OMAC #3
DC Comics
Writer: Bruce Jones
Artist: Renato Guedes
This new series is beginning to get interesting. The last OMAC is hosted by a young urbanite pothead who really doesn’t want the job. Brother Eye is slowly self-repairing; its threat isn’t over. And readers got treated to their second set of strippers in three issues. It might not be adult reading, but it’s fun stuff. I think Jones really needs his own characters to do good work, and since this title is being built from the ground up, he’s beginning to shine. The art, sort of a blend of noir palette and realistic penciling, still feels muddy and unmotivated during action sequences, but the interpersonal ones feel right. Consider this a promising work in progress.
Score: B
52 Week Eighteen
DC Comics
Writers: Waid, Johns, Rucka, Morrison
Artists: Giffen and Barrows
What just happened? Was this title just ambushed and kidnapped by Shadowpact? There’s a bit of a Khandaq interlude, and Booster gets buried in Cincinnati, but the entire rest of the book deals with Doctor Fate’s helmet and the mystery surrounding it. While it’s something new for Ralph to do, and further proof that this title has begun its second act, the complete hijacking of the overall issue by a new plotline seems unwise. Not that this book didn’t just ignore like three plots to start this new one. Ugh. The art still rocks, even though I can’t read Detective Chimp’s T-shirt.
Score: C
Nightwing #124
DC Comics
Writer: Bruce Jones
Artist: Robert Teranishi
This issue is housecleaning. The disappearance of the writer’s rogues and supporting cast? Check. The appearance of a guest star to help settle things/talk them over with the series protagonist? Check. A heroic visual and open-ended quotation to finish the issue? Right-O. This is the first issue in Jones’ Nightwing run that felt average (including the very middling art) and fortunately for the readers, that’s ending on a high note. Send in the new team, please.
Score: C
Outsiders #40
DC Comics
Writer: Judd Winick
Artists: Clark and Randall
This is Nightwing written correctly. He’s tough, smart, good with people, and heroic instead of constantly downtrodden. The other Outsiders get moments to shine too, especially Metamorpho and Thunder, but this issue is really all about the villains. We learn how and why Mallah and the Brain (wasn’t that a WB cartoon?) have been knock-off cloning super humans. We learn who else is involved. And the escape of the Outsiders is the icing on the cake. This issue is a rollicking good time.
Score: A
The Creeper #2
DC Comics
Writer: Steve Niles
Artist: Justiano
So they’ve rebooted The Creeper. Again. Happily, they’ve kept a couple of cool things from the 90’s run, including the back and forth dialogue between Ryder and his truly altered ego as well as the toxic effects of the Creeper’s loony laugh. The series hangers on (mob bosses, television people, mad scientists) seem a bit two-dimensional, but they serve their purpose. The non-crossover with Batman was the best since Hitman ran into him after too much curry. So this tale has humor, potential, and the good grace not to be a total pathetic rewrite of everything. And the surreal art suits it. I don’t know if this book could lead to an ongoing thing for the Yellow Menace, but at least he’s being handled well.
Score: B
