Comic Books I Love

I gotta say that I'm in a much better mood today: the sun's shining, it's opening day, the White Sox won 6-0 against Cleveland, and I finally feel like the old Johnson luck is turning around again and things are going well for me. So, I thought I'd make up for the "Doom and Gloom" of my last post by talking about some comic books that are out now that I absolutely love. Because too often I think I focus on the bad aspects of comics, like the rediculous love affair with the Silver Age at the expense of some of my favorite characters, that I don't spotlight how good comics are. So let's take a minute and do that shall we? Here's some of my current fav's in no particular order:

Jonathan Hickman's Secret Warriors and Fantastic Four- I'm now a huge Hickman fan. This Wednesday marks the debut of his new ongoing series S.H.I.E.L.D and I couldn't be more excited for it. This guy can flat out write amazing stories that combine continuity with new ideas and layer in rich characters all the way through. Hickman writes possibly the best Nick Fury in comics, and his take on Mr. Fantastic in the first arc of FF was outstanding. Not to mention all of the great work he's done with the titular Secret Warriors, who are my favorite part of the book despite other people's objections to them. The most recent issue where J.T and Daisy go out to eat was just an incredible, sweet, and poignant moment that felt real. Do yourself a favor, if you love Marvel heroes than buy these two titles.

Rick Remender's Last Days of American Crime- The first issue of this just might be my favorite issue of any comic this year, as the deck is already stacked against our main character (no one would ever call him a hero) as he tries to pull one last great heist before a government signal prevents anyone from being able to commit crimes ever again. The art is great, in a gritty and twisted way much like the world itself.

Geoff Johns' Green Lantern- Say what you will about Blackest Night, and I'll have my review of the event as a whole up soon, but this title is consistently one of the best on the stands and now that it can go back to doing what it does best, I think it's really going to take off and soar. GL is always balls out outer space action with a likeable (surprisingly) Hal Jordan and it's got all of the usual Geoff Johns touches throughout. If you're like me, than you consider that a good thing.

Jason Aaron's Wolverine: Weapon X- This is just an amazingly fun and awesome comic book. Aaron is the master at crafting brutal and engaging characters and ideas that are so incredibly bizarre and twisted yet are so well-developed that you can't help but love them. The villains he's faced Wolverine with so far, especially Dr. Rutt, have all been top-notch and the stories themselves are fascinating. Plus, this is the first creator in a LONG time that just flat out gets Wolverine. I reccommend everyone read The List: Wolverine and see just how awesome Aaron is at creating Wolverine stories. You'll fall in love, I guarantee.

Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead- Who doesn't love zombies? And better than that, this series never lets up for a second, as no character is ever truly safe and you really witness the despair and hopelessness beset the survivors led by Rick Grimes. The most fascinating part of this comic is witnessing the slow death of the survivor's humanity as they give up every tenant of society in order to survive. It really is a chilling look at what this situation would do to someone.


Those are mine. I love these comics, and I shouldn't get too down about the state of my beloved medium if such terrific series are being produced.