DC Universe Presents #0 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: The Return of the Canned.

The Review: For a showcase title, a #0 issue presents an interesting question, doesn’t it?  How does one choose an origin story for a series open to all origin stories?  I suppose not choosing is one answer.  As annuals and the ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful Weird Worlds prove, comics don’t handle multiple features well, at least not if you want to get some substantial, serious reading out of them.  DC’s definitely pushing it with five pieces stuffed in one issue.

Blackhawks #8 – Review

By: Mike Costa (story), Cafu (pencils), Bit (inks), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: When the day’s flying is done, every bird must go back to its nest.

The Review: Just a few days ago, I noted in my review of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #6 that with Nick Spencer going off that title, I didn’t really believe there was any title that could really take its place.  Upon reflection, I may have overstated things a bit.  After reading this issue, I firmly believe that Costa might have, given some more, written turned this series into such a title, which makes its cancellation all the more tragic.

From the first issue I ever read, I noticed and greatly admired Costa’s sprightly writing, which has a similar combination of wit and intelligence as Spencer’s.  Even with tons of exposition being exchanged, he keeps the pace breezy, making sure each bit of information comes through a logical part of the dialogue.  He also knows the right timing to throw in a smart joke and break up the tension (“Attila wet his pants.”  “My nervous system was being short-circuited!”).

Blackhawks #7 – Review

By: Mike Costa (writer), Cafu & Carlos Rodriguez (pencillers), Bit (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: A “Keep Out” sign is pretty meaningless when you fly a plane into it.

The Review: It goes without saying that getting cancelled would not count among the top ten experiences of your life.  For any creator who cares about his work, there’s the heartache, of course, not only from the realization his baby has no support, but also from the fact he won’t get to see that baby grow up.  Also for anyone who cares about his work, he now has the difficulty of trying to wrap up at the last second stories he hoped would play out for a while.

What you often get is a mad scramble to draw the act to a close and finish with a bang, much like you do in this issue.  There’s a clear feeling of haste throughout, as Costa must rely on heavy exposition, much more than he’s done in any issue I’ve read of him thus far, to speed the action toward its climax.  Hence Lincoln’s narrative spiel taking the Blackhawks from their shaky recovery from a direct attack on their turf to their de facto final mission, all within five pages.

At any rate, Costa disguises the blistering pace of the issue pretty well, using a combination of lively dialogue (“Those guys are firing carbon-fiber needles at 3,000 meters per second…You were briefed to stay out of range!  They dissolve from friction after 4,000 feet.”  Canada: “How much math am I supposed to do here?!”) and meticulously timed action sequences, throwing in a few slow-mo panels to break up the rush just before you get overwhelmed.

Blackhawks #6 – Review

By: Mike Costa (writer), Cafu (penciller), Bit (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: The moment you let the media in, everything goes to hell.

The Review: Remember how last month, in Voodoo #5, I mentioned that I hate research and I don’t keep up with the news as well I ought?  To make it clear, that applies to the comic book biz, as well.  So it probably shouldn’t surprise you to learn that two weeks after picking up Blackhawks for the first time and enjoying the heck out of it and looking forward to following it diligently, I discovered that it’s on the chopping block.

To be frank, having only just leaped onboard, it’s hard to get too choked up about the loss, but I’m feeling some pangs, nonetheless.  Costa won me over almost instantly with his smart, nuanced writing last issue, and he continues to impress here.  The opening is almost an exercise in how to deliver an action-packed scene, convey the necessary exposition, and make it all sound natural and lively.  In just a few lines of dialogue, you know exactly what’s going on with the creepy-crawly hive mind of robots, and you also get some great character bits (asked if he can land a plane with power, Canada replies, “Girl, I could land a brick.”).

Costa can also tackle complex political and social issues credibly, without dumbing down the ideas or going over the top (see Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray in Freedom Fighters).  The discussion between Blackhawks spokesperson Mr. Schmidt and the U.N. representatives over the team’s mission is a perfect example.  Costa renders the debate over emerging technology and society’s ability to absorb in a very well-balanced fashion, though colored by Mr. Schmidt’s dry rebuttals to the pointed questions he receives:

“Change is destructive, yes, but are you really trying to avoid what our future is supposed to be?”

“Well, maybe out future is ‘supposed to be’ some supervirus wiping out 98% of the population and leaving only those naturally immune.  Would you suggest shutting down our epidemiology centers and stopping scientists who work on cures?”

Blackhawks #5 – Review

By: Mike Costa (writer), Cafu (penciller), Bit (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Dogs on a satellite!  Hm…doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, huh?

The Review: Can you believe it’s been just about half a year since the new 52 premiered?  At what point do I stop calling it “new,” I wonder?  Anyway, quite a few titles I collected at the beginning have fallen by the wayside since then, so of course I’ve been scoping around for new ones to pick up in their place.  Blackhawks was one of those I heard quiet praise about, and once I saw Cafu switch over from Grifter, I knew I had to at least give the series a shot.

In any case, the Blackhawks, much as it’s weird to say so, is one of my favorite properties, or at least the concept of them is.  Now that the vast majority of heroes in comics have superpowers of some kind, it’s actually kind of a big deal to have a team composed of nothing more than ordinary humans demonstrating extraordinary aptitude in their particular skill-sets as they take on the big baddies of the world.

And that they certainly do in this issue, facing head-on the big momma of them all, the aptly named Mother Machine.  Like most mothers, this villainess is ruthless in her desire to take her charges under her wing.  To chastise the Blackhawks for their disobedience, she lays on all kinds of punishments: “I’ve also shut down the oxygen compilers and internal heaters.  You’ll slowly start to smother, but in the hours it takes for that to happen, you’ll also gradually freeze.  Or else, you would, except…I’ve just disengaged [this satellite] from orbit.”  What’s hilarious is she sees this grim experience or joining her as a fair choice.

First Wave #6 – Review

By: Brian Azzarello (writer), Rags Morales (penciller), Rick Bryant & Phil Winslade (inker), Nei Ruffino (colorist)

The Story: If you happen to be fighting giant robots and dinosaurs on a floating city in the middle of a tsunami, you’ll get pretty down too.

The Review: Figuring out the ending to any kind of story is probably the toughest part of writing.  There’s an urge to neatly wrap it all up with a bow on top, but that’s not always possible.  Some endings take time to come together, making it rough for comic book miniseries.  Since there’s a definite cap to their space and deadline for their completion, they don’t have the luxury of letting the story meander along until it kind of finishes itself.

This last issue of First Wave definitely seems like a spare issue or two would have helped out a lot in pulling all its plot threads together in a tighter way.  Azzarello does his best with what he’s got, but the pace still feels rushed, almost furiously cobbled together.  Even to the very end, he introduces twists which never pan out—the serum that turns blood into gold, for example—which indicates he has a much grander vision in mind that what he ends up with.

Certainly a lot of the more emotional, pontificating scenes need more grounding to sell.  Anton Colossi’s childish breakdown would be more convincing had we seen more signs of his instability beyond a weird, but not totally off-putting devotion to his mother.  But his mad ravings are kind of an eye-roller: “I am sooooo [sic] done hearing can’t, when I can do any damned thing I want!”  You’re really left with the sense of him as an insignificant lunatic.

First Wave #5 – Review

By: Brian Azzarello (writer), Rags Morales (penciller), Rick Bryant (inker), Nei Ruffino (colors)

The Story: The Blackhawks, Doc Savage, the Spirit, Rima the Jungle Girl, the Bat Man, and the Avenger are set on a collision course with the Golden Tree just as it pushes toward its ultimate goal.  Facing destructive powers beyond those of the last world war, our heroes must act fast to prevent another from taking place—if they can survive long enough, that is.

The Review: Even though history’s taught us that the fifties weren’t quite the sunny years people believed them to be, there’s still a lot of nostalgia for that period, and for good reason.  It was a decade of unprecedented confidence in what people—Americans, in particular—were capable of.  That’s the magic Brian Azzarello attempts to capture in First Wave.  By making a world scrubbed clean of all metahuman and alien elements, he raises the stakes for his characters by challenging them to show what they’re really made of.

Having a world entirely populated by mortals instantly pumps the tension bar.  There’s no Superman to fly in, bare his bulletproof chest, and save the day.  The heroes have to take risks to get things done, and when they’re in danger, the only tools at their disposal are their skills and guts.  Azzarello does a great job setting up tight situations for his characters to force or bluff their way through, keeping the action pumping all throughout the issue.  It’s classic stuff—speeding bullets, fisticuffs, and daredevil stunts.

What prevents the issue from going totally pulp is the inclusion of a bit of retro sci-fi and exotica, which is very fitting for the period Azzarello’s trying to channel.  The technology has all the grandiose flair people envisioned back then, but has enough attention to actual engineering principles to make it believable.  The Red Right Hand is portrayed with the dress and mannerisms of stereotypical natives, but they demonstrate their intelligence through their posture and interaction.  The end result is a Golden Age that feels credible; you could be fooled into thinking this is a world that can exist in a modern era.

Birds of Prey #3 – Review

by Gail Simone (writer), Ed Benes (pencils & inks), Adriana Melo (pencils), Mariah Benes (inks), Nei Ruffino (colors), and Steve Wands (letters)

The Story: The Birds find themselves under siege as White Canary’s deadline looms.

What’s Good: I’ve enjoyed the Penguin’s presence throughout this arc and I loved his role this month more than ever.  The guy is absolute, pervy gold and Simone puts forth her Secret Six-best in writing him.  His delusional fantasies are hilarious and Simone has an entertaining grasp on his voice.  I don’t think that I’ll ever quite erase the image of the Penguin dressed as Superman, embracing Dove.  Pretty much everything having to do with the Penguin this month is awesome.

I also continue to find myself a fan of Hawk’s place on the team.  He’s just so out of sync with the rest of the team in power level and attitude and he’s so contrary to the team’s dynamic that it ends up being quite a bit of fun.  The guy is a complete jackass and his disdainful summary of the Birds’ adversaries as “cops and karate” was a great moment for the character.  Although he does take space away from the Birds themselves, I like his oddball role on the team so much that I really didn’t mind.

Beyond these two characters, the chemistry that is the lifeblood of Birds of Prey is still very much present.  Huntress and Canary’s friendship still feels really genuine and close and it serves to heighten the drama and desperation of this plot more than anything else.  Their concern for each other and the continuing contrast between their methods is well-played and works to highlight the Birds’ current dire straits.

I should also mention that the last page reveal of the mastermind’s identity is absolutely wonderful.

The Brave and the Bold #28 – Review

by J. Michael Straczynski (writer), Jesus Saiz (artist)

The Story: After sustaining injuries from an experiment gone awry, the Flash finds himself in World War Two Belgium and joins up with the Blackhawks in an effort to survive the war long enough to heal and find a way back to his own time.

The Good: It isn’t often that a comic can be entertaining as well as literate, but this is the second time this comic has defied expectations and delivered something more than just another superhero story.  A theme has begun to emerge in Straczynski’s work, a meditation of sorts on the nature of heroism, and it is one he explores to great effect here.  The Flash is characterized as being a man just slightly removed from the human condition, so consumed with superheroic ideals of justice and doing the right thing that, even in his weakened state, he tries to deal with the war as if it was another superhero battle.  Limping around the frozen battlefields of Belgium in his brightly colored costume, he is literally viewed by the Blackhawks as an abnormality and a joke.  When Flash crushes a Nazi ambush by knocking them all unconscious with rubble from a bombed out building, he isn’t praised for saving the day but instead admonished for letting the Germans live.  Straczynski uses this disconnect to underscore an incredibly important point about how, given the gruesome circumstances they were all forced to adapt to, the Blackhawks are every bit the heroes that Flash is, and perhaps even more so.

The Not So Good: I’d have to say my only complaint with this issue was that it wasn’t longer!  I generally prefer reading “done in one issues” and often use them when recommending comics to new readers, but that style of storytelling can actually work against the reader when the writer imbues it with as much thematic value and insight and JMS did with this issue.  I found myself wanting more story and was upset that more pages couldn’t be given over to further explore Flash’s time spent with the Blackhawks because as good as Straczynski’s story was, I couldn’t help but feel like it would have been that much better if he’d had another issue.

Conclusion: The Brave and the Bold seriously impresses me with stories that are as entertaining as they are insightful.  This is some quality storytelling here, and I have a feeling it’ll just keep getting better.

Grade:  A-

-Tony Rakittke