What about you? Is Heroes on your list of shows to drool over? Well, enough about TV this week; let's turn the focus more directly back onto comics and see What Looks Good...  AUTHORITY #1 (MR) $2.99 (Grant Morrison / Gene Ha)I love The Authority. When I returned to comics years ago after about a ½ decade leave it was one of the first books that I started to seek out after reading the wonderful StormWatch trades, the ones written by Warren Ellis. As good as the series was under Ellis I confess that for me the series blew me away when Mark Millar came aboard. From then on I was sold and have collected every incarnation of the book ever since, no matter how good or bad. As much as I loved Millar's run I think the only person that came close was Ed Brubaker when he penned The Authority: Revolution maxi-series with Dustin Nguyen on art chores. Ed and Dustin perfectly captured everything that had made the book great and built on top of that, going so far as to resurrect a former nemesis as well as kill off a central character. The book was unflinching and wonderful, but sadly, the Authority hasn't had their own book. Until now that is. Of course I'm geeking about this title. Sure, it's the Authority, one of my favorite teams (and concepts) in comics, but letting Grant Morrison in to play with the toys? Like any other fanboy I am squealing with glee. Add the always impressive art chores of Gene Ha to the mix and I really couldn't be happier. In fact, if things had come out when they were supposed to have come out this would have EASILY have been my “Pick of the Week”, but with another title dear to my heart hitting the stands, well, sorry guys, but I had to pick a DIFFERENT Morrison book. I am curious about what direction they're going to take this series. In ...Revolution the group had realized that even though they were benevolent despots they were still despot. Now with the “WorldStorm” event carrying on I don't know how of the continuity is still, well, part of continuity, which begs the question: is this more humbled super-team or does the Authority still believe their way is the only way? It's going to be fun finding out!  BIRDS OF PREY #99 $2.99 (Gail Simone / James Raiz)Spoilers if you haven’t read the previous issue – OK, I’m surprised, I admit it. For months now things have been progressing in such a way to make the readers at least THINK that Barbara was once again donning the cape and cowl as Batgirl. I was pretty sure it was her, but when her teammates accused her of being such I knew then that it was a red herring and that it was some other person. Of course, this was confirmed at the end of the previous issue. So who is this new “Batgirl”? I don’t think that she’ll be sticking around, but how did she get her abilities and why is she so concerned with Barbara? Or, could it be that this new “Batgirl” is the red herring and that the surprise at the end of this arc is that Barbara really does have the use of her legs back? There are lots of questions to be answered yet. Like I've said before, this is an excellent team book. I can't wait for the 100th issue.  DESOLATION JONES #7 (MR) $2.99 (Warren Ellis / Danijel Zezelj)Jones is back, and so starts the second story arc of this wonderfully delicious and wholly-Ellis series. If you’ve been looking for an excuse to check this book out here’s an excellent opportunity to climb on board. So what's the big deal? When, you've got Jones who apparently went through some kind of process or experimentation that has left him very pale and intolerant to bright light (kind of like a vampire but without the cool suits and Goth soundtrack). He's an ex-spy and is apparently restricted to Los Angeles as many spies seem to be; it must be where old spies go to die. While there he has become a private detective of sorts, though his clientèle seems to consist of other ex-spys that want weird things or are attempting to use Jones as some sort of a pawn in a grander scheme of some sort. Either way, as I said it's a deliciously bizarre series as could only come from the mind of Warren Ellis. This first issue launches a new arc, which most likely means a strange new case for Mr. Jones. Sweet.  WILDCATS: WORLDSTORM #1 $2.99 (Grant Morrison / Jim Lee)I’ve been waiting far too long for a return of the Wildcats, though I have to say that as excited as I am there is also a bit of reservation. Put simply Casey’s run on both Wildcats and Wildcats Version 3.0 is some of my favorite comic book work EVER. It’s no secret that I thoroughly loved his post-heroic take on the non-team and I would have loved to see where he was taking the series as he showed Halo attempting to save the world through commerce. However, low sales numbers killed the book. Some good came of it as I still treasure those stories as well as now fawn over anything that Dustin Nguyen now works on. Sure, I wanted the team back but I wanted it back in form that I fell in love with. Of course, that was never going to happen because if the sales weren’t there the first time why would WildStorm put out a book with the same premise? In that light it makes sense that WildStorm would turn back to the superhero route. The comics market is hard enough as it is so if one would like a book to sell then one has to go for the biggest possible audience, and capes is where it’s at. For those of us that loved the Casey take on the series there is much hope in Grant Morrison. Let’s face it, Morrison has proven that he can do just about anything at this point. Add to that the fact that he has expressed that he too liked the previous incarnations of the group and would like to incorporate some of those corporate elements into the story gives me reassurance that this is going to be something for me to drool all over.  RUNAWAYS #21 $2.99 (Brian K. Vaughan / Mike Norton)As much as I have loved this series I have to confess that these last few issues are going to be bittersweet. I know that Runaways is a Marvel title, but since its inception this book's identity has been molded by Brian K. Vaughan. Seeing him leave has given me pause. I remember how much I enjoyed his run on Mystique, and though Sean McKeever did a decent job the book just wasn't the same once Vaughan left. I was thinking the same would be true of this title until I heard that his replacement was going to be none other than Joss Whedon. Sure, that's more than exciting, but I'm still sad to see Vaughan leave. Like I said, bittersweet. Still, all along Vaughan has done an excellent job of keeping the surprises coming and I am sure that this issue is going to be no different as an old friend is promised to return. Personally, I think it is far too soon to see the return of our beloved Gert, but with Vaughan one is never quite sure WHAT to expect. Surprises is what this book has always been about and is just one of the many reasons why I love it so. I apologize for my anemic presence on the message boards as of late. I am going to make more of an effort to get on there more often. To say that moving in a woman has significantly changed my home life is an understatement. Mind you, it's a good thing and I'm very happy, but my time is no longer just my time. More often than not it's “our time.” Again, this is a good thing, but this has seriously taken hours from “Michael is surfing the web and posting on message boards about comics” time. Still, I am going to get onto my own board more often. But what about you? Was there something that did it for you this week? If so, stop by the What Looks Good message boards (see link below) and spread the love, my friend. See you on the boards! Peace! -Diaz |
