2007 was a banner year for comic books. And by “banner year”, I mean absolute freakin’ crap.
In Wolverine, the year started off with the absolutely horrendous “Evolution” storyline. Although it had stunning art by Simone Bianchi, Jeph Loeb decided to introduce some stupid mythology where Wolvie and Sabretooth evolved from wolves instead of apes and that there is always a blonde and brunette in their line who must constantly fight. Oh, and the various cat-powered superheroes are also wolf descendants, too. Huh?!?
DC’s Countdown has been a disappointment since Day One. Typically, I enjoy Paul Dini’s stuff, but this really isn’t working. Monarch? I was hoping we were done with that clown after the various “Armageddon 2001″ stories.
I had quit reading all Spider-Man titles right before the “Clone Wars” storylines started, so I was spared the apparent boot-to-the-genitals known as “One More Day”.
Joss Whedon tries to continue the Angel television series with Angel: After the Fall from IDW, which is a complete success if he was going for “incoherent mess”. Three issues in, and so far all we’ve seen are the differences between Los Angeles now and how it was when the series ended. The book’s artist really needs schooling in sequential storytelling, because the panel-to-panel flow is utter garbage.
Then there’s Wolverine Origins — ‘Nuff said.
Then we finish the year with Ghost Rider and Daniel Way’s excrement of a revelation that Johnny Blaze is and always has been an angel. Head… hurts… Must… resist… slitting… wrists…
Come to think of it, pretty much anything Daniel Way touches is crap. He reminds me of Howard Mackie’s work on the X-books in the early to mid-1990s.
Enough was enough. Being a fan of Mr. Cranky, I decided to use his formula for reviewing movies and apply it to comic books. Someone needs to point out to these publishers that 90% of their products are crap, and if they ever want to be considered a serious entertainment industry, they’ll at least make an attempt to treat the craft seriously.
Look, I might not be the oldest guy reviewing comics, but I’ve been reading them for over thirty years, so I like to think I know a little bit about what works and what doesn’t. Every issue reviewed on here was paid for out of my own pocket, so there’s no consideration given to any particular publisher or creator.
Something to consider, however: Even if an issue doesn’t get reviewed poorly here, don’t assume it was any good. It might have looked so bad, I didn’t even consider picking it up.
