2007 Comics In Review, Part 1

2007 is gone, and all that's left is the comics I purchased to remind me. Well, there's other stuff, but for the purposes of these posts, the comics are all that's left. I bought fewer comics in '07 compared to '06. An average of three fewer comics a month, to be exact. And despite my growing dissatisfaction with the party line Marvel's put forth for their post-Civil War world, Marvel actually made up a slightly larger percentage (87% vs 85%) of my buys this year. But that's mostly due to the sharp decline in DC stuff. Anyway, I'm going to do this pretty much like I did it last year, only this first post is going to be everything not Marvel, as opposed to just DC. Yep, I actually bought enough non-Big 2 comics to feel like it's worthwhile to discuss them. So, in alphabetical order.

Bloodrayne (Plague of Dreams #3, Tibetan Heights one-shot, Red Blood Run #1-2) - The major thing about all of these was the way the books are all starting to tie together, the clear pattern that there's something going on with the people Rayne works for. I'm not sure whether I actually like that more than when it seemed like the one-shots and such were mostly unrelated stories from different times in Rayne's life, but I'll be around to see where it goes from here. Red Blood Run #3 did actually come out in 2007, but I didn't order it because the art from #1 depressed me so much I just didn't think I'd want to read it. So we'll see how well the upcoming releases do at filling in what I missed. I hope the art picks up a bit though. It looked terribly rushed for most of this year, which tends to hurt my enjoyment of the story.

Blue Beetle (11) - This was the second month of my 2 month trial run on the title, and the story of Jamie traveling to some planet to save Brenda from a Hunter of New Gods just didn't work that well for me, so I dropped the title. Near as I can tell, it became concentrated outstanding immediately after that, so you know, you're welcome.

Brave and the Bold (7) - If I were doing the various categories I used in my 2005 reviews (and I still might, if I eliminate one of my other review posts), this issue would be a definite contender for "Best Single Issue". Power Girl is a bit more gung-ho than I'm used to seeing from my glances through Justice Society of America, but I figure she had her reasons, and I like her confidence, the way she doesn't back down around Wonder Woman, who I think probably intimidates a lot of other heroes, even though she doesn't mean to. George Perez is not my favorite artist (though he's up there), but his work in this issue was quite good. he really does draw some lovely scenery, especially when it starts getting destroyed. On the whole, there was a complete story within the issue, but it also pushed forward a larger, multi-issue story arc, and I love when creative teams manage to do that.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (6-9) - Along the same lines as B & B #7, this would have been in the running for "Best Story Arc". It's Brian K. Vaughn, who'll we'll talk about some more when I get to Dr. Strange: The Oath, writing about one of my favorite characters from the Buffyverse (really, it's her or Spike).

High Point: I'm kind of partial to the opening scenes of #6, as we see what Faith's life in Cleveland is like, or Giles telling her all about how he understands what it's like to live with the mistakes Faith's made (could have stood to do that during Season 3, though, Ripper). I was also quite partial to the fight scene with the gargoyles in #7, and the Faith vs. Gigi slugfest in #9. If I were going to pick, probably that's the one, because I think Jeanty's art got stronger as the arc progressed.

Low Point: Any scene with Buffy. Oh, I'm kidding. Most of them were necessary to keep the larger plot moving, and I thought the point when Buffy and Faith actually cross paths was very well done, and summed up their relationship very well. So in that spirit, no low point.

Shadowpact (9-16) - I don't know what to say about this title. I ran with it for awhile, and I started off digging it, but it got too. . . something after awhile. I can't put my finger on it, but I just stopped being engaged by it.

High Point: Issues 9-11, when Blue Devil gets a promotion to the rhyming class of demons, Etrigan steals his trident and kicks most of the teams ass, and they have to go on a recruitment drive to get it back. I thought the idea of Blue Devil's success as a hero being good for Hell was clever, and what the team ended up doing with Etrigan was pretty amusing as well, although it's gonna have to come back and bite them in the rear eventually, right?

Low Point: #16, when Dr. Gotham created a volcano right in the middle of Chicago that caused massive damage, and we get a whole bunch of guest starts showing up to help. It seemed kind of ridiculous (odd thing to say, when talking about a book with a talking chimp, I know), and all the guest starts seemed to have the same voice, so that say, Superman and Hawkgirl's dialogue was interchangeable. That really annoyed me.

Suicide Squad (1-2) - I picked this up due to my great love of Ostrander's GrimJack, and because everyone and their stepmother has been gushing about his Suicide Squad work. Well, I liked the first issue, when they went on a mission to Russia to rescue Rick Flag, but after that there's been entirely too much focus on who Rick Flag is, and what he's about, and not enough of the team going into dangerous situations and having to struggle to survive, which is what I signed on for. Plus, I think it's hamstrung because it has to stay in line with all the Countdown/Salvation Run garbage that DC is putting out right now. I think if it could be its own creature, it'd probably be better, but I've got no proof of that.

And that does it for Part 1! Part 2 tomorrow, as we move into the Marvel side of things, because, as one of the few Marvelcentric comic bloggers out there, it's my duty to cram lots of Marvel stuff in your face! Seriously, I've got a card with instructions on it, that's what it tells me to do, or else I get such a pinch.