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Host Derek Coward puts forth his wants for a new/old type of comic book collection and the titles that he would use.

Tags: 52, absolute, alan moore, arthur adams, countdown to final crisis, dark phoenix, gene ha, jonah hex, promethea, scout, tim truman, top ten, x-men

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Host Derek Coward finishes his look at the best of 2008 by talking about the titles that he has heard good things about but has never checked out yet, best miniseries that didn’t finish in 2008, best #1 comics of 2008 and the best graphic novels.

Related links (*-Amazon link, so help a brother out):
* Rasl Volume 1: The Drift
The Boy Who Made Silence
* House of Mystery
* Young Liars
* Captain Britain and MI:13
‘76
* Tangent: Superman’s Reign
The Infinite Horizon
Stephen King’s The Stand: Captain Trips
* The Twelve
* Love and Rockets: New Stories #1
* Madame Xanadu #1
Comic Book Comics
* Locke & Key
Kick-Ass
* Man With No Name
* Queen and Country Definitive Edition
* Noble Causes Archives
* The Walking Dead, Vol. 8: Made to Suffer
* Hellblazer: The Laughing Magician

Tags: '76, 11 O'Clock Comics, 52, a fistful of dollars, action philosophers, alan moore, alex ross, amazon marketplace, amy reeder hadley, andy diggle, angela paman, b clay moore, babylon five, batman, best of 2008, black canary, black samurai, black terror, blaxsploitation, bone, booster gold, brian azzarello, bruce jones, bruce le, bruce li, bruce wayne, bryan deemer, camelot, captain britain and mi13, captain trips, charles vess, chinese connection, chris marshall, chris weston, christopher neseman, civil war, classics illustrated, clint eastwood, collected comics library, comic book comics, comics code authority, continuity, cool, countdown to final crisis, dabel brothers, dan jurgens, dan spiegle, daredevil, dark horse, dc comics, dead world: frozen over, death defying devil, desperado publishing, detroit comics, dynamite entertainment, ec comics, evil twin comics, evil white cops, fifth week event, first comics, for a few dollars more, fred van lente, frederic wertham, gabriel rodriguez, game of death, Geek Brunch, geoff johns, golden age heroes, graphic novels, green arrow, green arrow year one, green lama, green lantern, greg rucka, guy pearce, heartbreak soup, hellblazer, hellblazer joy ride, hellblazer the laughing magician, hippies, house of mystery, house of secrets, hulk, idw, image comics, inferno, infinite horizon, invincible iron man, irresponsible speculation, j michael straczynski, jackie chan, jackie karma, james caviezel, jamie delano, jay faerber, jeff smith, jim krueger, jlapes, joe hill, john constantine, john stewart, jsa, kick-ass, kung fu movies, legion of super-heroes archives, leonard kirk, leonardo manco, lex luthor, little gold book, locas, locke and key, love and rockets, love and rockets: the new stories, madame xanadu, magneto, manhattan, mark evanier, markosia comics, marvel comics, matt fraction, matt wagner, matthew sturges, mike grell, new universe, next issue project, noble causes, noble causes archives, oliver queen, omega the unknown, oni press, oz, palomar, paul cornell, perhapanauts, peter david, phantom stranger, power girl, project superpowers, proof, psi-force, public domain, queen and country, queen and country definitive edition, racist hero, rasl, ryan dunleavy, salvation run, scott cederlund, secret invasion, sergio leone, seth peck, shared universe, shazam and the monster society of evil, spaghetti western, spider-man, stephen king, steve sadowski, sting, superman, swamp thing, tangent comics, tara chace, the atom, The Boy Who Made Silence, the count of monte cristo, the demon etrigan, the flash, the good the bad and the ugly, the joker, the losers, the man with no name, the odyssey, the programme, The Readerfeed, the stand, the sword, the twelve, the unexpected, the yellow kid, vandal savage, vertigo, Vince Bonovoglia, waiting for the trade, walking dead, wally west, watchmen, wednesday's haul, white event, wonder woman, wonderland, young liars, zero killer, zombie

Synopsis (from dccomics.com): A Monk of the Dark Faith is moving through the DCU, seeding evil in his wake, as he prepares for a final, potentially devastating act. Trailing him is The Question, who seeks to save the life of the author of a best-selling expose about the Dark Faith. But is The Question simply playing a part in a much larger game? All will be revealed when The Lesson of Deceit is foretold.

Writing: I’m not sure what I expected from this title going in. I didn’t know if it was going to be more in the vein of the Question/Batwoman vs Manheim/Intergang storyline from 52 or if it was going to be more like the O’Neill/Cowan Question series from way back when. It actually seemed almost like a story from an old EC book, or 1970’s House of Mystery. Either way, there was an old school vibe to it. I am really liking Renee Montoya as the Question.

Art: Part of the old school vibe that I get from the book is from the artwork. I used to despise Tom Mandrake’s artwork and now I cannot remember why. It used to be that I would avoid anything he was associated with, then I began to accept his art as a necessary evil if I wanted to read certain titles, and now, I find myself seeking out things that he is the artist on. I cannot remember why I didn’t like it. I cannot remember why I started to like it. I’m sure why I like it now, but I do and I cannot picture anybody else I would rather see on this title.

Letters: Excellent first page. The rest of the book was also very good. Steve Wands isn’t a name that is familiar to me, but I like what I see in this issue. [Clarification: The first page was lettered by Eric Trautmann. The rest of the book was lettered by Steve Wands. I apologize for any confusion.]
Colors: David Baron uses a very muted palette and like the rest of the artwork, I find that it works for this story.

Cover: It’s weird, but the version I have is not the version that was on DC’s website. The one on the website made sense, but the one I have was very confusing. It took me a while to figure out that it was a glowing Question holding a book.

Editing: I feel bad that I don’t know enough about comic book editing to know when something is done well, but I can easily point out spelling errors and times when the editor has obviously made a mistake. However, I didn’t find any glaring errors that the editor should have caught.

Overall: I found this to be a pretty good read and I cannot wait for the next issue. If you didn’t pick it up this last week, you should try and find a copy, because although I’m pretty sure that it will be traded one day (After all it has 52 in the title), this is something that I wouldn’t recommend waiting to read.
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Tags: 52, crime bible, david baron, dc comics, greg rucka, miniseries, steve wands, the question, tom mandrake