Marvel

[Velvis]

Fantastic Four #574

*****

This issue was...err...fantastic! Jonathan Hickman continues to produce that sense of wonder in me that grownups shouldn't be allowed to feel. In this issue, a warning from the future. And Franklin's birthday party. I think he's about 9, but in real time he'd be 41 (he was born in FF Annual #6, 1968). Val Richards is a great character. A two-year-old already smarter than her famous dad.

[Velvis]

Ex Machina #48

*****

Brian K. Vaughan's superhero comic about politics moves swiftly toward its thrilling conclusion. I look forward to going back and re-reading the entire series when it's done in a few issues.

[Velvis]

Batman #694

****1/2

Grant Morrison is a tough act to follow. But I gotta say, writer/artist Tony Daniel is offering up probably the most complex and dense job of plotting I've seen in a major superhero book. He's juggling dozens of characters here, and it's only the third issue of the story arc.

[Velvis]

Sweet Tooth #1

*****

If you like Cormac McCarthy's The Road, you may want to pick up this series, which takes place in a post-apocalyptic near future America. There are mutants as a result of the as yet unspecified disaster, who, like the kid on the cover, have animal-like characteristics. Yet the kid, who we'll call "Sweet Tooth", was born before the disaster.

He ends up traveling with the dangerous and morally ambiguous Mr. Jeppard to an uncertain destiny. I've read the first four issues so far, and I'm still on the edge of my seat.

[Velvis]

I haven't posted a review in a while, mostly because I've already done a pretty thorough survey of what's being published. But I thought I'd share my personal current top ten.

They are:

Criminal by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips



Ex Machina by Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris



Locke and Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez



Ultimate Comics Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis and Takeshi Miyazawa



Kurt Busiek's Astro City by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson



Irredeemable by Mark Waid and Peter Krause



Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire



The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard



Punisher Max by Jason Aaron and Steve Dillon



and The Boys by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson



Hope this helps. What are your top ten?