Comic Adventurer 2007 Year End Review: The Outstanding

In 2007, DC rolled out two very fun titles “The All-New Booster Gold” and “The Brave and the Bold”. Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz have done a fantastic job with brining back Booster Gold into the DCU. Booster was a star of “52” and DC has capitalized on the good will from that series. From the first issue through this week’s issue #5, “The All-New Booster Gold” has been a fun read. I enjoy sitting down each month and savoring this book. Artist Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund have provided great art to back up Johns and Katz’s action packed and funny stories.

Over in “The Brave and the Bold”, writer Mark Waid really shines with this team-up series. The first six issues set up the device that Waid uses to keep this series moving forward. One of my favorite all time artist, George Perez, is back in top form with this series and delivers every month. He draws the best Supergirl out there. I highly recommend that if you haven’t read the first six issues that you go out and get the hard cover collection that just came out this week. I enjoy this read immensely.

In “The Sinestro Corps Wars” Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons, and Peter J. Tomasi delivered a galaxy spanning tour de force. I believe DC was caught off guard with how good (and popular) that this story was. From “The Sinestro Corp Wars” #1 right through to the epilogue in “Green Lantern Corps” #19, this story was engrossing, action packed, and, most of all, fun to read.

Finally, one writer has jumped up high in my top ten writers of all time. Robert Kirkman, writer of “Invincible” and “The Walking Dead”, captured my imagination. I didn’t jump onto either book until this year. Well, twelve TPBs later and hitting the monthlies this last month, I have definitely become a true Kirkman fan. If you haven’t tried out either of these Image titles by Kirkman, you should grab the first TPB of each and see what they are like. I highly recommend it.

Invincible #47

As with "The Walking Dead", I finally caught up in TPBs on "Invincible" to go real time and buy the monthly. Both of these fine Kirkman books have been added to my monthly pull list. "Invincible" #47 is a "catching up" issue that bounces all around the Invincible universe catching the reader up on the various plot lines that Kirkman has been threading since the beginning of the book. I'm really interested to see how Allen the Alien and Invicible's dad team up in prison and bust out. Kirkman is excellent at putting little moments in this book that ring true to life. The exchange between Mark and his roommate after he catches his roommate doing something embarrassing is truly hilarious. Ryan Ottley's art continues to be pitch perfect for this series. He does an excellent job of capturing both action and dialogue scenes. The little facial expressions he uses for the characters provides me a good chuckle as well.

Kirkman has created a the best new superhero character (and universe) in a long time. If you haven't checked out "Invincible" I recommend you pick up the the TPB or issue #42. This comic rates high on my must read list every month and Kirkman generally never fails to impress.

Invincible

Once again stepping outside of the DCU, I wanted to point you in the direction of "Invincible" from Image Comics. I did not start reading this comic in monthly form. I went the the San Diego Comic Con this year and when I was walking around checking out the art and such I stumbled upon "Invincible". Now, back in the day, I was a huge Image fan. I consumed pretty much everything the company put out when it started up in the 90s. However, my taste for comics and media in general changed and I went away from both Image and Marvel. When at the Con I usually check out the other companies to see if anything they have to offer peaks my interest. That's when I hit upon "Invincible".

I got the volume one TPB and now 6 TPBs later both me and my son are really enjoying writer Robert Kirkman's Invincible adventures. Artist Corey Walker really laid down the foundation for "Invincible" with his excellent art and, when he left the series, Ryan Ottley continued to provide solid art to back up Kirkman's inspired story. I don't want to give any spoilers away as if you pick up this TPB I want you to feel the excitement that I felt while reading it. I bet if you pick up volume one you will be hooked in no time. The series really picks up speed in volume 2 (issue #7).

I have since followed Kirkman to his very scary "The Walking Dead" series and the "Marvel Zombies" hard cover. Kirkman has rapidly jumped to up my list of top writers in comics.