Comic Book Reviews for Recent DC Releases

"Yeah, can we just try to drive home the point that Aquaman's a total bad-ass every chance we can? Great. Thanks."

JUSTICE LEAGUE #14

Written by: 

Geoff Johns

Art by: 

Tony S. Daniel

Richard Friend

Backup Art by: 

Gary Frank

Cover by: 

Tony S. Daniel

Richard Friend

Have fans had enough shenanigans to last a lifetime with this hacked-together driftwood that DC is producing with recent issues of Justice League? You know you're in trouble when your main event story arc is so waif-like it feels like it's being bullied by the backup story with Shazam! (which for some reason makes one think there are sick times in store for the beleaguered Billy Batson). The art, as ever, is pretty in a refined sugar kind of way.

Honestly, there isn't much to say for the story of the Justice League up to this point. Stuff is happening, sure, but there's rarely any extension of tension in the content.  The whole thing feels forced like absolutely nothing else Geoff Johns has ever written, and much like the Star Wars prequels, these issues cannot be undone.  They're canon now, we can only move on.  It feels like Johns is removed even further from his comfort zone with the (temporary) removal of Hal Jordan from the team, and the focus on a (forced forced forced forced) relationship between Wonder Woman and Superman felt like it lacked the passion it might have had with, say, years of actual build-up, as it has been rumbling in the background of the main arc for a minute now.  But the final page/panel of this issue is the greatest and most frustrating tease of all, as it seems to imply that something has been going on under the surface of these hollow automaton pose-a-thon caricatures the entire time. 

But that's just a tease, maybe. Nothing to see here yet, kids, move along.

6.5/10

What is this goofy mess? Superman looks, like, twelve years old. Heck, Jason Todd has more crow's feet than him.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #14

Written by: 

Scott Lobdell

Art by: 

Pascal Alixe

Cover by: 

Kenneth Rocafort 

A genuinely guilty pleasure of this reviewer is the smart and slick surprise sleeper, Red Hood and the Outlaws.  Whether taking on Obese Asian Mob Mistresses, fighting smoke ninjas, or taking on alien menaces, the jumping bean of the major arcs in this series seems to lead us into a nostalgic singalong.  With Starfire (amnesiac nymphomaniac alien princess) and Arsenal (that, um, goofy bro with the trick arrows and a big mouth) backing up Jason Todd (Robin II, aka Red Hood, aka dead man walking) in his misadventures, there's no way to successfully summarize the main thrust or moral to this comic book. And it wouldn't work any other way.  That... and Pascal Alixe's art could make anything look cool.

Red Hood and the Outlaws succeeds where many other titles along the same vein or corner of the DC New 52 essentially fail.  The failure of Teen Titans, or The Ravagers, or whatever other mess being spawned by Image-hacks of Christmas Past, is that the overarching plot crushes any real chance at characterization, which in turn kills investment in the overarching plot.  Instead of fleshed-out dialogue and events, flattened stick-puppets in flashy costumes react verbosely again and again to some (likely misunderstood) villain with nigh-infinite powers and an endless array of schemes within plots within schemes, amounting to bupkiss, since nobody involved is easy to access or relate to.  

In Red Hood and the Outlaws, we're put in third person limited omniscient perspective with essentially a cast of three characters, and each character's motivations are explored alongside the demons and angels of their personal backstories that inevitably pop up.

With this issue, Superman shows up and the standard superhero slugfest ensues. Except it doesn't feel forced or stupid. Scott Lobdell has grown increasingly comfortable with this comic, as evidenced by the spunky manner in which he chooses to approach it. It's not stale, it's not automatically painful, and where it lags, Pascal's art kicks in and distracts. Well played, overall, and consistent with what it promises.

8/10

 
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You know you're in trouble when the slobbering alien starts firing yellow dwarfs at you.

GREEN LANTERN NEW GUARDIANS #14

Written by: 

Tony Bedard

Art by: 

Aaron Kuder

Cover by: 

Aaron Kuder

Variant Cover by: 

Aaron Kuder

Good old Kyle Rayner. More approachable than any other Green Lantern in the sector, and possibly the savior of the entire universe, soon enough. For some reason I have a soft spot for Green Lantern: New Guardians. It's quirky and moves at a brisk pace, exploring the potential for cosmic DCU done right. The art is consistent and quiet at times, then dazzles with the technological wonders of computer content playing with the chromatic content generated in the Green Lantern sector of the DCU New 52. It feels less forced than some titles and characters, you aren't forced to jettison decades of hard-won memories in the nostalgia fields just to enjoy the actions taking place. Characters are explored, up-sized, fleshed-out, and turned around each issue, and the cast of characters is such that the protagonist of any story might be explored tangentially to the overarching plot, namely the Guardians of the Universe are evil as hell and have raised a Third Army, rendered Hal Jordan and Sinestro moot, and are even now finding new ways to make readers hate them every issue. It's all building up to something big, and the spine of that mega-event is New Guardians. Expect its spotlight to brighten soon.

8.5/10

The classic "Fat Mobster type strikes a deal with a Demon", you know, the usual. No bigs.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #14: Blue Devil & Black Lightning 

Written by: 

Marc Andreyko

Art by: 

Robson Rocha

Cover by: 

Ryan Sook

It's nice that DC has seen fit to use DC Comics Presents as a testing ground for all the characters that don't get their own continuous series.  Black Lightning had an interesting investment in the Final Crisis storyline of universes gone past, and Blue Devil found himself in the breakroom of the Justice League Headquarters not a few times over the years.  Now the two of them team up to stop a demon and his soul-trafficking mobster with a skin condition and a glandular problem. Overall the art gets kitschy when everything slows down, but in certain pages the kinetics of it give the action an enhancement. Not a bad story, but by the numbers with just enough developments to keep a reader reading. Maybe.

7.5/10

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Joker's back. And he's playing mind games with Catwoman to an absolutely ridiculous extent.

CATWOMAN #14

Written by:

Ann Nocenti

Art by:

Rafael Sandoval

Jordi Tarrogona

Cover by:

Trevor McCarthy

This issue of Catwoman is aggravating, due to its ties to the current crossover in Bat-titles "Death in the Family"... yet compelling in its own right. This particular issue goes with the new format of all Batman related titles, namely "Let's all have a heart-to-heart with the Joker", better known as "Death of the Family", wherein the Joker, having had his face surgically removed off-camera, somehow develops superhuman-like powers, not unlike Wolverine, where he can simultaneously be everywhere at once and at the same time develop elaborate death traps, break the neck of every policeman in a station save one, kidnap Alfred, recreate every single action he'd ever made up until this time and monologue until you want to claw his face back off. Here he continues with his amazing new Joker powers by conning Catwoman into paralyzing herself and get a bunch of bat-symbols all over her.  Nothing really feels like it's heading anywhere, and by the time we get to our stop on this ride, we may have already fallen asleep. Catwoman started fresh and still has a bit of that in it, but not for quirky cross-overs that feel like "talkies".

7/10

All the overlapping conversations of 100 Bullets are finally revealed in Wonder Woman, for some reason.

WONDER WOMAN #14

Written by:

Brian Azzarello

Art by:

Tony Akins

Dan Green

Cover by:

Cliff Chiang

Variant Cover by:

Cliff Chiang

Brian Azzarello is doing a good job with Wonder Woman and retooling the mythology of her new place in the DC Universe. The overall reverence for the gods and goddesses, fitting, one would suppose, is the circulatory system that makes this book function. Gone are all the mismatched peculiarities and baggage of the previous volumes, now at least her motives are clear and present. The interactions with all the offshoots of deity and godlings and established scions has been ongoing since this series began, and it seems to sit in its own remote location in the DCU New 52, far away from continuities that would muss it up. This is positive, for the time being, allowing Azzarello to enrich Diana in the manner in which she deserves. Where the Justice League's Wonder Woman feels more teeth-gritting and over-archetyped, the Wonder Woman in her own title is more regal in her bearing, fearless but not beligerrant, and overall inhabiting both her godly namesake and another thing entirely, a far cry from when she was a gimmicky drama queen or a murderous misandrist.

9/10

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DC New 52 Issue Zeroes Reviews

Does anyone still have fresh memories of the time Hal Jordan broke from character, went ostensibly insane, and attempted to revamp the DC Universe with the maxi-crossover Zero Hour? It was  a means to extend the aging franchise of various half-century old properties, revitalize storylines, and pique interests anew in the 1990's... coming out of the era which stated "Change is Necessity" the origins of the various characters did not shift considerably, whereas the troublesome Golden Age heroes either died or underwent an apotheosis. The one-billionth incarnation of the Legion of Super Heroes emerged.  

During the Q and A a few months ago, there came the question of whether or not DC would commit to issue zeroes for the DC New 52, and sure enough, that was just what they had in store.

Some of the ones that came out this Wednesday are noted below in a "Top 5 of the Week" format. 

BATMAN AND ROBIN #0

Written by: 

Peter J. Tomasi

Art by: 

Patrick Gleason

Mick Gray

Cover by: 

Patrick Gleason

Mick Gray

Since the arrival of Damian, Batman's son by way of Ra's Al Ghul's daughter, we've seen the tumultuous ride unfold in topsy-turvy plot collisions and a terribly disappointing resurrection deflation.  The titles all warped once more with the arrival of The New 52, but interestingly, outside of the retconning of Batgirl/woman and the addition of Talons and Owls into the Dark Knight's mythos, the main series remained fundamentally intact.  What Batman and Robin #0 provides is a perspective into the oft-referenced training that Damian Wayne received practically from birth.  We see the role of his father as symbol of worth, and his troubling relationship with his mother.  This issue is executed flawlessly, giving it a perfect score, nearly impossible in this neck of the woods.

10/10

Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #0

Writer: Matt Kindt

Artist: Alberto Ponticelli

Inker: Wayne Faucher

Letterer: Patrick Brosseau

Colorist: Jose Villarrubia

Editor: Joey Cavalieri

Publisher: DC Comics

When Frankenstein was first conceived as a miniseries during the Seven Soldiers of Victory esoterica during DC's "Let Grant Morrison steer a bizarre vessel through the mainstream" days, it was by far the most successful and strictly speaking stand-out title of the bunch.  A lumbering behemoth of science, the ill-gotten monster of a Modern Prometheus, taking his creator's name as his own, spouting parables from the Bible and Shakespeare while cleaving monsters in twain, was a brilliant concept.  When Flashpoint ran through stores to make way for The New 52, Frankenstein was again given a limited series, this time with his fellow Scary Movie Golden Age Archetypes, textured versions of the Wolfman, Vampire, Black Lagoon Monster, etc. all given reign of the classic World War 2 Squadron motif.  This carried over into the new universe, but established within the framework of Father Time's S.H.A.D.E. operation (hearkening to an interesting time when Uncle Sam was pertinent to the DCU Mainstream with his Freedom Fighters).  For Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #0, we get a straightforward origin story, crafted to fill in details of the monster's life and describe his motivations within the organization that he has served for so long.  It delivers precisely what it claims to, and a little more to boot, with (un)naturalized characters and fittingly descriptive art. 

9.5/10

RESURRECTION MAN #0

Written by: 

Dan Abnett

Andy Lanning

Art by: 

Jesús Saíz

Cover by: 

Francesco Francavilla

One of the certainties of the Resurrection Man series was always that it would never get very far.  A certain apathy comes to casual readers with a character like Mitch Shelley, though admirably the story laid out in the series was linear and catchy enough to snag some loyalists, myself included.  Announcements regarding the cancellation of the series are sad enough. With Issue #0, our hero, who resurrects with new powers every time he dies, discovers the truth of who he is, who he was, and who he will be.  The plot-threads playing themselves out up to this point seem less slap-dash now that certain pieces have been put into place, although some knots didn't need as much unraveling as they received.  The series as a whole has had a Fugitive feel to it, and it's understandable that without that driving force, the series could have gone stale much more quickly.  It's been a long strange trip with only a few bumps and snags, but this issue answers a lot of questions and is a microcosm testament to the strengths and weaknesses of the series as a whole.

8.5/10

STORMWATCH #0

Written by: 

Peter Milligan

Art by: 

Ignacio Calero

Sean Parsons

Cover by: 

Tyler Kirkham

Batt

From Stormwatch came The Authority (and from that the Monarchy and Meritocracy and Establishment and Planetary) and from The Authority came Stormwatch.  The New 52 proposes Stormwatch as a centuries-old organization of superhumans of all sorts coming together with the common cause of warding off alien menaces.  Integrated into the calling is our teenage Century Baby (The Doctor meets Cultural/Industrial Zeitgeist personafied) Jenny Quantum, being trained by Adam One (former leader of Stormwatch, stuck in a Death Hole or somesuch now) in this issue #0, ostensibly situated within the current order of events of the standard plot.  Perhaps owing the most of its existence to the merging of properties out of all New 52 titles, it has shown the most competent superhero team on the planet, and also the most secretive.  Peter Milligan has smartly adopted the history of this expansive and ancient organization to reveal only a bit at a time.  This issue seems a tad heavy on the exposition, which lags some areas, but is essential to hints of Jenny's "history" with the group throughout the ages.         

8.5/10

DEMON KNIGHTS #0

Written by:
Paul Cornell
Art by:
Bernard Chang
Cover by:
Bernard Chang

Another title that seems to owe its existence to the propositions of those that seek to add an actual air of historicity to the New 52 Universe. Demon Knights #0 is another example of a take on the origin story motif, though this one focuses exclusively on the dichotomy of Jason Blood and Etrigan the demon, both upstarts reaching for ambitions well beyond their grasps, leading to their ultimately being bound together, though they never precisely overlap.  Therein lies the intrigue, with Merlin and Arthur playing as prominent roles in young hotheaded Jason Blood's life as Lucifer does in Etrigan's, entertaining petty and pointless rebellions to stave off the boredom.  Pacing is a mild problem with this issue, and in certain places feels pinched or rushed, but to be fair, it is an origin story, and stands in interesting contrast to the Demon #0 released after Zero Hour, so long ago, hitting buttons of the oddest nostalgia, yet not quite fulfilling expectations.  However, intrigue and interest has been triggered, as this is a solid and serviceable read, especially next to releases so dreadful they shall not be reviewed or even named here.

8.5/10

Stormwatch and the Construction of the New DC Universe

Quick, identify the ONE character on this cover that's still alive.

Some time ago, Image Comics started a series known as Stormwatch.  It seemed, at first glance, to be an upgraded version of Rob Liefeld's Youngblood, put out by the same company, with a Jim Lee twist.  Team of superhumans works for the United Nations, as opposed to the United States, for the betterment of mankind, fighting alien invasions, superhuman terrorists, and the like.  Team swag includes orbiting satellite, a dozen plus tech-fitted members representative of countries from all around the globe, snappy banter to spare, and plots with slightly more personality than hatchet-marks.

The Stormwatch series ran through a good number of issues, with peaks and eddies, finally falling into the hands of one Warren Ellis, a relatively new comic writer at the time, who sought to take the characters in different directions than they had previously explored.  One gaseous and cybernetically enhanced model hero by the name of Fuji, for instance, confessed during Ellis' run that he had an orgasm every five minutes.

Then, in the grand tradition of writers seeking to breathe life into stale franchises, Ellis had nearly every member of the main team murdered in a WildC.A.T.s/Aliens crossover.

The remaining members, those in Stormwatch's Black Ops division, went on to form the Authority, a team of megapowered individuals including one Jenny Sparks, the living embodiment of the 20th century, and fittingly, quite British.  The Authority represented every liberal creed given the power to take over the world.  This team was given over to Mark Millar once Ellis had moved his attention in the Image Universe towards his hit-series Planetary (which will never ever ever re-emerge in the DCU, so don't ask).  Millar went on to become megastar supreme burning bright in the sky with projects like Kick Ass, Ellis went on to other projects with other companies like Avatar and Marvel, and the Authority, Stormwatch's child, in a fashion, floundered through a series of hedonistic, convoluted, bizarre and massive storylines, culminating in the near-total destruction of the planet Earth.  At one point, Grant Morrison signed on to do a limited series run, which died after two issues. Jenny Sparks, who died on December 31, 1999, was replaced by Jenny Quantum, who followed a grand tradition of ultrapowerful kid superheroes (see Franklin Richards) by hyperaging herself.  Regardless of the Authority's melodrama, the mantle of Stormwatch was taken up once again by the excellent Team Achilles, whose writer, Micah Ian Wright, apparently lied about his background and got it cancelled.  There was a cheery effort made with Doug Mahnke  and Christos Gage with another Stormwatch iteration, Post Human Division, but that lasted only about a year.   

In the background of all this, at some point, perhaps reflected in the time that the Wildstorm iteration of Earth was utterly annihilated, DC Comics bought Wildstorm.  When the New 52 revamp/reboot occurred a short time ago, many heroes and villains of the Wildstorm stable of characters were transferred into the new universe.  The first arc of Stormwatch centers on the team's mission to recruit Apollo and Midnighter, lovingly referred to at times as "the gay Superman and Batman", and stop a monster in the moon from destroying the planet.  

The story of Stormwatch never got the coverage that the Authority or even WildC.A.T.s seemed so prone to getting.  Great artists come and go, but a stable writer for "wide-screen" superheroics can make a lasting impression on an entire universe world of characters, at least until a massive revision renders it moot.  Stormwatch outstrips the Justice League in the new DCU in terms of power, potential, and personality.  We know Superman from so many angles we can likely predict his every line. Even the most DC oriented character in the new Stormwatch, the Martian Manhunter, is a far cry from the Justice League staple he once was.  The background for this title is rich for mining, so long as the people in charge of making these donuts remember that people like their donuts fresh, not day-old.  

To that end, it's nice to see Peter Milligan and Miguel Sepulveda working on the title again.  During their brief break, the "Gravity Miners" storyline, reader interest was already in danger of waning, if only for the fact that some characters weren't jelling properly, in character or overall tone.  There's a stability to this title with Milligan writing it. He knows the voices of each character and knows the plot threads for this title set a year from now.  Miguel Sepulveda's artwork seems to get better with each passing issue, and the chops he earned with cosmic characters in the Marvel stables seems to serve him well in this series.

Jenny Quantum forms a new use for her powers, Martian Manhunter mindwipes witnesses, and Jack Hawksmoor sweet-talks a city into putting itself back together. The first covert superhero team that's actually, you know, covert.

The new Stormwatch deals almost exclusively with extraterrestrial threats and near-cosmic incursions. They are based in a ship with Daemonite A.I. that orbits Earth in Hyperspace.  They are the best at what they do, and what they do is a secret that nobody, not even the other superhumans of the planet, is aware of.  This, coupled with the nostalgia one might feel for certain characters and the well-paced development of storylines, could lead to great success, in the long run.
The most recent issue of Stormwatch sees a fight with the Vitruvian Man and a Red Lantern.  The Vitruvian Man reveals he was a member of an older iteration of Stormwatch who was denied his true love when the "Shadow Lords" that run Stormwatch (far more intriguing than a U.N. subcommittee) had her murdered.  The Red Lantern Skallox, a being of few words, was recently one of several "upgraded" from mindless killing machine in issues of Red Lantern.  Stormwatch, being comprised of the best superhumans possible, delves into these two stories in the same amount of pages it takes some heroes, writers, and artists to deal with a conversation between two characters walking down the street.

The Da Vinci Coda sums it up, yeah.

In some ways, the New DC Universe feels rushed and crawling at a snail's pace at the same time.  An odd paradox, figuring that one out.  But there are hints at the unfolding universe that never seem to flesh out completely.  Marvel guru Joe Quesada recently said something to the effect that DC "burned down their house" with their new DC lineup, but it's a bit more complex than that. The DC staff took a beautiful old house that had been remodeled a few times already (Crisis on Infinite Earths, Zero Hour, 52, Final Crisis) and, after careful study, razed it, reconstructing it to be a near-match, with a few minor additions and aesthetic alterations.  But the rich and complex tapestry of years of stories, crossovers, and character interactions is still present, we can assume?  Giving the assembly of the Justice League a marker at "Five Years Ago" presents a universal timeline that confuses at the same time as it clarifies. There are a whole spectrum of rings present in the DCU, but did the events of Blackest Night and Brightest Day actually happen? Impossible, if the Martian Manhunter, who died in Final Crisis and arose at the end of Blackest Night, played anything resembling a pivotal part, as he's a secret member of Stormwatch and has been for years, in new continuity. Or are we dealing with a clean slate, of sorts? Will the gaps be filled in, the furniture of the rooms in this new house, be uncovered with deft maneuverings or simple sweeps?  How is a world of heroes such as the ultraviolent homoerotic Midnighter able to merge with the restrained vigilantism of Batman?  Only the more talented writers in the DC offices will be able to pull it off, and only careful editorial work can make it stick.   

When we all look back on this after they get in a big fight, we'll chuckle.

Teen Titan's most recent annual (the series has a lot of quirks and flaws for me, but I think it's geared more towards teens, go figure) actually seems to be indicative of the positives and negatives of the new universe we just mentioned.  Here, the Legion Lost title crosses over, and there is a lot of talk about a Culling, and new/old characters (including Fuji from the old Stormwatch team and Warblade of WildC.A.T.s)... but it seems to be centered, almost maniacally so, on the present, discarding the past.  It's this spirit that seems to inhabit the final page of Stormwatch (before we digress too wildly) where we see the thread of the Midnighter's running monologue, wherein he muses over his bloodlust and, very clearly, for the first time in any comic book ever, sees Batman with his own eyes. Whether this is a hard-light hologram or a vision, it is not a ham-fisted or puerile point being driven home. The restraints of certain characters are exchanged, echoed, or distorted among the various other characters in the multiverse. As the DC New 52 moves into the final stretch of its first year, old fans and new see crossovers popping up here and there, a new history being written on a fresh page, rather than the old page being erased and scribbled over.  It's moments of intrigue, such as those that can be found in Stormwatch, that keep readers coming back.  Everyone working at DC would do well to keep this in mind, no matter who they are or what their role is...