By Joe C.
Do you hear that sound? That faint buzzing? That’s the sound of thousands of angry fingers furiously typing away on straining keyboards. You might want to pop some Xanax before you head into your shop today because controversy’s the name of the game this week! Whether it’s big controversy or little controversy, months of heated arguments finally come to a head.
For anyone who reads comics-related news sites on a regular basis, you know that today’s big release from DC has not been without controversy. I’m not going to talk about that. By now everyone already has their opinion, and if you don’t know what I’m talking about then you probably don’t need to. Either way, Before Watchmen: Minutemen hits shelves today, finally bringing an end to all the controversy and Internet squabbling. Yeah, right. There’s honestly not much to say about it other than it’s a Watchmen prequel. Yes, Minutemen does have Darwyn Cooke on board, which isn’t something to scoff at.
If you’re a Watchmen fan and can put politics aside, this is a good day for you, but for those readers whose only exposure to the series has been through the movie, you’re probably better off just picking up the original trade. Either way, do us all a favor and chillax, brah. They’re just comics. No need to get worked up all over the Internet.
Unfortunately, jumping publishers won’t help you avoid arguments this week. Marvel brings its own (much less) controversial book to stores today as Thunderbolts No. 175 becomes Dark Avengers No. 175. Longtime Marvel readers will remember the recent spate of “Dark ______” titles that littered the shelves not too long ago. Some were very good…others…not so much. Fortunately the creative team isn’t changing, so Jeff Parker is still at the helm, which is the only reason I’m willing to give it a shot. We’ve done the “Dark” thing before and I can’t think of any reason to go back to it, other than that Parker’s got something interesting in mind. Considering how good Agents of Atlas was and how enjoyable his current run on Hulk is, I’m willing to go with him on this one.
Sticking with Marvel, the first trade collection of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev’s recent Moon Knight series drops today. This is a series that I would have loved to see continue. If you enjoyed the duo’s work on Daredevil, you have plenty to love here. I’ve never been the world’s biggest Moon Knight fan. I always thought of him as a watered-down Batman wannabe. And hunting criminals at night in a bright white costume? It never made much sense to me, but by the end of this latest series my opinion had changed completely. It has Bendis’s trademark dialogue and the art is as fantastic (as you’d expect from Maleev), both of which give Moon Knight the character upgrade he’s needed for a while. The series also has some underutilized fan-favorite characters, which is another plus. If you want to avoid the controversy of the day and go with a safe bet, this is the book for you.
