Let's begin on a positive note: the art in Wonder Woman #6 (written by Jodi Picoult, pencilled by Drew Johnson, inked by Ray Snyder) was really good. Johnson and Snyder are, of course, holdovers from the Greg Rucka days, when they were similarly good. There are loads of background gags and little bits of business, including a mysterious pair of eyes in a bathroom mirror on the first page. The book looks great. If this is your first Wonder Woman comic in twenty years, it may even read pretty well. However, in the context of a) Diana having been in Patriarch's World for an even longer period of time (in the revised timeline); and b) the story's lead villainess having been prominently featured in the last storyline, doing pretty much the same thing, this book is a horribly frustrating experience. It's as if -- and I really hate to sound provincial, like "don't bring your city-fied ways out here, missy" -- Ms. Picoult thought she could write this book in her sleep. Actually, I blame editor Matt Idelson, who might have clued her into the story's big problems and given her a chance to either fix or finesse them. A decent story may yet come out of this arc, but for now it looks like a first cousin to the last one.
I hit the Dwayne McDuffie trifecta this week, with Action Comics #847 (drawn by Renato Guedes), Firestorm #34 (pencilled by Pop Mhan, inked by Rob Stull and Ron Randall), and Fantastic Four #544 (pencilled by Paul Pelletier, inked by Rick Magyar). All were good, but I enjoyed FF #544 the most. Man, McDuffie continues to make silk purses out of the mess that Civil War made. I didn't know how Black Panther and Storm would fit into the group, but now I'm convinced. The first half of the book is housekeeping, and the second gets right into the cosmic. Pelletier and Magyar's art is livelier and more expressive than Mike McKone's, with some Kirbyesque flourishes and even a little Alan Davis influence. Fine work all around.
The Action story is a fill-in flashback framed with a sequence set in the middle of the current "Last Son" storyline. It tells a sweet, but somewhat by-the-numbers, story of Superman and Pa Kent going on a "fishing trip" into deep space, courtesy of a Kryptonian shuttlepod made by the Fortress of Solitude. (At this point I had to remind myself that the ancient Kryptonians were genetically incapable of leaving their home planet, and Kal-El didn't have that problem.) Art is good -- I like Renato Guedes pretty well -- although Pa looked beefier than normal. It's not a bad story, but it's nothing groundbreaking.
Firestorm continues the New Gods storyline in what I think the penultimate issue of the series. That means more fun with Mr. Miracle, Orion, and the Female Furies. Metron shows up too in an unexpected way. Everyone gets some good lines, including Metron (kind of like the Watcher's one-liner over in this week's FF). Art is nice and kinetic, appropriately so for an issue that's mostly fight scenes.
A different-looking set of some of the same Female Furies continues to appear in Hawkgirl #62 (written by Walt Simonson, drawn by Renato Arlem), as everyone takes on Giant Robot Hawkgirl. Honestly, this issue reminded me of a "Powerpuff Girls" episode, in both good and bad ways. It would have been a good Powerpuff episode. It's not really a good "straight" superhero comic. For one thing, the way to stop Giant Robot Hawkgirl turns out to be something that maybe the Furies should have thought of, and not Kendra, but she's the star, so she gets to use the brains, apparently. There's a lot about this book that I am willing to chalk up to Simonson's sense of goofy fun, but this issue went too far to the goofy.
Speaking of alien parasites that transform women, here's a twofer in Green Lantern #18 (written by Geoff Johns, drawn and colored by Daniel Acuna). The Star Sapphire seeks out Carol Ferris again, using her to attack Hal until it learns that Hal's now carrying a torch for Cowgirl. Leaving aside all the questionable messages about gender issues that the very idea of a maneating Star Sapphire raises, this was a fine-looking issue. Daniel Acuna has a distinctive style that serves the book fairly well, since it's pretty dependent on colors and a GL/SS fight is going to be pretty colorful. Hal looks about ten years younger than he should in spots, but I can live with that. As for the story ... I did like that once Carol was free of the Sapphire, she was actually helpful to Hal. Clearly Star Sapphire has a tremendous potential to be simply a repository of offensive female stereotypes, and while I think Geoff Johns is smart enough to avoid that, he also seems so wedded to the idea of "updating" the "traditions" associated with GL and his villains that he could make it much much worse. The "Sinestro Corps" backup story, drawn by Dave Gibbons, is a chilling little tale obviously in the mold of the more SF-oriented "Tales of the Green Lantern Corps" backups from the mid-1980s, and it's pretty successful.
52 #47 (written by JMRW, breakdowns by Keith Giffen, pencils by Giuseppe Camuncoli, inks by Lorenzo Ruggiero) got back to the old familiar multiple-focus format, checking in on various Bat-people, Wonder Woman, Intergang, Animal Man, the Steels, and Will Magnus. The art is a little more idiosyncratic than the standard 52 style, but that's not so bad. Overall, the issue flows well, and it's fairly satisfying.
The one problem I had with Superman Confidential #4 (written by Darwyn Cooke, drawn by Tim Sale) was one of perception. When we left him last issue, Supes' powers were draining under the influence of some offstage Kryptonite, and this issue finds him on the wrong end of a beatdown, Superman Returns style. Eventually, the Kryptonite is removed, and we think that Supes is going to get some sweet payback -- but then, the rest of the issue concerns Jimmy Olsen getting him out of harm's way. Given the ending, it could be a plot point, but right now it seems like a plot hole. Beyond that, and the question about how "alive" the Kryptonite is, the issue is pretty good. Sale does a good job conveying Supes' pain, the villains' perfidy, and Jimmy's eagerness, and Cooke's script is fine.
Finally, I quite enjoyed Batman #664 (written by Grant Morrison, pencilled by Andy Kubert, inked by Jesse Delperdang). It begins with a shameless James Bond (old-school, not Daniel Craig) parody designed solely to establish just how much cooler Bruce Wayne is. It uses a Little Nellie-style autogyro in a ski chase -- that's how Bondian it seeks to be. Once Bruce gets back to Gotham, an ordinary encounter with a pimp and some 'hos leads back to the Batman impersonator who shot the Joker in the face in Morrison's first issue. There are a few abrupt transitions in the issue, and it's not quite clear why Batman decides to question the pimp (just bored?), but the Kubert/Delperdang art, and Guy Major's colors, all looks fantastic. It may be this team's best issue yet, and it's starting to get into the '50s stuff I've been anticipating. Very cool.
I hit the Dwayne McDuffie trifecta this week, with Action Comics #847 (drawn by Renato Guedes), Firestorm #34 (pencilled by Pop Mhan, inked by Rob Stull and Ron Randall), and Fantastic Four #544 (pencilled by Paul Pelletier, inked by Rick Magyar). All were good, but I enjoyed FF #544 the most. Man, McDuffie continues to make silk purses out of the mess that Civil War made. I didn't know how Black Panther and Storm would fit into the group, but now I'm convinced. The first half of the book is housekeeping, and the second gets right into the cosmic. Pelletier and Magyar's art is livelier and more expressive than Mike McKone's, with some Kirbyesque flourishes and even a little Alan Davis influence. Fine work all around.
The Action story is a fill-in flashback framed with a sequence set in the middle of the current "Last Son" storyline. It tells a sweet, but somewhat by-the-numbers, story of Superman and Pa Kent going on a "fishing trip" into deep space, courtesy of a Kryptonian shuttlepod made by the Fortress of Solitude. (At this point I had to remind myself that the ancient Kryptonians were genetically incapable of leaving their home planet, and Kal-El didn't have that problem.) Art is good -- I like Renato Guedes pretty well -- although Pa looked beefier than normal. It's not a bad story, but it's nothing groundbreaking.
Firestorm continues the New Gods storyline in what I think the penultimate issue of the series. That means more fun with Mr. Miracle, Orion, and the Female Furies. Metron shows up too in an unexpected way. Everyone gets some good lines, including Metron (kind of like the Watcher's one-liner over in this week's FF). Art is nice and kinetic, appropriately so for an issue that's mostly fight scenes.
A different-looking set of some of the same Female Furies continues to appear in Hawkgirl #62 (written by Walt Simonson, drawn by Renato Arlem), as everyone takes on Giant Robot Hawkgirl. Honestly, this issue reminded me of a "Powerpuff Girls" episode, in both good and bad ways. It would have been a good Powerpuff episode. It's not really a good "straight" superhero comic. For one thing, the way to stop Giant Robot Hawkgirl turns out to be something that maybe the Furies should have thought of, and not Kendra, but she's the star, so she gets to use the brains, apparently. There's a lot about this book that I am willing to chalk up to Simonson's sense of goofy fun, but this issue went too far to the goofy.
Speaking of alien parasites that transform women, here's a twofer in Green Lantern #18 (written by Geoff Johns, drawn and colored by Daniel Acuna). The Star Sapphire seeks out Carol Ferris again, using her to attack Hal until it learns that Hal's now carrying a torch for Cowgirl. Leaving aside all the questionable messages about gender issues that the very idea of a maneating Star Sapphire raises, this was a fine-looking issue. Daniel Acuna has a distinctive style that serves the book fairly well, since it's pretty dependent on colors and a GL/SS fight is going to be pretty colorful. Hal looks about ten years younger than he should in spots, but I can live with that. As for the story ... I did like that once Carol was free of the Sapphire, she was actually helpful to Hal. Clearly Star Sapphire has a tremendous potential to be simply a repository of offensive female stereotypes, and while I think Geoff Johns is smart enough to avoid that, he also seems so wedded to the idea of "updating" the "traditions" associated with GL and his villains that he could make it much much worse. The "Sinestro Corps" backup story, drawn by Dave Gibbons, is a chilling little tale obviously in the mold of the more SF-oriented "Tales of the Green Lantern Corps" backups from the mid-1980s, and it's pretty successful.
52 #47 (written by JMRW, breakdowns by Keith Giffen, pencils by Giuseppe Camuncoli, inks by Lorenzo Ruggiero) got back to the old familiar multiple-focus format, checking in on various Bat-people, Wonder Woman, Intergang, Animal Man, the Steels, and Will Magnus. The art is a little more idiosyncratic than the standard 52 style, but that's not so bad. Overall, the issue flows well, and it's fairly satisfying.
The one problem I had with Superman Confidential #4 (written by Darwyn Cooke, drawn by Tim Sale) was one of perception. When we left him last issue, Supes' powers were draining under the influence of some offstage Kryptonite, and this issue finds him on the wrong end of a beatdown, Superman Returns style. Eventually, the Kryptonite is removed, and we think that Supes is going to get some sweet payback -- but then, the rest of the issue concerns Jimmy Olsen getting him out of harm's way. Given the ending, it could be a plot point, but right now it seems like a plot hole. Beyond that, and the question about how "alive" the Kryptonite is, the issue is pretty good. Sale does a good job conveying Supes' pain, the villains' perfidy, and Jimmy's eagerness, and Cooke's script is fine.
Finally, I quite enjoyed Batman #664 (written by Grant Morrison, pencilled by Andy Kubert, inked by Jesse Delperdang). It begins with a shameless James Bond (old-school, not Daniel Craig) parody designed solely to establish just how much cooler Bruce Wayne is. It uses a Little Nellie-style autogyro in a ski chase -- that's how Bondian it seeks to be. Once Bruce gets back to Gotham, an ordinary encounter with a pimp and some 'hos leads back to the Batman impersonator who shot the Joker in the face in Morrison's first issue. There are a few abrupt transitions in the issue, and it's not quite clear why Batman decides to question the pimp (just bored?), but the Kubert/Delperdang art, and Guy Major's colors, all looks fantastic. It may be this team's best issue yet, and it's starting to get into the '50s stuff I've been anticipating. Very cool.
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