Tpull's Weekly DC Comics Review – Part 2
JSA Annual 2
by Keith Giffen, Matthew Sturges and Tom Derenick
The annual starts off a little strange this time, because it is picking up on a story from Magog’s regular series. It doesn’t flow very well as a stand-alone story, and makes for an awkward opening sequence. Then we fall into a pattern that has become a one-note wonder, as everyone assumes the worst of Magog and starts accusing him of stuff as soon as they see him. The action is rather boring, as most of the super-human villains that ambush the team are faceless ciphers, giving us little idea of any true threat.
Derenick has some good definition for a lot of the characters for the art, but that’s about the best that can be said. The rest of the story has been hijacked to be pin-holed into Keith Giffen’s desires for the Magog character. As the characters run around using most of the villains as quick punching bags, Cyclone comes up behind Magog, and he fires first, hurting her. Then he decides it was her fault for coming up on his blind side.
The rest of the issue is Power Girl acting like an idiot, fighting Magog, only to discover he was telling the truth, and everyone yells at everyone else for fighting first instead of talking. Despite all that, Alan Scott still gets in his way next, so Magog can fight him. Sigh. I guess it just wasn’t enough of a challenge to have the JSA fight the faceless army of bad guys, they had to throw a bunch of senseless fighting against each other in there.
We end with Magog in exile, and he doesn’t seem to care much about it. Cyclone steps in between Alan and Power Girl and asks why things can’t go back to the way they used to be. It’s a good question. With Magog gone, the main instigator for the team split, there really isn’t any good reason to stop the two sides from mending fences. It’s a bad problem, because the real reason for two teams is to have two separate series, but the storytelling has been poor to come up with a real reason to sustain the division. There is nothing here that makes me want to go pick up Magog’s series.
Red Robin 9
by Chris Yost and Ramon Bachs
Tim is back in Gotham, and he quickly takes down Killer Moth before he meets up with Tam Fox. He is remarkably nonchalant about taking his mask off in front of her now, but mostly seems to be having a new crush. He pulls a quick vanishing act to go on patrol, and starts listing options for telling people Bruce Wayne is alive, and maybe finding help to retrieve him. He thinks of Rip Hunter, which is fine, but he is also very quick to think of Booster Gold. I thought Booster was supposed to be undercover, and have a big secret about his “Voyager” mission to keep the timeline fixed. Maybe Grayson let Tim know about it?
The writing drops off quickly after that, with Conner showing up. Tim gives him a hug?!? These two have already hung out and bonded a couple times, but Yost evidently felt there was something missing, and tries for a delayed reaction effect, but it really falls flat, and interferes with what other writers have already done to play up the bond between these two.
Ra’s calls Tim next, threatening to destroy Batman’s legacy, so Tim heads for the Batcave to rally the troops. He finds Stephanie dressed up as the new Batgirl. And no, I will not be picking up Batgirl #8 to follow this lame crossover. Ramon Bachs is credible on the art, and the coloring and inking are fairly well done, but the story needs a bit more work. It’s mostly jumping around from point to point without the necessary focus. Interrupting the flow to try to boost the flagging Batgirl series is a mistake.
Superman: World of New Krypton 12
by James Robinson, Greg Rucka, Pete Woods and Ron Randall
Tam-or dies from a weapon blast, and Commander Gor is about to shoot Kal-el, but Zod shows up. I was fairly convinced Zod was the one moving the pieces behind all this, but it turns out he was only responsible for the holding area that kept aliens prisoner. Gor is immediately demoted for following orders from the Council, and Adam Strange is politely asked to take a hike, to diminish the awkward xenophobia that his presence can cause among the skittish Kryptonians.
Zod and Kal-el put their heads together, and manage to put the blame where it belongs, finally, on Wri-qin. Turns out Superwoman recruited a handful of people when she stayed on New Krypton, acting as liaison for General Lane. Lane’s plan called for Earth to eventually have control of the Kryptonians, and Wri-qin wanted a piece of that, but he was greedy, and started bumping off his fellow conspirators.
We have a chance to end on a happy note, with the murderer caught and punished, and the Labor Guild gets a seat on the Council, helping to get rid of their slave-like status, but Kal-el is disappointed that so many aspects of his people and his society needed to take these kinds of steps to improve in the first place. He has high standards, and he is rather unsatisfied that they seem to fall prey to the same emotions that humans do, basically.
One of the best parts of this series was the growth of Zod. Seeing the needs of his people, he appears to have set aside his older "I'm an evil villain who will take over the world" cliche and become a more sophisticated personality. We'll never know in the future if he can be trusted, or if Kal-el will fall to a stab in the back form him. That uncertainty introduces a constant tension with his presence, and makes him more interesting, less one-dimensional.
Rather than end the series cleanly, they end with a sudden presence of Brainiac, to flow back into the regular Superman series. While I understand that this mini-series was embedded in a larger story, I think it would have been better to end it on a solid note that would make for a good stand-alone trade. As it is, when someone reads the trade, they’re going to end it on a “to be continued” note, and talk about unsatisfying! All they really need was one more page of discussion between Kal-el and Zod, who has turned out to be a stabilizing force for his people. Endings are important, and I think they blew it a little. Still, I enjoyed the series overall.
Now we get back to normal, with Superman coming back to at least one of his regular titles, and for the regular followers of multiple DC titles, the prospect of picking up the story there (along with the “Last Stand of New Krypton” mini-series) is not a big deal. The next story arc might be even better than this one.
Warlord 11
by Mike Grell
Deimos is back, with his memories to boot. Proving the old adage that there is nothing worse than a woman scorned, Kate has decided that her taste of power was important, and she urges Deimos to attack so she can have that feeling again. Deimos proves patient, knowing he can get the Warlord to come to him pretty much whenever he wants.
Grell takes his time, laying the back-story still to explain the events that led him to kill his magically-fast-aged son. As much as he has spent in these eleven issues of the new series to recap what happened in the old one, I’m hoping for fewer flashbacks after this, and some new adventures. The Warlord marshals his band of followers, leading them to a place built by the Old Ones. Kate is good enough to spot some modern controls, and activates some buried laser weapons, which start destroying everything in sight.
Grell definitely knows how to paint a picture, and I appreciate his style, but I need something new, and something faster. Having an entire year of a series, only to have him fighting Deimos again, makes me think his entire forgotten world has been thoroughly explored. If he wants to put the “adventure” back into an adventure comic, at some point we’ll need something new.
Tpull is Travis Pullen. He started reading comics at 5 years old, and he can't seem to stop.
