Power Girl #27 – Review

By: Matthew Sturges (writer), Hendry Prasetya (artist), Jessica Kholinne (colorist)

The Story: You’ll have to excuse Power Girl; she doesn’t usually make waves.

The Review: If you’ve ever taken a philosophy or ethics class, you’ve no doubt experienced the fictional, but strangely fraught and disturbing perils of the hypothetical question.  You were likely asked to choose between two equally awful actions, and the moral acrobatics you take to do so will probably make your soul curl into a fetal position.  As the titular character from Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next says, “The only way to win the game is not to play.”

Power Girl takes that advice to heart in her last issue, which works on the ol’ ticking-clock gambit, the meatier sibling of the hypothetical question: some villain sets into motion a series of conflicts for the hero to handle in a limited time frame, both to ensure failure at some point and to test the hero’s priorities.  Karen, being no dummy and stranger to this kind of ploy, rises to the challenge by changing the rules of the game.

The success of these kinds of plots usually land fifty-fifty.  Some turn out truly tense stories which place the characters into some shady gray areas (see Secret Six #19), and others produce a functional story, no more.  This one easily lands in the latter category.  Suspense is impossible if the character in question feels no danger, and at no point, really, does P.G. even entertain the notion that she might fail—and neither do we.

Teen Titans #92 – Review

By: J.T. Krul (writer), Georges Jeanty (penciller), Rob Hunter (inker), Jason Wright (colorist)

The Story: These exploding Calculator robots are really harshing these Turkish clubbers’ buzz.

The Review: In crossovers, besides the stickiness of mixing up different characters (who may or may not be a good fit for each other), you’ve also got the issue of how the different styles of the writers will work together.  It’s usually best for them to co-write the story; you get a more cohesive product that way.  You also avoid the position of comparing one writer to another, which may be uncomfortable for the one who comes off weaker.

In this second half of a crossover with Red Robin, Krul shows with painful obviousness that his writing has a ways to go, quality-wise.  He’s simply not as deft or nuanced a writer as Fabien Nicieza, who wrote the first half of this story in Red Robin #20.

Their different approaches to dialogue say it all.  Nicieza’s takes for granted that these characters have history and know each other.  When Tim says, “We should—oh, sorry, Cass—you go,” he doesn’t have to explain what he’s sorry for; you get that from the context and what you know of them.  Krul feels the need to make everything explicit, resulting in chunky, in-your-face dialogue like: “Because you didn’t know [he was an android].  And killing him would have felt very real.  I couldn’t let you do that.”

The major weakness to Krul’s dialogue has always been that it doesn’t let the characters show distinctive personalities.  Most of the lines feel like babble: “If the circumstances were different, this looks like it’d be a fun place.”  Not only is this remark just silly (if there weren’t exploding robots around, everyplace would be more fun), but it’s lifeless as well—anybody could have said it.  It feels like filler, padding the time until something more meaningful happens.

Red Robin #19 – Review

By: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Marcus To (penciller), Ray McCarthy (inker), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: The Rabbit Hole, Part Two: The title says it all. When we last left our young hero, the Man With the Plan had been knocked out, along with three of his allies. Now, Red Robin and Tam wake up, and they ain’t in Kansas anymore. It’s psychedelic loco-land with flavors of Arcade’s Murderworld while the subconscious speaks in riddles.

What’s Good: Red Robin is one of those titles that consistently delivers fun adventure with an engaging hero who’s out to succeed in the superhero business. This issue is no exception and we’re really watching Tim Wayne grow into adulthood and something big. Red Robin is the new Nightwing and he’s fun and Nicieza gets that, while not losing Tim’s obsessive drive that launched this series so powerfully. Why can I say all that?

Because I got to watch Superfriends-style Batman and Robin swing into action while the Riddler chatters on like a Greek chorus and Tim tries to figure out what the heck is going on. Talk about starting in the middle of the action and the mystery. The Unternet is a weird place with eerie Darkseid flavoring. The madness and the anger pumping through the action and the writing is palpable. Clues abound, but not enough to spoil anything (only enough to tease), and in the end, Tim’s solution satisfied me, as it fits with the kind of person he is and his outlook on life. The book *looks* dialogue heavy, but feels like it’s the right amount of text, and I have to say…I feel like I got my money’s worth on the reading part. And Foxy Lady was a hoot.

Batgirl #12 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett and Pere Perez (artists), Walden Wong and Pere Perez (inkers), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Batgirl Rising: The Flood, Part Four of Four: Oracle is trapped in the mind of the Calculator. Stephanie is saving her, by plunging through a rainstorm from thirty-five thousand feet. Sounds like Stephanie….

What’s Good: First of all, what’s great is that this is the one-year anniversary of Stephanie Brown as Batgirl and it is worth celebrating that Michael Siglain and Harvey Richards have been able to hold together the core creative team (Miller, Garbett and Major – the inkers seem to be a revolving door on this book, though) for pretty much that whole run. This gives a definite feel to a Batgirl book. Miller stamps each issue with Stephanie’s personality and it starts from page one. Her running, self-deprecating monologues are always fun, but, in this last issue of this arc, we see more growth in her. Steph, a rebellious, clutsy, teenager-equivalent, has always had a pretty adversarial relationship with Oracle. This book turns a corner for Steph and for Oracle and it’s heart-warming. You see it in lines by Stephanie like: “This isn’t about trying to prove anything to anyone…this is about me saving the one person who’s ever given a real crap about me.” She doesn’t lose that Stephanie essence though, especially when talking on the radio to her backup: ZAP! “I’m good! I’m good!” The corner turns for others in the book as well. Everyone experiences growth, even the bad guy. Oracle’s turn is summed up nicely when she says (with relief): “I knew I could count on you not to listen to me, Batgirl.” On the art side, Garbett, Perez, Wong and Major deliver humorous action and adventure. The camera angles work and the layout does the job.

Batgirl #11 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett and Pere Perez (artists), Walden Wong and Pere Perez (inkers), Guy Major (colorist), Harvey Richards (assistant editor), Michael Siglain (editor)

The Story: Calculator has Oracle and is plugging directly into her mind. Oracle’s hidden lair has Wendy. Technozombies Catwoman, Manbat and Huntress (not to mention 40% of Gotham) have Batgirl. Then things get grim.

What’s Good: As always, Miller excels at the snappy banter and monologue that accident-prone Stephanie Brown excels at: Spiderman-esque in style, but a lot less self-confident. Only Steph is able to deliver lines like “Sorry I called your dad a jackass” and, in response to the growls of Technozombie Man-Bat, “You’re right, I can’t afford a DVR.” Stephanie is always manic fun. On Oracle’s side, I loved the mental world she was stuff in, facing off against Calculator, and his growing frustrations with her. Visually, the art was dynamic, the settings grim and rainy, and some of the layouts interesting. Artgerm’s cover art is absolutely fantastic (just like last issue). Stan Lau should be doing the insides too.

What’s Not So Good: The art, while doing the job, didn’t look very compelling this issue. Gotham looks grittiest and scariest (despite Stephanie being a light-hearted Gothamite, she is being chased by thousands of zombies) when the fine lines of detail leap out of the panels and drown the reader’s eyes in an overload of bricks and mortar, dirty, blowing garbage, hair-line cracks in windows and scuffed armor. Faces carry more emotion when the lips and eyes and hair move fluidly. The art here just lacked the kind of detail that would have held my attention. This was just standard.

Story-wise, there were a few flaws. I’m not trying to nerd out, but first, I was shocked that Wendy was able to turn on, much less use, Oracle’s computer. I’m not a longtime Barbara Gordon follower, but over this series, she’s been the super-careful, ultra-cautious mastermind with a plan. She has put telepathic blocks in her head! But she didn’t password protect her computer?

Batgirl #10 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett & Pere Perez (artists), Jonathan Glapion, Rodney Ramos & Pere Perez (inkers), Guy Major (colorist), Michael Siglain (editor)

The Story: Batgirl Rising, The Flood, Part Two of Four: Calculator is one creepy dude. He knows more about computers than Oracle, and he’s got a serious hate for Stephanie Brown. Maybe that’s why she’s unplugging all her systems. Oh, and he’s got a Justifier Helmet. As Babs and Steph would say: “Crap.”

What’s Good: Miller’s writing. Miller’s got the voices of his characters down cold. Calculator is creepy– seriously creepy. Babs is confident, brave, sarcastic and in over her head, and it shows in her dialogue. Gotham PD Detective Gage talks like a nervous guy seriously crushing on Assistant Professor Barbara Gordon. And Batgirl? She’s classic Stephanie, telling hookers to stay in school, having monologue issues (“OHGODOHGODISAIDTHATOUTLOUD!”), and delivering such internal monologue gems as, “Way to sell it, Dork Knight.”

The art was dynamic (layout, poses, panel composition) and it gave us views from all sorts of angles that breathed movement into the pictures, and the faces were expressive (ex.: page 2 shot of Calculator, page 6 shot of Babs, pages 12-13 shots of Detective Gage). The works of Garbett and Perez really enabled Miller’s writing, bringing various character moments to life, especially scenes with Stephanie’s crush on Gage (a nice love triangle that’s eventually going to bite someone). Major, as always, delivered fine color work. The glowing green of Oracle’s computer image and the activation of the pulse are great examples of where color takes a driver’s seat in the telling of the story.