Wednesday Comics week #4 (Various/DC Comics/$3.99): My joy reading this increases by magnitudes every week.
Batman: Bruce on a date. Moody. Great dialogue. Great art. 9 out of 10.
Kamandi: This is really art in strip form. Love the developments and Sook is beyond amazing. It’s a fun ride. 10 out of 10
Superman: Nice seeing Supes with Man and Pa Kent. 8 out of 10
Hawkman: Some guest stars and fun. 8 out of 10
Deadman: I really dig the angular art and it’s a lot of fun. 8.5 out of 10
Green Lantern: Beautiful art and fun story. I can’t wait until the action hits. 9 out of 10
Metamorpho: This is sublime. I love Gaiman’s dialogue, crazy man. And it certainly is getting as interesting as it is clever. Love the art…its perfection. 10 out of 10
Teen Titans: More fun. 8 out of 10
Strange Adventure: This is just wonderful. Great action. Almost Dr. Suesian in design 9.5 out of 10
Supergirl: Fun. Love the look on the Super cat’s face as it eyeball’s the mouse sign before it rips apart the plane.. 9 out of 10
Wonder Woman: This is losing me. The art certainly gives a dreamy feeling when you look at it but there’s too much there and it’s like artistic overload.. 4 out of 10
Metal Men: This is fun, great art with fun dialogue. I really love the tone. 9.5 out of 10
Sgt. Rock: Is this the end of Sgt. Rock?. 8 out of 10
the Flash: Awesome in every way. I hope the Flash book could be this good. Really impressive art. 9.5 out of 10
The Demon and Catwoman: Fun. Although I wish the Demon would rhyme more. The art and pacing is excellent.. 8 out of 10
Format rocks and I really hope DC gets to produce more of this on a regular basis. 9 out of 10
Wonder Woman #34 (Simone, Lopresti, Ryan/DC Comics/$2.99): I am dropping Wonder Woman. I suffered through Genocide and the Rise of the Olympians. I have long maintained that this booked lacked the soul or pop it needed. Horrible? No. But something has been missing from Simone’s Wonder Woman. Something essential to the character. And through out the run there has certainly been opportunity for greatness every where, at best it ended up being mediocre. This is a shame. I like Simone a lot. Secret Six is DC’s best monthly book if you ask me. But Wonder Woman has not been very good. This issue is more of the same. Wonder Woman now patronless is wondering around trying to find her place. Genocide’s remains have been collected by her villains and she goes to Black Canary for some help. You get some cute character moments, but essentially there is nothing there as the duo goes undercover to an illegal super-villain underground Fighting circuit in Japan. They fight some losers in a cage match. And it looks like Ares daughter is there fighting for a living and is gonna take her on. It is too forced and really not very interesting. The most interesting part is the art. Lopresti does a great issue.. His art is amazing. Hot chicks, great action and really fun storytelling. But cannot save the book 4 out of 10
Justice Society of America #29 (Willmingham, Sturges, Merino/DC Comics/$2.99): This is another book I am dropping. Which is surprising. I have loved the JSA since I first saw them in the JLA years ago and really love All-Star Squadron. On top of that I love Bill Willmingham. I am talking back to his D&D and Villains and Vigilante days. And the Elementals is one of my all time favorite series ever. So although I was skeptical, I was hopeful even though I was unsure I could follow the book without Johns. But after reading the issue I have decided I will not be staying on. Willmingham and Sturges introduce the mysterious Black Egg and some new characters. The Egg is an interesting mystery made up of Obsidian, but the new characters foisted upon us hold no interest to me. The team has recently grown, I don’t see why more characters need to be thrown in the mix just because. Maybe for the second JSA title? And then you get a big fight where the JSA is ambushed and beaten all narrated through Jay Garrick (the Flash). And finally One of the new characters left behind gets possessed and knifes Mr. Terrific in the gut . There is a lot there, and you can’t deny Sturges and Willmingham have a plan for the book but it lacks the heart and soul of previous issues. And even with the action to be honest I was bored. The art by Merino was good enough. I hate to call him a Pacheco clone, but that’s what I get when I look at the pages. He does a good job with the amount of characters and the action, but there is something off about the anatomy. It’s a minor quibble based on the amount of bodies and detail. But it distracted me enough for me to notice. All in all to me, this doesn’t resonate. Like what I wrote above about Wonder Woman. There is certainly flashes of greatness and opportunity in the pages and developments but something is hallow in the reading. 5 out of 10
Fantastic Four #569 (Millar, Ahearne, Immonen, Marvel Comics, $3.99): So ends Millar’s FF run. Normally I would be cussing up a storm. I hate when creative teams switch or change during an arc. Especially when you have writing by Millar and art by some one like Hitch. But I have to say, Ahearne and Immonen delivered on the conclusion to the “Master’s of Doom” story line. I really enjoyed this arc. Not only is my favorite of the Millar run on the book, but one of my all time faves, ever. I know I know. I hear the gnashing of teeth already. I have been reading the book since the 70’s to. And own every issue going back to issue 48. What I love was Doom. Doom gets the Marquis of Death and leaves himself after years of mediocrity as Marvel’s proto-villain, and as Ben put it this issue with an “upgrade”, even more Doom then before. Is such a thing possible? Well thanks to Mark Millar it is. The FF as a Family find a way to defeat the Marquis of Death using his present time self (Clyde Wyncham(from 1985, Haven’t read it? You should it was great!)) to make the Marquis use up much of his power killing his younger self. It is epic as they face off. Throwing infinite power at each other. Weakened he is defeated handily by the FF. Doom shows up, having been posing as the Marquis’ new Apprentice and tortures his former master and tells the FF to watch out or they are gonna get it. It was great. The second part of the book…man Ben. I feel for him. But I think he did the right thing. Millar did a great job with the scene and all the heroes. Hilarious. Makes you wonder about heroes and their girlfriends? But it was great character driven stuff. And the last pages with Ben and Reed well Mark got it just right. Hitting the perfect tonal and emotional note with the last page. I am sad to see Millar go. The art is amazing. The battle between Clyde and Marquis of Death was a beautiful sequence of pages, And the Wedding that never was part was beautifully handled. With nice graphic images and emotional range. Great facial expressions and gesture. This was a great ending in every way. Every thing you want in an FF story done right. 9 out of 10
Tales of the Corps #3 (Various/DC Comics/$3.99): 2 more nice character vignettes. The origin of Kilowog and Arisia. Both Green Lanterns. Both stories are written by Tomasi. Both are damn good stories that give you some insights to two Green Lanterns we never really had a history of. I loved Kilowog’s interaction with his drill instructor and first mission as a recruit. My favorite part was the last page with Sinestro. Funny how things turn out in the end right? Nice art too. I think Samnee would make a great artist if they made a Tales of the Corps quarterly. The Arisia tale was very nice. I love the idea that she always wanted to be a Lantern. And the Lanterns of her sector are chosen from her Family line. Tomasi really nailed the enthusiasm she had, as well as the emotional impact of her inheriting the Ring after the death of her father and uncle. Sadness then pure joy. Great art by Mayhew. More of this guy pronto. He brings a nice illustrative yet clean straightforward style to the pages. And really captures Arisia’s beauty and youthful enthusiasm perfectly. The rest of the book is filled with a director’s cut of Blackest Night Zero. Good to see the notes from Johns and the editorial team. Although not an essential part of Blackest Night, this has definitely been a fun read. I would by this is a quarterly anthology title. 8 out of 10
Detective Comics #855 (Rucka, Williams III, Hamner/DC Comicse/$3.99): I don’t know if there is a more beautiful comic then this, seriously Williams brings a design and artistic quality to this book that really adds something that is rare and unique to the title. First of all it is beautiful, sublime even. In addition to that the storytelling is flawless. Unconventional panel design and illustrative graphics explode off of every page. You literally look at a page and get pulled into the comic. You get a nasty fight between Batwoman and Alice. Thrilling and sexy at the same time. And Williams even adds a horror element into it. This great stuff. The story is wonderful. I love Rucka’s dialogue and pacing. The scenes of Batwoman and Alice tumbling through their fight is wonderful and quirky and fun. And you get the feeling of suspense as Batwoman’s “step dad” comes to her aid only to be staring down the barrels of Alice’s automags. This is a wild joyous ride. I haven’t really had a comics experience like this before. There is something different about it, yet not too different. What ever it is it’s a great ride. You should be on it with me. The Question story is a neat package with great art. Montoya stretching before her brawl is priceless. I love it. Did the Question just put her feminine charms in front of some one ? ha! That is great. Awesome work by Rucka and Cully on the pacing and the fun factor. 9 out of 10
New Avengers #55 (Bendis, Immonen/Marvel Comics/$3.99): I really love Bendis and this is pure Bendis. I love all the banter. Bendis is the master of banter. But What I like even more is the time spent with the characters. Spidey and Ms Jones, the Hood’s cadre of Villains, Bucky just disgusted by his teammates. To me this is one of the reason I love comics. Taking time to have fun and get to know the characters and really let them tell you what they are thinking in their voices. Bendis does it the best. The art by Immonen is amazing. The man is a master storyteller. He has great style that captures gesture and expression perfectly and does wonders with action and drama. A really fin all around issue. My favorite spread is Bucky/Cap entering the NA hangout and the look of total disgust as he wanders the rooms. Man that is great. This is my favorite issue, and I love the entire run. Why did Bendis leave Mighty Avengers? 9 out of 10
