New Comic Book Day 09/17/2008

Well, it's new comic book day, and I purchased quite a bit of books today. Let's take a look at the list.

So, as you can see, a big stack of books there (note to self: get bigger scroll). And, just to save my own face, I'm going to use the quantity of books I had to read as an excuse for why this post is a day late. It's not true, but you don't know that, so I get off easy.

Now, you might be thinking: "Gee willickers, Ryan sure did read a lot of comics this week. I bet he has all sorts of crazy things to say about them. I can't wait to read them and then not post any comments, just to spite him. Seriously, fuck that guy." Well, dear reader, you thought wrong!

Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of things worthy of freaking out over (i.e. the giant Mecha War Machine in Iron Man: DOS, Luke Cage making an appearance in 2 unrelated titles this month, or everyone in the Marvel U continuing to be monkies), but I'm not going to write about any of those things. Instead, I'm going to tell you about the one comic you need to buy. And that comic is:

THE AGE OF THE SENTRY #1

With this book, Marvel tries to recapture the essence of their Silver Age titles. This is certainly not a terribly original concept in the comic industry. DC did it back in '99 with such titles as National Comics #1 and Star-Spangled Comics #1. Heck, even Image had the short-lived series called 1963. The key difference is that this one is much better.

As I mentioned nearly a year ago in my first post, I am quite a big fan of the Silver Age. It gave us countless books that offer idealistic heroes who never give you any reason to doubt their intentions. The books were straight-forward, easy for anyone to pick up and read, and generally way too silly not to enjoy. In my opinion, the Silver Age was the perfect age for comic books.

So, every time I see a new series like this pop up on the horizon, I rush to pick up my copy. Usually, I find myself disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the books are still good and I enjoy reading them. The problem, I think, is that they serve to be a mockery of the Silver Age, instead of an homage to it. They tend to overplay the camp and silliness, which can get old really fast.

This book, however, got it right. It has the camp, but the writing is spot-on, and the art and colors are even more perfect than that. If I hadn't known this came out yesterday, I'd have had no idea I wasn't reading an old Stan 'n Jack book. But, looking back on it, with a writer like Jeff Parker (Marvel Adventures: Avengers, X-Men: First Class), it really couldn't be anything less. He captures the essence of Silver Age plot and dialog perfectly, not to mention his beautiful handling of classic villainy and comic book science. Pairing that up with his old X-Men: First Class partner Nick Dragotta and Ramon Rosanas and you've got a Silver Age book on your hands. I had never heard of Rosanas prior to this book, but he and Dragotta have managed to craft art that you would almost swear Jack Kirby drew himself. Outside of a handful of pages in Troy Hickman's Twilight Guardian (which, I might add, just won Top Cow's Pilot Season), I've never seen Silver Age done so well in these modern times of computers and flying cars.

Basically, what I'm saying is that I highly recommend this book if you're a fan of the good old days. Now, I'm off to re-enjoy this issue for myself! If you've got anything you want to add, or want to hear my opinion on anything else I bought this week, feel free to let me know in the comments section. You know, it's that link right down there that says "0 people think this is stupid".