wednesdayINreview: Avenging the empowered

Ever since the dawn of four-color heroics, ten books per week have risen above all the others. With spoilers now lessened due to 24 hours, the gaijINside staff have decided to tell you what they liked. It’s time for another (well, the first) wednesdayINreview.

This week: Avengers, Avengers, Avengers, Freedom Fighters, and lesbians (implied and flat-out stated!) make our hit list.

• Avengers: The Initiative #25: Norman Osborn’s rule of H.A.M.M.E.R. and therefore The Initiative is cemented in this issue, with such tantalizing bits as Humberto Ramos’ art, the destructability of Ms. Marvel’s uniform, and the return of fan-favorites such as Gravity and the Great Lakes Initiative are balanced out by the emotion of a father losing a child and a mother being faced with threats toward her own. The Initative tends to be the forgotten, yet fun, chunk of The Avengers universe.
• Avengers/Invaders #12: The last issue of the mini, and a good end at that. A great love letter to the classic heroes of WWII with some wonderful connections to current Marvel events…and an ending that sets up some very interesting developments for the future.
• Dark Avengers #6: The usual beautiful art by Deodato fills this issue along with Bendis’ enjoyable writing. The real highlights this week, though, are seeing Namor being Namor, Sentry being Sentry (in a good way), and Norman finally starting to be a bit more the Norm an we all know.
• Detective Comics #854: Now starring Batwoman in the lead role with some surprising excellent stylized art. While most of the issue is setting up Kate Kane, the Jewish Lesbian Batwoman (DC doesn’t want those to be her defining features, but damn if she doesn’t kiss a chick on one page and have a menorah in the background on another. It’s cool, DC, Sammy Davis Jr. was one-eyed African-American Jewish musician. Crazy combos like that are like shiny Pokemon), the art alone makes up for the set-up story, and a second feature starring The Question is like chips on the side; they’re not filling, but they are tasty.
• Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1: Marvel’s X-Men ‘event’ of the summer. While even for a fairly hardcore X-Men fan like me it was a bit confusing and jumpy at times, the last half picked up well and its good to see more Silvestri art. Some motive s are questionable, but here’s hoping we get some explanation later on for some of the oddness.
• Gotham City Sirens #1: Guillem March knows how to draw women, and Paul Dini loves to write the pairing of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. Give them the dangerous Gotham City of a world without Bruce Wayne, some jokes made at Edward Nigma’s expense (and the legalities of renting a themed base), and you’ve got the dark replacement for Birds of Prey.
• empowered Vol. 5: Adam Warren’s lovely superheroine with body issues and a penchant for getting drunk is back. A thick read that comes about twice a year, Warren’s art and skillful comedy makes this series of OGNs a must read.
• Nova #26: Consistently, this book has been one of Marvel’s best since its start over two years ago. This issue doesn’t disappoint either, with great action throughout. The fact that there are still strong connections to Annihilation only makes it even b etter.
• Sonic Universe #5: More proof that when you get a talented writer who knows the history of the book and can use it to it’s full advantage, you get a quality series. Taking a look at Mobius 30 years later leads to some interesting things, like Tails’ surprising wife and the temporary rule of Shadow the Hedgehog. Still, you get a good all-ages story that’s as entry-level as it is expanding of classic tales.
• Uncanny X-Men #512: The X-Club. Time travel shenanagins. Steampunk-feel. Dr. Nemesis. What more do you need? This issue’s a great little self-contained story with wonderful art. While it  would be nice to see Beast actually get somewhere with saving the mutant race someday, more issues like this make the wait worthwhile.

These are the ten books that the gaijINside staff felt noteworthy. While these may not be all the best books out there, and are likely not all they read that week, these are the books we consider worth checking out. Want to let us know what you read? Post in the comments, or as always, use the tag #mediaslut to tell us on Twitter.

This article was co-written by Chad Bonin and Graham Johnson.