Tug's Pick of the Week
Avengers
vs. Thunderbolts # 1
Currently, the Avengers are fighting the JLA.� (Sorry, I have no idea when that last issue is coming out!)� Pretty soon, they�ll be fighting the rich and famous mutants of X-Statix.� But this week, Earth�s Mightiest Heroes take on Marvel�s Most Unpredictable (Marvel�s tagline, not mine) in Avengers vs. Thunderbolts #�1.
This six-issue mini-series is made possible by the writing team of Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza, with pencils by Barry Kitson.� Busiek and Nicieza both had great runs on Thunderbolts before that title fell victim to NuMarvel thinking and became some ridiculous Fight Club knockoff.� Of course, neither writer is a stranger to the Avengers.
Busiek and Nicieza decide to take this book in a direction that�s becoming pretty familiar in this post-Authority world:� The Thunderbolts have decided to go into a made-up Marvel country and destroy their nuclear program, "making the world a safer place" but raising the eyebrows of the entire world in the process � especially Captain America and crew.
The writing is spot-on, and fans who have been clamoring for the return of the Thunderbolts need wait no longer.� The story so far is very T-Bolts-centered.� (After all, the Avengers still have their monthly book.)� The only real drawback is that if you�re not 100% caught up on your T-Bolts history, then there�s a chance you'll miss some references here and there, but nothing that will completely ruin your comic-reading experience.� And with that awesome Barry Kitson art, you can�t go wrong.� If you liked Kitson�s work on Empire (written by Mark Waid), then you�ll dig this book as well.
This week was a close one for Tug�s Pick, though � I�d also heartily recommend these little four-color gems:
JSA # 59
� Let�s face it, if you haven�t heard from everyone
you know yet that this is the DC book to read, then you may need to get your
ears checked.� Geoff Johns brings us a nice epilogue to the phenomenally successful
�Black Reign� story (a previous Tug�s Pick), but the main reason to pick this
bad boy up is the jaw-dropping art from Sean Phillips (Sleeper). No offense to
the other artists on this book, but unless Carlos Pacheco decides to come on,
then I want Sean Phillips on this book all the time!
Stormwatch: Team Achilles # 20
� This is a book that I recently
jumped on because of the just-finishing Coup d�Etat series.� And despite some
mediocre-to-bad art throughout, this is a really great book.� This issue
stands out for a couple of reasons.� For one thing, it�s a great jumping-on point
(especially if you read Coup d�Etat) that finds the Stormwatch team outlawed by
the Authority.
The best reason to give this guy a try, though, is the cover by Jason Pearson. This cover is one of a very, very few in the past few years to feature (gasp!) dialogue.� And I, for one, am happy to see cover dialogue trying to come back.� I�m sick and tired of cover after cover of glorified "iconic" pin-ups that tell you nothing about what the comic inside is like.� This cover does a great job of showing the excitement that the return of cover dialogue could bring to New Comics Day.� Just look at it!� While this exact situation doesn�t happen in the comic, something similar does (no spoilers), and it just plain makes you wonder what the heck is going to happen when you open up this book.
Well, I�m climbing off the soapbox for this week.� See ya on Wednesday!