Wednesday Comics #9 (of 12)

Since Monday was a holiday, new comics won't arrive until tomorrow, so you get an extra review today, and then tomorrow we'll have our usual review of a classic comic and a rundown of the comics I picked up at the comics shop.

Since we have no comics for Wednesday, it only seems right to review last week's Wednesday Comics.

This still falls into the "noble experiment that doesn't quite work" category, and the blame seems to rest almost entirely on the writing. Granted, there's a real trick to writing for the Sunday Funnies format, and some writers here have mastered it - Gibbons on Kamandi, Pope on Strange Adventures, Palmiotti on Supergirl and Baker on Hawkman.

Some writers have had flashes of excellence, but have stumbled a bit here and there - Arcudi on Superman, Bullock on Deadman, Busiek on Green Lantern, Kubert on Sgt. Rock, Kerschl on The Flash / Iris West and Simonson on The Demon and Cat Woman.

Some almost defy description, so we'll have to defer judgment until the run is finished - Gaiman is doing wild, unexpected things on Metamorpho, for example.

Others just aren't working for me at all (as always, your mileage may vary) - Azzarello on Batman, Berganza on Teen Titans, Didio on Metal Men and Caldwell on Wonder Woman.

The artists, on the other hand, have turned in some amazing work, and most are using the larger format to good effect. This large format allows for lots of different styles, from the classic style of Sook and Garcia-Lopez to the more stylized work of Baker and Pope.

It's a shame the editors didn't focus more on a variety of stories, like you'd see in the classic Sunday sections - humor, soaps, horror, puzzles, stuff like that - but hopefully this will be enough of a success to encourage further experimentation with a future edition of Wednesday Comics.

And I'd urge the creative teams to study the classic strips to learn the tricks for creating a story that keep the reader hooked and anxiously awaiting the next episode, one page at a time, once a week.

Despite my jabs here, I'm enjoying the format, and would love to see it become (at least) an annual tradition.

Grade: B+