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DC Universe Reviews:
Wednesday Comics #1 - ***1/2First off, let's talk about the format. This is on a modified Newsprint that feels sturdier than your average newspaper, but is very different from regular comics. The pages are big, impressive, and clear, but the lack of any binding can make reading it a bit annoying. Now, on to the actual comics within! They're a very mixed bag. Some are great starts to serial features, others feel short and unsatisfying. The Batman feature by Azzarello/Risso looks good, but it's just a generic page of Batman and Gordon talking about a kidnapping with no ransom demands, followed by the kidnapped man being killed. The Kamandi segment by Gibbons/Sook, though, is fantastic. My favorite page in the comic, very much in the vein of Prince Valiant, with an epic, sweeping feel. The Superman page, by Arcudi/Bermejo, looks nice, but has a very thin plot of Superman fighting a random alien, and is the only page in the comic that FEELS like one page. One of the weakest feature in the comic. Deadman, by Dave Bullock and Vinton Heuck, is mostly an origin recap before sending Deadman into a rematch with his old enemy The Hook. It's a fun, creepy page with good art. Green Lantern, by Busiek/Quinones, has great art, but a weak start of mostly Carol Ferris and friends whining about Hal while he's caught in a battle in the skies. It's worth mentioning that this seems to be set in the New Frontier era. The Gaiman/Allred Metamorpho page is excellent, with clever scripting and great, crisp art by two of comics' most original talents. Unfortunately, it's opposite from an incoherent Teen Titans page by Berganza and Galloway. Galloway's designs may have been good, but his actual art is very weird, unclear, and grotesque at points. The plot has the TT fighting Trident, who rants a lot and then stabs Miss Martian. I think. Adam Strange, by Paul Pope, is another highlight, as Pope brings his unique look and quirky writing to a story of an alien invasion that happens way too early in the morning for Adam. Supergirl, by Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, feels like the kids' feature of the lot, as Supergirl tries to pet-sit a rambunctious Krypto and Streaky. A fun strip with great art. The Metal Men page by Didio and Garcia-Lopez is surprisingly good, with Didio having a good handle on Doc Magnus and the Metal Men as they try to foil a bank robbery, with fun, kinetic art. Wonder Woman, by Ben Caldwell, has the most panels of any of the strips, but is a bit of a mess. The story of a teenage Wonder Woman dreaming about man's world and encountering an odd trio of insane Oracles has promise, but it needs to focus and become a bit clearer to work. The nine-panel Sgt. Rock comic written by Andy Kubert with art by Joe Kubert is a master at work, at least art-wise. Wish he had done the whole thing, though. Karl Kershl handles the Flash page, which is split between Barry and Iris, as Barry battles Grodd while trying to get home to an irate Iris. A good start to this feature. The Catwoman/Demon feature, by Simonson/Stelfreeze, has a great start, with Catwoman going on a date with Jason Blood while scheming to rob one of his artifacts. And the issue ends with a beautiful Kyle Baker Hawkman page, told literally from a birds-eye view. There's some stunning art here, but only about half the features really excited me to see what comes next week. The talent gap is kind of amazing, and makes the whole thing look kind of irregular. There's no way Gaiman/Allred should be sharing a comic with Berganza/Galloway. But it's an intriguing start, and I look forward to seeing how it develops.
Green Lantern #43 - ***** (Book of the Week)Arguably one of the best single issues Geoff Johns has ever done. This is a fantastic prequel to Blackest Night, and the darkest thing Johns has ever written by a fair margin. In one issue, he establishes the big bad of Blackest Night and turns Black Hand from a d-list GL villain to one of the biggest threats facing the DCU, as well as making him really, really fucking creepy. We follow Black Hand from the beginning of his life, as a small child with an unnatural obsession with death (finding corpses pretty, picking out a site for his future grave, taxidermizing the family dog), to the visit from Atrocitus that changed his life. The meat of the story comes after he got his hand back, early in the series, and he became able to commune with the dead. There's two brilliant two-page spreads, one of all the dead he's going to raise, and another of those who escaped death - and the mysterious force powering him wants him to send them back. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Doug Mahnke's brilliant art perfectly suits the new darker tone for the title. He's a step up from Reis, if that was possible. The comic ends with Black Hand returning to his family home and massacring his parents and brother. Then urged on by the voice in his head, he claims one more victim - himself, blowing his own brains out with the cosmic divining rod. His death brings Scar to his side, and she resurrects him as the embodiment of the Black Lanterns. And just like that, the first Black Lantern is here. Next week - the war begins!
Superman: World of New Krypton #5 - ****1/2Any other week, this would have been an easy pick of the week. I continue to be amazed by just how strong this book is. It's not Johns/Frank, but Robinson/Rucka/Woods are doing a fantastic job of showing just what makes Superman unique when he's in a world of Kryptonians. As we saw at the end of last issue, Superman and Lieutenant Nar were arrested and placed on trial for treason due to their refusal to carry out Zod's orders to execute a prisoner before the GLs could get their hands on him. Woods' art really reaches a new level in the trial scenes, which are mostly done in black and are the moodiest thing he's ever done. Superman gets some great scenes here, as he gets Nar off potentially at the cost of his own life. Tyr-Van, Superman's friend from the labor guild, gives Superman a device that will help him escape to Earth, but it soon turns out that this is a plot by Ursa, for whom Tyr-Van is a spy, to get rid of Kal-El. But when he refuses to escape, the case goes back to trial and Kal-El is convicted. Before sentence is passed down, Zod of all people interferes, and convinces the Religious guild to exercise their power to commute a sentence once a year. It seems Zod has begun to see the advantage of having Superman in his ranks. But as Krypton celebrates one of their holidays, and the dome over the city is removed, an assassin steps forward - and fires a laser directly into Zod's chest, killing him! And just like that, life on New Krypton got a LOT more interesting.
Batman #688 - ****1/2It's too bad Winick is leaving so soon, because his Batman is really, really strong so far. It's got a pretty clear mission statement, too - while Morrison deals with original villains and his big mystery, Winick is going to tell the stories of Dick Grayson dealing with the Gotham we know, that's he's now inherited - the classic rogues, the GCPD, the crime scene. And he does a great job with it. There's some very good interaction with Gordon, and I like that Dick isn't keeping up Bruce's "urban legend" approach - he's allowing himself to be filmed and cooperating with the GCPD. It's a great way to differentiate him from Bruce. The opening scene, which has Dick at the mercy of a mystery villain, is really strong, and I loved the use of both Penguin and Two-Face. Winick immediately seizes on the fact that Two-Face will recognize Dick due to their old enmity, and it could very well be that Harvey's going to be for Dick what Joker was for Bruce. Bagley's art is fantastic here. This is vintage USM-level Bags, maybe better in a few scenes. A world of difference from rushed Trinity Bags. Even the scene with Dick training Damien is entertaining. A very good issue, which really shows that Winick is at home in the new Bat-verse. What was DC thinking?
Red Robin #2 - **1/2Better than the first issue, which isn't saying much, but this is still pretty clearly the black sheep of the Bat-franchise right now. Tim's relentlessly paranoid, abrasive internal monologue goes a long way towards making him incredibly unlikable, for one thing. There's less blatantly out-of-character actions this time, and the action scenes are pretty good, although it still looks like Tim gains 40 pounds of muscle every time he puts the costume on. Yost does a decent job this issue of reminding us that Tim used to have a supporting cast, as we see his old friends in school and from the trail trying to find him. But the bulk of this issue is devoted to Tim fighting off the League of Assassins, who Ra's has put on his tail. Things get a bit more interesting when he finally gets in contact with Ra's and figures out that he and Ra's share the same goal - finding Bruce Wayne. His plotting is interrupted by a visit from Spoiler and her new invisibility gear. He's not happy to see her, and essentially tells her not to come looking for him again. At which point he gets in contact with Ra's and they begin plotting together. And seriously, could the boy spend any more time sitting around shirtless and brooding? This series has promise, but it needs a lot of work.
Booster Gold #22 - ***First up, despite the confusion, this issue is written by Jurgens, not Giffen. Last issue's attack by Black Beetle and subsequent murder of Dick Grayson in the past sets up the latest time-travel adventure. It turns out that in this reality, Dick was murdered by the original Ravager along with the rest of the Titans. Hence, why Booster and Skeets are sent back to be Titans Tower's new security staff. Meanwhile, Black Beetle reports back to his mysterious master, Rip Hunter is attacked in his lab, and we get some interesting glimpses of how the world has changed in the absence of Dick Grayson. Overall, it's an entertaining enough issue, but too much time is spent on Ravager and his ramblings and not enough on Booster's story. I don't like when he starts to feel like a guest-star in his own comic. The original TT get a few good moments, though, and Skeets is hilarious as always.
Blue Beetle co-feature - ****Great stuff. Sturges has very quickly adapted to the new format and is cranking out great Blue Beetle stories again. The story of the rival robots continues to heat up, as the mad scientist's daughter enters the picture with a dark secret of her own. But the real gold comes in the character interactions. It's interesting seeing how Jaime's scarab is starting to slip out of his control a bit. Seeing Jaime's family again is always a nice bonus, and Milagro has great choice in action figures. Paco and Brenda continue to have some really interesting stuff going on too. It's great to have monthly Blue Beetle again.
Green Arrow and Black Canary #22 - *I'm just reviewing this as one issue, even though it has a co-feature, because the writer is the same and it's just two sides of the same story. Bill Sienkiewicz finishes the art on the second segment, and it's not anywhere near his best. Anyway, Black Canary angsts a lot about her powers, complete with angsting flashbacks aplenty. Discord, despite pleas from his brother to use the technology he created to cure deafness, chooses to throw him off a rooftop for no reason instead. He's the worst kind of villain - irrationally stupid. Nothing about him makes me think he'd go this evil immediately, especially based on his past personality as seen in the flashbacks. But then, Kreisberg has a weird take on evil, as is seen in the way he seems to think the insane, murderous Cupid is a fun supporting character. I mean, seriously! In the backup, GA pals around with her as they find a dying woman and the boyfriend who killed her in a fit of rage during the deafness. Ollie's tolerance of her is probably the most OOC thing I've seen in a DC comic for a long time. This needs to be cancelled before it wrecks the character.
REBELS #6 - ***1/2This is slowly turning into a pretty entertaining series. The dialogue is still a bit too dense for new readers to get into, but Vril Dox has assembled a pretty entertaining motley crew of mercenaries, especially with this issue's addition of Khund Amon Hakk. Once his motivation is revealed, he goes from being a rather boring villain to an interesting anti-hero. I also really like Ciji the creepy Durlan girl. The Star Conquerer is weaving a path of destruction across the galaxy. I've got to say he makes a pretty imposing villain, but he sort of lacks the campy flair that Starro always had. He's threatening, but not as interesting. I really did like the segment this issue that showed us glimpses of all the cultures in the galaxy that Starro's invading. Some we knew, some we didn't. Dox playing high-stakes Chicken with Starro was definitely interesting, and the way he outfoxed him was classic Dox douchiness. This still isn't anywhere near one of DC's best, because the writing and art aren't anything that special, but the plotting is getting better by the issue. Slowly, it's becoming a bit of a sleeper.
Bonus Reviews:
Warlord #4 - ****1/2This fantasy series continues to be one of DC's best sleeper books. Grell came up with a great hook for the new series - bringing in a new group of travelers much like Travis Morgan, only have one of them become a dark king. It's good to have Prado back for much of the book, and every character gets a spotlight here. I especially like the character of Ewan McBane, the documentarian who the evil Ned Hawkins kept alive to film his rise to power. He starts out interacting with Morgan and Machiste, but finds some heroic spine before the issue is over. He also fills in the blanks of exactly what happened to bring us to this point once the crew crossed over into Skartaris. The prison break segment is great, and I was glad to see the whole crew reunited for one big action scene. Travis gets some great lines this issue, especially once he finds out just how much time has passed in the real world. The ending has a lot of potential, as Travis and McBane go to the only place where they can find weapons to equal Hawkins' - back to our world. Blending the two worlds has been exactly the energy this series has needed to give itself a great revamp.
Originally Posted by Johnny C. TheLastHorseman
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