Images Of The Week #1
By Saren 13 Comments
Sorta inspired by CV's new Greatest Comic Book Moments series, I thought I might make a series of weekly posts that showcases the best comic book moments of the week. They can be cool, they can be bizarre, they can be touching, they can be thought-provoking. You're free to share your ideas and tell me if this is a process worth continuing.
So without further ado, here are my picks for the 5 best comic book moments of the week. Spoilers may ensue.
#5: Shade disses Bete-Noire in The Shade #2
I'll admit: While I knew Richard Swift was a Golden and Silver Age villain, I've never had much knowledge of the character. So when a friend recommended that I take a look at the new 12-part series revolving around him, I was game. The first issue didn't tell me much about how deadly he could be. He was an interesting character. Suave, debonair and he had an easy charm that reminded me of Neal Caffrey in White Collar. So in the second issue, when he confronted a shadow beast called Bete-Noire, that was the first indication for a non-reader like me that there were fangs behind the smile.
#4: Larfleeze returns in Green Lantern: New Guardians #3
There are a lot of reasons to hate Geoff Johns, but Larfleeze is not one of them. One of the most unique features of the post-Crisis GL mythos, Larfleeze had the power of an entire Corps in him. He was strong enough to take on the Guardians and beat them all. I loved his weird, greedy syntax and his ever-present suspicion that the universe was out to steal his stuff. So I was worried when he didn't appear in any of the new 52 #1's, fearing he might have been Geoffconned. My worries were put to rest at the end of New Guardians #3, when he crashed through Oa and declared war against the Guardians, who were kind of dick-ish throughout the issue.
#3: Barry pulls off another miracle on the Hudson in The Flash #3
Wally West was the Flash for my generation. He was cool, likable and powerful as hell. But I've read enough of Barry Allen to respect him and the legacy he left. When it was announced that Barry would be the star of the new 52's Flash series, I was apprehensive since I didn't think anyone could replace Wally as the Flash for me. But Barry is surprising me with each passing issue. In Flash #3, he's learning to apply the Speed Force in incredible ways. When a plane is about to crash into a Central City bridge, Barry hops onto it and starts to rapidly vibrate the molecules of the plane, making it temporarily intangible and guiding it safely to shore. Zero casualties. That's how the Flash rolls.
#2: Iceman earns that Omega tag in Wolverine & the X-Men #2
Of the 11 mutant men and women that Marvel has officially confirmed to be Omega-level, Bobby Drake has always been the odd one out. That list of 11 has guys like Franklin Richards and David Haller, who can toy with reality as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Bobby, in contrast, once thought the only thing he could do was freeze stuff. Since then he's done some amazing things: hitting absolute zero with no effort, vastly increasing his size and density, and reforming himself from being destroyed. The recent Uncanny X-Force run saw an alternate Iceman from the Age of Apocalypse, who impressed me greatly with his effortless displays of power. Bobby seems to be finally demonstrating that he deserves to be called an Omega, after he saved everyone at the school from the Hellfire Club by creating multiple Icemen that he could control and manipulate.
#1: The Enchantress goes way off the deep end in Justice League Dark #1
There are times when I feel like I have no choice but to like this title; much like Stormwatch, it's filled with some of my favorite characters. The Enchantress' powerset has always made her a volatile player: if she exerts herself too much, she drifts off to the dark side and starts tearing holes in anyone and anything around her. While the portrayals of her occasional lapses into insanity in books like Shadowpact were alarming, Justice League Dark takes it to a completely different level. Here Enchantress has devolved into a skeletal hag whose power infects the world around her with sickness and death, and brings Superman to his knees almost effortlessly. It's a morbid image that matches the horror vibe we've been getting recently from books like Animal Man and Swamp Thing.
So what do you think? Do you think I should do another installment next week?
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