Vibe #6 – Review

By: Sterling Gates (story), Pete Woods (pencils), Sean Parsons (inks), Brad Anderson (colors)

The Story: What are bros for if not to break each other out of interdimensional prison?

The Review: I don’t like to attribute a title’s problems to editorial interference or creative shake-ups; it sounds too much like an easy excuse for poor writing to me.  Occasionally, though, the evidence of defects coming from higher up than the writer or artist is too strong to ignore.  To be frank, though, I don’t see this as a complete justification for a weak story.  With serial fiction especially, writing is as much craft as art, and part of the craft is flexibility.

Gates definitely had obstacles going against him from the moment he started on Vibe.  First of all, it’s a major red flag that both the title’s original writers checked out within two—seriously, two?—issues.  Second of all, and meaning no disrespect to the Vibe fans out there (both of you), but it’s Vibe.  So Gates not only had to suddenly and unexpectedly step up to the plate with a half-formed story barely started, he had to work with a low-rent character no one cared much to see anyway and try to complete his transformation into a top-notch property.  Blergh.

Vibe #4 – Review

By: Sterling Gates (story), Manuel Garcia (pencils), Fabiano Neves (art), Sandra Hope Archer (inks), Brad Anderson (colors)

The Story: It’s not every day you meet a cute girl while chasing after extraterrestrial travelers.

The Review: From the moment Vibe agreed to work with A.R.G.U.S., we always knew shis collaboration would end in bitterness and disappointment at some point.  No relationship can function without trust, and A.R.G.U.S. has never been upfront with Cisco about much of anything.  But once the truth comes out, as it inevitably must, what can he, the least experienced and most naïve member of the Justice League of America, do about it?

The title has done Cisco a favor by speeding up that inevitable conflict.  Given how obvious both Gunn and Waller have been in their deceptions, our hero would look pretty dumb if it took a couple arcs for him to catch on—especially with his brother, Kid Flash, and now a mysterious dimensional breacher (named Breacher, confusingly enough) all telling him A.R.G.U.S. isn’t to be trusted.

Vibe #2 – Review

By: Geoff Johns & Andrew Kreisberg (story), Pete Woods (art), Andres Guinaldo (pencils), Sean Parsons & Bit (inks), Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: Vibe fails to stop Agent Gunn from killing the messenger.

The Review: More than ever, I realize that Johns has a special gift of endearing characters to readers.  He does his best work with characters who seem a little overwhelmed, hapless, or out of their element, and trying to navigate the obstacles and responsibilities placed on them in the best way they can.  No wonder that Johns resonates most with the superheroes who are new to the game and have something to prove.  He likes getting you to root for the underdog.

Vibe certainly qualifies in that respect, not just from his publication history.  Of all the various characters Johns has taken in hand, Vibe has the deepest self-doubt problem.  This is something that won’t go away in just one or two issues, and probably not even after a whole arc.  But wishy-washiness isn’t exactly a trait one admires in a hero.  If Johns-Kreisberg expect us to stick by Cisco in the long run, we need to see qualities that surpass his crisis of confidence.

Justice League of America #2 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), David Finch (art), Sonia Oback (colors)

The Story: The team goes on their first mission without so much as a proper, rah-rah send-off.

The Review: One thing that really hampered Justice League when it first hit the stands was how much time it spent simply getting itself together.  It wasn’t until I think the fourth of fifth issue that you finally had the entire group in the same place, which is a pretty long time for a team book to gather its wits about it.  On the plus side, with the invasion from Apokolips as the trigger for their formation, they never wanted for action from the first issue.

Justice League of America seems to have the opposite problem.  Although you get pretty much the whole crew (minus Simon Baz, who’s still occupied over in Green Lantern) in one room within the issue’s first few pages, by the end of the issue, you still haven’t really seen them go to work.  In fact, aside from Green Arrow’s brief flashback to his infiltration of the Secret Society, there’s no League action at all.

Vibe #1 – Review

By: Geoff Johns & Andrew Kreisberg (story), Pete Woods (pencils), Sean Parsons (inks), Brad Anderson (colors)

The Story: One day you’re trying to sell point-and-shoots, the next you’re battling Parademons.

The Review: In my review of the other JLA spin-off title,* I talked about the different reasons people pick up certain books and how for me and Katana, it was a matter of supporting any series that attempts to promote some diversity in the mostly homogenous world of comics.  While I don’t disapprove of putting new faces in familiar brands, I do respect original creations more, and while Vibe may be lacking in some areas, he at least has more originality than most.

Once again, I thank my lucky stars that I’m not so immersed in continuity that I bring old prejudices to this series.  While I’ve heard the jokes and stories about Vibe, I can’t say I’ve ever read a single thing with him actually in it.  So what do I think of my very first exposure to the much maligned superhero?  I have no idea how much he resembles his previous incarnation, but Cisco Ramon as he stands now is a very endearing sort of character.