]

The thing about Bendis is that he's always been at his strongest when writing solo street level heroes. He's not a bad writer overall, he's just out of his element when writing stuff like Avengers.

This. His stuff needs a lead character.