What I Read This Week

The Web #1 -- John Raymond set out to earn fame and glory as The Web... but instead found only heartache and pain.  Now the hero of the people is out to find the men responsible for the murder of his brother, starting with the mercenary known as Deadly Force.  Meanwhile, The Hangman finds that his nightly stalking of San Francisco's seedy side can have an deteriment to his daily routine as Dr. Robert Dickering.  I liked this comic book quite a bit.  It's not perfect but, like it's counterpart, The Shield #1, I thought it was a solid effort in launching two new strips and giving each one a unique look and voice.  The lead is handled by Angela Robinson, who I am not familiar with, who gives it a grim but not over the top sort of detemined tone.  The art by Roger Robinson is dynamic-bordering-on-90s-excessive, but I like the match with the character and story.  The backup, by John Rozzum and the art team of Tom Derenick and Bill Sienkiewicz, is also pretty intriguing, with the art especially suited to the dark nature of the character.  We'll see if these four features can continue to keep my interest, and I may be the only one on the web with this opinion, but so far I am definitely on board with the Red Circle.

Wednesday Comics #12 -- The Grand Summer Experiment ends in satisfying fashion here, with most all of the strips providing nice codas to their storylines.  Flash probably has the best such wrap up, although one should never underestimate the appeal of having Hawkman and Aquaman double team a Tyrannosaurus.  A hugely fun series which I am looking forward to re-reading.

Guardians of the Galaxy #18 -- The Fault is causing all sorts of strangeness for a few members of the Guardians of the Galaxy, as Star-Lord, Jack Flagg, Mantis, Bug, and Cosmo find themselves in an alternate future where Killraven and his team of Guardians of the Galaxy defend Earth from the Martian invaders!  This issue has a real "Cross-Time Caper" vibe, with the team being shunted to and fro across alternate versions of reality.  Wes Craig's art is cartoony but fun and fits the story nicely.  Gets bonus points for the excellent depiction of Hollywood, AKA the far future version of the immortal Avenger Wonder Man.

Nova #29 -- Enter: Starstalker!  With the new new Nova Corps. getting their bearings, through the Fault streaks a Xandarian cruiser thought lost for years... and with it, some unwelcome guests.  The new storyline picks up nicely on the closing of the previous one, but ultimately this issue is derailed by the annoying guest star, the obscure Marvel cosmic bounty hunter Starstalker, who tries to be "in your face" and ends up more irritating than anything else.  Or, in other words, like Comet but not endearing.  I'm still on the fence about getting this title monthly and this issue did not help that cause.

Re-read Pile: The Web

The Pick of the Pile is Wednesday Comics, though Web had a strong debut, and Guardians was nifty in a Claremont and Davis manner.

So, what did YOU read this week?