Best From The Past Week: Captain America & Bucky #622 – This was a really hard choice because the runners-up were equally high quality, but Cap & Bucky edges them out because it managed to do this in a self-contained issue. It isn’t the beginning of something exciting (like American Vampire #19) or the middle story of a fun arc (like Amazing Spider-Man #670)…..the whole thing is here: set-up, conflict and resolution. If you had moved away from Cap & Bucky when the present day adventures of Steve Rogers moved over to Captain America, you’re really missing out because Cap & Bucky is wonderful as it tells stories from WWII. This particular story highlights Bucky feeling a little left out and intimidated by the other Invaders (especially a really dickish Namor), but he manages to redeem himself, save the day and earn the respect of everyone. This issue also shows the power of art in comics. You could have a lot of other competent comic artists draw this series and no one would care about the series. When you put Chris Samnee and Bettie Breitweiser on the art duties, you suddenly have something very special that can win “issue of the week”. The combo of Samnee’s intelligent use of negative space and Breitweiser’s lovely and tasteful colors is really something.
Most Anticipated This Week: The Walking Dead #89 – TWD has really spoiled us by coming out like clock-work for a LONG time, so it kinds smarts that we haven’t had an issue since mid-August. I guess Robert Kirkman is kinda busy??? I had to reskim my review of TWD #88 to remind myself of what’s going on. Kirkman did a very uncharacteristic job of leaving some of messy storylines hanging in the air last time, so I really want to see how he clears them up. There’s some romance stuff going on, a plot against Rick, Carl’s recovery……and you just know it mostly won’t end well. Bring it!
Other picks: Animal Man #2, Swamp Thing #2, Sweet Tooth #26, Severed #3, Hulk #42, Thunderbolts #164, X-Men Schism #5
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