This is it, the last day of the Weirdies. 2016 sure was a crazy year and 2017 looks to be the same. These are the Weird Science picks for Best Book and Biggest Surprise...Enjoy and see you next year!
Biggest Surprise:
Jim's Pick: New-Superman
When this book was announced, I can't say it wowed me. The book was coming out of the Final Days of Superman that wasn't the greatest story and there was even confusion of whether or not we actually saw Kong Keenan in that story - I want to remind everyone that I was correct in saying we didn't! Beside my love of being right, this book hit the ground running in Rebirth with Gene Yang and Viktor Bogdanovic doing something so hard in comics these days...giving readers a new character they care about. I hope this book lasts for a long time because I really like it!
Reggie's Pick: Young Animal imprint
It's not like I didn't have high hopes. But launching something like this so close to Rebirth made me worried that Young Animal wouldn't have the resources to be good. Turns out my fears were unfounded, partly because the Young Animal production team is totally separate from DC's, but mostly because there are some creative powerhouses to make these comics better than good. You can hear Chris and I fawning over most of the line every week on the podcast. The greatest strength of Young Animal is that there's something for everyone...that's a little weird!
Reggie's Pick: Young Animal imprint
It's not like I didn't have high hopes. But launching something like this so close to Rebirth made me worried that Young Animal wouldn't have the resources to be good. Turns out my fears were unfounded, partly because the Young Animal production team is totally separate from DC's, but mostly because there are some creative powerhouses to make these comics better than good. You can hear Chris and I fawning over most of the line every week on the podcast. The greatest strength of Young Animal is that there's something for everyone...that's a little weird!
Eric's Pick: New Super-Man
With all the Supermen that were running around at the end of The New 52 and then having even more show up in Rebirth, New Super-Man wasn't something that I was really looking forward to...... plus, the character felt so far removed from everything else we were dealing with, he really didn't seem to matter. Man, I've never been happier to be be proven wrong about all that because even though I wasn't a fan of the character when the series first started because of his douche bag demeanor, this series has gone and made me care about the heroes of China because the first arc gave us a full story, full of great characters who have a depth to them that is not only compelling, but believable. A great series that totally surprised me and one that I hope continues for a long time.
With all the Supermen that were running around at the end of The New 52 and then having even more show up in Rebirth, New Super-Man wasn't something that I was really looking forward to...... plus, the character felt so far removed from everything else we were dealing with, he really didn't seem to matter. Man, I've never been happier to be be proven wrong about all that because even though I wasn't a fan of the character when the series first started because of his douche bag demeanor, this series has gone and made me care about the heroes of China because the first arc gave us a full story, full of great characters who have a depth to them that is not only compelling, but believable. A great series that totally surprised me and one that I hope continues for a long time.
Best Book:
Jim's Pick: The Legend of Wonder Woman
This was actually a very easy pick for me because I loved this book so much! Renae De Liz and Ray Dillon gave fans a beautiful and delightful origin story for Diana, but she had to take backseat in her own book to the star of the show...Etta Candy!!! Seriously, if you read this book, you will fall in love with Etta the instant she arrives and never stop loving her. Unfortunately, DC canceled Vol 2 of this book so we will never get to continue the story, but still go and check this out, it really is that good!
Reggie's Pick: Doom Patrol
If this had been the "Most Improved" award, I'd have to give it to Superman, which has, since Rebirth, gone to the top of my stack from the bottom of the birdcage. But no title has given me so much sheer joy and smiles than Doom Patrol. Of course, I am sort of inclined to like the team. But there are a couple of runs, and one run in particular, that aren't so good. I'm thrilled to say this isn't one of them, and three issues in it seems to embody the best aspects of the team's long history. I hope it gets back on track after issue #4, the delay has me worried that I may have awarded too soon.
Eric's Pick: Red Hood and The Outlaws
While I've always been a fan of the Red Hood and The Outlaws title, somehow Rebirth went and made it something bigger than it ever was and I couldn't be happier because month after month both the storytelling and the art surpass anything that I ever expected going into Rebirth and it's because of the consistency of this title that it is my pick for Best Book because honestly, it's the absolute best thing that DC Comics is putting out right now.
Reggie's Pick: Doom Patrol
If this had been the "Most Improved" award, I'd have to give it to Superman, which has, since Rebirth, gone to the top of my stack from the bottom of the birdcage. But no title has given me so much sheer joy and smiles than Doom Patrol. Of course, I am sort of inclined to like the team. But there are a couple of runs, and one run in particular, that aren't so good. I'm thrilled to say this isn't one of them, and three issues in it seems to embody the best aspects of the team's long history. I hope it gets back on track after issue #4, the delay has me worried that I may have awarded too soon.
Eric's Pick: Red Hood and The Outlaws
While I've always been a fan of the Red Hood and The Outlaws title, somehow Rebirth went and made it something bigger than it ever was and I couldn't be happier because month after month both the storytelling and the art surpass anything that I ever expected going into Rebirth and it's because of the consistency of this title that it is my pick for Best Book because honestly, it's the absolute best thing that DC Comics is putting out right now.
I enjoyed what I read of The Legend of Wonder Woman, and the art on that book I can only describe as "Vibrant". It a shame that it's gone, but to be honest the only reason I stopped reading was because I'm in love with the Azerello run so much. So any other versions fails in comparison.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest Suprize is teen Titans. There are a few characters in DCU Loath, that make me even not want to read a book; Lois Lane, Hal Jordan, Steve Trevor and DAMIAN WAYNE. But since Batman & Robin Damain has been in this Journey to be a better Person. And what I've seen So far of this new run is that He is still moving forward, and it doesn't hurt that this is the best version on Titans since the N52 started(with the exception of Starfire on the Team).
Best Book has to go to Red Hood & The Outlaws. This Book Has Action, Comedy, Heart and probably the best artist at DC right now. And it doesn't retcon shit like some of the other rebirth titles. So if you been following Jason this whole time since the new 52, you won't be lost. Besides Batman and maybe Robin in Titans, Jason is probably the best defined character in the bat family(Certainly better than Couff..Couff..Batgirl..Couff.)This has been a good year in comics.