The Brave and the Bold #10 (written by Mark Waid, pencilled by George Perez, inked by Scott Koblish) presents another time-hopping extravaganza for what has turned out to be Perez's last issue. After a prologue with the Challengers of the Unknown, Superman and the Silent Knight team up to fight a dragon and destroy a Megistus-related gizmo. In this story, Waid uses the Knight as a first-person narrator, but the narration isn't the usual hip-thought-balloon substitute. Instead, as a one-page montage of their travels demonstrates, the Knight is actually telling the story himself, thereby (at the risk of being redundant) narrating. So that was nice. The second half of the issue is a fun look at Aqualad through the eyes of the original Teen Titans, Aquaman, and Megistus himself. (The Big M alludes to the powers that the adult Garth will manifest as Tempest.) Set around Aquaman's wedding to Mera, it includes cameos by the Justice League and a neat set of jokes at the expense of Wonder Woman's earrings. Perez' work is, of course, great as always, and I'm sorry to see him go -- but as long as Waid and new penciller Jerry Ordway are on board, this will be one of DC's best titles.
I liked the big payoffs in Countdown #10 (written by Paul Dini and Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti, story consultant Keith Giffen, drawn by Scott Kolins), and it's probably not worth complaining about the time it took to get to them. Harley, Holly, and Mary fight what I presume is a fresh-baked batch of Female Furies, Karate Kid fights the OMAC-ed Una, and it looks like everyone will have to fight all of Apokolips before too long. You'd think that with two powerhouses, a Green Lantern, an ex-Atom, and an ex-Robin, that wouldn't be too hard, but there are still nine issues to go. Kolins' art was good, although a little stiff and sketchy, kind of like Ron Lim. The dialogue was serviceable, because it really didn't have much to do beyond get the characters from one beat to the next. Finally, Scott Beatty and Bruce Timm contribute the very fun two-page Origin Of Harley Quinn.
The Salvation Run-fueled storyline continues in Justice League of America #18 (written by Alan Burnett, pencilled by Ed Benes, inked by Sandra Hope), and it doesn't improve that much. Burnett uses those first-person narrative-caption boxes Meltzer-style, which is to say that they're connected to the narrator/thinker only by their colors. The main story is fifteen pages long, but two of those are a rump-tastic double-page spread and most of it is a bunch of exposition and posturing between the League and the Suicide Squad. It's the kind of thing that turns me off of crossovers, and considering I've stuck with Countdown this long, that's not an easy thing to do. The backup story, by Dwayne McDuffie, Jon Boy Meyers, and Mark Irwin, is a Red Tornado spotlight that doesn't have much to do with anything. It describes the shiny new body Reddy is getting, and is probably intended to make him more sympathetic, but it just kind of sits there. I'm not terribly familiar with the artists, whose work is reminiscent of Todd Nauck's.
Birds Of Prey #115 (written by Sean McKeever, pencilled by Nicola Scott, inked by Doug Hazlewood) picks up with the Huntress and Lady Blackhawk tracking the old Blackhawk nemesis King Shark. Meanwhile, Oracle has to keep Misfit from killing Black Alice before BA can track down the magical menace who blew up a city block (and apparently killed Will & Grace) a couple issues back. This was a good issue, well-paced and fairly dialogue-driven. I expected the tension between Misfit and Black Alice to be a little wackier, given the cover, but Misfit comes across like a petulant kid ... which, of course, she is. I liked that McKeever was willing to take her there. Misfit is reminding me more of a non-psychopathic Tara Markov, and that's a good thing. Scott and Hazlewood turn in another fine issue, although I didn't quite get on the first pass the "lava burp" which downs the Blackhawk plane.
Yes, that's Superman in Checkmate #23 (written by Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann, pencilled by Joe Bennett, inked by Jack Jadson), and he's only part of the well-done first installment of "Castling." The deep-cover agent who's infiltrated Kobra sends out a desparate message, alerting Checkmate to a big threat on the horizon from the cult. The situation is so dire that only Superman can evac the agent, which he does in typical fashion. The highlight, though, is the relationship between Checkmate and Superman, which is a real pleasure to see portrayed. I liked this issue a whole lot. Bennett and Jadson's clean lines contrast well with Santiago Arcas' earthy color palette (Superman excepted, of course). Superman alludes to his previous dealings with a less charitable Checkmate, but ultimately he respects the current leadership and they respect the heck out of him. I'll hate to give this book up when Rucka and Trautmann leave in a couple of issues, but I don't see how too many writers could produce something this enjoyable.
Superman also appears in The Flash #237 (written by Keith Champagne, pencilled by Koi Turnbull, inked by Art Thibert), as the Wests take a field trip to Metropolis. Wally procrastinates about job interviews by going on superhero missions, while Linda sends the kids on a scavenger hunt. I'm of two minds about the art: on one hand, it's certainly kinetic and expressive, which is appropriate for the book; but on the other, it's almost too busy. The story also seemed rather unfocused. The job-interview scenes were cute (apparently Wally still has a secret identity as far as the general public is concerned), and I liked Linda's interaction with Lois Lane, but I had a hard time keeping the Metropolis plot straight. Tom Peyer starts as writer next issue, so I'm looking forward to that.
Batman Confidential #13 (written by Tony Bedard, pencilled by Rags Morales, inked by Mark Farmer) begins a new arc featuring The Wrath, a one-off villain from a 1980s Batman Special. Wrath's parents were criminals killed by a policeman -- James Gordon, in fact -- so his life takes an oddly familiar, yet twisted path. Now he's back, and killing policemen attending a Gotham police convention. This story takes place in the Disco Nightwing days (which makes me think Jason Todd should be around somewhere), so there's some tension between Dick and Bruce, and Leslie Thompkins is still in the picture too. I liked it pretty well -- Morales is a good storyteller, and I like Farmer inking him. I liked the cliffhanger, too.
I also liked Superman Confidential #12 (written by B. Clay Moore, pencilled by Phil Hester, inked by Ande Parks), almost more for the art than for the story. It's a fun start to an arc involving the origin of Jimmy Olsen's signal watch and the Toyman's giant killer robots. I've always liked Hester and Parks' thick-lined, "cartoony" style, though; and they suit this kind of light-hearted adventure very well.
Finally, The Spirit #14 introduces the new creative team of writers Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier, penciller Mike Ploog, and inker Mark Farmer, replacing writer/artist Darwyn Cooke. Their first issue is pretty entertaining -- a light murder mystery that didn't exactly play fair, but with a good sense of fun that carried it. Ploog and Farmer evoke Eisner's designs for the most part, although I thought their Spirit's jaw wasn't square enough and they didn't bring the same overall design schemes to the book that Cooke did.
So there you go. By the way, I still haven't gotten my scanner hooked up yet, but probably this week sometime.
I liked the big payoffs in Countdown #10 (written by Paul Dini and Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti, story consultant Keith Giffen, drawn by Scott Kolins), and it's probably not worth complaining about the time it took to get to them. Harley, Holly, and Mary fight what I presume is a fresh-baked batch of Female Furies, Karate Kid fights the OMAC-ed Una, and it looks like everyone will have to fight all of Apokolips before too long. You'd think that with two powerhouses, a Green Lantern, an ex-Atom, and an ex-Robin, that wouldn't be too hard, but there are still nine issues to go. Kolins' art was good, although a little stiff and sketchy, kind of like Ron Lim. The dialogue was serviceable, because it really didn't have much to do beyond get the characters from one beat to the next. Finally, Scott Beatty and Bruce Timm contribute the very fun two-page Origin Of Harley Quinn.
The Salvation Run-fueled storyline continues in Justice League of America #18 (written by Alan Burnett, pencilled by Ed Benes, inked by Sandra Hope), and it doesn't improve that much. Burnett uses those first-person narrative-caption boxes Meltzer-style, which is to say that they're connected to the narrator/thinker only by their colors. The main story is fifteen pages long, but two of those are a rump-tastic double-page spread and most of it is a bunch of exposition and posturing between the League and the Suicide Squad. It's the kind of thing that turns me off of crossovers, and considering I've stuck with Countdown this long, that's not an easy thing to do. The backup story, by Dwayne McDuffie, Jon Boy Meyers, and Mark Irwin, is a Red Tornado spotlight that doesn't have much to do with anything. It describes the shiny new body Reddy is getting, and is probably intended to make him more sympathetic, but it just kind of sits there. I'm not terribly familiar with the artists, whose work is reminiscent of Todd Nauck's.
Birds Of Prey #115 (written by Sean McKeever, pencilled by Nicola Scott, inked by Doug Hazlewood) picks up with the Huntress and Lady Blackhawk tracking the old Blackhawk nemesis King Shark. Meanwhile, Oracle has to keep Misfit from killing Black Alice before BA can track down the magical menace who blew up a city block (and apparently killed Will & Grace) a couple issues back. This was a good issue, well-paced and fairly dialogue-driven. I expected the tension between Misfit and Black Alice to be a little wackier, given the cover, but Misfit comes across like a petulant kid ... which, of course, she is. I liked that McKeever was willing to take her there. Misfit is reminding me more of a non-psychopathic Tara Markov, and that's a good thing. Scott and Hazlewood turn in another fine issue, although I didn't quite get on the first pass the "lava burp" which downs the Blackhawk plane.
Yes, that's Superman in Checkmate #23 (written by Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann, pencilled by Joe Bennett, inked by Jack Jadson), and he's only part of the well-done first installment of "Castling." The deep-cover agent who's infiltrated Kobra sends out a desparate message, alerting Checkmate to a big threat on the horizon from the cult. The situation is so dire that only Superman can evac the agent, which he does in typical fashion. The highlight, though, is the relationship between Checkmate and Superman, which is a real pleasure to see portrayed. I liked this issue a whole lot. Bennett and Jadson's clean lines contrast well with Santiago Arcas' earthy color palette (Superman excepted, of course). Superman alludes to his previous dealings with a less charitable Checkmate, but ultimately he respects the current leadership and they respect the heck out of him. I'll hate to give this book up when Rucka and Trautmann leave in a couple of issues, but I don't see how too many writers could produce something this enjoyable.
Superman also appears in The Flash #237 (written by Keith Champagne, pencilled by Koi Turnbull, inked by Art Thibert), as the Wests take a field trip to Metropolis. Wally procrastinates about job interviews by going on superhero missions, while Linda sends the kids on a scavenger hunt. I'm of two minds about the art: on one hand, it's certainly kinetic and expressive, which is appropriate for the book; but on the other, it's almost too busy. The story also seemed rather unfocused. The job-interview scenes were cute (apparently Wally still has a secret identity as far as the general public is concerned), and I liked Linda's interaction with Lois Lane, but I had a hard time keeping the Metropolis plot straight. Tom Peyer starts as writer next issue, so I'm looking forward to that.
Batman Confidential #13 (written by Tony Bedard, pencilled by Rags Morales, inked by Mark Farmer) begins a new arc featuring The Wrath, a one-off villain from a 1980s Batman Special. Wrath's parents were criminals killed by a policeman -- James Gordon, in fact -- so his life takes an oddly familiar, yet twisted path. Now he's back, and killing policemen attending a Gotham police convention. This story takes place in the Disco Nightwing days (which makes me think Jason Todd should be around somewhere), so there's some tension between Dick and Bruce, and Leslie Thompkins is still in the picture too. I liked it pretty well -- Morales is a good storyteller, and I like Farmer inking him. I liked the cliffhanger, too.
I also liked Superman Confidential #12 (written by B. Clay Moore, pencilled by Phil Hester, inked by Ande Parks), almost more for the art than for the story. It's a fun start to an arc involving the origin of Jimmy Olsen's signal watch and the Toyman's giant killer robots. I've always liked Hester and Parks' thick-lined, "cartoony" style, though; and they suit this kind of light-hearted adventure very well.
Finally, The Spirit #14 introduces the new creative team of writers Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier, penciller Mike Ploog, and inker Mark Farmer, replacing writer/artist Darwyn Cooke. Their first issue is pretty entertaining -- a light murder mystery that didn't exactly play fair, but with a good sense of fun that carried it. Ploog and Farmer evoke Eisner's designs for the most part, although I thought their Spirit's jaw wasn't square enough and they didn't bring the same overall design schemes to the book that Cooke did.
So there you go. By the way, I still haven't gotten my scanner hooked up yet, but probably this week sometime.
1 comment:
Based on the DC Comics preview blurbs about The Flash 237 I was looking forward to it. I was rather disappointed though as the story wasn't that cohesive.
I understand given Wally's abilities and life "unfocused" is par for the course for him but I was hoping the comic would be more focused.
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