Tim Stevens' Reviews

Reviews

Opinions on the Work of People Far More Talented Than I

Three months off is probably more than enough, right? Yeah, I think so too. Let’s get to it then.


52 Week 30

“Dark Knight Down”
Published by: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid
Art Breakdows: Keith Giffen
Penciller: Joe Bennett
Inkers: Joe Bennett and Ruy Jose
Colorist: David Baron

It is no great secret here at the Nexus that I am a big Batman and Bat family fan (though I loathe the name “Bat family”). Thus, it stands to reason that I’d be looking forward, just a bit, to the arrival of this week’s Bat-centric “52”. And now that’s it here? Boy, talk about a victim of raised expectations.


Talk about a victim of raised expectations.


I was looking forward to a snapshot of Batman, Robin and Nightwing traveling the world and getting back to their roots. And, what the heck, if it could explain the whole Nightwing/Jason Todd and/or the Nightwing/Oracle thing, that’d be great too. Instead, except for Bruce facing off against the Ten Eyed Surgeons of the Empty Quarter (how great a name for a band is that, by the by?), I found none of these things. Nightwing meets Batwoman for the first time, makes a crack about liking redheads, The Question coughs some, Renee and Batwoman snipe at each other, and Robin rides an ATV. That’s the issue in a nutshell.

It left me largely unmoved, but I can’t decide if I was placing unreasonable demands on it or it just was not all that great. In any case, beyond Bruce’s desert faceoff, the rest of the issue left me quite cold.

Grade: C

Ion #8

“Princess of Alytt”
Published by: DC Comics
Writer: Ron Marz
Pencillers: Paco Diaz, Yvel Guichet
Inkers: Paco Diaz, Joe Rubinstein
Colorist: Tanya & Richard Horie

Am I the only who is so done with this Monitor meta-plot that really has not even begun yet? Because honestly, short of these Monitors making the decision to erase Kyle from all existence, there’s not much of a direction that they can take it that would have a.) repercussions and b.) would change my interest level in the least.


There was nothing groundbreaking about it [Ion #8]; it was just a good solid superhero story with Kyle Rayner.


Besides that nonstarter of a plotline, I largely liked this issue. It felt like an issue of Green Lantern when Marz was writing it and that’s the first time in this series that I’ve had that feeling. And trust me, coming from me, that is a compliment. There was nothing groundbreaking about it; it was just a good solid superhero story with Kyle Rayner.

I’m not sure what Paco Diaz has done before this, but he was DC’s official fill-in penciller this week, pinch hitting here and in Titans. Unfortunately, I do not love his stuff. It is not insultingly bad or anything like that, it’s just not particularly great either. When I picture in my mind fill-in art, it is a very close approximation of Diaz’s output on those two books. I wonder if it is a matter of time (in other words, he can turn a book around quick, but the work will suffer) or that is what you should expect to see when Diaz is penciling a book.

Grade: B

Teen Titans 41

“Titans Around the World Part IV”
Published by: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencillers: Paco Diaz & Ryan Benjamin
Inkers: Jonathan Glapion, Michael Lopez, Edwin Rosell, Saleem Crawford, Vincente Cifuentes
Colorist: Tanya & Richard Horie

Check out my full length review on the main page.

Grade: B-

American Virgin #9

“Going Down” Part 5 of 5
Published by: Vertigo/DC Comics
Writer: Steven T. Seagle
Penciller: Becky Cloonan
Inker: Ryan Kelly
Colorist: Brian Miller

It is official. This book drives me insane. I cannot figure out if it is coming or going and it seems like the book cannot really either.

I appreciate the characterization of Adam, the titular American Virgin. As he’s battered by moment after moment that would make anyone question their faith, he reacts the way many would, tunnel vision. In the crazy world he had found himself dropped into, he seems to cling even harder to his faith, to believe it with even more fervor. Surely it is only a matter of time before the cracks grow, but for now I’m enjoying Adam kick and scream against the horrors he is experiencing by crawling even deeper into a faith that may no longer be the right fit for him.

On the other hand, the moments that test his faith are jackhammer subtle. My biggest problem with this title remains that Seagle does not seem to trust us to get what Adam is going through so he makes things as over-the-top as possible. The casket humping a few months back, the leather submissive outfit last issue, Adam crying out on the pool deck before being struck by a water polo ball. What should be soul shattering moments are blown so wide they become slapstick. Seagle needs to trust his audience and his story a lot more.


Seagle does not seem to trust us to get what Adam is going through so he makes things as over-the-top as possible”¦What should be soul shattering moments are blown so wide they become slapstick.


I am thankful that the hunt for Adam’s fiancée/one and only is finally over. At first, I liked it. It was a nice swerve. But, nine issues into the book, I officially no longer cared if he caught up to the executioner. I am far more interested in Adam finding himself (and possibly his God) as he comes to terms with the difference between what he “promised” and the reality he finds himself living. The “action” has more or less fallen flat and every time and grinds the books to a halt while doing so. I’m not saying it needs to a single room character study type piece, of course. Some action is never bad. But by almost converting Adam into an action hero”¦well, it is like the last 45 minutes of Outbreak. Up until that point, it is a great movie about a frightening contagion. Then, you have Dustin Hoffman jumping out of helicopters and generally acting like he woke up one morning thinking he was Sylvester Stallone. Your brain cannot process what clearly is a huge leap from reality and thus it checks out. Same here. Every time Adam runs off like Charles Bronson, he stops being a character and becomes a walking piece of unreality.

Again, I think it comes down to trust. Seagle has the components of a hell of a story here. There is room for satire, for reaffirmed faith, for heartbreak, and yes, even some bloodshed. Yet he cannot help but try to hang more and more shining objects off its frame, to dazzle and distract us. My best advice? Stop. Trust the story to deliver on its own merits and trust us to be smart enough to recognize that it is.

Grade: C+

Captain America #24

“Drums of War” Part 3
Published by: Marvel
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Mike Perkins
Colorist: Frank D’Armata

First off, that image on the cover? Nothing to do with the rest of the book. Just so you know.

This issue left me largely disinterested and I’m not entirely sure why. The art, from Mike Perkins, is just as good as we’ve grown accustomed to. D’Armata continues to rock on the coloring side. Brubaker does his thing characterization wise. So the package there and still”¦eh.


“¦dragged down by its insistence on not committing to either being wholly separate from Civil War or wholly part of it.


The problem, I think, is Civil War. I like that Brubaker is not feeling beholden to the mega event to let it derail his book. However, by paying lip service to it, with the cover and the cape killers, it forces you to reconcile this tale with that one. And they just don’t fit together very well. For one, the Captain America in this book is annoyed with the War, but largely himself. In Civil War, he is eating, sleeping, and living the War and, as such, is angry and in the mindset of a freedom fighter. It just does not quite mesh.

So good, but dragged down by its insistence on not committing to either being wholly separate from Civil War or wholly part of it.

Grade: B-

The Immortal Iron Fist #1

“The Last Iron Fist Story” Part 1
Published by: Marvel
Writers: Ed Brubaker & Matt Fraction
Artists: David Aja; Travel Foreman & Derek Fridolfs (pg. 1-3)
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth

I admit that I don’t really feel one way or another about Iron Fist. I like him just fine, but I’ve never felt diminished by not owning a single book where he was the headline act. I was more or less picking this one up because of Brubaker and Aja and the fact that I was told to in Daredevil because, of course, I love me some Daredevil.

In any case, regardless of the reason I put this on my pull list, I am so far glad I did. Danny Rand has been, to me, more or less a cipher who was defined more by his partner (Cage) or his ability (the thing that he gets his name from) than his actual personality. In three pages, in the middle of the issue, Brubaker and Fraction solve that problem. They quickly and nicely sketch out what makes Rand different from his peers in both the superhero businessmen field and the martial artist field. I feel like I know Rand and all it took was about twelve word balloons and a couple of narrative captions. I applaud the writers for that.


I feel like I know Rand and all it took was about twelve word balloons and a couple of narrative captions.


While the plot really has not congealed for me yet, I like the Iron Fists across the ages angle and I’m anxious to see how this will all fit together with Rand’s present down problems with the hordes of HYDRA. There’s not much indication of how that is all going to come together, but this issue still avoids feeling like a pure setup installment.

Aja also delivers the goods as I expected him too. He nicely fits into the subgenre of artists like Michael Lark, Stefan Gaudiano, and Alex Maleev who are able to steep their work in grit and darkness but never obscure the humanity of the subjects they are depicting. He also does a nice job of just tweaking his style a bit between the modern day scenes and those depicting the life of the early twentieth century Iron First named Orson Randall.

Grade: A-

Nextwave: Agents of HATE #10

Published by: Marvel
Writer: Warren Ellis
Penciler: Stuart Immonen
Inker: Wade von Grawbadger
Colorist: Dave McCaig

Huh. To paraphrase SportsNight, I didn’t know Nextwave could do that.

Don’t get me wrong, there is still plenty of typical Nextwave craziness here. There are jokes about Forbush Man’s helmet/pot thing, exploding men of broccoli, Stack cracking jokes about “fleshy ones”, and villains proclaiming their virility. But in the middle of it all, Ellis switches gears and takes us, through the miracle of Forbush Vision, into the nightmares of our heroes. And it is all weirdly affecting.

Whether it be Stack’s still humorous vision of himself as a living customer service recording or the Captain’s stark, moody vision of an opposite Earth at the other side of the galaxy, each actually provides a healthy slice of characterization for our protagonists. It is in almost direct opposition to all that Nextwave stands for. And yet, it still 100% works. Bizarre but true.


He [Immonen] pulls of the same trick JH Williams did in Seven Soldiers with, arguably, equal aplomb and less confusion.


And while we are discussing those trips into Forbush Vision, let’s give it up for Immonen. He wonderfully apes the stylistic tics of the likes of Mignola, Clowes, and Jae Lee to produce the sequences and they come across flawlessly. He pulls of the same trick JH Williams did in Seven Soldiers with, arguably, equal aplomb and less confusion.

The only place I see that the book trips up is Tabby (Boom Boom, Meltdown”¦etc). Much like last month with her inability to spell her own name, Ellis goes to the way too easy joke when it comes to her. The rest of the book manages to balance the sly and gonzo humor without hiccup, but when it comes to her”¦it all just sticks out like a sore thumb this time out.

But hey, one joke that does not quite land right in a book filled with many that do, is not so bad.

Grade: B+

Powers #21

Published by: Icon/Marvel
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Mike Avon Oeming
Colorist: Peter Pantazis

Whoa”¦did not see that plot twist coming.

Typical excellence from the Powers crew otherwise.

Grade: A-