Top Picks in Comics for 4/20/11

Wednesday is coming soon and that can only mean one thing, new comic day. It’s the day that begins and ends my weeks with a little two day vacation in the middle. You know me, I’m Anthony Silva, host of the Comic Issues Podcast and I’m bringing to you the Top Picks of all the books that came out last week… that I could afford. Last week in my stack were a couple of books that I’ve been looking forward to since last month and many others did not disappoint in the slightest. I took home books about magic, about mutants, and about heroes. In the end though only one book can be my number one pick, and this week that book was…

((Warning, spoilers be ahead))

Top Pick: Power Girl #23 Creative team Winick (writer) Basri (pencils & inks) Kholinne (colors)

Lets just start with the Tyrannosaurus Rex with the mini-gun arms, then to the Velociraptor lumber jack, and by the second page this book is already Top Pick material. This has been an awesome intro book for Power Girl as Winick seems to be taking Karen Starr (Power Girl) into a new direction and having a lot of fun in the process. Zatanna makes a great guest star appearance as the inadvertent cause of all the trouble. The art in this book feels like a perfect match with extra props to Jessica Kholinne colors which I think give the book a feminine touch that you’d expect in a book about a female super hero.

You may remember that I made Power Girl #22 my runner up when it came out and said that the reason it wasn’t top pick was because I was unfamiliar with the character. Well with the second issue Judd Winick has really sold Karen Starr/Power Girl as a character you can care about. I’m really happy that I gave #22 a chance because this book will definitely be on my pull this from here on out. It was also great to see Zatanna as she’s been another character that I’ve thought about trying out but I’d never had any kind of introduction to her. If you wanted to try out some characters on the outskirts of the DCU then I’d definitely recommend Power Girl to you.

Runner Up: The Avengers #12 Creative team Bendis (writer) Romita Jr. (pencils) Janson (inks) White (colors)

Avengers #11 ended in an oh crap moment as we saw Thanos looking to take the Infinity Gems from The Hood. I thought this was gonna step the book up to an even larger scale then it had been, but instead we’re fooled along with the Hood by Doc Strange. The highlight of this book has to be Red Hulk with the power gem as he battles the Hood through time and space. I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest Romita fan but his 6 half page panels of Red Hulk chasing the Hood are pretty awesome. The Avengers has been a good book so far but I’m still really hoping for a smaller cast and more development of the characters.

Also this week:

Teen Titans #94 Wonder Girl’s been takin’ to a demon dimension and it’s up to the Teen Titans to find her and get her back. Unfortunately the whole team has lost its balance as Red Robin tries to reclaim his lead in Wonder Girl’s absence. There’s a lot more than evil demons going on in this book. It seems that they’re not calling this book Teen for nothing. A lot of inter character drama seems to be coming off the pages. It’s as if the kids from Dawson’s Creek got super powers, but kept the angst. You still watch The Creek right? I dunno, I only seem to watch Doctor Who and Nathan Fillion these days.

Wolverine and Jubilee #4 In the aftermath of the vampire invasion on Utopia Jubilee is left between worlds, both figuratively and literally. Jube’s is trapped in a pocket dimension of some kind while Wolverine is trying to find out how to get her back. Lucky for her Rockslide’s fallen into play in a heroic attempt to help Jubilee. What started off real strong in the first issue kinda fizzled out as the series became more about adventure and less about Jubilee dealing with her new vamparism. She was just getting interesting to me as the put her into a story they cold of written for about anyone else.

Uncanny X-Force #8 An awesome issue as usual as Psylocke faces off against The Shadow King. The only reason this book is down here and not up in the Top Pick section is that is carelessly did away with one of the X-Men’s most dangerous villains. Remender put him to good use as Angel’s dark alter-ego seems to of been freed by Shadow King, but I would of really liked to see this stretch over at least two issues and built up a bit more. The release of Archangel is definitely big news for the book and I still can’t wait for every issue.

Avengers Academy #12 The cadets have been given their future bodies and innate experience to take on Korvac who’d just wiped the floor with every Avenger, New and Old? Together they take on the might Korvac, but as they get a glimpse of their future not everyone likes what they see. The future looks dim for both Mettle and Hazmat as it doesn’t seem to improve from their present situation. This book as been good for the most part, but it has yet to really resonate with me. It’s on the chopping block and it may get cut from my pull list.

Hulk # 32 Red Hulk is stuck as the Red Hulk, but that’s not stopping him from trying to make up for the sins of the past. Too bad one of the more recent sins went over to the Dark Side and is not plotting her revenge. Zero/One has a vision of the future and that future doesn’t has a place for the Red Hulk, so she’s traveled to India to find their most wicked killer, Black Fog.

That’s all I got for now my friends. One man can only read so many comic books in his busy life… if only I could get rid of that pesky job.

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