The best album of the past 10 years? And some other thoughts.

Slate had an article recently suggesting that the Strokes "Is This It" is the best album of the past decade.  So, I said - challenge accepted!!  First, right off the bat, I reject the central thesis of the article.  I'm on a quest to figure out what I think the best album of the past 10 years is, but I'm pretty sure that the answer to the question, "is this it?", is no.  I listened to the album this evening, and what I will say is that it's a really solid rock album. Very catchy, good listening. It's a fun album. But it's not a transcendent album. I have to believe, for myself, that the best album is something that you listen to and you feel changed. For me at least, the Strokes don't do that. But I will keep them in consideration, out of deference to the author, and the fact that it is a really good record.

Also, it is of course worth making the obvious point that art is totally subjective.  I get that, but I also know that everyone loves making lists.  So, using a quick and dirty analysis of the songs in my iTunes collection, here are some of my favorite albums of the past 10 years:

The Top 10 (probably):

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Muse - H.A.A.R.P.
Green Day - American Idiot
Bad Religion - The Process of Belief
Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers
Beck - Guero
The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
Wilco - A Ghost is Born

No surprise if you know me - I'm pretty clear that I think Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is the best album of the past 10 years.  Actually an easy question for me. 

Here's a bunch of others I really liked:

Pearl Jam - Riot Act
Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
Cave In - Antenna
The Strokes - Is This It
Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
Wolfmother - Wolfmother
Black Mountain -In the Future
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Jane's Addiction - Strays
The Killers - Hot Fuss
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Yo La Tengo - I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass
Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
The Black Keys - Brothers
The White Stripes - Elephant

One other conclusion to draw is that some of the bands I loved in the 90's (Radiohead, Pearl Jam, Beastie Boys, R.E.M.) did not have as strong decades in the 2000's.  Anyway, I have more to say about music (and bands that have disappointed me recently), I'll save that for another post.

Comics Reviews

I've been reading a ton of comics recently, and wanted to get down some of my thoughts on issue 2 of the "New 52" issues, along with some excellent Marvel stuff I've been reading recently.  I also think that it generally takes more than 1 issue to really assess whether you want to read something.  So, unless I thought something was not very good (or just didn't speak to me at all), I'm reading a second issue of it.

Action Comics #2  - Another fun issue.  I'll definitely keep reading.  One thing though, I'm actually not crazy about the art.  I actually think it's kind of inconsistent in places.  Lois looks sort of heavy in one shot, and then not in another.  Still, very skillful storytelling going on, and I want to keep reading to see what Grant Morrison has planned.

All-Star Western #1 - A big, fun surprise from the New 52.  I had no intention of picking this up at all, but I heard some good things about it and I'm really glad I read it.  I'm not at all familiar with the Jonah Hex character, but I get it (gunslinger with mysterious past, emotional and physical scars).  It was a really well told story; I'm not a particular Western fan, but the idea of taking this Western character in Jonah Hex, and putting him in the industrial early Gotham was an interesting choice, and made for a really well told story.

Batgirl - like a bunch of other issues this month, this is an improvement over issue 1.  Issue 1 was good but not spectacular, and Simone really steps up here.  Very strong characterization of Batgirl, and she develops a sympathetic villain.  Good stuff.

Animal Man - This is another very strong issue in a very good, and creepy series.  I'm not sure if I'm in for this long-term, but I definitely think it's some interesting stuff.  Art is strong (and, like I said, creepy and unsettling), and Buddy Baker and his family are pretty well realized, and realistically written characters.

Batman and Robin - I read it twice, and I'd say it's a book definitely worth reading.  Strong characterization between Bruce Wayne and his son Damien (Bruce is not going to win any father of the year awards).  However, that being said, I can only read so many books and there's a ton of stuff which intrigues me more than a second or third Batman book (I'm probably just going to stick with Scott Snyder's "Batman" for now).

Batwoman - Now this book is freakin' great.  The art is really just stunning, and the story feels nearly as strong (which is high praise considering that the art really is incredible stuff).  I'll definitely keep reading this.  It has a real sense of atmosphere, a strong, distinctive, female protagonist who is powerful and sexy but is not once perceived as a sex object (you ought to check that out, Judd Winick and Scott Lobdell), and a real voice that comes through.  This book is a real winner in my mind.

Demon Knights - Fantastic stuff.  Not to sound like a broken record, but there really is a ton of fun stuff this month.  The new DC books continue to impress.  I wasn't particularly sure I would like this series (I'm not necessarily a huge medieval swords and sorcery type person) but the writing is terrific and the book, thus far, has been an insanely entertaining story, so as long as it keeps being really good, fun stories, I will keep reading.

FF - Overall, this was a pretty strong issue even though not that much happened.  It felt like a little bit of a break before the next series of big battles/adventures.  I've been enjoying this series overall, and as I've said previously, I'm a big fan of Jonathan Hickman.  This series has mixed big action and brainy ideas, which is pretty much Hickman's stock-in-trade.  It looks like they might be bringing back "Fantastic Four" in a few months, so I'm curious to see what role this series will play.  I'm not sure I can read both books if they end up being 2 separate books, but we'll see.

Frankenstein - Another ridiculously fun series, courtesy of Jeff Lemire (who is also writing Animal Man).  This one, although involving monsters as well, is more fun than Animal Man in that it's more absurd and over-the-top action, as opposed to just plain creepy and unsettling imagery.  I like the tone of the story, Frankenstein (shouldn't it be Frankenstein's monster?) is a great character as well.  I might just read the first arc on this one (as I feel like I've got a lot of supernatural monster/creature/horror comics on my plate) but it's definitely worth checking out.  It has a lot of great and absurd ideas.

Green Lantern - Here's the thing with Green Lantern.  It has been one of my favorite books the past 2 or 3 years, but I think I'm pretty much ready to drop it as a book.  I like Hal Jordan's character, and I really like all this Sinestro, but there are so many new and different books out there, and I feel like I've seen the Green Lantern (and other color stories) go as far as I need to see them go.  I am, to be honest, sort of bored with the character, and I'd rather read Geoff Johns' take on other characters, like Aquaman, or his overall take on the Justice League.

SHIELD - This was a weird issue.  There was almost no dialogue in the issue, which involved the celestial space baby causing a lot of damage to the eternal city underneath Rome.  Yes, you read that right.  I love this series overall, and it's big, heady concepts, but this issue sort of lost me and didn't feel like it advanced the plot all that much.  I hope the next one is better, since there's only 3 issues left in the series.  Overall though, I still love this series - I love the idea of a secret history of the world, strong stuff.   

Stormwatch -  Now this is what I was hoping what the series would be.  This second issue was a BIG improvement over the first one.  I'm not totally sure why it is such a big improvement, but it really feels like in this issue Paul Cornell finds his way here, and this is what I was hoping for from a Stormwatch series - big characters, big action, crazy villains, big excitement.  So, assuming this keeps up, this will be a strong buy for me.

Superboy - This was another interesting issue.  Scott Lobdell is definitely capable of strong stuff, so I don't totally understand why "Red Hood" was so weak of an issue.  I like what they're doing here with Superboy - you don't know how heroic he really is, and you're seeing thing through his eyes but you can't totally trust him yet.  It's interesting stuff, very science-y.  One gripe already about the new DC universe - how many different secret organizations are there?  There seem to be a lot.  I do have to cull down the number of titles I'm reading, and I could see myself dropping this one and maybe reading it later on in trade form.  It's a strong series, but not necessarily a must-read on a monthly basis.

Superior - I love Mark Millar.  Seriously, I just love the guy.  Nobody knows how to truly entertain a reader like he does.  He just \writes great, straightforward, entertaining stuff.  Superior is the story of a disabled boy who magically gets turned into a superhero, and it is completely awesome.  I love it.  Seriously, read this book.

Swamp Thing  - A very strong series overall.  I sort of see this story as a complement to Animal Man.  Animal Man is concerned with “The Red” (animal life) and Swamp Thing is concerned with “The Green” (Plant life).  Both have a supernatural horror feel to them and you have to remind yourself that they take place in a world with “regular” superheroes.  Scott Snyder delivers another very strong issue here.  I don’t totally know what’s going on, but I’m very interested, and he makes you care about these weird, plant creatures.  That’s good writing.  This is another one though where I might consider picking up the trade later on.  I’m not sure.  I will say the art is outstanding here, and there is some seriously creepy, unsettling imagery.  Also, a little heavy on the exposition, but it works reasonably well because Scott Snyder is a skillful writer.

Teen Titans - This was an enjoyable first issue.  In the new DC universe, I can't tell if the Teen Titans were ever previously a superhero team, or if this takes place in the past as opposed to in the present day.  I wish they would be more clear about that.  This was a fun, fast-paced, and very entertaining issue though, and I thought it worked pretty well.  It is also very much of a piece with Superboy - the stories kind of seem to go together as different sides of the same story.  Not totally committed to this, but if you're look for some straightforward superhero stories, this seems pretty promising.

Ultimate Comics Spider Man – I wasn’t particularly interested in this one to start, but on a recommendation from someone whose opinion I really trust, I picked it up and have really enjoyed it.  It’s actually a nice change from all of the supernatural DC stuff I’ve been reading, in that it takes place in the “Ultimate” Marvel universe, which, for a universe full of superheroes, much more closely resembles the “real” world.  Everything her feels very real; strong characters, strong dialogue (a Brian Michael Bendis hallmark), and believable motivations.  And I really like the fact that Marvel takes place in actual cities you've heard of, and people live in places like The Bronx, as opposed to made up cities.  Plus, it’s a fresh take on Spider-Man.  You gotta like that.  There’s only so many times the Peter Parker origin story can be told.

My final tally on the DC comics relaunch

Here's where I came out on those of the new 52 that I read.  Overall, like I said in my prior post, I thought there were some pretty strong comics.  Even the "maybes" had some good issues in them.


Strong Yes:


Action Comics
Animal Man
Aquaman
Batman
Batwoman
Swamp Thing
Wonder Woman


Conditional Yes:

Batgirl
Flash
Green Lantern
Justice League*
Supergirl**
Superboy**

* The first issue was not spectacular, but I have a good feeling that Johns and Lee are going to bring their "A game" to this title
** Realistically, probably only going to stick with one of these


Maybe (but I'll still read issue 2):

Batman and Robin ***
Captain Atom
Demon Knights
Detective Comics***
Frankenstein
Justice League Dark
Stormwatch****
Superman

*** A Fine issue, but I am only going to subscribe to 1 Batman comic
**** This the one I most wanted to love, and I'm really hoping it gets better

Probably not (but I might check in from time to time):

Deathstroke
Firestorm
Green Lantern Corps
Justice League International
Nightwing

Thanks But No Thanks (1 issue was plenty):

Catwoman*****
Men of War
OMAC
Red Hood and the Outlaws

***** I actually am sort of curious about this, but there's a lot of comics out there that I liked that I don't have huge problems with.

DC's new 52, Week 4

So, this is the final week of DC's new 52.  Overall, I've really enjoyed it, and I'm going to be mostly picking up DC books for a little while because there have been some strong offerings (but there's been some very strong Marvel work I'll discuss another day).  However, I think that there has been some valid criticism of the relaunch as a whole.  I know this was not a complete reboot, but I think maybe it should have been.  Maybe they should have completely just blown up continuity and started from scratch.  That might have been better.  Additionally, there are a lot of genres of comic books, and the fact is they're trying to tell those stories, but maybe not enough.  Every comic takes place in the shared DC universe, including the vampire ones and medieval ones and supernatural ones and war ones and western ones.  You have to wonder if the writers might have felt more freedom if they got to tell these sorts of stories in a completely independent universe.

Also, not to belabor this point too much, but if a something is labeled as a #1 issue, it should be easily accessible to new readers and not make you feel like you've been dropped into the middle of a convoluted story.  A person with no prior knowledge of that series should be able to pick it up ad figure out what's going on and enjoy the book.  I think the results were kinda mixed on that front.

Aquaman - Loved this!  This was my big surprise of the week.  Johns and Reis make Aquaman fresh and interesting like they did years ago for Green Lantern.  They take the fact that Aquaman has been seen as a joke head-on, and address it with wit and humor.  I was reading this because I like the creative team but I wasn't expecting that much, necessarily; but now, I'm on board.  This really is good stuff.  They're actually making Aquaman seem cool.
  

Justice League Dark - I really like the idea here; there are some threats to the world where super strength, super speed or super detective work aren't going to be enough, that being the magic/weird/supernatural corner of the DC universe.  I have to confess, I am almost completely unfamiliar with the characters here (Madame Xanadu, John Constantine, Shade the Changing Man, The Enchantress), so anything that happens here is new to me.  I know that a number of these are Vertigo characters that they're re-integrating into the proper DCU.  So, this first issue was interesting; the Enchantress has apparently gone crazy and the regular JL are not equipped to deal with it.  So, enter the weird magical type characters.  I'm not totally sure what's going on here, but I am interested.  I'm not totally sold that this is the book for me, but the writing is good here, these characters seem weird and interesting, and it's worth sticking around for at least a little while.

Superman - After the exciting, fresh take on Superman contained in Action Comics #1, I was intrigued to see how this translated into what will be the current-day adventures, and Superman's new status quo.  This was certainly an action and information-packed issue but ultimately I was a little disappointed.  I appreciate how much information was conveyed here and I think it was not an enviable task, but there was some stuff here that didn't quite work.  I felt like I got more out of this issue regarding the status quo of the Daily Planet and the adjustment to a new media world, than I did regarding what's really going on inside Superman's head.  What's funny was that even this was a new comic showing Superman's new status quo, this comic felt kind of old fashioned and sort of dated to me.  So, here's what I did like from the comic - I like that they're reckoning with the fact that a newspaper wouldn't be the most new, vibrant place to be, so apparently the Planet has been bought by a News Corp type place.  This could make for some interesting stuff, potentially. I also like that they're messing with what you think you know about Superman, by upsetting some of the expectations.  On the he other hand, I sort of liked the old fashioned part, where it was Superman protecting Metropolis from monsters that only he can fight, and balancing his life as Clark Kent.  Not sure what to think about the fact that George Perez is off this series after issue 6.  I wasn't totally sold on this, but there's enough here that I'll monitor it and see where it goes, particularly if it ties into Stormwatch in an interesting way.

Firestorm - Not sure about this one.  This is one that really feels like a genuine reboot.  I was not overly familiar with the Firestorm character, but I know there have been many iterations over the years.  I get from \what I read that this is a real change to the origins of the character.  I didn't love this though.  I thought that the dialogue (and issues they tried to address with the dialogue) were kind of heavy-handed, and I didn't think the art or story were so great that I feel compelled to keep tuning in.  I was sort of surprised given that I have liked a lot of Gail Simone's other work.  Frankly, there's been a lot of stuff I enjoyed a lot more than this, so I'll probably skip it unless I hear it gets really awesome in later months.

The Flash - Now this was a pretty strong first issue.  For someone who doesn't know that much about any of the Flashes (Wally West or Barry Allen) this was still a pretty good introduction.  He's really fast, he's apparently not married to Iris West, he works as a CSI type person in the police department, and he's working on a case that appears to hit close to home.  It was a very accessible first issue, and frankly, the art is just stunning.  I'm not overly familiar with Francis Manipaul's work, but there's some genuinely beautiful and clever artwork, art that legitimately tells a story (which the art doesn't always do).  I'm intrigued by the "villain", and this is another one where (like Aquaman) I was just trying it out, but I'd like to see where it goes.

Justice League International - A fun story.  If you liked previous incarnations of he JLI then you'll like this.  This is a super team that will be a little more light-hearted than the "big" Justice League, and has a slightly more goofy quality.  This was definitely an entertaining issue, but not really something I need to read month to month.  If I hear the story is good I'll pick up the trade at the library.