wednesdayINreview: Invincible echoes of the cry for justice

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: There’s a new Batman, Robin, Justice League, X-Men, and… the return of Steve Rogers? It’s week of revivals and relaunches.

• Batman And Robin #2: Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely continue their look at the new dynamic duo of Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne against new villain Pyg. It’s less about the machinations of the new bad guy and more about Dick facing his role as the Dark Knight.
• Captain America- Reborn #1: Its Ed Brubaker on Captain America, so of course this is good. As expected, great art from Bryan Hitch, but the more important thing here is going the story. So far, it’s a good start with a not-so-unexpected idea on bringing Steve back, but we’ve got a ways to go to see just how this pans out. Here’s hoping Bucky doesn’t get shoved aside entirely.
• Echo #13: Terry Moore continues to prove he’s a master of faces and paces in this continuuing tale. Not much action happens to Julie Martin, but dialogue and scenery are where Moore thrives, and the ad for the Strangers In Paradise Omnibus is made even more tempting by this issue.
• Fantastic 4 #568: Doom’s master is startlingly revealed to be remnant and the key connection to the Marvel 1985 story, and his power trip leads the Fantastic 4 to face their worst fears, only to prove why they’re fantastic. With the run almost over, it’s time for the story to wrap up.
• The Invincible Iron Man #15: While this week’s issue is good, the story does feel like its dragging a bit. Hopefully, this long redemption arc for Tony pays off. Good stuff in the writing department from Fraction, as usual, with some nice moments between Pepper and Tony and a probably-crazy Maria Hill doing her crazy thing. Only wish that Larroca’s art didn’t get wonky in some places.
• Justice League- Cry For Justice #1: James Robinson and Mauro Casucoli much-anticipated miniseries gives a convincing argument for this splinter group of the Justice League, effectively based on Hal Jordan realizing that he’s the sheriff in this sector. Robinson promises that the cry for justice will be open for interpretation, and we hope the gold talking gorilla is likewise justified. Combined with Casucoli’s amazing art, having improved since The Trials Of Shazam!, Cry For Justice is a must-read.
• Star Wars- Invasion #1: …and now we have a return to the Yuuzhan Vong war for Star Wars fans, but this time in comic form. Its a good start, but hard to really see where things are going to go. If anything, this series will be great for finally getting to consistently see some Vong in artwork.
• The Sword #18: The Luna Brothers know how to bring their cinematic game to the comic pages, and a surprising ending continues their run of “expect the unexpected”.
• Uncanny X-Men #513: Part 2 of Utopia, this time with Terry Dodson on the art. That means the issue looks beautiful, and thankfully the writing keeps up just fine. There’s one major revelation that’s not too unexpected and makes a great deal of sense, plus a few other satisfying X-moments that can please most fans. The only thing this needed was more Ares. The return of Cloak and Dagger is also nice, and Namor embracing his status as The First Mutant is well conceived.
• War Of Kings #5: The penultimate issue of the third major cosmic story arc from DnA. The gloves are off for the Inhumans this time as they go in a direction even I’m not sure I can agree with, but as usual Black Bolt just has a wonderful moment to lead us into the final issue. Your guess is as good as ours as to just how this is going to end.

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.