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PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #15
14 September 1997
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
"Augie's Top 20: Part 1"
I cracked open my database this week to see what my top picks of the year
so far would be for comics. With the first pass, I had narrowed it down to
43 different titles. I only wanted to do 10 or 20 though. And I'm not
ranking these against each other. Sure, it's a sexy thing to do, but I'll
leave sexiness to Tony Isabella and his Top 40, whenever he gets around to
doing it next.
I was going to do this in one large column, but I realized I was cutting off
so many good titles, I wanted to explain myself.
With the second pass, I cut the list down to 30.
ULTRAGIRL left the list, sadly. Leonard Kirk drew it, Barbara Kesel wrote it.
A neat teenage super-hero comic where the main character acts and interacts
like an actual teenager. Beautiful 3-issue mini-series.
Mark Waid got hit hard next. I collected his three series, but none of
them made my upper level of "Gotta Get It Now." So off went THE FLASH,
KA-ZAR, and IMPULSE. IMPULSE was probably the toughest of the 3 to lose.
KA-ZAR is just starting to come together now, storyline-wise. And THE FLASH
was good, but not high enoug above the bar I established for the Top Twenty.
ESSENTIAL VERTIGO: SWAMP THING is a great idea from DC, reprinting Alan
Moore's groundbreaking horror series in black and white. Good stuff here.
BORIS' ADVENTURE MAGAZINE is sort of a personal favorite from its last run.
It was one of the first Indy books I ever collected. In fact, I think it was
the first. But this incarnation of the robotic bear just didn't cut it. And
the bash-you-over-the-top-of-your-head anti-smoking story sealed its fate.
Too bad. The comic seems to have disappeared now, even more sadly.
LEAVE IT TO CHANCE is a great comic. Perfect and suitable for all ages.
Beautiful art by Paul Smith and great story-telling by James Robinson.
SUPERGIRL came on strong towards the end of the Gary Frank run, then
stumbled. It wasn't deemed to be consistant enough to make the top 20.
(And THE INCREDIBLE HULK, as improved as it is with Adam Kubert on it,
didn't make the first cut. This is a comic which still has a ways to go
to be restored to its former glory.)
TEEN TITANS is the most beautifully-drawn comic book on the market today
with Dan Jurgens and George Perez. Perez is no longer on the book. And
the stories were good, but not great.
Anyone still remember THRILLKILLER, a terrific DC Elseworlds mini-series
painted by Dan Brereton with scripts by Howard Chaykin? Great take on Batman
and all the rest. Rumors of a sequel continue to abound. Hopefully it will
come someday, and I hope in the same easy-access format. That's right, this
was a regular 3-issue mini-series. Not squarebound, not expensive.
TRANSMETROPOLITAN leaves the list, too. It's not a bad series, but it's
too soon to call yet. Darick Robertson is doing some nice pencil-work
here, too, although I miss his NEW WARRIORS comics.
X-MEN: LOST TALES is gone, but I'm not sure why. Chris Claremont writes
sopme classic tales here, and they're better stories, probably, than some
stuff which did make the top 20. A completely arbitratry choice to make
room.
WILDSTORM SPOTLIGHT was a great series, cancelled before its prime due to
some silly retail reasons. People are stupid. The first issue had a grand
Alan Moore Mister Majestic story. And the last issue was a well-told tale
of political intrigue starring the StormWatch crew. One of the underrated
series of the year.
GEN13 BOOTLEG should make it if only for the 3-part Adam Warren story.
However, the Terry Moore story wasn't all it could have been, and
consistancy became a factor in taking this series off.
I still have 29 series to go, but I think BATMAN & ROBIN ADVENTURES is the
next to go. OK, I'm down to 28.
Both UNCLE $CROOGE and UNCLE $CROOGE ADVENTURES fall into the inconsistant
category and get tossed off the list. 26.
NEWMEN is a sentimental favorite, and a title which Eric Stephenson and Chris
Sprouse poured their hearts into. It was great, but it was also cancelled
and it looks hopeless that the storyline will ever be finished. Dammit. 25.
STARMAN gets dropped and I almost feel guilty about that one. STARMAN is a
great comic which has a certain inevitable direction to it. You know the
author likes the subject material a lot and it shows. He crafts some
gripping stories and uses DC history to his advantage, unlike any other
writer. I look forward to reading this series to its very end. Is this the
Babylon 5 of super-heroes?
I held off on this one for as long as possible: HELLSHOCK. Jae Lee started
off strongly, with a first issue that would have fit in as well with the
Vertigo line as it would have anywhere else. It was a great exploration of
the human psyche. The second issue was terrific. Everything was going
great. Terrific coloring. Terrific writing. Jae Lee was drawing faces and
backgrounds again. And then the series dropped off the face of the earth.
::sigh::
GON SWIMMIN', alas, has to go. It's the best pantomime comic I've ever read,
but it's just a one-shot. I still recommend it greatly, unless of course
you're an animal lover who doesn't want to see any animals hurt. =)
I don't envy Tony Isabella putting together his Top 40 list. . .
-Augie
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