Panel of the Week 9/29/10

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And we’re back! Didn’t go anywhere. Just wanted to say it. It’s time for Panel of the Week once again. As I sit here trying to break in my new Rainbow sandals that I didn’t even know came in size ‘effing huge’ to fit my Ronald McDonalds I’m trying pick out those moments in this week’s comics that have got that special something. I don’t know what that something is, although I suspect it’s the same thing found in ‘Glee’ because by all rights I have no business watching a show about a pack of thinly veiled drama clubbers belting out tightly choreographed and amazingly current pop songs to what is usually an audience of about a half dozen. And yet, here we are.


Pilot Season – Asset #1
I like my extended comic book fight scenes like I like my action figures; with realistic battle damage. This shot here is of Madeline after she got in a very abrupt (and very acrobatic) fist fight with an old mark. In true femme fatale fashion she snaps his neck with her well shaped legs but not before he tags her one good one. He got one shot in and it gave her a black eye and a fat lip. See that creators? This is what happens when you get punched in the face. Refreshing.


FrankenCastle #21
The ride is over, kids. The healing power of the Bloodstone has done its job and restored Frank Castle to normal. For being such an over the top story it really went out with a whimper. After some intervention silliness Frank finally returns to NYC where he discovers that Daredevil has gone ninja lord and Spider-Man is off avenging and no one is minding the shop. Rick Remender does big Pun a service here by bringing him back to the game in an understated, but still very menacing, way: sitting in a chair with an automatic rifle and a big fat to-do list. Can’t say I’m a fan of the return of the white gloves and boots. Those always seemed campy to me.


Artifacts #2
This new reader friendly series continues to deliver the goods in this second chapter. Much of this issue is spent bringing us up to speed on the relationship between the Darkness, the Angelus, and the Witchblade. They rather obviously represent the dark the light and the balance as is made clear both in their names and the way Michael Broussard lays out the panels. Here, the Witchblade discovers that part of being the balance between these two forces includes being able to ‘cancel’ them out. This was hands down my favorite book this week.


Lex Luthor’s Action Comics #893
That, as if you didn’t all know, is Chloe Sullivan of Smallville fame. She is making her official comic book debut with this issue and the very first thing she does is break up with Jimmy Olsen. Among the reasons for the dumping is his preoccupation with the Superman video game. His defense is airtight. He’s in the game. Try to get me to stop playing a game that I’m featured in.


Star Spangled War Stories #1
I’m not entirely sure whose job it is to add sound effects to a page. Is it the writer or the artist or the letterer? Is it the editor? Who really decides if the falling building goes “Boom!” or “Krakoom!” It’s just something that I never gave much thought to. Then I see a panel like this where someone gets shot in the head and sound effect is “Zing”. “Zing”? That really took me out of the moment. A moment I was barely in because this was not a good comic, but still. “Zing”?

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