Superman/Wonder Woman #11 – Review

By: Charles Soule (story), Thony Silas (art), Tomev Morey & Ulises Arreola (colors)

The Story: Who says couples can’t save the world together?

The Review: When Bruce succeeded in removing the Kryptonite from Earth’s atmosphere, allowing Clark to repress the Doomsday inside once more, I breathed a sigh of relief that perhaps we were finally over and done with that horribly one-dimensional monster. I admit it: I was naïve and not a little bit stupid. After all, repressed or not, Doomsday was still inside Clark; it had to make one last appearance sometime, and unfortunately, that time is now.

And just when things were getting pretty good in Doomed. As Bruce observes during a particularly low moment for our heroes, the forces of good have been reduced to seven individuals, who must face against all of Brainiac’s collective forces. That’s an exciting scenario for them to be in—or it would be if the solution wasn’t still lurking within the recesses of Clark’s mind/body/soul. I can’t tell you how depressed I was to see SuperDoom unleashed again, bigger, spikier, craggier than ever. You can already feel the storyline becoming monotonously mindless once more.

Action Comics #34 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Aaron Kuder & Scott Kolins (art), Wil Quintana (colors)

The Story: Brainstorms aren’t always good things and this one seems to prove it.

The Review: Recently, I’ve thought that if we could just move past the Doomsday stuff, Doomed might be a pretty decent storyline. I’m glad I stuck to my guns in saying there’s nothing further to develop with Doomsday, not even in the body of Superman, because that’s largely turned out to be the case. Obviously, it’s not terrific that it took an excruciating number of issues to make that clear, but the important thing is we’ve finally gotten past that.

The way I see it, the story of Doomed only truly started once Brainiac started flatlining everybody on the planet, sparing neither superhero or supervillain, yet keeping them all alive for purposes we can only speculate to. Doesn’t that sound a lot more interesting than “Superman infected by Doomsday virus”? Now we’re talking about a legitimate global disaster that requires a proportionate response, which is going to be hard to come by when the threat is actually bigger than the planet itself.

Action Comics Annual #3 – Review

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

The Story: Oh, now we’re going to clean up the atmosphere?

The Review: I expressed some annoyance with how Superman/Wonder Woman Annual #1 shifted the details of a major plot point—Batman’s dispersal of the kryptonite in the atmosphere—to a different annual altogether. I’m no less irritated going into the annual in question, which is not a great attitude to come from. I just don’t like the idea of forcing readers to buy all kinds of extraneous issues to keep apace with a story.

Anyway, once you set those feelings aside, this annual is about as decent as its sibling, and in the grand scheme of things, far more necessary. S/WWA #1 was really about Diana stalling Clark long enough for Bruce to do his work (and Steel’s potential crush on Lana); you can live without seeing that. Anyway, Pak does the courtesy of repeating the essentials for you: the arrival of Brainaic’s first wave of attack, the other heroes’ difficulty in dealing with it, and Brainiac’s big momma-ship pulling beside Earth at the end. You get all this and the most important happenings in the arc as well.

Superman/Wonder Woman Annual #1 – Review

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

The Story: Superman returns.

The Review: About a month ago, I decided to stick to Doomed despite many misgivings about the storyline. It was a close call, however. Part of what kept me onboard was the resignation that the event was nearly over anyway. A few more issues, I could handle. Had I known the Doomed showrunners planned to add two annuals to the mix, I probably would have reconsidered my commitment. Annuals are costly things, and the thought of putting that much more money into Doomed was hard to take.

On the plus side, the annuals confirm that what we thought was a Doomsday story is actually a Brainiac one, which is an improvement, sort of. It seems somewhat repetitive to make the villain yet again the center of a major Superman story (the last time being one of Superman’s earliest big adventures); can’t they come up with someone else to challenge our hero? Must we always turn to the usual suspects? Shouldn’t there be at least a three year moratorium on a supervillain after he’s been featured in a major story arc?

Superman/Wonder Woman #10 – Review

By: Charles Soule (story), Pascal Alixe (art), Paulo Siqueira (pencils), Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: Lois always did want to conquer the world.

The Review: A shared universe can be a headache in more ways than one. Every single time a major crisis happens in a single title, there’s this mental effort you have to make to keep from wondering why no other hero in the universe notices. This is especially the case when the hero or heroes in question don’t seem to be handling the situation particularly well. What? Everyone else is so busy handling their own problems that they can’t be bothered?

That’s what’s so puzzling about this whole Doomed storyline. Superman’s been turned into a killing machine, an entire metropolis has fallen unconscious, so why is the League and every other A-list hero not on deck, especially since Superman isn’t there? Why does it suddenly seem like the world has no other resource except Wonder Woman, Steel, and Lana Lang? This is a difficult logistical problem to ignore, but Soule clearly would prefer that you don’t think about it at all.

SENYC Report: The Days of High Adventure – An Interview with Tony Bedard

Tony Bedard has been a presence in comics since the early 90s, working for a huge number of publishers in nearly as many roles. Bedard excels at writing clever and engaging comics that often explore the edges of their universes, where his ideas are free to grow.

Bedard currently writes Supergirl for DC and, in reviewing that series, I realized how interesting it would be to talk to him for the site. It took a while to find a time, but I was able to sit down with Tony at Special Edition: NYC to talk about Supergirl, editing, and even superhero movies. I hope you’ll enjoy hearing from him as much as I did.

Batman Beyond Universe #8 – Review

By: Christos Gage & Kyle Higgins (writers); Iban Coello, Thony Silas, & Eric Wight (pencils); Rob Lean, Thony Silas, & Eric Wight (inks); Ulises Arreola & Emilio Lopez (colorists)

The Story: As Brainiac becomes more and more of a monster, Man-Bat realizes that he’s too much of one. Bruce Wayne remains oddly quiet on the matter…

The Review: The final chapters of Christos Gage’s massive Brainiac arc don’t take their eyes off the action for a minute. To be honest, it probably doesn’t need the full twenty pages to resolve the crisis, but Gage wants to play with the myriad toys he’s assembled one last time before they go back in the box. That play takes the form of some very cute character interaction.

If you can overlook how poorly the lumbering Brainiac multi-tasks, you’ll find plenty of fun exchanges occurring around the fringes of the battle. Felich Faust is always good for a chuckle and Barda’s back and forth with Klarion is plenty entertaining. Likewise, Mr. Miracle finally gets a chance to show off a bit, proving to be an essential part of the current League, his tactician’s hope bringing out the best of his more battle-hardened colleges. Still, even this seems insufficient to provide the sense of scope that the story is looking for and Gage throws in an eleventh hour guest star that’s bound to get a cheer from at least some readers.

On an objective level, the story is stalling for time. Gage wants those precious seconds ticking by, making you wonder how they’ll come back from this. He does a good job of it too. While you might realize how much the timescale has expanded, I doubt you;ll be bored and when the moment comes it definitely feels earned.

Batman Beyond Universe #7 – Review

By: Kyle Higgins, Christos Gage (writers), Thony Silas, Iban Coello (art), Emilio Lopez & Ulises Arreola

The Story: Brainiac continues his plan, manipulating everyone and everything around him and attempting to prove himself the greatest intelligence in the known universe. Unfortunately so does Bruce Wayne.

The Review: Kyle Higgins slows things down a little bit in this month’s chapter of The Bat Men. Last month I complained that the story had lost its energy, but, now that we have a little more context, it seems that this was part of a transition. This installment is similarly focused on character moments, however, while there’s even less attention paid to fight scenes, it’s a much more engaging issue; the result of the brilliant relationships that Higgins has crafted between Terry and Bruce and Bruce and Kirk.

As all out war between the Cult of the Bat and the FBI looms, threatening to destroy Gotham, Bruce and Terry have been captured. Especially in a genre where captivity rarely lasts, especially with these characters, it’s kind of nice that Higgins uses this as a moment to decompress and provide some lively exposition. The tale he fashions is a sad one and, while it’s by no means ground breaking, it’s tinged with truth enough to elicit genuine sympathy.

Higgins continues to write a positively infuriating Bruce Wayne, in the best possible sense. Bruce’s inability to communicate and sheer skill make him an impossible partner, but it’s telling how he relates to his supposed friends. Bruce actually doesn’t accomplish anywhere near as much as he pretends to in this issue and, despite a number of reasonable contributions from Terry, he simply can’t bring himself to acknowledge them, opting to take swipes at his former partners instead. Only alone with Kirk can he admit the profound errors of his ways, tragically unaware of how recently he’s reaffirmed his choice. This one-on-one interaction between the Bat-Men really sells the history between the two men.

Batman Beyond Universe #6 – Review

By: Christos Gage & Kyle Higgins (writers), Iban Coello & Thony Silas (artists), Rob Lean (inks), Ulises Arreola & Emilio Lopez (colorists)

The Story: Bats or robots: pick your poison…

The Review: We open this month in the midst of Brainiac’s invasion. From the first moment, Christos Gage makes it clear that this is no standard supervillain plot. Brainiac’s monotone arrogance comes through crystal clear and Gage imbues him with just enough malice to make him particularly detestable, without losing his connection to rationality. The first sequence aboard Brainiac’s skull-ship is a great example of what Gage has to offer.

As Brainiac’s natural nemesis, Superman receives similarly strong dialogue. His speeches, though slightly corny, manage to express the natural leadership and sincerity that make Superman primus inter pares in most every version of the Justice League. Even so, there’s a touch of desperation in him, perhaps even fear, that keeps the threat that Brainiac poses in constant play.

But despite his gift for writing the Boy Scout, I sincerely hope that, when this saga is ended, Gage will pen some stories starring the other members of the league. Six months into the print run of Justice League Beyond, we’ve still seen relatively little of many of the League’s members. It’s great to have such an strong version of Superman on the stands, especially as that’s been something of a rarity of late, but it seems like a waste, especially after seeing Gage’s handle on Scott and Barda this month.

The large cast all get lip service, but the best moments belong to Mister Miracle, Big Barda, and a certain classic Leaguer I won’t spoil. It’s impressive that Gage can keep so many balls in the air, especially as he continues to grow the cast, but there aren’t many places where we get to breathe and absorb this information unless you count scenes that don’t catch your fancy.

Supergirl #24 – Review

By: Michael Alan Nelson (writer), Diogenes Neves (pencils), Marc Deering (inks), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Brainiac and the Cyborg Superman have come to I’noxia. Now it will face the wrath of a force unimaginable: an angry Supergirl.

The Review:

Spoiler Warning: It’s going to be very hard to discuss this issue without spoiling the events of Supergirl #23 and Action Comics #23.3: Cyborg Superman. Honestly I’m not going to try. If you’re really concerned about spoilers for those comics, check out their reviews in the archives. You’ll probably like this comic at least as well as you liked them, but don’t say I didn’t warn you if you choose to read on.

The last time we saw Kara Zor-El, two months ago, she was in something of a bad way.  In fact, she had just been murdered; the flesh stripped from her bones and used to reconstitute the Cyborg Superman. A lot of heroes might take that as the universe telling them to take some time off, but from the very first page it’s painfully clear that Supergirl doesn’t care what ‘a lot of heroes’ think.

Michael Alan Nelson caught my attention with his surprisingly honest version of Kara and that’s still very much in play. Nelson’s Supergirl has always been a powerful and intelligent character, even if she tends to prefer one to the other, and he’s taken evident glee in showing how much she can accomplish when she calls upon the full breadth of her talents. Kara’s journey has been one of controlling her anger and tempering her strength with intelligence. This month we’re reminded how powerful that anger can be.

Threshold #6 – Review

By: Keith Giffen (Writer), Phil Winslade, Tom Raney, Timothy Green II (Artists), Andrew Dalhouse, Hi-Fi (Colorists)

The Story: Jediah Caul gets in serious lantern mode as some key players in The Hunted gather together. In the backup, Star Hawkins gets hired to find the elusive legend of the longest living Hunted player.

The Review: It’s always a nice thing to see a series get a bit better after a while, seeing just where some of its characters might go and the author get more comfortable with its setting. Progress in both the quality and the plot is something most readers are searching for and it’s good to witness such a thing occurring on a title that needed it so desperately.

Threshold #5 – Review

By: Keith Giffen (Writer), Tom Raney, Phil Winslade, Scott Kolins (Artists), Andrew Dalhouse, John Kalisz (Colorists)

The Story: In The Hunted, Jediah Caul gets back his lantern battery as he prepares to save everyone from the situation they are in. In Larfleeze own backup, we get to see just how and why he has lost all of his stuff.

The Review: In a strange way, it is a good thing that I had decided not to review this title first, as I can now write it in knowledge that this title will meets its demise come August, in its 8th issue. While this does not influence the actual quality of this issue, it does mean that this kind-of transformed into an ongoing to a mini-series of some sort, as now Giffen will have to tie and conclude everything in three issues after this one.

Here, we get to see the fallout from what just happened to a good chunk of Tolerance, thanks to Brainiac. As the series had been built slowly in its inception, it has started to move much faster now, as we get to see bigger things happening, such as the death of certain characters and the accomplishment of certain goals first introduced a few issues earlier, one of them being the retrieval of Caul’s green lantern battery. It also has improved a bit in delivering the goods, so to speak, as we get plot advancement, twists, action and some actual goals for some characters. While it had been nice to see The Hunted and how it affects Tolerance as a game, the arrival of Brainiac did some good for this series.

Action Comics #11 – Review

By: Grant Morrison (story), Rags Morales, Rick Bryant, Brad Walker (art), Brad Anderson (colors)

The Story: Superman, at some point, you have to realize that a cat is just a cat.

The Review: Say what you like about Morrison, but he is a man with a plan.  Now, whether his plan results in something worthwhile is a completely different question, but you can always reliably depend on him to deliver a big revelation or moment which had its seeds sown issues earlier.  Not a lot of people can pull that off; indeed, not a lot of people have Morrison’s creative license to pull that off.

He’s certainly earned it.  This is a guy who has such awareness of everything he writes (his “inventory,” as writer Ron Carlson so likes to put it) that he can use a throwaway detail as the basis of an entire storyline, like the hamsters from last issue and their newest owner, Lois’ niece Suzie.  No one could possibly have predicted this cute-as-a-button girl would turn out not only to be precocious, but a member of an entirely new species, “A nutant.  Neo-sapiens—born one hundred thousand years ahead of our time…”

Action Comics #8 – Review

By: Grant Morrison (writer), Rags Morales, Brad Walker, Rick Bryant, Bob McLeod (artists), Brad Anderson & David Curiel (colorists)

The Story: Watch out, Brainiac—Superman’s gonna blow your mind.

The Review: Back in 2006, NBC premiered two new shows, both premised on the backstage activities of a sketch-comedy show.  One was Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, a powerhouse production created and written by the great Aaron Sorkin, with veterans of both big and small screen, Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford, starring.  The other was 30 Rock, a frugal sitcom led by Alec Baldwin and SNL’s former Weekend Update co-anchor, Tina Fey.

I bring this up to illustrate the fact that you can never predict what creative projects will work out in the end.  Suffice to say, no one would’ve expected Studio 60 to get canned within a year, while 30 Rock years later (and still running—I won’t say “strong”) would bring on Sorkin as a guest to mock him for his costly failure.  It just goes to show that A-list producers and ideas don’t always translate to quality material.

Back in the comics world, we’ve seen this semi-paradoxical situation in Justice League, which, despite its tremendous sales numbers, will likely go down in history as a largely mediocre affair.  Lately, I’ve come to find a similar problem with this series.  You would think pairing Grant Morrision and Superman, with Rags Morales on art, would be a shoo-in for a sure win.  Yet somehow, for whatever reason, the talent hasn’t gelled with the story as much as anyone imagined, and the disappointment is all the greater since your expectations were so high.

Not to imply the story has been terrible, exactly—more like we’re getting just your garden-variety Superman origin story with some snazzy dialogue and a T-shirt thrown in.  Speaking of which, Morrison’s rapidfire style of speech has gotten a bit out of control.  Between Glenmorgan’s pill-laden breakdown (“It’s like one of those films where—those horrible films—they’re trapped in hell and the bartender is the devil…”) and Corben’s rage-induced malfunctions (“I read what she wrote about you.  About your eyes!  Search: ‘Faster than a speeding bullet!’  That’s Metropolis’ latest wonder of tomorrow…”), it gets a bit wearisome to read at times.

Action Comics #7 – Review

By: Grant Morrison (writer), Rags Morales (penciller), Rick Bryant (inker), Brad Anderson (colorist)

The Story: Ooh—I love your miniatures in a bottle collection.  Wait, is that my house in there?

The Review: I tend to feel Superman has the same problem as the Flash in terms of appeal.  The whole heart of the Man of Steel is he’s one of the finest and purest superheroes you can think of, a blank perfection which makes him respected and admired, yet also inaccessible.  To exacerbate matters, he’s just so darn powerful that he can afford to stick to his guns; if you have the ability to solve any problem without sacrifice, you never have the problem of making tough choices.

In All-Star Superman, Morrison overcame these obstacles by giving our hero big, Herculean challenges which allowed him to actually struggle.  Morrison’s attempting something like that here by taking away a sizable amount of Superman’s strength and knowledge, putting him on a lower footing than his problems.  It’s certainly raised the stakes for him across the board, but for us readers, seeing him wheeze as he jumps hurdles that wouldn’t have even made him blink some months ago has been a rather jarring gear-shift.

That’s why this coming showdown with Brainiac (I’m pretty sure we all saw him coming some time ago, so I won’t even bother calling this a spoiler) is a very welcome event.  Superman’s not only going to have to fight without the benefit of his peak abilities, he’s going up against one of his greatest foes of all time—don’t let that “1.0” designation fool you.  Brainiac, like Luthor, derives his menace from his mind, not his brawn.  Even though Superman spends only a very brief part of this issue physically fending off Brainiac’s various robo-guards, he’s under attack the entire time as Brainiac constantly strives to screw with his mind.  The climax of all this is Brainiac’s attempt to force Superman into one of those sticky choices that plagues so many of his heroic peers from time to time: save the people of his origin or those of his adoption?

Ultimately, while the question may be a nail-biter for the rest of us, it’s a moot point for our hero.  For one thing, Brainiac miscasts the decision as a “nature versus nurture” problem, as if Superman choosing to save either Kandor or Metropolis is a symbol of loyalty.  The issue is Clark knows nothing—or at least, very little—of his pre-Smallville life.  So the real question is whether his desire to learn more about his background is powerful enough for him to betray the life he lives now.  No matter how you slice it, the answer is probably not.  Besides, this is Superman; he would never allow anyone to force him into such a quandary: “I won’t choose between any one life and another!  All of these people are under my protection, you got that?”

Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost #2 – Review

By: Sterling Gates (writer), Oliver Nome (penciller), Trevor Scott (inker), Brian Buccellato (colorist)

The Story: Oh, Bart, you can’t hide anything.  I can see right through you.

The Review: In watching a few episodes of Dexter I noticed that even though the titular lead is one of the most compelling figures in television, very little about the overarching storyline or supporting cast bears enough interest for me to keep watching.  It sort of proves that even if you have a fantastically developed character, if the rest of the material underwhelms, then the piece as a whole can never reach beyond serviceable.

That’s sort of the case with this series, as Gates writes a pretty excellent Kid Flash.  Bart started his existence as a hardcore gamer and television addict, and his portrayal as a geek culture otaku really works as a modern spin on that.  If you count yourself among that particular demographic, you’ll be delighted with his frequent references to definitively nerdy media, like the relatively obscure, “Put me down, Dr. Ball!” (see Robot Chicken cartoon, “Dr. Ball, M.D.”).

On the other hand, Bart is also a much more thoughtful, serious young man than the hyperactive boy he once was as Impulse, so a few gags and lines in this issue come off a little over-the-top.  Bart seizing the Cosmic Motorcycle may be fun as an idea, but in the context of the story and the current incarnation of his character, it seems wildly stupid and kind of pointless, as it steals one of Patty Spivot’s few opportunities to do something useful.

As the only supporting character to this tie-in, Patty really deserves more to do than act the cipher to Bart, but she functions merely as a means for Bart to escape from his predicament.  Why else would she take up Hot Pursuit’s costume and equipment?  Even Gates has a hard time rationalizing her previously adamant decision to involve herself in meta-crime again with her inexplicable, left-field declaration that “I’d found the tools that would let me pursue justice.”

Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost #1 – Review

By: Sterling Gates (writer), Oliver Nome (penciller), Trevor Scott (inker), Brian Buccellato (colorist)

The Story: You ever get the feeling you just don’t belong to this world…and era…and reality?

The Review: Dealing with an altered reality and all the taken-for-granted conventions it entails (subtle or not) can get pretty mind-boggling to begin with.  And by now we all know anything to do with time-traveling comes packaged with paradoxes and quantum leaps and all sorts of other nonsense guaranteed to give you a considerable headache.  Now, mix the two together and you’ve got a whopper of a migraine just waiting to happen.

And so it is with Kid Flash, a character out of time to begin with, and now skipping along the time stream in a strange universe.  But you can shelve your aspirin for now; Gates sticks the issue to mostly one setting: the Flashpoint world of 3011, conquest of Brainiac.  His eternal quest for knowledge apparently involved watching The Matrix, as everywhere is covered with techno-organic structures bearing humans trapped in glassy cocoons (head attachments included).

Bart actually makes a veiled reference to the film when he finds himself trapped, Speed Force-less, in this dystopia, which thankfully saves the plot from looking like one giant cliché (not to mention unashamed plagiarism).  In fact, his casual use of pop culture for problem-solving is a kind of relic of his Impulse days, and tempered with the good sense and focus he’s gained as Kid Flash, Gates offers the most balanced portrayal of Bart we’ve gotten in a while (especially compared to emo Bart in the last few issues of Geoff Johns’ The Flash).

Plot-wise, we still have a lot of questions left up in the air: how Bart got dragged into the time stream in the first place, how Brainiac managed to “fish” him out, and what role he’ll have in the grand scheme of Flashpoint.  Gates gives some hints as to how all these issues will tie together when Brainiac claims he’ll “find a way to pull the chronal energy from your cells…”  It wouldn’t be surprising if this winds up playing an integral part of solving the whole Flashpoint mess, continuing DC’s tradition of giving young heroes central roles in these “crisis” stories.

Action Comics #899 – Review

By: Paul Cornell (writer), Jesus Merino (artist), Brad Anderson (colorist)

The Story: My, those are some big black balls you’ve got there, Lex Luthor.

The Review: It’s been a long, wild journey we’ve had, following Superman’s arch-nemesis on his quest for ultimate power.  He’s faced off against some of the baddest of the baddies in the DCU’s canon of villains; had numerous near-death experiences; and traveled some of the most exotic locales on the planet.  Considering the epic scale of his story so far, it’d be a waste for the conclusion to be anything less than enormous.

Cornell certainly delivers a pretty grand finish, what with an ultimate showdown between Luthor and Brainiac in (deep?) space and the appearance of some Galactus-like entity from a giant Phantom Zone portal.  And you surely can’t say you expected any of what happens in the final pages.  And definitely Cornell has things set up so Superman will already have a huge task at hand when he finally returns to this title.

All very impressive, but to be honest the whole thing comes so out of the blue that it feels a little too convenient somehow.  It’s not just that this cosmic being is entirely brand new, so you had no way of predicting its coming.  Cornell had dropped all kinds of vague clues about the power at stake in Luthor’s quest, but none of them, in retrospect, led very naturally to this creature.  The plot threads don’t really gel together as well as they could have.

Maybe you just get thrown off by the confusing logistics Cornell throws at you.  There’s a lot of re-explaining of past events, like the reason why Luthor plays right into Brainiac’s hands is Robot-Lois injected nano-worms into Luthor’s bloodstream when she treated his head wound six issues ago.  It has the same feeling as when comics characters die and then come back to life, saying, “Well, what really happened is…”  You have to humor it to let the plot unfold.

Legion of Super-Heroes #10 – Review

By: Paul Levitz (writer), Yildiray Cinar & Wayne Faucher (artists), Hi-Fi (colorist)

The Story: Family, the ties that bind…and gag.  Chameleon Boy finds to his regret that having a rich aunt isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Review: Before I get to the specifics of this issue, I think it’s important I stake my claim as to why I think this series generally has been so unsatisfying to me so far.

I’m not a longtime Legion reader.  I started when Jim Shooter, a veteran Legion writer, took over the “Three”-boot Legion.  After I fell in love with the series, I read some of the biggest stories from past Legions, just to get myself up to speed.  Those stories were great, but they only made me happier to read the new adventures of a fresh Legion.  I was disappointed when DC chose to bring back the Silver Age team, but since I considered myself a Legion fan, I gave it a shot.

To me, the current Levitz legion reads much far too much like his run from the eighties.  It has all the stylistic qualities of overemotional, explicit dialogue and exposition that may have been the rage back then, but now just seem outdated and exaggerated.  Now, you have to remember that Shooter wrote and worked in the same period as Levitz, but his “Three”-boot scripts read as fresh and contemporary as any other title on the stands at the time.

Of course, the problem doesn’t lie entirely with Levitz’s writing.  You have to consider that this Legion is no longer a team of fresh-faced youths.  They aren’t so much the Teen Titans of the future anymore, but the Justice League—but considering how the current Justice League has so many young’uns on the team, this Legion feels even older than that.  I wrote in my first review of this series that it feels like the bulk of this Legion’s great tales have already passed; I have no reason to change that opinion.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #25 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Claude St. Aubin (penciller), Scott Hanna (inker), Rich and Tanya Horie (colorists)

The Story: The return of Starro the Conquerer!  Or, more technically, the return of the return of Starro the Conquerer!  By the way, it’s raining Czarnians.

The Review: There are generally two kinds of villains: your garden-variety, day-to-day thugs who might end up occupying our heroes for half a day, if they’re lucky; and then you have your big-momma, criminal masterminds who will push the good guys to the brink of defeat before inevitably giving way.  No matter which you end up, they all end up like bad houseguests: no sooner gotten rid of before they’re back again.

Starro the Conquer certainly fits the bill; since his introduction, he’s served as the main baddie of now three story arcs in R.E.B.E.L.S. Considering the series is still relatively young, at twenty-five issues, this feels like one arc too many.  Although the initial concept of a humanoid Starro offered some interest at first, by now we all know that besides a giant axe and super-strength, he follows the same M.O. as all Starro plots: possessing people by throwing starfish in their faces.

It all boils down to predictability.  Bedard writes the issue competently enough, but you just can’t help having a “been there, done that” attitude about the whole thing.  After all, Starro is still after taking Brainiac 2 for his own, and he’s still all about galactic conquest.  Since his motivations aren’t any different than before, and neither are his means for carrying them out, half the premise has been recycled from previous stories—not exactly thrilling.  Still an army of Lobo clones (male and female, interestingly enough) has some potential for thrills, though it’s unclear how they’ll be used in this arc.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #24 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Claude St. Aubin (penciller), Scott Hana (inker), Rich & Tanya Horie (colorists)

The Story: With a bout of peace at last, our R.E.B.E.L.S. finally have some time to work on their romantic entanglements.  These are…the days of their lives…

The Review: With the last issue focused mainly on the Vega sector’s Green Lanterns, the R.E.B.E.L.S. haven’t had much opportunity to develop their characters and show their stakes in this whole operation.  Unfortunately, that’s been the case for most of the series’ run.  Despite a great cast of cosmic personalities, Vril Dox continues to get the lion’s share of page-time and big moments, and that’s really no way to keep up the integrity of a team comic.

This issue does some work to reverse that trend.  Sure, once again Dox’s burgeoning relationship with the edgy Blackfire gets the biggest showcase, but at least you also get touching scenes with Adam Strange’s wife and daughter (still one of the most well-adjusted families in the DCU), Captain Comet trying to drink away his problematic crush on Starfire, and even Lobo getting some action.  These are all good moments to give the characters some drama besides cleaning up whatever mess Dox has gotten them all into again.

On the other hand, Tony Bedard tends to be a little too talky with his writing.  He does pen some good dialogue, especially where his pet characters (Dox and now Lobo) are concerned.  But too often the characters talk about their problems or recall events instead of having those things shown, and that’s a pretty lame use of a visual medium.  For example, Strange and his wife spend two pages talking about their past and their friends’ love lives, all in panels of various close-ups, like the storyboard of a soap opera.  It doesn’t make for very lively reading.

And after all that, you still don’t really get much of a new handle on these characters than you did before.  Comet’s still a lovesick dog, Strange an adaptable family man, and Lobo—well, he’s still Lobo.  Dox still gets the most profit out of the issue as his evening with Blackfire show the semblance of his sensitive side—possibly even a genuine one.  It’s still pretty clear, however, that there may be some plotting happening from both parties.  These are probably the scenes that get the best treatment and have the largest stakes in the long-run for this series.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #23 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Claude St. Aubin (penciller), Scott Hanna (inker), Rich & Tanya Horie (colorists)

The Story: John Stewart, along with the Vega rookies, arrive on Rann as a delegation from the Green Lantern Corps to make nice with the R.E.B.E.L.S.  But with Vril Dox scheming on how to turn the photo op into profit on his end, both the ancient and new orders of peacekeepers may not be enough to save the system from total annihilation.

The Review: For a while now, R.E.B.E.L.S. has been the only title offering adventures from the cosmic corner of the DC universe that aren’t Green Lantern-centric.  That’s changed with the current story arc, which pits Vril Dox’s capitalist police force versus the newly-minted Lanterns in the same sector.  The crossover makes perfect sense for the story, and given that Tony Bedard’s writing duties now include Green Lantern Corps, the characterization of the Lanterns works very well against the more pragmatic R.E.B.E.L.S.

The downside is this issue feels more like a Green Lantern title.  God bless them, but there are already plenty of series about the Corps without them poaching the one dedicated to the rest of the universe.  Their guest shot had a mixed effect; on the one hand, they injected a good feeling of liveliness and direction to the story, but they also served to highlight just how aimlessly R.E.B.E.L.S. has been wandering around lately.

Bedard just hasn’t given the R.E.B.E.L.S. much to do.  Since their defeat of the re-imagined Starro the Conqueror, most of their work has involved butting heads with each other or with established cosmic villains, like Blackfire or Brainiac.  These aren’t bad choices for antagonists; they just feel done to death.  This title has access to everywhere in the DC universe that isn’t Earth—the motherload of story potential.  Every issue that crutches on previous material instead of introducing new characters, world, or concepts wastes the opportunity to generate a sense of adventure, the lifeblood of cosmic titles.

The Legion of Super-Heroes #7 – Review

By: Paul Levitz (writer), Yildiray Cinar & Wayne Faucher (artists), Francis Portela (back-up artist)

The Story: Cosmic Boy, Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy, and Tyroc investigate the murder of a United Planets councilor, leading them to confront the assassins and prevent further government deaths.  Meanwhile, Sun Boy considers Legion leadership, and Mon-El and Earth-Man have words over Shadow Lass, Mon-El’s ex and Earth-Man’s current flame.  In the back-up story, Brainiac 5 and Chameleon Boy travel to Naltor, world of seers, where Chameleon Boy receives a disturbing vision of his future and Brainiac 5 interrogates Harmonia Li, a mystery from the past.

The Review: Part of what turns off many readers from Legion is the astonishing amount of baggage it’s packaged with.  When Geoff Johns revived the team in his “Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes” story, he brought back the original Legionnaires with all their complex histories intact.  The result is a team that is somewhat wiser and more experienced, but also one that feels like most of its biggest adventures has already passed.

Paul Levitz is now responsible for crafting the great Legion stories to come, if there are any more to be had.  The first six issues of this series focused on establishing the current tone and dynamic of the team.  This newest issue should be the start of higher-stakes conflicts for the Legionnaires, but so far, there is little happening to generate much excitement.  The A-story in this issue—assassination attempts on UP councilors—seems slightly drab, since Levitz takes little time to show why we should care about whether these councilors die or not.  No one, least of all the Legionnaires, seems very distressed by what’s happening.

The low-key B and C-stories don’t help to shore up the weak primary plotline.  Mon-El and Earth-Man’s confrontation is so short, it doesn’t gain momentum, and happens almost out of nowhere.  Shadow Lass is a foxy girl, no doubt, but the brief exchange between her former and present lovers offers no reason why they’re fighting over her.  The even shorter discussion of Legion leadership doesn’t really move that plotline anywhere, and comes across as a pointless distraction to the other stories.  It would have made sense to cut the Brainiac back-up to develop the A-story more, or perhaps integrate the two altogether.  It just seems that with Levitz trying to advance four different plots simultaneously, the pace slows to a crawl as each plot moves an inch forward at a time.

Adventure Comics #3 – Review

By Geoff Johns and Michael Shoemaker (writers), Francis Manapul and Clayton Henry (artists), Brian Buccellato and Brian Reber (colorists), Elizabeth V. Gehrlein (editor)

The Story: If issue #1 was the set-up and issue #2 was the boy-finds-girl, then issue #3 is really the buddy story. Conner (Superboy) and Tim Wayne (Red Robin) are best friends who have been separated for a year. A lot of water has passed under the bridge for one of them. Conner has missed out on a lot of his friends’ troubles while he was gone, none more so that Tim. No one could use a friend more than Tim right now, but as we’ve seen in Tim’s own book (see my reviews on the excellent Red Robin series), he’s on a quixotic quest that on the face of evidence, is a little bent. They have stuff to work out. In the meantime, things turn sinister with Luthor and Brainiac planning in the background. The back-up feature is a vignette starring Sunboy and Polar Boy on the latter’s home world.

What’s Good: There’s a lot to like about the Smallville created by Johns and Manapul. It’s not saccharine-sweet, like other renditions I’ve seen recently. It feels honest. The school scene with the uber-nerd lab partner was good. The super-dog trying to please his master with gifts was brilliant, with Johns and Manapul having caught dog psychology perfectly, multiplied by Kryptonian DNA. This type of environment is a great backdrop for the kind of Lex Luthor-vs-Superman soul-searching that Conner is living.

And I can’t say enough about how well Manapul and Buccelato do in bringing Smallville to life. The art is not sepia, but it is different in feel from what you see being done in other books (and I include in that comparison the best in the field). I guess the best way I could put it is this way: sometimes you look at a book, panel by panel, and you get the impression of grit. Other times, the mood is slick and modern. The art team has made this book feel rural and mid-western.

Most importantly of all, Johns and Manapul made me feel something. They caught Red Robin’s desperation without having to show him in a panic. The quiet moments and the reluctant admissions made his pain all the more poignant. The dialogue is perfect and honest and gives Conner his opening to be Conner, not someone worried he’ll become like Lex Luthor, or even someone who has to worry about emulating Superman.

The Legion entry was a winner. I could have stayed for more of Conner and Tim, but it was fun following poor Polar Boy around, and watching Sun Boy be taken down a peg.

What’s Not So Good: The back-up Legion of Superheroes story is not yet cohesive. But, given the quality of the rest of the book and the limited amount of pages the backup has gotten so far, I’m ready to let Johns pull all his pieces together before he reveals the links.

Conclusion: Johns and Manapul are delivering great character stories while putting the pieces in place for a menace to come to Smallville. This is a slow simmer of a book and considering what Johns did with his simmering time on Green Lantern, I’m staying tuned.

Grade: A-

-DS Arsenault

Adventure Comics #2 – Review

By Geoff Johns and Michael Shoemaker (writers), Francis Manapul and Clayton Henry (artists), Brian Buccellato and Brian Reber (colorists)

The Stories: Johns opens the book on a squadron of military helicopters searching for Brainiac and Luthor, who have both just escaped. Brainiac and Luthor are in cahoots and nothing good is going to come of this. Flash forward to Conner getting ready for Cassie to come over for supper. They each have issues to struggle through. The second story is about the Legion of Superheroes. Mekt Ranzz (Lightning Lord) will tell the Legion where all the supervillain safehouses are if Lightning Lad will talk to him in prison. Seems easy, right? Wrong!

What’s Good: Johns did some very solid character work on the Superboy story. Connor  is wound up, worrying about how he looks, and he’s hopelessly transparent, yet perfectly believable. I also really like the clever use of Conner’s obsessive little lists. What did Superman do? What did Luthor do? The amount of time he spends looking at those two columns and comparing himself to them show how worried he is about who he is. Johns also did really deft work on Cassie and Conner catching up. That year apart put a lot of space between them. This character work sounds like it would be dull, but it’s exactly the opposite because both characters are so likable with their desires so obvious.

Johns and Shoemaker pulled some more fine writing out of their hats for the Legion story. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to follow the Legion, so I don’t remember Garth being so spun up, but Johns sets up the characters so even a long-absent fan like me can understand everything. The human supremacy movement was an interesting touch (not original, but interesting), as were the words that Garth and Mekt shared. I didn’t see that surprise coming.

Manapul’s art was brilliantly page-slowing for me. I’d be done with the words, but reluctant to turn the page, because I wanted to keep admiring the art. The double splash page opening the book was awesome and I loved the realism combined with the rough, almost old-school pencil lines that Manapul left for strategic shading. Brainiac sitting in his control chair, wires sprouting from his head, Luthor standing in prison browns with smears of blood on his wrists… All memorable and awesome…Also Manapul’s and Buccellato’s work on Cassie and Conner under a pink, starry sky was just great.

What’s Not So Good: I had no complaints whatsoever about the Superboy story. However, I wasn’t wowed by Clayton Henry’s pencils on the Legion back-up story, nor was it easy on my suspension of disbelief to see super-powered prisoners manacled in their cells in costume.

Conclusion: This issue is worth buying just for the Superboy story. Little action on the outside, but lots of action on the inside. Buy this book.

Rating: B

-DS Arsenault