I cannot sit here in good conscious and give you a Pick of the Week this week. It is not due to my coming back from vacation (remember that I had a Pick of the Week during my vacation). It is not because I am current disgruntled about the Villain Month allocation. It is because I found myself saying “Meh” after every comic from my pull was read.
Why the Meh?
This is a transitional month in comics. I have found August as being a bit of a downer month for the last few years because of the September War when the publishers try to do everything they can to pad their sales in September to take some of the attention away from how Image will be the talk of the town in October with the release of the new season of The Walking Dead. Each issue I read either tried too hard, lacked a reason to come back, or just fell short in the story.
This Transitional Month
Marvel is building up to X-Men: Battle of the Atom and DC Comics is building up to Villain Month and Forever Evil. Right now, the X-Men titles are all working towards telling the story leading up to the great battles they will have during the September War. DC Comics is trying to give some extra story to hold people over past the hiatus which most titles will be taking as we pass through Villain Month. Some comics will take more than a one month storyline hiatus as many DC Comics titles will have a Batman: Year One crossover after Villain Month.
On the Trinity War side, Justice League of America #7 was a bit of a downer because it was a middle issue where certain subplots had to be tied up and the story progressed with little action. This is typical for middle issues, but it was something I was hoping could have been handled better since the Trinity War was built up as a major battle series. Of course, what we have been promised in battles has not come to pass.
Other Shortcomings
The X-Files: Season 10, Constantine, Suicide Squad, Uncanny X-Men, and even Batman were also letdowns this week as publishers attempted to hold stories or transition between one series to the next.
The Shining Star
On a positive side, I finally got to try out Miss Fury #1 and found it intriguing. I will have to pick up some more of the issues to see how the story is going. While it was the best “new” comic I read this week, I could not name a Pick of the Week on a comic which is a few months old.
Hopefully, I can have a strong Pick of the Week next week. All I need is for the publishers to deliver. I know there are many other comics coming out this week, but they are not regulars for me. I have heard great things about Infinity, but, as you might know, I am not one for cosmic storytelling.
