Titans #23 – Review

By: Eddie Berganza (writer), Scott Clark and Adrian Syaf (pencillers), Dave Beatty and Vicente Cifuentes (inkers)

What’s Good: This is the first time I’ve seen Eddie Berganza in the writer’s chair. He’s been editing Blackest Night, Cry for Justice, Wednesday Comics, and others up to now, but I think he did a fine job as a writer. I don’t know if this is a new direction for him or if he’s just pinch-hitting while they find a replacement for the excellent J.T. Krul who has taken over as writer of Green Arrow. Berganza takes us through the perspectives of three characters (Dick Grayson (now Batman), Wally West (now the third Flash) and Donna Troy) as they reminisce about their early adventures in the 1960 and how Speedy (now maimed and fighting for his life under medical care) touched their lives. Berganza has skillfully made all the narrators unreliable, because although they remember the same events, their individual regrets and bitterness tinge the narrative. It’s very hard to write a character that is fooling themselves or not seeing the big picture and Berganza did a good job. There’s a lot more bitterness and regret in the Titans’ history than I knew about. But, all this would be nothing if Berganza couldn’t tie this to the present and the struggles of now. Berganza does this by showing Dick, Wally and Donna struggling in their new roles (especially Dick) as some of the heavy-hitters in the DCU. Lastly, I really like how Berganza made Speedy/Red Arrow both a sympathetic and unsympathetic by showing his errors and his core humanity as a father, with the added tension that he still doesn’t know his daughter is dead. All in all, Berganza has shown that he is every bit the character writer that Krul is.

Clark, Syaf, Beatty and Cifuentes did some fine work too on the art chores. They separated the past from the present with the shadows and tones of the inking. The scenes set in the past had almost no inking on the characters, even in the dark, which made the scenes effectively moody and even a bit ghostly, which underscored the unreliability of some of the narrators.

Green Arrow #31 – Review

By J.T. Krul (writer), Federico Dallocchio (artist), Michael Atiyeh (colorist)

The Story: Green Arrow finished business with Prometheus in the conclusion of Justice League: Cry for Justice, but now he’s on the trail of Electrocutioner, Prometheus’ accomplice. Problem is, Green Arrow’s Justice League colleagues are on his trail.

What’s Good: I had trashed Green Arrow and Black Canary last year for what I’d considered shoddy writing and scratchy art. The cover art on this book and J.T. Krul’s name enticed me back. An added incentive for me was Dan Didio’s cryptic announcement in Toronto in 2009 that his choice of character to watch for the year 2010 was Green Arrow. If you’ve been following Cry For Justice, you can see that Didio was as good as his word (no further comment on how well Cry For Justice itself worked as a story). Am I glad DC pulled me back? Qualified yes.

The cover art alone was worth the DC price of admission ($2.99), but the real draw here is Krul’s character work (demonstrated so ably in a string of great Titans character pieces). Krul takes us through Oliver Queen’s gritty monologue and shows why he is the Green Arrow and why he is Star City’s protector. When he faces off against Green Lantern (his best friend), Black Canary (his wife) and the Flash (someone who doesn’t like him very much), the character and the conflict come out. Different sides of an argument, hardened against each other, brother against brother. Tough stuff. I thought for a second that Krul was going to let me down and have Green Arrow beat two of the three toughest superheroes in the DCU in some dumb way reminiscent of Cry for Justice. Instead, the way Oliver took down Green Lantern and the Flash was actually pretty smart. Good work, Krul!

Titans #21 – Review

By: J.T. Krul (writer), Angel Unzueta & Chris Batista (pencils), Wayne Faucher (inker)

The Story: Fractured, Part One: The Titans are mopping up a second string crew of thieves. Donna is pretty upset about what Prometheus has done to Roy in Cry for Justice #5. Flash is going through a crisis of his own due to the return of Barry Allen. Kory has been offered a berth on the Justice League, but doesn’t know what to do. And Cyborg is stuck thinking about what to do with this evaporating team.

What’s Good: As you can tell from the summary, Krul has set up a character-heavy story. I first noticed his work on those 1-issue solo Titans stories that came after that god-awful Deathtrap arc. He shows here that he’s just as able to simultaneously make life painful for five characters as he is for just one. There’s so much good stuff in here that I’ll just stick to some of my favorite moments: Donna Troy, going to town on Vault with a ton of anger; Wally West, running backwards, faster than Carom, and trash-talking; Wally’s take on the return of Barry Allen and what it means to him; and Kory’s visit to Batman, particularly her insight into him. I also loved how she explained away Donna’s criticism of the visit and repositioned what she was doing in terms of her culture and who she is. What was a bonus for this book was seeing Dick Grayson as Batman, and how he is adapting to a role, rather than changing his personality. No one but Kory could have seen that subtle distinction, because no one else has watched him so long with so much interest. Krul is doing some really subtle nuance work with these characters. On the art, we got some dynamic action sequences and some good layout work.

Justice League of America #38 – Review

by James Robinson (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Rob Hunter (inks), Pete Pantazis (colors), and Rob Leigh (letters)

The Story: Someone dies, the remnants of the JLA discuss their future, and Despero attacks.

What’s Good: Even though it’s the death of an absolute z-lister, I really did like the opening scene this month. In providing a massive, faceless new enemy, it delivered that sense of foreboding danger that should be in the opening issue of any writer’s run. It felt meaningful and intense and promised good stuff to come.

Robinson also writes a powerful and likable Zatanna and her presence is probably the high point of the issue.  She’s just a lot of fun, light-hearted but also the undeniable heavy of the team at the moment. Robinson also does a good job on approaching Plas’ current predicament, including referencing his agelessness, limitations, and Plas’ own frustrations when he’s unable to act upon his creativity.

On art, Mark Bagley’s work is superb. This is basically the standard for the “modern DC superhero” look, and what better place for that than the JLA comic? It’s a bright, colorful, and pleasing comic full of youth, energy, and vitality. Bagley was definitely the right man for the job.

What’s Not So Good: Despite all this, this comic is something of a disaster zone. It’s not the fault of Bagley or Robinson, who outside of one atrocious punch-line by Despero, acquit themselves admirably.  Rather, this is a case of “wrong place, wrong time.”

The problem is that Robinson and Bagley are being thrown into a company-wide event before even managing to get through one issue. As a result, Robinson has far too much on his plate: the aftermath of Cry for Justice, McDuffie’s baggage, and leading in to a Blackest Night tie-in.

That said, his hands are also tied. Given that the Blackest Night tie-in will run for two months, his run won’t really start until January. As a result, he can’t fully introduce a new enemy. He can’t start his first arc. He can’t even introduce his JLA roster. He’s forced to give us 22 pages of chaos and water treading.

We get an utterly pointless and horribly familiar conversation about whether the JLA has a future or not. It’s one we’ve heard a million times and it’s without any real emotional impact or distinct flavor. It’s just the same tired material without nuance. It’s also more or less without consequence. Nothing changes and nothing is revealed thanks to the conversation. It’s just there to fill pages. Then we get a random, and I mean random attack by freaking Despero of all people. Huh? Where in the heck did that come from? Despero’s reasons are never explained and even if they were, it’d still be random. You can’t have a guy like Despero launch a surprise attack out of the blue with zero build-up.

Then BAM!  Blackest Night image of a zombie floating in the air!

Conclusion: This is a bad comic that still has hope for its run, given that none of it is Bagley or Robinson’s fault.

Grade: C –

-Alex Evans

Justice League: Cry For Justice #4 – Review

By James Robinson (writer), Mauro Cascioli (artist), Eddie Berganza (editor)

The Story: Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Freddie Freeman, the Atom and Supergirl pull themselves out of the wreckage of last issue’s cliff-hanger explosion and decide to follow Prometheus’ trail through the torture of the other villains they’ve captured. Jay Garrick is running around the country, checking up on all sorts of people, while Congo Bill and Starman fight for their lives.

What’s Good: Mauro Cascioli continues to knock this book out of the park. In evaluating comic art, I always do a gut-test first: How long do I want to linger, looking at the pictures? Cascioli’s art really keeps the pages from turning because there’s so much in each panel. Every expression is brilliant. The clothes wrinkle, the lights shine, and the shadows are moody and real. And as I said in my review of issue #1, Casciolo’s rendition of Congo Bill is stunning.

Robinson kept me guessing throughout the story. Freddie’s analysis of Prometheus (using the patented wisdom of Solomon) was fun to watch in a Bourne Identity sort of way. And Jay Garrick’s mysterious investigation is drawing in some pretty interesting people, like Mon-El, the Shade, and a bunch of second string heroes. I’ve been following some of DC’s podcasts and in a couple, Robinson talks about how Cry for Justice is going to tee up his run as the writer for the JLA, a team he intends to refashion. I don’t know what he’s doing with these second-stringers now, but I would be interested in seeing him try to make some of them first-stringers. That, however, is just a bit of idle speculation on my part. Robinson is nonetheless using the large cast of the DCU to good effect.

What’s Not So Good: Cry for Justice is losing its way. It started with an effective bang in issue #1. Since then, it has started repeating itself. This is now the fourth issue where the Green Lantern orders the Atom to torture some (or many) hapless villain. The Atom, same as before, jumps out of some guy’s nostril, as if he’s put in a tiresome day’s work. Hal Jordan doesn’t flinch. And Freddie and Kara continue to be non-entities in the central debate of this series. There is some character growth in Green Arrow (“Torture is wrong”), but it comes off as contrived because it just begets more violence. I know Robinson is going for a ‘Now do you see what you’ve been doing?’ moment, but we’re talking about some of the most powerful and perceptive personalities in the DCU – they’ve taken bigger punishments than this without surrendering their values.

Conclusion: The story is suffering from a few missteps, but a powerhouse set of characters, a promised change in the status quo of the DCU and the art make this book worth the buy.

Grade: B-

DS Arsenault

Justice League: Cry for Justice #1 – Review

By James Robinson (writer), Mauro Cascioli (artist)

The Story: Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814, tells the assembled JLA that he’s had enough and that it’s time to put the justice back into the Justice League and to take the fight to those who make the evil in the world. However, not many are willing to follow where he’s headed. At the same time, Ray Palmer (the Atom), Mikaal Tomas and Congo Bill come to views very similar to Green Lantern’s.

What’s Good: Almost everything. Robinson starts us off with a very strong concept: that some heroes are taking the initiative. They’re not going to act like police respecting Miranda rights; they’re going to take the informal war between good and evil on the offensive. This is a very “mature reader” perspective to bring to such an iconic series. which has been long overdue. It’s similar to the switch that detective fiction took in the 1920’s when American writers found the British cozy mysteries too contrived and artificial and instead introduced the gritty, realistic American detective that had to confront brutal criminals in violent ways. This is the can of whoop-ass that is going to put the JLA at the center stage of the comic book industry for months.

The concept of justice itself is very emotional and it allows Robinson and Cascioli to shine some powerful lights into the inner worlds of Green Lantern, Green Arrow, the Atom, Congorilla, and Mikaal. The emotions they uncover are raw and visceral, making the storytelling powerful both in words and pictures.

Speaking of pictures, where has Mauro Cascioli been all my life? He’s freaking awesome! The lighting is brilliant and he’s got some tricks of shadowing and light that put such texture onto the page that you have to see to believe. And if you really need convincing (as if the cover doesn’t convince you), look at the flashbacks of Batman and Martian Manhunter tragedies. Look at the billowing clouds of fire and smoke bursting out of a car. Look at Congorilla’s face! The art is just unbelievable!

I also loved Robinson’s message to the readers at the end. He tells us what JLA: Cry for Justice is about, what he thinks it will do and where the characters are coming from. And to top it off, we got a punchy little Len Wein/ Ardian Syaf/ John Dell two-pager at the end on the origin of Congorilla.

What’s Not So Good: My only compaint, other than some slightly over-developed biceps in places, were two pieces of clunky dialogue. My pet peeve is when dialogue is used to tell readers something that the other characters on the page already know. It’s just not genuine. Superman indulges in some (“We all know exactly who and what we’ve lost”) and so does a mortician (“I guess you know the details. He was visiting….”). These are tiny notes in an otherwise flawless symphony.

Conclusion: JLA: Cry for Justice is expected to do big things for the DCU and set up conditions for Robinson when he takes over the main JLA title. This is big stuff and it shows. Buy this book!

Grade: A-

-DS Arsenault

A Second Opinion

Justice League: Cry for Justice #1 is a lot like the majority of comic books throughout the 90s; the art shines, and the story/ writing tanks. Each subplot reeks of a lack of originality, inconvenience, camp, and unimportance.

In the part where Hal Jordan calls out the Justice League, and decides to serve his own brand of justice, the dialogue is made up corny and cliche banter. With phrases like, “You and me. Old times, new times, all the time.” and “I’m saying this will not stand. I’m saying they hurt us, we hurt them back,” Robinson is unforgiving in shoving stock moments down our throats.

In the second part where the Atoms are raising hell in a dive bar, it’s text box galore, where Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi take turns jocking one another, just like Superman and Batman in Public Enemies. It’s unoriginal, and it’s annoying to read the same words from each character… Robinson fails to give Ryan Choi a memorable voice, while the faux-badass attitude he has tagged on Ray Palmer is laughable. “He’s a hero. I’m Ray Palmer. Welcome to pain.” WTF?!

As for Congo Bill/ Congorilla, who gives a shit? It’s obvious that DC and Robinson knew he is/ was going to be the least cared about character in this book; which is why they had to throw in a last minute origin wiki at the end.  Are we really going to be seeing origin tales for characters that we should already know and care about?

It’s unfortunate that this book didn’t live up to my expectations. I was duped into thinking that this was going to be one serious story with “Identity Crisis like” themes and situations. Instead, I got a book that features a poorly written tale and an article in the end  from the writer in which he tries to assure me that what I’m reading is going to matter.

Grade: C+

-Ray Hilario