New comics 12/7

Jonah Hex #2 (Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray/Luke Ross, DC)
I like that DC is expanding their horizons to include non-superhero books that aren't tied to their intricate continuity, but after two issues I've concluded that this book is just boring. It tells simple, done-in-one stories in a straightforward manner, and if you're a particular fan of the Hex character or Western comics in general, you might enjoy it. But for me, it's just too generic and unexciting to keep reading, even if the art is nice. I commend the effort and would be happy to see it succeed, but I won't be buying more issues.

New Warriors #6 (Zeb Wells/Skottie Young, Marvel)
The mini-series concludes with another fun and entertaining story that makes me sad to see it all come to a close. There's some meta business that hints that there might be another series if the trade sells well, and Wells is even optimistic enough to use the last page for a sort of cliffhanger to set up potential future storylines. I'd be more than pleased to see this book come back, in any form, but I'm not holding my breath.

Powers #15 (Brian Michael Bendis/Michael Avon Oeming, Marvel/Icon)
I still have no idea what the weird rants in the comedy club have to do with anything, and they're starting to get annoying. The main story, however, gets even more and more interesting, and it looks like Bendis is setting up both of his main characters to get powers. Which could be a bad thing - the whole idea of the series was always the human cops investigating the superhuman crimes - but also could open doors for a lot of different sorts of stories. This book has been going long enough that a change in status quo is good for it, and Bendis has always been unafraid of making those sorts of changes. All his flashy Marvel projects get all the attention, but with Bendis leaving The Pulse, this is the only book of his I'll be reading, and the one that's consistently telling daring stories and pushing the envelope.

Y the Last Man #40 (Brian K. Vaughan/Goran Sudzuka, DC/Vertigo)
Ostensibly a stand-alone issue, but it really flows from last issue as well as from previous storylines, and makes me want to go back and re-read earlier issues to make sure I have a handle on the prior events that influence this issue. Even with Yorick absent for most of the issue, Vaughan tells another twisty and exciting story, illuminating a new aspect of the female-dominated society and moving his vast tableau of characters another step forward. As always, it's got the feel that anything could happen next, and I have no doubt that it will.

Also out this week: The Surrogates #3, a mini-series midpoint that needs no further discussion. And Spider-Man/Black Cat #4, which I plan to read as soon as I re-read the first three issues, which came out like three years ago. The griping online about Kevin Smith's lateness is understandable but taken far too seriously. Do I wish the book had been out three years ago? Of course. But I'm not going to deprive myself of reading the second half of the story out of spite. Once all six issues are out, it'll be collected in one trade and available that way forever, and no one will remember the lateness. They'll read the story in one chunk, and they'll like it or not based solely on its narrative merits, which is as it should be.