Atoll Comics Round 9

Or changes to my top-ten

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 The Movement and dropping The Indestructible Hulk.

Why The Movement: Gail Simone and Secret Six. Secret Six was this absolutely perfect moment of a comic: twisted, perverse, hilarious, and heartfelt. It was great and now it is gone. And with it a giant Secret Six sized hole opened within me that goes un-filled week after week and month after month. It is my hope that with some room to grow The Movement may become something nearly as good as Secret Six. It has a diverse cast of outsiders fighting back, in a super-heroed-violenced-up-Occupy style, against authorities who have ceased to care for their people. Which is an interesting concept. But what really nabs me is the potential: I see moments of Gail Simone's amazing humour, sharp dialogue, and fantastic compassion. I see characters capable of profound empathy and passionate infighting and startling psychosis. I see the bones of a comic that is good and, if it can sort out its growing pains, could be fantastic. And I would like to be reading it when it does.

Why not The Indestructible Hulk: Too much Hulk, not enough Banner essentially. Mark Waid absolutely hooked me with the his take on Banner as a Science guy who just wants to make a contribution to humanity when he isn't giant and green and smashy. And so each issue followed, in a very loose way, something about Banner and his Science-team and something about Hulk breaking things. And for a while it was exactly what I wanted. The trouble is that Hulk kept getting in the way of the Banner sections I was more interested in... and at a certain point, since I'm only allowed to read ten on-going comics, it just wasn't enough of what I wanted. It didn't become the Banner centric thing I was hoping it would. Also, Lenil Francis Yu, the starting artist who was a big part of my jumping on board The Indestrutible Hulk, was moved onto other projects at Marvel which also contributed to this comics shrinking stature. It is still good comics, great comics even, just not what I had hoped it would be in a time when I'm only reading ten comics....

Previously:
Atoll Comics Round 8: The Indestructible Hulk and FF in and Uncanny Avengers out
Atoll Comics Round 7: Young Avengers in and Winter Solider out
Atoll Comics Round 6: Either The Indestructible Hulk or FF in and Batwoman out
Atoll Comics Round 5: Avengers in and Fantastic Four/FF out
Atoll Comics Round 4: Avengers Assemble in and The Invincible Ironman out
Atoll Comics Round 3: Uncanny Avengers in and Ultimate Spider-Man out
Atoll Comics Round 2: Hawkeye in and The Flash out
Atoll Comics Round 1: Captain Marvel in and Thunderbots/Dark Avengers out
Atoll Comics Round 0: The originals

Atoll Comics Round 8 (and 6!)

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.

In Atoll Comics Round 6 I decided to pit The Indestructible Hulk and FF head-to-head in a trial basis to see which one would get incorporated into my top-ten reading list. Trouble is, I really enjoyed both comics immensely and still haven't quite decided which one I like best. But in a twist ending, I have decided that I like both titles more than one of my current top ten comics. So without further preamble:

I will be adding both The Indestructible Hulk AND FF and dropping Uncanny Avengers.

Why Indestructible Hulk? Essentially because it's a Hulk book that's good. I've always had trouble with the Hulk when he isn't in an ensemble because he feels a tad one-note. (I mean, it's a good note, but Hulk Smash only gets a narrative so far on its own.) The central hook of the comic: Banner is trying to maximise the good he can do as Banner while offering the Hulk as a weapon for SHIELD is brilliant.  I am also pretty excited about the Banner centric world Waid and Yu are building: I am genuinely interested in learning more about the supporting cast and Banner and where all of this part of the story is going. The only reason this comic hasn't completely grabbed me is that the super fascinating Banner narrative keeps getting tossed aside for the Hulk to go smash something unrelated to this developing storyline. I'm not entirely sure this isn't intentionally a meta-commentary on what it's like to be Banner. It might also just be a practical story logistic thing that allows Waid and Yu to slowly build up and develop the main story of the series while still dishing out big scoops of Hulk smashing. Hopefully as the series progresses The Indestructible Hulk can add some drama to the smashing, but for the moment I am on board.

Why FF? This is a series that is finally delivering what it promised. A comic with Matt Fraction and Mike Allred should be, at least in theory, something I very much want to read. But balanced against this is the fact that I really like walking away from long, finished feeling comic runs: I feel like Hickman's Fantastic Four and FF are reading experiences that need to be savoured. So, despite the incredible creative team I was a bit hesitant to jump into this new FF. But now that it has some time to establish itself and grow into its identity, well, I needn't have worried. This comic is completely its own glorious, weird, funny comic that is completely distinct from the high concept Science Fiction opera of the previous iteration of the FF. It took a while to get there, but the most recent issues: where Thing mask wearing Yancy Street hoodlums accost Ms. Thing and where the Moloid kids try to ruin a date between She-Hulk and Wyatt Wingfoot are just so wacky and off-beat and great. If this is the comic FF is going to be going forward, I'm fully on board for the duration.

Why not Uncanny Avengers? I still think Uncanny Avengers is a pretty great comic: mixing X-men and Avengers is a great idea and the execution of art and writing is top notch. It's without a doubt a very good comic. Then why am I dropping it? Well, part of it is competition with other Avengers books. In a world where I am reading only ten comics I don't really need to read three similar team books with overlapping casts. When contrasted against fun, punchy, and continuity light Avengers Assemble (Kelly Sue DeConnick) and serious, elaborate, and high concept Avengers (Jonathan Hickman), Uncanny Avengers suffers a bit by being, compared to these polar extremes, middle of the road. It's not as fun as Avengers Assemble and not as high stakes and thinky as Avengers... it's somewhere in between. And in a limited reading list, something that doesn't stand out is at a disadvantage. Another issue I have with Uncanny Avengers is that it just. Keeps. Getting. WEIRDER. After a very balanced first issue Uncanny Avengers nailed the accelerator to the floor and just starting throwing crazier and crazier action at the reader without leaving any space to breath or sort out what was happening. And the cliffhanger at the end of the first story arch promises to be EVEN CRAZIER YET!! I understand that this kind of all-action-all-the-time style of writing is popular with some people, but the fact is I really like the quiet character driven moments in comics. Without these moments comics are just so much fighting, which, at least for me, lacks the dramatic weight of conflicts rooted in character or thematic context. (That said, I don't think this is a flaw in the book so much as it's just not being written for me... the fact that I can choose between Crazy Action Avengers, Fun Character-driven Avengers, and Elaborately-Plotted Expansive Avengers is probably a strength of Marvel's current lineup: there are different things for different folks.) So basically, I am dropping this book because, while it is very good, it's just not quiet what I like in comics. 

Atoll Comics Round 6: CAGE MATCH!!

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 dropping Batwoman and adding... I'm not completely sure! There are two comics: FF and The Indestructible Hulk that I would very much like to read. But unfortunately I only have one opening for a new comic book in my ten and only ten superhero comics. So I propose to have a kind of tie breaker where the two books go head-to-head and fight for that slot in my reading list.

Why not Batwoman?: I love the idea of this book: a queer woman superhero motivated by her tragic past and collisions with prejudice and adversity to take up the mantle of a Bat-person. When it was written by Greg Rucka and drawn by JH Williams III it was one of the best looking books on the stands, but also one of the best written. Rucka brought so much complexity, empathy, and intelligence to Batwoman. Without him, the book just hasn't been the same. It's still a pretty book by any reasonable metric, but Batwoman is also kind of a mess plot wise. I mean, I'm still not sure exactly what is going on in this book and worse, I'm not sure why I should care that I don't. The reality is that Batwoman is never going to be as good as it was when Rucka was writing it and that there are too many better books on the stands. 

(I guess writing trumps art and creators are more important than characters?)

THE CONTENDERS:

Potentially why FF?: Matt Fraction AND Mike Allred. This should be a complete no brainer: one of my favourite writers with an industry legend on art. By any conventional metric this should be an amazing comic book. And from what I read it is. The trouble here is that Hickman's Fantastic Four and FF had such a distinct vision, which I profoundly enjoyed, that I'm not yet sure that FF, despite the amazing creators, will live up to these lofty expectations. (Of course, it's hard to tell because the two issues thus far have been very set-up-y).

Potentially why The Indestructible Hulk?: I have never enjoyed a Hulk comic. I think the Hulk is a great character (brilliant scientist that turns into a giant green rage monster) in an ensemble. On a team he's both an asset and dangerous liability, and that is inherently interesting. Solo Hulk tends to be one note (leave me alone), questing on another planet, or involved in a needlessly crazy story. His books tend not to work for me. But Mark Waid seems to be an expert at taking a basic premise and making it work in fresh ways. And his premise in these first issues seems to be about celebrating both Banner and the Hulk in a way that feels new and very true to the character. Add in Lenil Francis Yu, an artist whose rough and sketchy style seems perfectly suited to a Hulk book and I've liked what I've seen. It'll be interesting to see if they can make a Hulk book I actually enjoy.

So for the first five issues these two books will go head to head to determine which is the book that will make my vaunted top ten.