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The Best Stuff In Comics: 12-29-14

This is where we present to you, the other best stuff besides the best covers, best story arcs, and best reusable grocery bag.

This used to be a VIDEO FEATURE for over one hundred episodes. We've changed the format to a text version as most seem to prefer it this way. Let me know in the comments below.

Each week we take a look at the other Best Stuff you might have missed...this week.

SUPERMAN #37

Best Exploding Planet

How often have we seen planets explode. Thankfully, not too often. But there are times in fiction the story calls for a nice impressive explosion. In the latest issue of SUPERMAN, we see Superman barely get away when a planet meets its untimely end.

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What will be the effect of this explosion?

AVENGERS & X-MEN: AXIS #9

Best Quip When You’ve Run Out of Other Ones

Poor Spider-Man. He may have started the jokes and quips as a way to keep his mind off the dangerous situations he was in and to distract his foes. Eventually they sort of became part of his trademark. When you're in the middle of a big comic book event battle, there's gotta come a time where you start to run out of material. This is what happened to Spidey.

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You have to admit, hearing someone say "That's a spicy meatball" would still be distracting.

BATMAN ANNUAL #3

Words You Never Want to Hear from Joker

What could be worse than being a victim of the Joker? How about being his friend? That's what we see in this issue. Joker targets a poor fellow to be his friend. Imagine what it must be like if Joker dropped by unannounced.

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I'm not sure what would be worse to hear from Joker, "Kisses" or "See you soon."

SUPERIOR IRON MAN #3

Best Conceited Remark

Tony Stark is not the man he used to be. Okay, perhaps in some ways he still is. As a result of Axis, Tony is doing things his way. He even takes it upon himself to cure the blind.

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Only Tony would think the first thing a blind man would want to see is his face. Of course there's a price to Tony's 'cure.'

ROBIN RISES: ALPHA

Best Prepared Butler

Alfred is the best, right? We may have finally seen Jarvis again in AVENGERS & X-MEN: AXIS but he didn't have too much to do in the story. In Batman comics, you can always count on Alfred to be prepared.

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He brings a new meaning to the words, "the butler did it."

Best Reunion

It's likely you already know what's going on in the Robin Rises issues. In last week's BATMAN AND ROBIN, we had a very touching reunion. That scene is actually redrawn in this issue but we get another [and new] reunion in this issue.

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How long will the happiness last?

ALL-NEW X-MEN ANNUAL #1

Best Time Travel Scene

Poor Eva Bell. She may have gone through quite an ordeal across time. At least her adventure was drawn by the amazing Andrea Sorrentino.

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GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #3

Best 4-Page Spread

It's not often you see four-page spreads. They shouldn't be used often. They should be used for special occasions. If you read our Developments article on the issue, you know what's going on.

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If you read the issue digitally, you do get to see the image as one continuous spread. Then it's divided into two two-page spreads. It's a pretty crazy scene.

DAREDEVIL #11

Best Embellishment of the Past

Daredevil is writing a book now. He has a good reason, as mentioned in this issue. When describing an early encounter against Hawkeye, Matt sort of embellishes things just a little. Chris Samnee does a great job depicting it.

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It brings back the idea of taking someone out with "one punch."

Best Overacting

Of course, the scene above isn't what really happened. Foggy makes Matt tell what really happened.

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Good thing Matt doesn't have to worry about an acting career.

AQUAMAN #37

Best Difference Between Aquaman and Flash

Back at NYCC, I totally thought Jeff Parker was joking about mixing things up and having Aquaman fight Gorilla Grodd. During the fight, Aquaman describes the difference between his tactics and Flash's.

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NOVA #25

Best Advice about Deadpool

Sam Alexander is called to an Avengers meeting by Steve Rogers. Deadpool comes up and Steve gives some advice. Is he talking about the character or the comic?

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Best Avengers ID Card Photo

Poor Sam. He just took on Hulk all by himself (actually it was Kluh...the Hulk's Hulk...nevermind). Sam's helmet took a little damage. As you can see, Sam is getting honored by the Avengers. Too bad they took his picture without giving him any warning.

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Still, it's pretty cool to have an Avengers card.

HARLEY QUINN #13

Best Weirdest "Window" on a Costume

We all know Power Girl has a certain 'window' on her costume. Because she kind of lost her memories and Harley Quinn is the one that found her, Harley's convinced her they're partners. She even had matching costumes made. Although Harley came up with some of her own special modifications.

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Moving on...

SECRET AVENGERS #11

Last issue gave us the "Best Standoff in the Rain." It's still raining and Coulson and Hawkeye are still trying to figure things out. Check out when lighting strikes. It looks pretty cool.

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Best Hug...in the Rain

There's been a lot of hugging going on lately. It might be hard to compete with some of the hugging going on in ROBIN RISES. But a hug in the rain? That's something different. It must really mean something to stand in the cold rain, all sopping wet, just to give an embrace.

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We even had some more cool rain scenes in ALL-NEW X-MEN ANNUAL #1. Maybe it needs to rain more in comics.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS ANNUAL #2

Best Weirdest Holiday Scene

Every once in a while we see comics take on the holidays. Time usually stands on its own in comics but there are moments they creep in to influence the story or issue. In the RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS annual, we get a pretty strange Christmas-themed story.

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I won't give away the why or how the Outlaws are together, as kids, on the night before Christmas. I will say there's also another pretty cool page with the three and a certain red sleigh.

Best Poll of the Week

Last week the poll dealt with a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy getting the Venom Symbiote. 35% wanted to see Groot with the symbiote (which does happen in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #22). You can check out the rest of the results HERE.

This week deals with holidays shown in comics. We didn't have a lot of Christmas or New Years moments in this past week's comics. We want to know what you think of them.

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That's all I came up with this week. Let us know in the comments below what other Best Stuff you dug this past week. I guess the holidays were too much for people to offer any suggestions. If you want to participate or felt we missed some other Best Stuff, you can @reply me on Twitter at @GManFromHeck by Fridays using the hashtag #BestStuffInComics and I'll think you're pretty groovy.

Let us know what you think of this format. Answer the poll question. Be sure to always look for the best stuff and remember "butt windows" on costumes might not be the best idea.