Tpull's Weekly DC Comics Review – Part 1

February 28, 2010 11:25 PM | Comments:

Batman and Robin 9

by Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart

I’m starting to warm up to the story finally. Although the resurrection of Batwoman was predictable, and the barely-interpretable grunting Batman harkens back to the whole zur-en-ahr stuff, the physicality with which Cameron Stewart imbues the characters is a great fit. Some of the abstract ideas Morrison endlessly plays around with are dropping off, allowing for some straight-forward story for a change. While the backgrounds aren’t always the greatest, the coloring choices are good, and Stewart can ink his own work relatively better than many others.

Grayson makes it back in time to help out against CopyBat, and he finally realizes that Tim was right: if this Batman corpse was a fake, then Bruce Wayne is still alive. The ending here makes for a good break, an opportunity to see if Morrison will veer back into the quirky campiness (is too a word!) that he has been stuck on since the launch, or head more inline to make a coherent story out of the shared DC universe. Even though the camp aspect has not been my favorite, the sales have been very high, and a lot of fans seem to enjoy it. Good cover by Frank Quitely, too.

Justice Society of America 36

by Bill Willingham and Jesus Merino

You didn’t miss an issue, this story starts in the future. The heroes are prisoners in death camps, and Mr. Terrific is telling the story to an official historian, of sorts. The flashback takes us to the clean-up of the whole Kid Karnevil mess. The bad guys ambush the heroes. We’re talking about Captain Nazi and an entire super group. You might think this is a cop-out, because how black and white can you get? They’re Nazis, after all! But with the history of this group dating back to WW II, this type of opponent is actually a better fit than most others in DC to have these people for their adversaries.

Dr. Fate heads out to learn more about his powers, and Alan Scott falls prey to a mine which uses wood as part of the shrapnel. Kid Karnevil is gleefully telling part of the group that they’re all about to die, and with Green Lantern already out of action, you think there might be some truth to it. Jesus Merino does great on the art, boldly depicting all of the costumed characters. Mr. Terrific takes out Captain Nazi and prepares to rally the troops.

Granted, this feels like another cliché a la Days of Future Past, where the bad guys have won, but somehow one person will go back and “fix” everything, but this first chapter was entertaining. We can certainly handle more of these if they read as well as this one did. Still, the title does not have that extra oomph yet that catapulted it into the top of the sales charts not so long ago. I wouldn’t cancel it, but I do wish for the group to be handled better. There’s a sense of gravity that is missing from the group.

Superman 697

by James Robinson, Bernard Chang, and Javier Pina

In the wreck of the last issue, all of the hidden Legionnaires reveal themselves. The roll call: Tellus, Matter-Eater Lad, Starman, Chameleon Boy, Sensor Girl… and Quislet! Quislet’s back! Steel is also making his presence known in Metropolis again, although they show it with some fight scenes for throwaway effect: these are relatively meaningless, and will not add any significance to any part of the future story. It’s like action for action’s sake: they wanted to show a fight scene, but it didn’t really fit in with the rest of what they wanted to show us, so they just throw any random assortment of villains in there to get beat up. It’s a little cheap and unimaginative.

Conner shows up to ask Mon-el to head back to Smallville with him, where the Legion is waiting for him, this time with Element Lad as well. This begins the crossover that goes into Adventure Comics 8. It’s a good issue to act as a bridge from one part of the story into the next, but I must admit that I have missed Mon-el’s old way of speaking. I understood Robinson’s choice to have Mon-el actively study his new Earth language to learn to blend in, but he has gone overboard with it. Now he not only does not have a trace of an accent or incorrect word, but he sound too natural. Even to the point of using our swear words correctly. Even Spock and Kirk got that wrong at first (time-traveling whale movie reference). His “voice” is entirely too similar to Robinson’s natural tone, which makes it hard to distinguish from any of the other characters. In short, the one chance he had to make someone sound unique, and he tossed it away.

Other than that, good job with both art and story this month.

Teen Titans 80

by Felicia Henderson and Joe Bennett

Will the pain ever end? Holocaust knocked out Static, only to wake him up and offer him a place in the new outfit he runs. He tries to convince Static he has made the area safe. This will make zero sense later. But first, let’s go to the end of a random fight with thugs that has Gar interrupting a police officer needlessly. Cassie chews him out, telling him he belongs on the team, and not to try “proving” himself. Since Beast Boy is actually one of the most experienced heroes around, the idea of this teenager dressing him down is laughable. But then, the writer has regressed Gar down to maybe fourteen years mental age himself, so what more can we expect? Another good character, ruined for generations. It’s like someone took all the hard work of Wolfman and Perez and threw it into the sewer.

Back to Holocaust, who insists he has changed. Half of this entire issue is us having to sit around and listen to this guy boast about all the good he’s done. Lee and Kirby would have handled this in two panels. It is… so… drawn… out. Bennett at least tries to have some fun with the art for a hospital evacuation scene, but it has none of the detail and pizzazz that would really make it stand out.

The Teen titans act like Teen Chumps, hanging out in the same city for two entire days, with a telepath no less (!), and they still can’t find Static. Gar, who actually tried to be the leader before, calls up Vic for help. In yet another display that makes no sense. If this is the guy who was so cocky he thought he could march in and take over, then why isn’t he coming up with something to fix things? How in the world does running to Cyborg convince anybody that Gar is suited for anything besides being an errand boy?

After two days, Static is still not convinced, and tells Holocaust he will not join him. Now, if it was me or you, we would just say too bad and let him walk. But Holocaust immediately says Static must want to die. So despite the fact that Static has been saying no for 48 freaking hours, holocaust has still been trying to pretend he’s a better person… right up until he decides to just kill the kid. If he’s that willing, then why not just kill him a couple days back? This makes no sense, a chorus for this entire series now. Worse, after not being able to locate him (did I mention they have a TELEPATH with them?), for two days, half the team magically appears at just the right time as Holocaust attacks Static.

The second feature with Ravager isn’t much better. Yildiray Cinar gives us some good art, but Sean McKeever has the bad guy shoot a kid. According to the environment shown to us, Ravager was blocking the only exit, but she rushes to check on the kid (who was shot at point-blank range), and the bad guy disappears magically. I think they are begging me to drop another title.

Wonder Woman 41

by Gail Simone and Aaron Lopresti

The kids turn out to be progeny of Ares, and have mentally misdirected Power Girl into attacking Wonder Woman. When they get everyone’s head on straight again, Power Girl talks the crazed mobs into walking away. Her words alone are not very mobbing, so I choose to believe the spell of the kids’ wore off as Wonder Woman was spanking them. Plus, one of the gorillas is somehow conveniently immune to the mental suggestion of the kids. Why, we’ll never know. It was needed for the plot.

The art is classic Lopresti, but the story was inconsequential. Sort of like a popcorn comic. I think it was an improvement, because I didn’t have a ton of gripes like I normally do, but it also didn’t have a whole lot of meaning. But then, they can’t all be the comic equivalent of Citizen Kane, can they? If you feel like an old hero-fights-hero-then-they-team-up story, this will fill your need for the week.

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

Batman and Robin 9 \n\n by Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart \n\nI’m starting to warm up to the story finally. Although the resurrection of Batwoman was predictable, and the barely-interpretable grunting Batman harkens back to the whole zur-en-ahr stuff, the physicality with which Cameron Stewart imbues the characters is a great fit. Some of the abstract ideas Morrison endlessly plays around with are dropping off, allowing for some straight-forward story for a change. While the backgrounds aren’t always the greatest, the coloring choices are good, and Stewart can ink his own work relatively better than many others.\n\nGrayson makes it back in time to help out against CopyBat, and he finally realizes that Tim was right: if this Batman corpse was a fake, then Bruce Wayne is still alive. The ending here makes for a good break, an opportunity to see if Morrison will veer back into the quirky campiness (is too a word!) that he has been stuck on since the launch, or head more inline to make a coherent story out of the shared DC universe. Even though the camp aspect has not been my favorite, the sales have been very high, and a lot of fans seem to enjoy it. Good cover by Frank Quitely, too.\n\n\n Justice Society of America 36 \n\n by Bill Willingham and Jesus Merino \n\nYou didn’t miss an issue, this story starts in the future. The heroes are prisoners in death camps, and Mr. Terrific is telling the story to an official historian, of sorts. The flashback takes us to the clean-up of the whole Kid Karnevil mess. The bad guys ambush the heroes. We’re talking about Captain Nazi and an entire super group. You might think this is a cop-out, because how black and white can you get? They’re Nazis, after all! But with the history of this group dating back to WW II, this type of opponent is actually a better fit than most others in DC to have these people for their adversaries.\n\nDr. Fate heads out to learn more about his powers, and Alan Scott falls prey to a mine which uses wood as part of the shrapnel. Kid Karnevil is gleefully telling part of the group that they’re all about to die, and with Green Lantern already out of action, you think there might be some truth to it. Jesus Merino does great on the art, boldly depicting all of the costumed characters. Mr. Terrific takes out Captain Nazi and prepares to rally the troops.\n\nGranted, this feels like another cliché a la Days of Future Past, where the bad guys have won, but somehow one person will go back and “fix” everything, but this first chapter was entertaining. We can certainly handle more of these if they read as well as this one did. Still, the title does not have that extra oomph yet that catapulted it into the top of the sales charts not so long ago. I wouldn’t cancel it, but I do wish for the group to be handled better. There’s a sense of gravity that is missing from the group.\n\n\n Superman 697 \n\n by James Robinson, Bernard Chang, and Javier Pina \n\nIn the wreck of the last issue, all of the hidden Legionnaires reveal themselves. The roll call: Tellus, Matter-Eater Lad, Starman, Chameleon Boy, Sensor Girl… and Quislet! Quislet’s back! Steel is also making his presence known in Metropolis again, although they show it with some fight scenes for throwaway effect: these are relatively meaningless, and will not add any significance to any part of the future story. It’s like action for action’s sake: they wanted to show a fight scene, but it didn’t really fit in with the rest of what they wanted to show us, so they just throw any random assortment of villains in there to get beat up. It’s a little cheap and unimaginative.\n\nConner shows up to ask Mon-el to head back to Smallville with him, where the Legion is waiting for him, this time with Element Lad as well. This begins the crossover that goes into Adventure Comics 8. It’s a good issue to act as a bridge from one part of the story into the next, but I must admit that I have missed Mon-el’s old way of speaking. I understood Robinson’s choice to have Mon-el actively study his new Earth language to learn to blend in, but he has gone overboard with it. Now he not only does not have a trace of an accent or incorrect word, but he sound too natural. Even to the point of using our swear words correctly. Even Spock and Kirk got that wrong at first (time-traveling whale movie reference). His “voice” is entirely too similar to Robinson’s natural tone, which makes it hard to distinguish from any of the other characters. In short, the one chance he had to make someone sound unique, and he tossed it away.\n\nOther than that, good job with both art and story this month.\n\n\n Teen Titans 80 \n\n by Felicia Henderson and Joe Bennett \n\nWill the pain ever end? Holocaust knocked out Static, only to wake him up and offer him a place in the new outfit he runs. He tries to convince Static he has made the area safe. This will make zero sense later. But first, let’s go to the end of a random fight with thugs that has Gar interrupting a police officer needlessly. Cassie chews him out, telling him he belongs on the team, and not to try “proving” himself. Since Beast Boy is actually one of the most experienced heroes around, the idea of this teenager dressing him down is laughable. But then, the writer has regressed Gar down to maybe fourteen years mental age himself, so what more can we expect? Another good character, ruined for generations. It’s like someone took all the hard work of Wolfman and Perez and threw it into the sewer.\n\nBack to Holocaust, who insists he has changed. Half of this entire issue is us having to sit around and listen to this guy boast about all the good he’s done. Lee and Kirby would have handled this in two panels. It is… so… drawn… out. Bennett at least tries to have some fun with the art for a hospital evacuation scene, but it has none of the detail and pizzazz that would really make it stand out.\n\nThe Teen titans act like Teen Chumps, hanging out in the same city for two entire days, with a telepath no less (!), and they still can’t find Static. Gar, who actually tried to be the leader before, calls up Vic for help. In yet another display that makes no sense. If this is the guy who was so cocky he thought he could march in and take over, then why isn’t he coming up with something to fix things? How in the world does running to Cyborg convince anybody that Gar is suited for anything besides being an errand boy?\n\nAfter two days, Static is still not convinced, and tells Holocaust he will not join him. Now, if it was me or you, we would just say too bad and let him walk. But Holocaust immediately says Static must want to die. So despite the fact that Static has been saying no for 48 freaking hours, holocaust has still been trying to pretend he’s a better person… right up until he decides to just kill the kid. If he’s that willing, then why not just kill him a couple days back? This makes no sense, a chorus for this entire series now. Worse, after not being able to locate him (did I mention they have a TELEPATH with them?), for two days, half the team magically appears at just the right time as Holocaust attacks Static.\n\nThe second feature with Ravager isn’t much better. Yildiray Cinar gives us some good art, but Sean McKeever has the bad guy shoot a kid. According to the environment shown to us, Ravager was blocking the only exit, but she rushes to check on the kid (who was shot at point-blank range), and the bad guy disappears magically. I think they are begging me to drop another title.\n\n\n Wonder Woman 41 \n\n by Gail Simone and Aaron Lopresti \n\nThe kids turn out to be progeny of Ares, and have mentally misdirected Power Girl into attacking Wonder Woman. When they get everyone’s head on straight again, Power Girl talks the crazed mobs into walking away. Her words alone are not very mobbing, so I choose to believe the spell of the kids’ wore off as Wonder Woman was spanking them. Plus, one of the gorillas is somehow conveniently immune to the mental suggestion of the kids. Why, we’ll never know. It was needed for the plot.\n\nThe art is classic Lopresti, but the story was inconsequential. Sort of like a popcorn comic. I think it was an improvement, because I didn’t have a ton of gripes like I normally do, but it also didn’t have a whole lot of meaning. But then, they can’t all be the comic equivalent of Citizen Kane, can they? If you feel like an old hero-fights-hero-then-they-team-up story, this will fill your need for the week.\n\n Tpull is Travis Pullen. He started reading comics at 5 years old, and he can't seem to stop.

Tpull's Weekly DC Comics Review – Part 1

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