#6: 18th June 2014

I promised to post at least one more post this week. And here it is, containing two reviews of incredibly good issues. It's not frequent that you get two series this good in one New Comic Book Day.
And get ready for this week's reviews with long-awaited, at least by me, Robert Kirkman's and Paul Azaceta's Outcast #1!

Thor: God of Thunder #23

A week with this series must be good. I was so excited to read at last the finale of The Last Days of Midgard arc. Previous issue ended promising. I love the link between this story arc and epic The God Butcher Saga. Jason Aaron serves us another smashing issue full of action and moments, after which Thor fans will seat paralyzed of excitement on their sofas, or any other place, where they will read #23.

Undoubtedly, Thor: God of Thunder is currently the best ongoing series. Creating these books, Aaron wanted to show Thor from another perspective. Thor isn't Mighty nowadays. He's a god, who is with his people and wants to help them by spending time with them and showing protection, whenever needed.

Aaron also made another genius maneuver. He introduced us three Thors, the early one, than, Thor the Avenger and finally Thor the All-Father from the future. All these plots take place in the same exact time. They have always something in common, and could be, in my opinion, standalone stories.

In issue 23 Thor the All-Father continues his outstanding fight with Galactus. Its epicness is undescribable. It was written perfectly, kept me nervous and interested through all 22 pages. Simultaneusly, Thor the Avenger fights with Dario Agger, aka The Minotaur and Roxxon Energy corporation to save Broxton in Oklahoma and its inhabitants. And I must write, it isn't worse. We get thunders, punches and gunshots. Everything was drawn by amazing Esad Ribic. Oh my, this artwork was sooo good. Jason Aaron and Ribic are a dream team. I cant think of any better comic duet at the moment.

Newest issue of God of Thunder unfortunately has one con. It's only 22 pages long. I wish it had an infinite amount of pages. If you like awesome comic books, pick up this Thor title. There's nothing better currently. Thor rocks.

Punisher #7

I have no idea how Punisher made it, but he's still alive. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised (after all, all heroes are 'immortal'), but last issue's events went for him terribly. And here we are, at the beginning of the all-new story arc - El Diablito. First 6 books were really good, so I expected the same from #7.

The story was written by acclaimed Nathan Edmondson with Kevin Maurer's help. Also the artwork changed a little bit. Carmen Carnero took Mitch Gerad's postion and that's quite unfortunate. New artwork is extremly good, but I loved Gerad's style. Carnero has a similar one, but introduced slightly more details to the comic. Usually I am keen on seeing this kind of maneuvers from artists, but this lack of details perfectly fitted Edmondson's writing (same situation in Black Widow series). But, overall, artwork is extraordinary. It was a pleasure to look at all panels.

#6 finished in... saying without any spoilers, intense moment. #7 starts some time later with Punisher, having escaped, trying to spot some safe shelter. Preferably with a person with medical skills. Later his doctor sells him and Frank ends in the hands of deadly Mr. Ortiz aka El Diablito. Latter events lead to a potential escape, an appearance of Crossbones and a special team-up.

Maybe at first I was a little bit confused about Frank's situation, but later everything started to create an interesting beginning to a story. I'm sure, Nathan Edmondson has done an extraordinary job on next issues. Till this moment, his run has been really good, maybe even better than Warren Ellis' one.

This volume of The Punisher is an easy and fun read for everyone. It's new reader friendly and definietly worth mentioning, while talking about best current ongoing series.

Other issues:

'Very good' pile:

- Daredevil #4

'Good' pile:

- Sex Criminals #6
- Uncanny X-Men #22

'Meh' pile:
- Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir #2