Comic of the Week

This week was close. I thought it was going to be easy, but after reading, it was more complicated. Four books this week:

Batman and Robin #5

American Vampire #24

Wolverine and the X-Men #6

Aquaman #6

Aquaman himself took a break this week. This issue was all about Mera, his wife, who apparently goes grocery shopping in a glittery spandex outfit. She breaks a lecherous store manager's arm because he was over the top harassing her. The first half was a little cheesy, but it got better towards the end. All in all, the art was a little stiff, as Joe Prado took over. You can tell the difference.

Batman and Robin was good. I've finally caught up with back issues and #5 finally got into some details about the villain Nobody. I like Robin. He isn't coming off as a smart ass brat so much as an extremely dark character who still holds on to a few morals. He's not as extreme as Nobody/Ducard, but on the edge and able to take care of himself.

Wolverine and the X-Men continues its frantic pace. Baccalo is still off of art duties, but it still looks good. Two stories going on, a crackpot scheme to scam money for the school at a casino, and Kitty being stalked by Brood from within and without. This was a good set up issue, lots of action leading up to next issue.

Finally, the best book of the week, American Vampire. I think it's easy to see why. Scott Snyder is still writing, and Rafael Albuquerque is drawing. When you keep the original team together, the book is amazing, and that goes for all of the books. When artists or writers take breaks, the book suffers. Albuquerque is getting BETTER i believe. The detail and texture in his work is amazing. A rough style but clean at the same time. This story arc has been great, the 50's feel is a good change and has a lot of depth. I didn't quite get the deal with Skinner getting stronger as the sun comes up, but then again, I haven't read the first series, so maybe Skinner is like a reverse vampire, who knows. Some day I'll get around to reading those.

So, good books all around, but my advice, stick with the original writer/artist teams. A big part of why I read certain books is the art and when it's not there, I start to get disinterested.