Browsing: Review

The Wild Wests: Growing Up Fast – Part 1 Or – “Welcome back, to that same place that you laughed about” Here we go, the issue we’ve been salivating for ever since we found out Bart was a goner, Wally was coming back, and Mark Waid was coming with him. Not only do we get the return of the Flash title, but the issue numbering picks up right where it left off. In the year since he’s been absent from the DCU, things have changed for the scarlet speedster, and this issue attempts to explain where he’s been and what’s…

Or – “It’s Interesting To See Ol’ Moosie Again…” Some years ago, when Mark Gruenwald was writing Quasar for Marvel, you could count on that series to clean up Marvel’s loose ends, either writing in endings for characters who disappeared, or in some cases explaining why one-shot villains were never seen again. Sometimes this led to interesting storylines (like the revelation of who was in the Stranger’s alien lab) other times it led to things like the ‘Living Armor From The Secret Wars’ issue, wherein it was extrapolated that since Spider-Man’s costume turned out to be an alien symbiote, then…

Or – “There Is No Character Who Cannot Be Interesting In The Right Hands.” It always makes me angry when the major comics companies decide that it’s time to “clear the decks” and off a bunch of characters in a crossover cluster-schmozz. Sure, it reinforces the illusion that comic stories have lasting consequences, but it usually just leads to an eventual series of resurrections or revamps that make the initial attempt to “clean up” continuity ridiculously laughable. Marvel is in a period of experimentation right now, and the racks are literally flooded with titles whose membership consists of random samplings…

Make sure you look at the panel after the Parting Shot A year ago, about the time Booster Gold was disgraced in the eyes of Earth-1, Dan DiDio said Booster would become one of the best loved heroes of 52. Turns out he was right, but I never got the impression Booster was the hero of 52. I really got the feeling there was more to the Booster Gold is THE hero of the DCU than was let on in that series. If 52 saw Booster Gold in the minor leagues, then Booster Gold #1 sees Michael Jon Carter get…

Or – “As Swan Songs Go, It’s An Interesting Choice…” Brad Meltzer’s run on the Justice League has been an odd and inconsistent lot. He has made a point of elevating characters like Vixen, Black Lightning and Red Arrow (ugh) and has drawn upon tons of continuity, while letting your imagination fill in the blanks with other characters. After all, don’t we all KNOW how Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman act? His quiet moments are well-done, and superior in many ways to the larger overarching plots. The first arc took forever and accomplished little, while the Lightning Saga was a…

Or – “I’m Still At A Loss As To How This Is Any Sort Of Competition…” I mean, honestly, Katana is a former Outsider, she’s worked with Batman before, she’s got the smarts and battle skills, and, oh yeah… SHAZAM CAN’T LEAVE THE ROCK OF ETERNITY! After the first head-to-head came out with no winner at all, I’m sort of wondering if I’ve misunderstood the concept of this miniseries within a series. The way I read the Previews, it seemed like each issue was going to be a competition to see who works better within Batman’s proposed team structure, but…

Or – “It’s Not Namorita, But I’m Not Terribly Disappointed…” The first Annihilation miniseries was a huge hit for Marvel, relaunching a number of concepts thought long-since rendered pointless, including Super-Skrull and Richard Rider’s Nova career. Nova’s history is full of ups and downs, in terms of power, story, and setting, so it’s good to see Rich return to his roots as a Centurion, and this is the first attempt to do the character in flat-out space opera (unless you count his series of cameos in ‘Rom’ and ‘Fantastic Four’ in the 80’s.) Not surprisingly, and probably not unexpectedly, there’s…

Or – “This Just In… Former Captain America Steve Rogers Is Still Dead.” Trust me… In the right context, that joke is hysterical. The good Captain has been gone for four issues now, but the threads that led to his assassination are still unraveling. Tony Stark and Natasha Romanov have a mole in their organization, Sam Wilson and Sharon Carter have no leads, and the Winter Soldier has murder in his heart. Add in a new Serpent Squad, Red Skull’s continuing battle for dominance of Aleksandr Lukin, as well as continuing drama about exactly WHO pulled the trigger on those…

Or – “Y’Ever Notice Superheroes Get Guns Pointed At ‘Em A Lot?” I suppose it’s one of the hazards of the job, like I have to deal with arthritis, writers block, and repeated cuticle injuries from going through my back issues of “Legion of Super-Heroes.”  The problem is, the Dynamo 5 aren’t really used to it yet, having only had papa’s powers for a couple of months now.  With the agents of FLAG massing against them, Chrysalis in the wings, a mysterious Captain Dynamo impersonator at large, and their coordinator Maddie missing, it looks like the sibs are in for…

Or – “Two Crossover Issues Involving The Color Green In A Row…” It’s a Verdant Monday at Major Spoilers! When last we saw the Green Lantern Corps, Sinestro’s evil plan is proceeding as written, with the Guardians in disarray, Mogo under assault, John Stewart and Guy Gardner MIA, Kyle Rayner possessed by Parallax, and Ion under lock and key. The myriad Sinestro Corps members have been killing Lanterns left, right, and center leaving the Corps more and more thinly stretched. Hal Jordan has taken the fight directly to Qward, but even the man once called ‘Greatest Lantern of Them All’…

Or – “Quickly Approaching The Point Of No Return…” Let’s be honest for a moment: The Incredible Hulk has never been a capital-h Hero in the conventional sense. His actions have always been driven by his flailing emotions, usually the need to be left alone Even during his Defenders days the Hulk was more of a force of nature, a living weapon that Doctor Strange simply pointed in the right direction and let the wackiness ensue. An old chestnut of Marvel said that the green guy had the gentle mind of a five-year-old, but many people forget that while five-year-olds…

Or – “Living Proof That Some Questions DO NOT Need To Be Asked. Ever…” One of the side-effects of writing a series in the future is having to fake it. Legion writers not only have to come up with a decent superhero plot; not only have to utilize 16 to 25 superheroes with varying levels of power; not only have to explain why Mon-El and Tom Welling don’t tear off the villains arms, cauterize the wounds with heat vision, and beat them insensate with their stumps; they have to create an entire culture out of whole cloth. Future fashion, architecture,…

This is neither the first appearance nor a collector’s item Only a dozen issues to go before this series gets and official name change to Countdown to Final Crisis. The good news is the stories are picking up. The bad news is the cover is nothing but a lie. The cover claims this is the first appearance of Mr. Action, even though we have seen Mr. Action in action in previous issues of Countdown, not to mention his role in Action Comics. The cover also claims this is a collector’s item… I think not… Even with the lie that is…

Or – “An Interesting Take On The Anti-Hero…” There’s pretty much no question that Teth Adam is a bad man. Principled, disciplined, even honorable in his own way, but still the kind of man who would tear a fellow human being apart to make a philosophical point. The loss of his family has damaged him, and the real tragedy is that his own actions keep robbing him of surrogate families, (the Marvel family first, then the JSA, then Isis and Osiris) as if the scars from losing his first family have caused him to repeat his worst moment over and…