I’m not sure how this happened, but it is an all DC week for me this time out. I can’t remember the last time I had an all one company week since…well…ever, I guess. Let’s take a look at how ol’ Lady DC treated me shall we?
52 Week 1
Published by: DC
Writer: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid
Art Breakdows: Keith Giffen
Penciller: Joe Bennett
Inker: Ruy Jose
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
DC’s lost year begins here and…it’s a mixed bag. At this point though, I have a hard time saying whether it is me or them. I suspect it is a bit of both. I have to get used to the rhythm of the book, in which conversations are cut into and out of abruptly and nothing (save Booster Gold’s revelation about time travel) gets to really build into a big payoff. I suspect that the writers have to get used to it as well though. Just because we are only tackling a week at a time with multiple characters does not mean that characters cannot be developed. As such right now, characters are more archetypes than anything else. Steel is a by the book hero who believes in earning your keep, Montoya is an alcoholic in a tailspin who cannot pull out of it, Ralph is a man in mourning who’s pretty sure he can’t go, and the Question is a cipher. Only Booster gets a personality in his slow build revelation that this hero-ing thing may not be as easy as remembering his history (or rather, being told it by a floating future robot).
There are also small glitches in the story’s progression that seem to point toward a need to grow used to the format. For example, did Montoya really drink three days in a row, in the same bar in the same outfit? I mean, yes, I know she’s a woman on the edge who’s drinking because she’s angry (or perhaps she’s angry because she’s drinking. Or maybe, like Fat Bastard, she’s angry because she drinks and she drinks because she’s angry. Oh, and is it cool to quote Austin Powers again or is that still comedy poison? Just wondering), but three days straight, sans a change of clothes or a shower? I just don’t know about that. This, of course, does not detract from the story (unless you are a nitpicker) but it does point towards a kind of evolutionary process when it comes to dealing with how 52 will flow.
Overall, there is some potential here. I’m giving the whole thing the benefit of the doubt when I grade it because I think both I and the creative team will quickly embrace the feel of this “real time” tale. Thus, I award it a low…
Grade: B
Battle for Bludhaven #3
Published by: DC
Writer: Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti
Artists: Dan Jurgens & Jimmy Palmiotti
Colorist: Javi Montes
Take a look at the front page of this comic. See all those characters? There’s like 21 of them. 21 “leads” in a miniseries! If you think that might be overkill, you might be right. Nay, you most certainly would be right.
But overkill can be okay sometimes. Pointless overkill though? Never good or right. And that’s exactly what Battle is. Pointless. Loud, slapdash, bitter, and pointless. I defy you to care about one character, just one!, in this whole mess. Not to care about them because, “hey, I like Robin in Titans and his own book,” or “man, they cancelled Monolith way too soon,” but because of what they actually do in the book. It can’t be done.
This book has been so disappointing, it has persuaded me not to buy Freedom Fighters. That’s right, it is a book so bad, it has made me not buy another book.
It may only be a miniseries, but I’m to the end of my pre-ordering. Thus, I’m done. Get me off this sad, useless ride.
Grade: F
Superman #652
“Speeding Bullet”
Published by: DC
Writers: Kurt Busiek & Geoff Johns
Artist: Pete Woods
Colorists: Brad Anderson
HOLY S#!+!!!!! Clark got his powers back?! I thought, for sure, he’d be powerless forever! I can’t even believe this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alright, sarcasm mode off. Obviously, Clark’s return to the cape is no surprise, even without last issue’s cliffhanger. Just like when he died, we all knew Superman would be back in Metropolis’s sky some day. That doesn’t mean it still can’t be a good story. And you know what? This issue is a good story.
Superman owes some gratitude for that to his supporting cast, specifically Jimmy and Lois. Their reactions to Big Blue’s return are great reflections of their personality and a window into what Superman means on a personal and citywide level. Jimmy’s transition from shock to smile in a Daily Planet under siege is a pinnacle of this, telling you all you need to know about the importance of Superman in two panels.
My only complaint is how quick the still re-powering Kal-El bests the super powered posse that has come for his head. It feeds the problem that always comes into writing Superman. If he’s so good, how do you ever really threaten him? By taking down some of his noteworthy villains before he’s “kicked into letting it all back” it shows off Supes’ clever side, sure, but it also underlines how little of an issue they are to him. It’s a minor issue in the context of this story, perhaps, but as it points to something that has often kept me off from Superman, it is something I noticed.
Pete Woods, who I am somehow failed to mention in my reviews of previous issues, is very very good. I liked his stuff on Robin a few years back and I think he’s only gotten better since then. He’s a quiet artist that I hope gets a lot more attention in the years to come.
Grade: B
Ex Machina #20
“March to War” Conclusion
Published by: Wildstorm
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Penciller: Tony Harris
Inker: Tom Feister
Colorist: JD Mettler
Wow…that sort of speaks volumes, doesn’t it. Mayor Hundred spends three issues convinced that this terrorist attack is all about him, about his past. As it turns out, it’s not. It was a terrorist attack. It was random and brutal and about spreading fear. But it was not all about him. This was not some grand battle between Hundred and a terrorist. There was no one, really, to defeat. There was a criminal, to be certain, but when the goal is just to spread fear, that’s not something you can combat in the old fashioned ways.
You don’t think Vaughan is dealing in analogy here, do you?
Even if analogies aren’t your thing, this is a good issue. Read it twice though. It is much stronger the second time through.
Grade: A
