More detailed thoughts on Action Comics #844 (written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner, drawn by Adam Kubert) are over at this week’s Grumpy Old Fan. In a nutshell: a solid first issue, but a little more restrained than I would have expected from the director who almost blew up Lois Lane and most of Paris. Also, the father/son motif wasn’t very subtle.
I liked the fact that I could follow Planetary #26 (written by Warren Ellis, drawn by John Cassaday) without having read an issue for a few months. (Seems like I did read most of the series late in the summer.) It was a decent, understated wrap-up to the overarching plot, and I think the series will really be made by next issue’s epilogue. I did like the fact that the returning character is a pastiche of a particular kind of comic-book innocence.
Another penultimate issue is Secret Six #5 (written by Gail Simone, pencilled by Brad Walker, inked by Jimmy Palmiotti). By picking up right from last issue’s bedroom-centered cliffhanger, it puts #4's fight with the Doom Patrol in a better context of the overall story. #5 also explains just what is going on with the Mad Hatter, and it’s kind of creepy. This means a return to Naked Hatter, but this time (in other parts of the issue) most of the rest of the cast is naked too. Oh, and they fight Vandal Savage’s men, and Dr. Psycho, but after they put some clothes on. Looking forward to the conclusion.
52 #25 (written and drawn by a whole lot of people) presents more supervillain cannibalism (see also Secret Six #4), and a couple of puzzling questions -- like, how did D-list villain Magpie get to be a Gotham mob boss (Mobbess?); and why kill Kite-Man? Otherwise, it’s Halloween on DC-Earth, so the Black Marvel Family shoves Mary and Junior out of the way to take down Sabbac, and Ralph Dibny learns not to cross Neron like poor Felix Faust did. I particularly enjoyed the origin of Nightwing, by Mark Waid and George Pérez, and it just confirms for me that Dick should be the star of Waid and Pérez’s Brave and the Bold relaunch.
Speaking of Nightwing, Captain America #23 (written by Ed Brubaker, drawn by Mike Perkins) focuses on the Winter Soldier, a/k/a Bucky Barnes, now pretty lucid and interacting with the holographic Nick Fury. (I’m not up on Nick’s current status -- is he broadcasting from the secret undisclosed spider-hole, or is he one with the Force?) Anyway, the more I see of Bucky, the more I wish DC would get its act together on Nightwing and Robin. Of course, Brubaker has the advantage of seeing what DC’s done with Nightwing and Robin ... but I digress. Another good issue, in which Bucky and Obi-Nick talk politics while blowing things up and hurting people. Also, a very exciting Special Guest Villain joins the Red Skull to take advantage of the Civil War fallout.
Nextwave #9 (written by Warren Ellis, drawn by Stuart Immonen) features the secret origins of ... well, it’s kind of like when Dan Slott did that Hostess Fruit Pie ad in the middle of the Spider-Man/Human Torch miniseries. Really funny, as always, but thanks to low sales and Ultimate Spider-Man, there are only three more issues before it shuffles off to occasional miniseries limbo. At least there’s the "occasional" part.
However, the best of the week is the very Nextwave-esque Superman/Batman Annual #1 (written by Joe Kelly, pencilled by Ed McGuinness, Carlos Meglia, and some others), a very over-the-top look at how the World’s Finest learned each other’s secret identities. Usually when DC tries to be wacky -- and especially in this title, as with Jeph Loeb and "Batzarro" -- it ends up being painfully unfunny, but not here, no sir. In fact, this almost parodies Loeb’s last storyline, what with its visitors from parallel universes and all. I was really not expecting this issue to be so good, and I hope this turns into an "annual" (sorry) tradition.
I liked the fact that I could follow Planetary #26 (written by Warren Ellis, drawn by John Cassaday) without having read an issue for a few months. (Seems like I did read most of the series late in the summer.) It was a decent, understated wrap-up to the overarching plot, and I think the series will really be made by next issue’s epilogue. I did like the fact that the returning character is a pastiche of a particular kind of comic-book innocence.
Another penultimate issue is Secret Six #5 (written by Gail Simone, pencilled by Brad Walker, inked by Jimmy Palmiotti). By picking up right from last issue’s bedroom-centered cliffhanger, it puts #4's fight with the Doom Patrol in a better context of the overall story. #5 also explains just what is going on with the Mad Hatter, and it’s kind of creepy. This means a return to Naked Hatter, but this time (in other parts of the issue) most of the rest of the cast is naked too. Oh, and they fight Vandal Savage’s men, and Dr. Psycho, but after they put some clothes on. Looking forward to the conclusion.
52 #25 (written and drawn by a whole lot of people) presents more supervillain cannibalism (see also Secret Six #4), and a couple of puzzling questions -- like, how did D-list villain Magpie get to be a Gotham mob boss (Mobbess?); and why kill Kite-Man? Otherwise, it’s Halloween on DC-Earth, so the Black Marvel Family shoves Mary and Junior out of the way to take down Sabbac, and Ralph Dibny learns not to cross Neron like poor Felix Faust did. I particularly enjoyed the origin of Nightwing, by Mark Waid and George Pérez, and it just confirms for me that Dick should be the star of Waid and Pérez’s Brave and the Bold relaunch.
Speaking of Nightwing, Captain America #23 (written by Ed Brubaker, drawn by Mike Perkins) focuses on the Winter Soldier, a/k/a Bucky Barnes, now pretty lucid and interacting with the holographic Nick Fury. (I’m not up on Nick’s current status -- is he broadcasting from the secret undisclosed spider-hole, or is he one with the Force?) Anyway, the more I see of Bucky, the more I wish DC would get its act together on Nightwing and Robin. Of course, Brubaker has the advantage of seeing what DC’s done with Nightwing and Robin ... but I digress. Another good issue, in which Bucky and Obi-Nick talk politics while blowing things up and hurting people. Also, a very exciting Special Guest Villain joins the Red Skull to take advantage of the Civil War fallout.
Nextwave #9 (written by Warren Ellis, drawn by Stuart Immonen) features the secret origins of ... well, it’s kind of like when Dan Slott did that Hostess Fruit Pie ad in the middle of the Spider-Man/Human Torch miniseries. Really funny, as always, but thanks to low sales and Ultimate Spider-Man, there are only three more issues before it shuffles off to occasional miniseries limbo. At least there’s the "occasional" part.
However, the best of the week is the very Nextwave-esque Superman/Batman Annual #1 (written by Joe Kelly, pencilled by Ed McGuinness, Carlos Meglia, and some others), a very over-the-top look at how the World’s Finest learned each other’s secret identities. Usually when DC tries to be wacky -- and especially in this title, as with Jeph Loeb and "Batzarro" -- it ends up being painfully unfunny, but not here, no sir. In fact, this almost parodies Loeb’s last storyline, what with its visitors from parallel universes and all. I was really not expecting this issue to be so good, and I hope this turns into an "annual" (sorry) tradition.
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