Welcome to the Giant Robot Week edition of the pull list. There are two bonus entries in this edition of my weekly chronicle of the picture books I spend my money (hard-earned or ill-gotten) on. Spoiler alert, like my previous posts on the subject hint at, giant robots are awesome.
Marvel
-Superior Spider-Man #13 (Dan Slott, Christos Gage, Giuseppe Camuncoli)
I don't want to give the impression that I'm not enjoying the current story of Superior Spider-Man, but I really wish there was a different Spider-Man storyline going on now. In case you were unaware, the current Spider-Man is not heroic. There's no other way to spin it. If you want to have that debate then I welcome it, however the evidence is on my side. That said, it's still an interesting comic book that I am happy to buy.
-Avengers Arena #12 (Dennis Hopeless, Kev Walker)
Yo, the writing in this comic is some straight garbage, like for real. I only got to the first caption box on the 2nd page before I had to close the comic in disgust. It's not the graphic murder of children that has got me down. Instead it is the insinuation, however tenuous, that the reader is the bad guy for "watching (reading) to see what horrible thing might happen next." Look, I didn't start reading this comic for the shock value. I picked it up because characters I liked were in a comic book. That they are being brutally killed is off-putting, so I'm concerned for their fictional wellbeing as well as the wellbeing as them as characters that continue to be published. If Marvel wants to feed some actually interesting new characters that aren't established white males to some hack writer, that's their prerogative. I just won't be around to give them my money for it anymore. Poor Kev Walker, art of this caliber deserves writing that can match it.
-Daredevil #28 (Mark Waid, Javier Rodriguez)
Fortunately Mark Waid is still wrtiting Daredevil. Unfortunately Chris Samnee didn't draw this issue. Fortunately Javier Rodriguez makes some damn fine art. From issue #1 Daredevil has been a comic that could get by on its art alone. It hasn't had to do that though thanks to Waid's brilliant storytelling. A new story arc begins this issue and it deals heavily with Daredevil's not-so-secret identity as Matt Murdock, lawyer extraordinaire. For a comic with a lot of heart and human characters, look no further.
