Paul's Picks! - September 12, 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 now for his much-anticipated pick-of-the-week...

Hello friends and fans! It's that time again, the day of the week that all comic-lovers so highly adore and anticipate, New Comics Day. And with that day comes the other part of Wednesday (or typically Thursday) that you all know and love: the newest edition of Paul's Picks! (Yes, yes, I know that's a bit presumptuous, but a guy's gotta keep his spirits up, right?)

September has been a bit of an iconic month for readers over the last year or so, especially in regards to DC comics. It was one year ago that the Big Heads decided to reboot the entire lineup, and thus the New 52 was born. One year later, they are releasing a month of Zero issues, which are intended to not only create a great jumping-on point for new readers, but also to answer some of the questions that long-time readers may have about the continuity in the DC universe.

As such, my own pull list was heavy laden with "0" issues, and so the one that rose to the top as my pick of the week is:

Batman and Robin by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason

The interwebs have been all aflame with buzz about Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman series, which has certainly been deserved. With that being said, one of the unsung heroes of this relaunch has certainly been the high quality of the Batman and Robin series by Tomasi and Gleason. From the very first arc, introducing a new and compelling villain named "Nobody," they made it very clear that they have something special planned for the book. The interaction between the Wayne father and son is something that you can't really get anywhere else. The dynamic is played out to a point that it makes you wonder why it's not happening more in other Bat books.

Tales from the Long Box: Grant Morrison's Batman Retrospective #1

Every week Seth goes into his back issue bins, picks out a single issue, story arc, or creative run, pours through it and then writes about it. He calls it Tales from the Long Box. Though old and now either retconned out of existence or made irrelevant by the latest event, these books still share something in common... they're bagged, boarded, and a part of comics history.

Grant Morrison's Batman Retrospective

Issue one: Batman & Son

Let me start off by saying that over the last four or five years Grant Morrison has become my favorite superhero writer. He did this mostly through the strength of his work on the various Batman titles he's written. It could also be credited to the fact that I've taken in the bulk of his non-Batman superhero work in the last few years rather than spread out over the few decades that he's been writing comics. Basically I gorged myself on his entire back catalog of DC and Marvel fare. He has something to say and often he says it in the most intensely experimental way possible; other times it's surprisingly straight forward.