Tpull's Weekly DC Comics Review – Part 1

Gah, I go on travel for a week, and it seems like half of the titles come out! Well, I’m back in town and ready to get down to business. After a hard day of catching up on all my comics (yes, I know my life is SO hard), I am ready to break it down:

Green Lantern 41

by Geoff Johns, Philip Tan, and Eddy Barrows

The coloring choices really make the story here, and Philip Tan’s pencils are great throughout, making this one of the higher quality books on the stands today. The Lanterns are figuring out how the orange works, just when Fatality shows up as part of the Zamorans, and saves John Stewart. There are a couple of cool interludes, but the main focus is still on Hal. He would love to get the blue ring off his finger, and offers it up to Larfleeze in trade for his origin, basically.

The origin is action-packed, as if we weren’t getting enough action during the current conflict. The greedy sole possessor of the orange also covets the blue, but the darn thing just won’t come off Hal’s finger. So… Larfleeze takes his whole hand! I did not expect that, sports fans. The green energy should be enough to heal Jordan, but what the heck happens when Larfleeze becomes a member of the Blue Lantern Corps? For a story that is billed as a prelude to Blackest Night, I gotta say that I wish all preludes were half this gripping (pardon the pun).

Justice League of America 33

by Dwayne McDuffie and Rags Morales

Dr. Light is still portrayed as generic, with a somewhat-Asian appearance, but she could almost be anything if you didn’t know anything about her. Then we go sideways as Zatanna starts to sound like a clone f the White Witch, claiming she needs to prepare spells?!? She does backwards-magic, for heaven’s sake! We have never, in 40 years, had to deal with this nonsense. Then he brings Hardware back into the story without bothering to introduce him to the reader. These are rookie writer mistakes, not something you expect from a veteran like McDuffie.

John Stewart plays a heavy with him, threatening a beat-down if he doesn’t help. Since when is John this hostile from the get-go? Most of the rest of the issue is people standing around talking. Half of that is a repetition of the events of the last few issues, which most of us already knew, but without any handy flashbacks for new readers. To speed things up, Firestorm reveals his secret identity right in front of Hardware, and Anansi makes an abrupt appearance totally at random, just because McDuffie feels the need to squeeze him/her/it in.

I. Am. So. Bored. With. This. Book. Even the art is getting boring. Morales does his usual good job, but the inking is not the best, and the coloring is too dark. The only funny thing that happens is Hardware telling the dream-Bruce Wayne that he shouldn’t complain about his wet boots, because he doesn’t really exist. By the time we get to the end of the story, there is no big fight scene between Dharma and Starbreaker. As a matter of fact, Superman is unconscious on the cover, supposedly because it might help sales? Are we supposed to forget that he left the team? Canary’s on the cover, too, but not in the book. Can we sue for false advertising? Instead, Dharma’s already dead, John Stewart attacks and hurts Starbreaker, just in time for Icon to tell them it’s too late.

Sigh. And I was so hoping the endless crossovers with other characters was over for a short while. Between Tangent, Salvation Run/Suicide Squad, Final Crisis, and Milestone, I feel like I haven’t read the JLA in two years. Can we please move quickly to a new storyline? It says something when good art feels boring to me too at this point.

Justice Society of America 27

by Jerry Ordway

A new mystery is brewing, as Obsidian covers JSA headquarters in a field of black, allegedly trying to protect the heroes inside. As cryptic as he is, nobody believes him, and his past history makes it understandable why he has near-zero credibility. An ectoplasmic energy is manipulating its way to get at Flash, Green Lantern, Wildcat, and/or Liberty Belle.

It’s Kung, someone I haven’t seen since All-Star Squadron days! His trick has somehow put these four, plus Hourman, in a scene reminiscent of an All-Star story where Green Lantern nearly nuked Japan by himself in retaliation for something Brain Wave made him perceive. Instead, all five get caught in the first nuclear blast during World War II (if you don’t count the test at Trinity). And all of this brings in the Spectre to play! Now if only we can get Dr. Fate back too…

Superman 688

by James Robinson and Renato Guedes

Mon-el’s powers are fading, and the Guardian shows up for the rescue. Just don’t ask how that heavy shield of his can float, or how he swims so easily with his metal mask on. Robinson includes a guest appearance by Squad K, a creation of Kurt Busiek’s if I remember right, intended to handle Superman if he ever went berserk. It’s a nice touch, and Guedes’ choices for panel positions and points of view are excellent. I never know how much is staged by the writer’s directions, or if the artist was given free reign to set up the layout any way he feels is appropriate.

Dr. Light shows up to help with a diagnosis, and it’s cool to see her getting pulled into the series this way; it makes sense, and it makes use of both her powers and her profession as a scientist. According to her, Mon-el’s body is treating the serum as a foreign invader, and trying to “cure" him. The problem is, if the serum goes away, the corrupt lead particles in his body get to attack and further weaken him. The formula somehow cuts out his powers so that it won’t be “cured.” They gloss over how the serum is smart enough, or designed to do this; it just happens. In light of everything else, I let it slide, but there should be some way to address this in the story. The serum is proving much more complicated than originally presented to the reader.

Whether by editorial edict or something else, a break-in to save Tellus gives us a glimpse of Shield and Web and other Easter eggs dealing with some classic heroes that J.M. Straczynski will get to give a makeover, plus some advertising for the Milestone characters and Magog. Mon-el makes a shift in quick time later, deciding that instead of honoring Superman’s wishes and dying shortly, he wishes to live. It’s a little clunky, but Robinson makes it work, just barely. The cool thing is Tellus is free, and the story is moving forward at a good pace.

The only criticism I have is that Mon-el’s speech is too stilted, and I don’t remember him ever being so stiff. I would prefer to have him speak in a more comfortable manner. I know he’s supposed to be an alien, and he’s spent a lot of time in the Phantom Zone, and continuity has been shredded to bits, but most variations of Mon-el I like aren’t quite so irritatingly formal.

Teen Titans 71

by Sean McKeever and Yildiray Cinar

The new artist does well, but the style feels familiar to me, like a continuation of Barrows, and I find myself wishing for a little variation. Remember when we had Kirby, Ditko, Romita and Buscema all at the same time? The modern art style is a blend, and we’re losing some of the unique personality with the new breed of DC artists.

McKeever finally gets a chance to showcase each character as much as he can, and write the necessary break so that Ravager can start her solo adventures in the second feature to this title next month. Her drug problem and need to see the future could be interesting, if they spend a little more time on it. We now have a new core team, but the roster is a relatively unproven one, and McKeever will need to move fast to make these characters more important to us.

Wonder Woman 32

by Gail Simone and Aaron Lopresti

The art choices are poor, with the opening scene a splash panel of Wonder Woman, followed by another splash page two pages later. In between, there’s a blur-effect which shouldn’t be there, because she’s already hit the ground. There’s no jet fuel around, so the idea that the cars are blurring as they drop just seems a poor choice, as if they were trying too hard to use their computer special effects, but without the necessary justification.

The whole issue is boring. I know tons of people are really digging this right now, but it just makes me think this is a re-run of Superman versus Doomsday, but without worrying about anybody having to die and come back later. I already read Superman/Doomsday, and I didn’t much care for it when it was new and fresh. I am definitely more bored now with this retread concept.

Genocide has stopped with the vagueness and the ‘Hulk smash’ stuff, and has advanced to cruel, intellectually knowing taunts. The Shield makes another guest appearance to promote his new, upcoming series, but Simone doesn’t even bother to let us know who he is. It’s kind of cheesy, and less subtle than his appearance on a screen in Superman.

Thankfully, one thing turns out for the good: we learn that Wonder Woman never really loved Nemesis. Yay! Get him out of this title, and off to doing some covert action! After nine pages of cursing her ideals and trying to kill Genocide, Wonder Woman dives into the sea to rescue her, but she’s gone. The abrupt change is worse than Mon-el deciding he wants to live, and makes her seem very indecisive and moody. The art gives her scars and bloody wounds all over her body with no attempt at consistency from one panel to the next, showing that nobody really cares.

Then neither do I. Boring.

Tpull is Travis Pullen. He started reading comics at 5 years old, and he can't seem to stop.

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