#18: MARVEL SUPER HERO SQUAD SHOW • Cool little toys (of course I have the Ben Grimm one!) become a cool little TV show on Cartoon Network featuring superdeformed versions of the Marvel heroes and villains fighting a deadly Civil War which will lead to an invasion by shape-shifters and the death of...NO! This is just all silly and over-the-top fun, made for kids...but us little bulls, and my human pals, like it too. Doc Doom and his team of villains race Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Falcon, Wolverine, Thor and the Silver Surfer to find MacGuffins...I mean, Infinity Fractals that can help you rule the world! Bwah-ha-ha-ha! Sort of a halfway point between Marvel Adventures Avengers and Chris Giarrusso's Mini Marvels, it doesn't take its heroes too seriously: Hulk is the friendly dumb smasher, Captain America is straight-laced and frequently oblivious, and the Silver Surfer has a California beach bum accent. (I'm not too sure about that last one, but hey.) Super Hero Squad definitely isn't high art: it knows what kids find funny (there are a lot of burp and fart jokes here), but for long time Marvel fans it's great fun to see superheroes stripped to their primal components: guys and gals in bright costumes fighting the baddies, throwing punches and zapping with power rays, and nobody ever gets hurt any more than Daffy Duck used to.
#17: WOMAN OF A.C.T.I.O.N. • Super secret agent action spanning from London to Monte Carlo! Guns, girls, gambling and goons! Tight leather catsuits, monocled madmen, and lacy lingerie! No, you're not reading one of the approximately ten bajillion Black Widow comic books on the market now, but the all-new, all-adventure book from your pals and mine at Action Age Comics! Yes, that means it's written by pal Chris Sims, he of the face-kickin' Invincible Super-Blog, tongue firmly in cheek (with gorgeous art by Chris Piers and Steve Downer), and it's almost like Chris is writing it for me, playing on every over-the-top action trope that I loves to pieces in a spy movie, book, or comic. Sexy, troubleshooting (and troublemaking) agent Penelope Devlin's career in spydom may be overshadowed by her overenthusiastic approach (wherever she's been, there's usually something that's blown up) and her star-spy brother Ricky (given a lovely Wodehousean personality and dialogue, including an ultra-competant valet at his side). I've been enjoying all the comics coming out of Chris and his stable of Yotsuba’s getting a biiiiike, Yotsuba’s getting a biiiiiike!! Didja know the wheels of a bike go round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and roun —oh, Yotsuba’s getting dizzy...whoooooa...That nails it, really, right there: gentle humor and enthusiastic exploration of her world is the Yotsuba trademark, without any cloying Pollyanna überniceness or Dennis Mitchell destruction. Just like Darkseid, Yotsuba is. After all, who could have charmed the Grey Lady herself, the austere New York Times, to go from this bewildered "WTF?" description of Vol. 6...
10. SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL: Scheming supervillains. Erupting volcanoes. His first encounter with deadly kryptonite. Any one of these would leave you or me hiding under the couch, but Superman steps right up to the plate against 'em. So what's his real Achilles' heel? A spunky, classy, unpredictable woman named Lois Lane. This beauty of a story arc by Darwyn Cooke and Tim Sale features gorgeous art and design (#2's juxtaposition of Kal fighting molten lava while Lois gets ready for a date is absolutely, affectingly sublime), tack-sharp dialogue and characterization (a wonderful scene where Clark expresses to Pa Kent his terror at trying to save people) and that element of the Superman mythology that makes it universal to all of us: the love of a man from another world for a woman who's so close and yet worlds away. The introductory kryptonite subplot at first seems secondary to the love story until I realized it wasn't secondary: it was parallel—in this story we see through Superman's eyes the two centers of his world: the literal world (a glowing green rock) and the spiritual one (fast-talking and sassy). Both are his greatest weaknesses.
9. 52: I woulda bet my piggybank fulla dimes that it couldn't be done: a weekly series that never got off schedule, never missed an issue, never brought a company's entire line screeching to a halt—and more important, a weekly series that entertained the heck outta me. While the big three take a year's sabbatical, DC's second and third bananas step up to the plate in seemingly-separate but gradually-intertwining storylines, gently spiraling towards reshaping the DC Universe in a slow but steady process the likes of which we've not seen before in superhero comics. The sheer number of issues has led to a handful of dud subplots and who-cares stories, but week after week there's some sheer entertainment value here, and while many of the mysteries are far from being solved, half the fun is the journey. My favorite issue has to be Week 24 (with hyper-aware Ambush Bug shouting directly to us about "52" and his relationship with Julie Schwartz), but this series has also made me like and appreciate Renee Montoya, the never-named Question, Black Adam and his clan, and even evil, evil Skeets in ways I'd never felt before. There's a lot of endgame work to be done in the last few months of the series and I've got my hooves crossed they don't drop the ball, but it's been a heckuva ride so far. Fifty-two!
8. RUNAWAYS: In a year where DC and Marvel heroes were getting knocked off left-and-right, incinerated by flying nuclear submarines or punctuated by Norse code, the most affecting and touching death was that of Gert Yorkes in the pages of Runaways. This death has colored the entire year as it spins into final arc of creator Brian K. Vaughan, but though the mood is somber this is still one of the most life-affirming and joyous superhero comics on the market. I've long said that Runaways needs to be the flagship in Marvel's outreach to get new young adults and teens on board with comic books, and this storyline is no exception. With the exception of repackaging issues in digest format, however, I don't see any marketing geared for the manga-fan crowd. That's a pity and a shame, and a wasted opportunity. Maybe new marketing to the next generation of readers will take more of a precedence once Joss Whedon comes on board, but even if Runaways never becomes the crossover hit it so richly deserves, it's still provided us discerning comics fans with one of the finest and realistic portrayals in comics of teens. With, uh, evil parents and superpowers. And a pet dinosaur.
7. COMIC STRIP REPRINTS: Everything I said about this being the best of all possible times to be a comics fan because of the extensive comic book reprint programs goes double for being a fan of comic strips in 2006, where the recent growing trend in beautifully designed and reproduced collections of classic strips really began coming into their own. Peanuts and Dennis the Menace got new volumes continuing their adventures, Gasoline Alley and Dick Tracy began definitive reprint projects...even the Moomins came back in comic strip-in-book form! My pers'nal favorite is the big-as-the-2001-monolith Popeye from Fantagraphics (an amazing design crammed with more high adventure strips than a donkey who's eaten Milt Caniff's portfolio), and there's much, much more to come: 2007 looks to be another powerful year with announcements of new editions of the works of Lynda Barry plus new volumes of most of the above. And scuttlebutt in the publishing world tells this little stuffed ear to the ground there's much more classic stuff to come, so start saving your dimes...truly this is the beginning of the Age of Classic Strip Reprints!
6. GUMBY: The most fun you can have with America's favorite clayboy without ever touching a rubbery toy! Bob Burden and Rick Geary's two issues of surrealism, whimsy, and fun are the perfect all-ages comics in the truest sense of the word: not just for kids but for everyone who's a fan of fun comics. Gumby falls in love, joins the circus, does the sombrero dance, thwarts the plans of evil clowns, gets turned into a golem, and summons of the spirit of Johnny Cash...all without wearing any pants! The joy and exuberance of these comics is contagious and infectious; I dare you not to crack a smile readin' 'em, and Geary's beautifully toned and suitably rubber artwork is spot-perfect for Gumby and Pokey. Sure, buy 'em for your kids...but you'll wanna read 'em too!
5. THE SPIRIT: This comic hits a high spot on my Festival of Fun '06 on the strength of...count it...one issue. As a long-time Eisner fan, I certainly was holding my breath that Darwyn Cooke would do right by Denny Colt, and hoo boy! he exceeded my wildest hopes on every single page. This beautifully illustrated and smartly-written update of one of the finest comics of all time captures the elements that made the Spirit a classic: innovative and intricate design, casual and believable humorous dialogue, breakneck action, a gorgeous dame with an improbable name, and even the Eisner trademark splash-page representation of the Spirit's name in the artwork, brought smack-dab up to the twenty-first century by blazing it not across city buildings but in the shimmering pixels of a television screen. But Cooke's successfully pulled off an even more incredible update: Ebony is no longer a character we as fans feel we need to be ashamed of or defend with embarrassment. I know it's a cliché to say "Will Eisner would be proud"...but heck, I'll say it. I bet he's looking down from his drawing board up there and nodding in approval.
4. AGENTS OF ATLAS: It sometimes seems like there's a rogue division at Marvel slyly and stealthily sneaking comic books into publication which are so innovative and different from the normal company line that surely Joe Quesadilla doesn't even know they're doing it. That's the impression Agents of Atlas gives me, because who'da thought that in today's Civil War-ridden Marvel Universe populated by fewer than 200 mutants, a maskless Spidey and a long golden hair all grown up from a test tube, there'd be a market for a six-issue miniseries about secret heroes of the 1950s whose most significant story was a thirty year old issue of What If? Not me, that's for sure, but I'm happily on the Atlas bandwagon as Jimmy Woo and company untangle the Mystery of the Missing Ike, The Stereotypical Asian Villain and how Miss Venus manages to walk around without a top. It's sheer joyful fun that had me from the moment Gorilla Man barreled down a hallway with a gun in each hand...and foot. The I-never-woulda-figgered-it-out, wonderful and sublime puzzle-box ending was one of the finest conclusions a miniseries could have: a definitive end with a promise of more potential future adventures. Even if any future Atlas action is merely in my head and not on the page, this is a miniseries that made me oh-so-glad to be a Marvel Fanbull.
3. ALL STAR SUPERMAN: Grant Morrison knows. There's no other way to put it: he knows what we loved about the Silver Age. He knows what we love about comics today. And he puts 'em in a pot and stirs 'em around and adds a dash of absinthe when his mom's not lookin' and serves up one of the finest reinventions of Superman, ever. On the surface he and the wonderfully quirky Frank Quitely are simply retelling tales of the fifties: Super-Lois! Jimmy in drag! Krypto! But it's tinted with twenty-first century nanotechnology and hyperawareness of the tropes in comics that make the fur on the back of your neck stand up and tingle, in a comic that rewards re-reading like none other. Pay attention to the details: Clark's casual, uncostumed, cause-and-effect superdeeds in the background have a Rube Goldberg joy and brilliance to that makes this little stuffed reader giggle in glee. All Star has also given us this year one of the best Luthor tales in modern comics, a wonderfully kinetic updating of The Desperate Ones in which a never-supersuited-Clark and an arrogantly crowing Lex work their way through a riot-ridden prison, the signs of his safety right in front of Lex's burnt-off eyebrow, if only he'd look closely enough. The crown jewel of a great year for DC, and never mind the schedule: I'll gladly wait months for this.
2. SERGIO ARAGONÈS: SOLO: Permit me the indulgence of quoting myself and my original review: "not only the most fun comic of the week but will surely be on my year-end list of The Most Fun Comics of 2006!" (Hey, that guy's good!!) I mourn the passing of Solo for every one of its inventive and innovative issues that uncharacteristically for floppy comics, focused upon and celebrated the creators that make DC great. There was no more gleefully enjoyable issue in the series, though, than this fun-fest by MAD's manic Mexican master, a collection of several stories that didn't contain a weak panel in the lot 'of 'em: from confessing his murder of Marty Feldman to a wonderful autobiographical sketch of how he broke into American cartooning, Aragonés hits the heights every time, even in a goofball Batman story that's more MAD than the modern MAD magazine itself. Sheer brilliance from an amazing talent we don't see enough of these days. Hey Mark Evanier, bring back Groo!
1. NEXTWAVE: You sum it in one sentence and it sounds like a snoozefest, or worse yet, a 1980s Image comic: disillusioned superhumans working for a government agency discover their boss is a homicidal madman, and they turn against their employer and vow to take him down. But. This comic is super-caffeinated with over-the-top, outrageously gleeful violence, smartass dialogue, cheerfully irreverent reinventions of Marvel sacred cows, crab cyborgs, Broadway-dancin' Mindless Ones, Captain America's pee, Elvis M.O.D.O.K.s, and the most deadly version of Forbush-Man ever seen outside your Nyquil-fueled fever dreams. Politically-incorrect as all get-out. Widescreen in ways that would make the Authority weep. The best introduction page month-after-month. Gloriously intense artwork by Stuart Immonen, including cover designs that break the mortal bounds of comic book design and look like they would be well at home on the front of books from "real-world" paperback publishers. Warren Ellis's script and concepts gives unapologetic the Marvel Universe fanboys half-nelsons, and if there is one proof that this comic broke all boundaries, it's in the next-to-final issue #11 where half of the issue is two-page spreads (get a second issue so you can cut it up and paste 'em all end-to-end): I normally object to splash pages or two-splashes in comics as they advance the story precisely only one panel, but I spent more time examining and giggling over the Where's Waldo-on-speed brilliance of those big-ass panels than I do reading the entire length of some books. We've got one more big bang of an issue in 2007 before Nextwave goes bye-bye, but I, and you, are all the richer for a 2006 filled with its rich, nougaty, zomg-filled goodness. That's why NEXTWAVE is the most fun comic of 2006 and this is the The Best Line of the Year:
52 WEEK 26: This comic is fun. We're at the halfway point of the series I considered to be a wacky experiment on DC's part and which has turned out to be one of the greatest delights for me for far this year. I like the fast movement that the weekly schedule provides, the slow but steady mysteries twisting around each other, and the examinations and growths of a core group of the DCU's second-tier heroes and villains. This one brings the beginning of a new storyline for Montoya and the Question, a faceoff between Steel and Starlight (my least favorite plotline of the series so far, but I'm still eager to see where it's goin'), a nicely Fawcetty dinner party, a Mr. Tawky Tawny analogue for the Black Marvel Family, and The Best Line of the Week: "Everyone knows you can't have a Justice League without a Manhunter from Mars!" And as tangled as Hawkman's origin has been post-Crisis, didja ever think you'd see his story as something you could sum up in two pages? Me neither. Here's to another twenty-six weeks of a world without Superman, Wonder Woman or Batman, 'coz I'm enjoyin' the DCU jus' fine without 'em.
AGENTS OF ATLAS #4: This comic is fun. Whoa! How's that for a psyche on this little stuffed Namora fan after last issue's startling final page! This issue is a perfect all-out action adventure following #3's lengthy recap, leading me to believe, man, this thing's gonna read great in the trade. (But don't wait for the trade, pick it up now! It's got giant crabs!) My favorite bit was a clever meta-fiction tip of the hairstyle to the problem of making characters look different: now that blonde Namora is a cast member, Venus decides to go redhead so she looks different! Thanks, Venus...you're a very thoughtful mythical being! Plus, who says comics aren't education: I learned that Venus was born of foam! Some of the pellets inside me are a foam/styrene compound, so me 'n' Venus have a lot in common. Maybe she will come over and give me little nose kisses. Nose kisses from Venus. Sigh. (And don't miss Gorilla Man's typed report on the back page listing the Atlas companies they've targeted, especially Atlas Comics: "They only had superhero books, and all those had crossover stories, so you can do buy all of them to get one damn story! Gotta be a racket. And where's all the war books?" Haw! It's funny because it's true.
SHE-HULK #13: This comic is fun...sorta. This issue wraps up the Trial of Starfox storyline which has been danglin' around since #7 (I don't blame Dan Slott for the delay; Civil War not only split the Marvel Universe in two, it split this running plotline!), and hooray hooray! Mister Starfox is not a creepy nasty naughty perv like he's been accused of being. So why is this comic only sorta fun? Well, like I said last issue, I'm less interested in the cosmic storylines of this book than I am the down-to-Earth legal matters of Marvel Manhattan, so the Trial on Titan just makes me a li'l jumpy and eager to get back to planet Earth. But my biggest complaint would be that Dan Slott basically unpacks a deus-ex-Thanos in the last handful of pages that undoes what was a kinda clever and interesting twist of last issue: turns out the real reason behind Thanos's obsession with Death wasn't Starfox after all. Hmmm, that was a lot of ado about nothing then. Still, She-Hulk has the usual clever Slott dialogue that, unlike a lot of comics, is actually funny, and next issue's got Awesome Andy in it, so that's okay by me.
JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #27: This comic is fun...sorta. When JLU is good, it's really, really good. When it's not so good...well, it's just falling into a common trap for the series that there has to be a learning lesson for one of the heroes attached to the action. Black Lightning's pretty-well written in this story (Tony Isabella oughta be proud), but it's a fairly standard story of a hero doubting himself and then finding strength by believing in himself. It wouldn't be a problem if it didn't happen so very often in this series. Plus this issue contained a pretty weird-ass insert comic starring the Teen Titans and 
FANTASTIC FOUR: THE END #1: This comic is fun. I've been a fan of only a handful of Marvel's "The End" comics (The Hulk, The Punisher), so I approached this book with a little trepidation as well as a little dictionary to look up what "trepidation" means. I shouldn't'a worried: I luvs me some Alan Davis artwork somethin' fierce, and his story is every bit as colorful and dynamic as his trademark art: in the not-too-distant future, the FF is split up and each living their own lives and adventures: Reed throwing himself into his work on a space station, Johnny as a member of the Avengers, Sue exploring the undersea world with Namor, and Ben raising a happy family on Mars with Alicia and the Inhumans. Tantalizing hints of what went wrong to pull superherodom's first family apart are dropped, but the real focus is on an imminent danger that you just know is gonna bring them back together...for one last time, according to the title of this comic. It's a great fun adventure that's filled with both savvy quiet character moments and big splashy fight scenes, but the best part is seeing a logical reason that the FF might be pulled apart and how they deal with it. Published smack-dab in the middle of the highly-suspect actions of 616-Reed Richards, Alan Davis shows up the entire motivation of Civil War by remembering that the FF is, first and foremost, a family.
SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #1: This comic is fun. Between All Star Superman, Busiek on Action and Superman and the new Legion cartoon series, it's a better time than ever to be a Superman fan. Need more proof? Enter Superman Confidential! This new Superman series begins with two of my favorite artists: Darwyn Cooke and Tim Sale, and even tho' Darwyn's writing rather than drawing, his love and respect for the joys of Silver Age comics is evident on every page (well, except for those with the weird Teen Titans insert. Do what I did—rip it out!). I've been a big, big little fan of Tim Sale's artwork on special projects for DC and Marvel: Superman For All Seasons, Batman: The Long Halloween, Catwoman: When in Rome and Spider-Man: Blue have been my favorites. This looks like it's shapin' up to be another one, not merely for good solid superhero action but for its portrayal of one of my very favorite elements of the Superman mythos: the Clark/Lois/Superman love triangle. There's a gorgeously-written and illustrated three-page romantic sequence where Superman and Lois share a champagne toast on top of the Eiffel Tower that is the sort of scene I'd love to see in a Superman movie. Even if the Lois and Clark dialogue is a little more Dave-and-Maddie than Tracy-and-Hepburn, this is a delight. And Kryptonite is coming! Kryptonite is coming! That's why SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #1 is the most fun comic of the week!
AGENTS OF ATLAS #3: This comic is fun. Like Eternals, this is another mid-miniseries issue that slows down the action for a massive infodump, but there's enough forward movement and travelin' around for the Agents to make it forgiveable. (It'll definitely read better in the trade, however). This is one of the more dense Marvel reads in the past month, so I feel I'm definitely getting my money's worth: this ain't a comic you can read once in ten minutes; take your time and savor every talkin' monkey, conveniently-tressed Venus panel. Any comic that covers Africa, Uranus (tee hee), San Francisco and Atlantis in one issue and manages to get in an extending esophagus sight gag is tops in this little bull's book. And whee! Namora's still alive? Hooray! (turns to the last page) Uh...nevermind.
AGENTS OF ATLAS #1: This comic is fun. Okay, I'll admit it. Sometimes I just think Joe Quesadilla doesn't get it. Spider-Man being married doesn't lead to good stories? Mister Fantastic as a pawn of the establishment? Cancelling The Thing? It's enough to make you want to leap up on a stepladder and slap him in the face with your hoof. On the other hand, there's a good deal that Joey Q and Marvel do do right nowadays. I'm not just talking about the rollback on their wacky, antiquated plot that gay characters shouldn't have their own series (bravo for changing the policy, minus several million points for having it in the first place). I'm talking about how Marvel at last seems to be producing at least some comics that honor and celebrate their own legacy: exploring and expanding the vast history and cast of characters of the MU in titles like She-Hulk, Nextwave and frequent themed one-shots like last years's Marvel Monsters and this year's westerns. Add to that Agents of Atlas, a new miniseries that spins off of surely one of the more obscure Marvel comics from almost thirty (thirty!) years ago: What If? #9. Seriously, didja ever think Marvel would be interested in publishing stories based on an old What If? In Agents, S.H.I.E.L.D.* agent Jimmy Woo, Venus, Marvel Boy, M-11 the Human Robot, and the Sensational Character Find of 1958, Gorilla-Man, team up to save President Eisenhower from the Yellow Claw's, uh, claws. (Golly, Mister Ike...I don't think you wanted to get rescued!) Thirty years later, Jimmy lies in a coma. Who's to the rescue? In the best Star Trek III tradition, his old teammates! Ya-hoo! This is rip-roaring fun that not only funny but smart, and beautifully drawn by Leonard Kirk as well. Doing it as a miniseries is probably a smart move: I can't imagine this level of fun being sustained indefinitely, but half-a-dozen issues oughta do just fine. I don't wanna accuse any of you of any un-American activities, but if you don't like a comic featuring a gorilla firing guns out of all four paws, you're just a dirty Red!
SPIDER-MAN FAMILY: AMAZING FRIENDS: This comic is fun. And if you think Marvel celebrating the goofy joy of a thirty-year old issue of What If? is weird, what does that say of an issue that spins off from the 1980s TV cartoon Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends? (Warning: creepy self-starting sound clip at that otherwise excellent Spider-Friends link!) Like last year's Spider-Man Family special, this is an oversized 88-page giant that, in the absence of any real Marvel Annuals this year, is the perfect summer comic to climb up into your treehouse and spend the afternoon reading. Like those crammed-full Annuals of the Silver Age, this is chock-full of new and old features from across the multiverse and history of Spider-Man: a brand-new Spider-Man/Iceman/Firestar adventure teams up the trio from that fondly-remembered cartoon series, as does another new installment of Chris Giarrusso's bigfoot Mini Marvels, plus a trio of dandy reprints: the second issues of Kurt Busiek's Untold Tales of Spider-Man (one of the most consistent and appealing of all Spider-Man series, ever, the first eight issues of which have been just reissued in trade paperback, although I woulda loved an Essentials volume reprinting the whole series!) and Peter David's Spider-Man 2099, and the oft-overlooked gem of Spider-History, an amazing adventure of Fred Hembeck's "Petey" ("The Adventures of Peter Parker Long Before He Became Spider-Man"). Only thing missing that would make this the modern-day equivalent of a 1960s Spidey annual? There's no pin-up page! But in its place we've got Ms. Lion versus the Hulk, so it all balances out. Wondering whether it's worth while pickin' up this Spidey Special? In the words of the Spider-Friends: go for it!
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