2006 2GBC Awards: Best Individual Issue

I hate putting things off to the last minute, because half the time they never get done (I'm not pointing any fingers, though I am looking in the general direction of my fellow Ye Olde contributors who still haven't named their "Best of 2005" Award winners). With that in mind I see no need to put off the inevitable, so let's just get it over with and crown Fallen Angel #5 the best individual issue of 2006.

Granted, there are still seven months worth of comic goodness to come, but this I can't imagine what it will take to put another single issue in the same zip codes as this one (please feel free to see that as a open challenge to Fables #50, Mr. Willingham). I can't think of a better single issue that I've read in the last five years.

This issue was originally supposed to be the end of a five part miniseries that would wrap up the story Peter David began at DC. While the series is no longer mini and will continue, this still reads as a finale with resolutions and comeuppances all around. Issue #6 also promises to serve as a perfect jumping on point for anyone foolish enough not to be already be reading this title.

The highlight of the book is David's brilliant theological explanation of why God lets bad things happen to good people and why we are here. It's facinating and while it draws upon or has similarities to some other religious or anti-religious themes and ideas (such as Garth Ennis's disinterested God from Preacher or the concepts of Deism), it presents a completely different viewpoint than I'd ever come across.

While singing the book's praises, I should also mention the vastly improved art, which got away from the overly rigid, posed style that's been the one downside of this book since it moved to IDW.

Comic Book Goodness: 9 out of 5