THIS WEEK IN PANELS: Feb. 22, 2012

THIS WEEK IN PANELS showcases our favorite comic book panels each week. No criteria, no rhyme, no reason. Excelsior! (Click pictures to embiggen)

The theme this week seems to be superhero team dynamics. And, go:

Secret Avengers #23 by Rick Remender & Gabriel Hardman; Marvel 2012

Secret Avengers has Hawkeye on the verge of a breakdown, unable to manage his new team and clearly opposed to Captain America's newly appointed recruit. Remender does a great job of establishing a new villain in The Father who threatens the creation of a new species homo synthezoidus -- superior even to the homo superior mutant -- and for making Ant-Man a total bad-ass, even if he had to kill him to do so.

Justice League Dark #6 by Peter Milligan & Mikel Janin; DC 2012

Madame Xanadu can't seem to bring together Vertigo/DCU Dark's reluctant adversaries in Justice League Dark, especially as Constantine and Deadman share an unpleasant history. Look at that glare!

Venom #13.3 by Rick Remender, Julian Tedesco, et al; Marvel 2012

Finally! The Circle of Four align in Venom through a pact with Marvel's devil himself, Mephisto. How's that for leadership?

Uncanny X-Force #22 by Rick Remender & Greg Tocchini; Marvel 2012

Uncanny X-Force continues the "Otherworld" storyline as Psylocke begins to question the sacrifice she made to save the life of Fantomex and Wolverine reluctantly agrees to threaten the team's mission to save the peasants of the Otherworld. Tocchini's Frank Miller-ish ink-heavy art continues to astound despite internet fan-boy naysaying. One of my favorite aspects of Remender's writing is the is how willing he is to point out the sometimes inherent absurdity of comics, as seen above.

Mondo #1 by Ted McKeever; Image 2012

Image Shadowline debuts Ted McKeever's (Eddy Current, Doom Patrol, Metropol) story about a gutless factory worker name Catfish Mandu (awesome, right?) who transforms into mutant-chicken anti-hero Mondo through a freak chicken plant explosion (right...) and digesting an irradiated chicken egg (huh?) It's absolute dadaist insanity in the vein of MTV's Liquid Television and Sam Keith's The Maxx. And it would be my favorite of the week if not for...

Wolverine & the X-Men #6 by Jason Aaron & Nick Bradshaw; Marvel 2012

Jason Aaron continues to kill it in this week's Wolverine & the X-Men, which is part Aliens as Kitty Pryde is stalked by the alien Brood and part intergalactic Casino Royale as Wolverine and Kid Omega gamble for the monetary fate of the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning. There was simply too many excellent panels featuring Nick Bradshaw's highly detailed cartoon-ish style and just as much laugh-out-loud dialogue. I'm calling it -- this issue is one for the books. A modern classic.

That wraps it up for this week's THIS WEEK IN PANELS. You may find the feature under a new heading next time as I'm juggling ideas for a new name. It just sounds too generic. Hit us up on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ (via the contact page) with any suggestions.

Tunage: Gorillaz (feat. André 3000 & James Murphy), "DoYaThing" | Battles, Dross Glop 1 & 2 | Sleigh Bells, Reign of Terror