Title of the Week for 4/8/09  

So this week I got a pretty small amount of what came out and quite a bit went into the box. For this reason the weeks list of best titles is pretty small. Instead of five this week we have but two. The two this week though were pretty good IMHO. So... shall we?

Green Lantern #39(w/ Geoff Johns, a/ Philip Tan) - The art in this issue was off the chain! Philip Tan is bringing his A-game here and then some. Every time I turned the page I found myself spending some obscene amount of time eye balling the art. Not only was the art fantastic the coloring and the inks made the pencils all the more gorgeous. Every piece of the art team here deserves some love.

The writing wasn't as amazing as the art but it was still solid. Even when Johns doesn't seem to be on the top of his game he still is better than most out there. (This issue wasn't an example of Johns not bringing the written word to the page well by any means I just wanted to bring that thought to light.) Johns continues here to build the different Corps. and the Blue definitely is becoming my second favorite. Johns continues here to build an epic run on a title that will forever be connected to the character of the Green Lantern. His run here is a run that will be looked upon in the same ranks as Claremont and the X-Men characters.

Now this was a setup issue and thus there was a lot going on but nothing Earth shaking. We get a little more on the Orange Lanterns but not too much. Also, a little more of the Blue Lanterns plans for Hal Jordan come into focus. To top it all of we get the intro of a new law in the Book of OA. Overall, this has the making of an excellent arc leading into Blackest Night.

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #2 (w and a/Tony Daniel) - This has been a fun title. It, like the first issue, has some top notch art. This title also keeps the summer blockbuster feel to it that it began in the first issue. There is still a lot going on that and I have a hard time believing that it can all be neatly wrapped up in the next issue. Well, it might be but not in a way that will be pleasing to those reading this mini. I think what will happen is that instead of wrapping this up neatly next issue it will instead just set the status quo then bleed into the new titles. Making this more of a starting point than it's own story between two eras of the Batman franchise. If that is the case that would be a better alternative to wrapping it all up in one issue and coming across as rushed.

Tony Daniels ability to write as well as do art on this book should open some eyes that may not have been open to this man's talent. Hopefully we will get more opportunities to see Daniels on both chores again in the near future. I personally would like to see him on a Hawkman title pulling double duty. Am I the only one who can see the beauty that would be that book? Maybe.

This issue has a fun battle between two Batmans as well as Catwoman and a Batman meeting and mingling. Also, we get more of Black Mask shaking the beehive in Gotham City and serving up a steaming plate of misdirection. The end of the issue is where the battle of the would be Batmen and it was a lot of fun to see the two go at it.

While we know the identity of one of the Batmen and assume the other I am hoping there will be a twist coming. I almost feel like it's really strange that we have not seen the Joker through all of this. Then we get to the Batmen fight and the uber violent Batman gets pummeled by Robin/Batman with a crowbar which would be mighty ironic if the uber violent Batman turns out to be Joker. Then during that battle uber violent Batman with a bloody smiling mouth starts to laugh in a manner consistent with the Joker. While Jason Todd is believed to be UV Batman i'm not 100% sure of this. When was the last time Jason Todd stopped being a prick and turned into a manically laughing madman? Never? That's what I thought. Seems more consistent to have Redhood/Joker running around causing carnage as Batman. Even if i'm wrong it's fun to think about.

Oh and the one page of art with Black Mask reveling in the destruction of Gotham was a great shot and really made me wish they would use the Black Mask character in the next Batman movie. He would be a great villain that would work amazingly well in the movie universe that has been created for Batman.

So which is the title of the week? Well the two made it tough to decide that goes without saying. Since I do have to pick one as it's title of the week and not titles of the week i'm going to go ahead and go with...