2004-10-30
Capsule Comic Reviews - 10/27
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(preview pages)
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski | ||
p>Sins Past limps into the fifth part and is enlivened by some humorous moments at the expense of television news anchors and comic book geeks but the actual plot, now drenched in all things Goblin and Osborne may be beyond redemption. This is a very talky issue, all of which results in the inevitable re-enactment of Gwen Stacy’s fall from the bridge. Finally, if all this is leading to a new Goblin, well, that’s just adding insult to injury.
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(preview pages)
Writer: Ed Brubaker | ||
While this first issue doesn’t quite blow my socks off, it does promise a whale of a ride. Ed Brubaker does a good job of making this accessible to readers, like me, who are not all that familiar with the Authority beyond the concept. While some of the characters' powers get a little confusing, all in all things are very clear. The Authority, who have taken over the United States government for benign reasons face problems on many fronts. The first is dealing with the remnants of the very government they’re trying to run and these moments give the book most of its flavor and bite. Then there’s the revolt brewing against them lead by some other super-powered beings. Things get a little confusing here and the action somewhat hard to follow. Finally there’s a cosmic element to the proceedings that bookend the story and may somehow connect to everything else. Brubaker & Co. take advantage of the mature reader label with harsh language and ultra-violence. The sex, while there, is kept discreet in keeping with our society’s strange tolerance for exploding brains and squeamishness over T&A. I’m not convinced that Dustin Nguyen’s artwork is the best choice for this book; while it’s very good it borders on the stylized when grit is probably in order. All in all a good start that may develop into an event worthy of the franchise.
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Writer: Gail Simone | ||
Gail Simone, handed the proverbial lemon, makes great tasting lemonade. Left to deal with the aftermath of War Games, she alters the status quo of the Birds in a natural and logical way. Actually she moves it back closer to the book’s concept prior to her tenure. Left to deal with the destruction of the Clocktower, both her base of operations and home, Barbara Gordon decides to make some changes and abandon Gotham. Before leaving she and the other Birds do a little tidying up for old time’s sake and it’s a good illustration that Oracle still can and likes to mix it up. In keeping with their name the Birds go mobile in an ultra modern stealth luxury plane piloted by a figure from the past. That figure and how the plane came into Oracle’s possession are the focus of the bonus story which features a nice characterization of a woman not connected to the times but instead trapped by the time's perception of her. Ed Benes pencils and apparently inks the main story and he’s the perfect artist for this book. The accelerated summer release schedule with its fill-in artists only proved how valuable he has become. Simone continues to hit all the right notes in this series with her delightful humor, insightful character development and enjoyable plots making this month in and month out a must read.
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(preview pages)
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis | ||
The beat goes on for Bendis, Maleev and this series as they open a new arc that already appears to take its place with the high caliber stories that have come before. Bendis tells the story of Alexander Bont, recently released from prison and the Kingpin of crime before Wilson Fisk. The story of how he assumed that mantle is told in a black and white flashback that features Nazi gangsters and the Golden Age Angel. Bont becomes crime lord almost by default and out of misguided devotion to his soon-to-be wife. Then in a flashback that wonderfully mimics the format of Silver Age Marvel comics we see how Bont is taken down by the new superhero on the scene, a yellow costumed Daredevil. His part of the story is a pleasure to read and Maleev does yeoman’s duty mimicking past styles to go along with his own distinctive vision. All flows well until the very end where the action gets a little confusing, but after a few reads I think I got it. All seems set in motion for another winner from Bendis and Maleev.
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(preview pages)
Writer: Geoff Johns | ||
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Geoff Johns just might have been given the hardest assignment in all of comics this year -- bringing Hal Jordan back to the DC Universe as the Green Lantern while making it accessible and, within the definitions of said Universe, logical. Well, he’s off to a solid start. For one thing, at least for now, he’s not all tied up in the mind-bogglingly convoluted continuity that has become the legacy of Hal Jordan. For another he’s come up with an interesting story. All over the place strange incidents are occurring that are connected to Hal Jordan. Kyle Rayner crashes to Earth in New Mexico in bad condition on a ship carrying a coffin. Hal Jordan joins Guy Gardner and John Stewart at a baseball game and the entire crowd comes to confess their sins to him. Guy Gardner’s powers go haywire and he hovers near death in one of the most gruesome scenes not in a mature reader’s book this year. Green Arrow has a ring of Hal Jordan’s which Black Hand tries to steal and is dealt a form of hideous justice by the Spectre. Parts of Jordan’s old hometown, Coastal City begin to rematerialize. Along the way Johns gives fine moments to many of the characters and shows respect for them and what’s come before, no matter how twisted it was. He also makes it clear that the return of Hal Jordan is not going to be met with rejoicing by the DC heroes like it will be by his legions of fans. In fact Stewart’s confrontation with Batman over that very subject if one of the books highlights. Ethan Van Sciver supplies the art and looks like he’s ready to take the leap to the high profile this project will give his work.
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(preview pages)
Writer: Mike Carey Art: | ||
This has turned into a nice little limited series that has already surpassed the previous Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra that was a victim of anemic pacing. This one offers plenty of action and plot developments. It also immediately corrects what at first seemed an out of character moment when Bullseye lets Elektra leave a murder scene alive. Thankfully Carey and Bullseye give us a perfectly good explanation a brief time later. While I’m still not thrilled with everything about Ultimate Elektra being tied to Kingpin and Bullseye this story has momentum and Elektra’s involvement has been incremental and logical. Larroca’s art is, as usual, top notch but I don’t think it benefits from the washed out pastels that dominate the coloring of this book.
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Catwoman #36, Batman #633 | ||
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This massive and misguided crossover mercifully comes to an end with one implausible occurrence after another. The Catwoman issue follows the formula of many of these stories by pairing the War Games developments with an unnecessary fight between the title character and a villain who just happened to be trying to exploit the mayhem. This time it’s Zeiss and while the fight is entertaining, it's really just filler. Meanwhile Batman rescues Tarantula and her gang from the police and Black Mask mistakenly announces that Oracle’s Clocktower is Batman’s headquarters. That siege takes over the rest of the issue. In the conclusion in Batman’s main book it all comes down to a fight between Black Mask and Batman who has apparently gone insane perhaps driven so like us by having to be part of this overly long overblown story. An event transpires later in the book that would account for Batman’s loss of control and perspective but he wigs out before that happens. That moment, the big death, is ruined by artwork that shows a shocked instead of a sorrowful Batman in the final panel of the scene. So three months and twenty five issues to kill two secondary heroes, install Black Mask as the new head of the Gotham gangs, destroy the Clocktower and have Oracle (misused horribly throughout) and Batman (who never figured out a thing beyond the use of his gang war simulation) act horribly out of character. The concept and ideas behind this story were never big enough for the ambitious presentation. Oh well, at least its over.
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