Paul's Picks! - January 25, 2012

Well, it's that time again folks: Wednesday! And you know what Wednesday is?... Well, of course you do, you're reading a blog about comics, so you obviously know it's New Comics Day, a.k.a. Paul's favorite weekly holiday! And in celebration of this weekly, well, celebration, Paul is here to give you his favorite book of the week.

Well it's time for another Pick of the Week, and I find myself on unsure ground. There are some weeks where the chosen pick is screaming at me, and then there are those weeks when everything runs together so much that I have trouble pointing out the "best" of them; this is one of those weeks. Don't get me wrong, there were some great books, and if I had to pick a favorite I'd go with The Flash #5 by Francis Manupal and Brian Buccellato, but I'm afraid if I spend this week's article outlining what I love about their incredible run on the series, I'll just be repeating what I've already made clear in weeks past. Instead, I want to talk about something other than a single issue that tickled my fancy. This week, my pick is Comics that Make an Impression.

Paul's Picks! - Jan. 5, 2012

Well, it's that time again folks: Wednesday! And you know what Wednesday is?... Well, of course you do, you're reading a blog about comics, so you obviously know it's New Comics Day, a.k.a. Paul's favorite weekly holiday! And in celebration of this weekly, well, celebration, Paul is here to give you his favorite book of the week.

Action Comics #5 by Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert

Hello everyone! Wow, it feels like it's been ages since I wrote on here... I'm sorry about my week on hiatus, but alas Christmas found me far from home and unable to get my comics, sad times all around. But never fear, I'm back with that comic-loving banter you've become so accustomed to! It's a new year now, and with this new year there are many things for all of you to look forward to from your friends over at Ancillary Characters (... that'd be me and Seth, yes). For one, I've got a new column that'll be debuting soon. Also, we'll hopefully be launching our Podcast this month, and I hope all of you will be subscribing! Also, how's the new logo? Good? Or was the last one better? I'm not sold yet, but hey, it's a new year...

Paul's Picks!

Well, it's that time again folks: Wednesday! And you know what Wednesday is?... Well, of course you do, you're reading a blog about comics, so you obviously know it's New Comics Day, a.k.a. Paul's favorite weekly holiday! And in celebration of this weekly, well, celebration, Paul is here to give you his favorite book of the week.

My Favorites in the DCnU

So I know it's Friday, and there's been no Paul's Picks this week, but don't cry! I'm here now, with your weekly bit of usual comic-loving chit chat. However, in lieu of a very slow comics week, I've decided to go back and talk about my Picks from the DCnU so far. To be fair, it was either that or talk about TMNT #4, which was my only pick up this week... And so, instead lets talk abovut what the New 52 has offered us so far, and which books have risen to the top for me!

So when I tried to pick my favorite book of the new universe, I found out that the task was a lot harder than I anticipated. And so, since this is an abnormal column anyway, why not split my picks into categories? I know, genius, right?... So anyway, get ready to see which books have won my picks in the following categories: Best Written, Best Drawn, Most Potential, and Best Reboot.

Pulling the New 52

So the wait is finally over, and the results are in: the New 52 was an apparent success. DC is raking in some very high numbers on these new issues, and there is a definite energy around the market that has been somewhat missing for a little while. Of course, there's no telling just how long these powerful sales will last, or for that matter if DC has truly managed to pull in new and/or stagnant readers, but you can't argue with the fact that this first month has been a success for the company on paper.

However, as a comic reader and buyer, I must admit that the monetary success of DC was not my primary concern with this "soft-reboot." Of course I want them to do well financially (after all, no money, no comics), but I"ll admit I spent most of my time wondering how it would all turn out in print! And now that the launch is behind us, I can reveal to all of you readers which books made the cut, and which books got the cut.

In choosing my list, I attempted to cut it down beneath 15 regular pulls. However, after strenuous difficulty in deciding which to keep, I decided to keep a portion of books that are on the "probation list." I'm going to follow these titles through their first arc, and see where they take me. In other words, I'm tempted but not quite sold. I really wanted some of these titles to be better than they were (Superman), but then some of them turned out to be much better than I anticipated (Batman). Overall, I felt this was a great start with a lot of great (or at least promising) titles, and I can't wait to see where DC is going to be taking us over the next year.

And so, with no further blab, I give you, "Paul's Fabulously Fantastic Pull List of the New 52!!"

Official Pulls:

1. Action Comics - It was fantastic, although I'll admit I wasn't crazy about Morales' drawing of Clark Kent at times. Everything is, top notch. You can expect great things here.
2. Aquaman - Wow Ivan Reis, just wow. You rocked Blackest Night, and you still got it.
3. Batman - Scott Snyder knows Batman, that's all I can tell you.
4. Batman and Robin - This one was iffy for me going in, but Tomasi did something here he failed to do with GLC: he pulled me in. I'm not sure about the regressing Damian, but I'm on board for now at least.
5. Batgirl - I really liked seeing Barbara on familiar ground that felt unfamiliar to her, it was compelling.
6. Demon Knights - Paul Cornell, you teased me with that first issue, but after reading the second, you hooked me. You got skills sir.
7. Detective Comics - I don't know what I expected here from Tony Daniel, but it wasn't this. And I like it.
8. The Flash - Barry Allen has arisen as one of my new favorite characters, and while I'm sure I'll miss Johns on the writing, Manupal is definitely familiar with the character and is giving him justice. And he's an artistic Beast.
9. Green Lantern - This was fantastic. I'm back on board with GL like I haven't been since Sinestro Corp and Blackest Night. Kudos Johns.
10. Justice League - Two words: Lee and Johns. Are you gonna pass this up? I didn't think so.
11. Swamp Thing - This one surprised me, and I wasn't sure how to feel about it. After some pondering, it was good, I'm in for now.
12. Teen Titans - I want to read cool stories with these characters, even if the first issue was a "?" for me. I'll wait it out.
13. Wonder Woman - Very good stuff. I liked what JMS did before, but I think this could be something special.

Probational Pulls:

1. Batman: The Dark Knight - This was the bottom of the Bat books, but I'll give it 3 issues.
2. Green Lantern: New Guardians - I want a cool story with the different corp, which we have yet to see post-Blackest Night for me. Let this be it.
3. Nightwing - This was a good book, just not solid enough for certainty. We'll see.
4. Red Lanterns - I like Ed Benes. And I like Atrocitus. I'm hoping for something better going forward.
5. Superman - I want to pull this. And Perez is already off in a few months, so I'm going to stick it out and see where it goes.
6. Stormwatch - Another Cornell book, it's yet to blow me away, but I'm going to see where this arc goes anyway.

So officially, that's 19 books (not counting TMNT which I'm also pulling). I plan on knocking it down to 15 after the first arc, so we'll just have to see who can make the cut by then.