Atoll Comics Round 4

Or Changes to My Top-Ten Comics

Due to poverty and an urge to buy better comics, I have decided to be super-selective about which superhero comics I read. Harnessing the Awesome Power of Maths, I have determined that I can afford to read 10 ongoing titles. So I get to read 10, and only 10, titles published by either Marvel or DC as well as one trade paperback a week of my choosing.

A complication of this is that I am forced to drop an on-going title if I want to try reading a new on-going title, an act of very tough love. Being financially responsible is the worst.

I will be adding Avengers Assemble to my ten comic list and dropping The Invincible Ironman.

Why Avengers Assemble?

From what I've been given to understand Avengers Assemble is meant to be an accessible (particularly for Avengers movie watchers) and lighter book with a rotating cast of Avengers. Part of the premise, I think, is that different teams are made depending on the parameters of their missions and then action occurs. So you know, not the typical comic I'd want to read. The only reason I find such a casual comics premise attractive is based purely on execution, which in turn is based on the creative team of Kelly Sue DeConnick and Stefano Caselli. The Internet has taught me that DeConnick has a character first approach to writing and this strength really shines through in an ensemble. (Which is great because many team books suffer from poorly defined, mono-voiced characters.) DeConnick actually writes her first issue (AA9) almost like a superhero sitcom (which I would watch the hell out of) and bases her team around a friendlt bet which is kind of brilliant. Caselli is, for lack of anything more substantiative to say, a very talented artist with his own distinct style. The man can draw a mean action sequence but can also pull off the "acting" required by DeConnick's script. These two creators seem to be clicking, and if Avengers Assemble #9 is any indication, they seem to be creating a pretty much perfect comic book.

Why not The Invincible Ironman?

The Invincible Ironman was a great comic by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca. Fraction writes a perfect Tony Stark and confronts him with flawlessly derived challenges while Larroca draws the hell out of robotic things. The run of these two creators (who did the entire uninterrupted run) will stand, at least to me, as the definitive take on Ironman. Sadly, all good things must end and this title has been cancelled upon the altar of Marvel NOW. So I can't be reading it anymore.

(I think i'll be giving the new Ironman title a skip. I love Kieron Gillen and think he will write the hell out of Tony (if only based on David kohl and Emily Aster of Phonogram), but Greg Land is not one of the artists whose work I'm interested in if I'm only going to read ten comics.)