Justice League of America #3 – Review

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

The Story: Catwoman is kind of like your coworker who likes to steal supplies from the office.

The Review: If there’s one thing the JLA definitely has going for it, something that puts them a step above their iconic peers, it’s a bubbling brew of personalities.  With the Justice League proper, you can tell there are differences between them, but very narrow ones, kept very tight to their characters.  The members of the JLA, on the other hand, wear their differences quite openly, allowing them to clash with a lot more abandon.

It all makes for a livelier read, even when not very much happens.  The JLA’s encounter with the robot-Trinity is only moderately exciting, as the fakes seem to have only the most basic abilities of the real thing.  You’re not inclined to see the JLA’s takedown of three mechanical imposters as the same as facing against all ten current members of the Justice League (soon to be eleven, with Zatanna slated to join—re-join?—the team).  That doesn’t stop Steve Trevor from remarking, perhaps naively, in wonder, “The Justice League versus the Justice League.”

Grifter #6 – Review

By: Nathan Edmondson (writer), Scott Clark (penciller), Dave Beaty & Walden Wong (inkers), Andrew Dalhouse (colorist)

The Story: Wonder Woman might give up the power of flight for this invisible plane.

The Review: I might as well be honest and admit that lately, out of a sense of economy (and also in preparation for DC’s “second wave” of series), I’ve been actively pruning the number of titles on my pull list.  It’s really a testament to the higher quality of titles across the board of the new 52 that the picking and choosing has been rather tough.  Just last year, a C+ book would have made the grade to be kept on, but now even B- books face the risk of getting dropped.

An issue or so ago, Grifter might very well have ended up as one of these lighter middleweights I cut simply because it wasn’t dazzling me, despite its solid quality.  Then came this issue, and suddenly I find ridding myself of the series a lot less painful than before.  This change comes as a bit of a surprise; even though the title has experienced a slow decline in nearly all respects, not for a moment would you expect yourself actually reading it with disgust.

Edmondson must be slipping on his game, or else the steadily descending numbers on this title has left him discouraged and uninspired, for the dialogue has never been so problematic before.  Cole narrates, “Trust is faith and faith means things unseen.  If I can’t see it I can’t count on it and I won’t hope for it.”  Not only are the lines clunky in rhythm, they also don’t make much sense, given the fact he’s a con artist, who often has to rely on a lot of unseen factors—a point he even concedes later.  Sure, he recasts these factors as “variables,” but the conflict of ideas still practically screams at you.

And if the dialogue doesn’t bug you with its forced quality, it’ll certainly grate on you by getting over the top, practically soapy: “Oh, Cole!  How did—why did—”  “You brought my girlfriend here, you animals?”  “Let her watch as the curate wraps his black fingers around this man’s throat and—”  Flipping through early issues, I don’t see one that’s even gotten close to this level of silly melodrama.  How it’s come to this is anyone’s guess.

Grifter #5 – Review

By: Nathan Edmondson (writer), Scott Clark (penciller), Dave Beaty (inker), Andrew Dalhouse (colorist)

The Story: Don’t think of it as an abduction, Cole, but as a free trip to the stars.  Free, I say!

The Review: I must say, you have to give credit to DC for taking such major efforts to integrate their Wildstorm acquisitions into the fold and get them some attention.  True, none of them have really taken off as a pop hit, but it’s not for want of trying.  They all have very solid creative teams on board, and it’s clear editorial is working overtime to keep their plots running parallel to each other, prepping for a fairly significant crossover at some point.

But all of that will come to nothing if the stories themselves don’t sell.  While Voodoo has been a solid read throughout, Grifter has mostly hemmed and hawed and meandered until it’s lost all sense of direction.  Perhaps that’s fitting, given the roaming nature of our star, and the fact that he himself has little idea of what’s going on and few options for his next moves.  Even so, that doesn’t excuse the title for being so thin on plot at this late stage of its story arc.

Frankly, Edmondson has been downright stingy in the information he’s given us.  A lot of what we know is couched in such stubborn vagaries that even speculation is mostly futile.  After all this time, we barely know anything more about the Daemonites than we did at the start of the series.  Even the reveal about their intention to capture Cole and offer him to “the Black Curate” is so obscure, it’s hard to get all worked up about it.  In fact, it’s underwhelming to think they’ve gone through all this trouble just to obtain a human sacrifice.  Rather simple, if you ask me.

Grifter #4 – Review

By: Nathan Edmondson (writer), Scott Clark (penciller), Dave Beaty (inker), Andrew Dalhouse (colorist)

The Story: Who knew that arrows-versus-guns isn’t a completely one-sided draw?

The Review: Action can be a tricky thing in comics.  While you can cobble together an entire movie composed of mostly gunshots, car chases, explosions, and kung-fu, with just enough of a plot to hold it all together, this strategy doesn’t quite work in a comic book, probably because even the most dynamic two-page splash in the world can’t quite compare to even the most budgeted stunt and special-effects sequence on the big screen.

So while I’ve made comparisons between this series and The Bourne Identity, that’s not to say you’ll enjoy following Grifter’s chaos nearly as much as you do Jason Bourne.  True, the action on this title sure makes for a wild ride—literally.  At one point, Grifter breaks into a car, ties his belt to the steering wheel, shatters the front window, turns on cruise control, and climbs onto the hood, firing his pistol as he yanks on his belt to maneuver the vehicle through traffic.  It doesn’t get much more intense than that, frankly.

And yet it does, when you add Green Arrow to the mix.  G.A. has always been a bit of a goofy character, with the whole Robin Hood shtick, but in the new DCU, he has a modern edginess to him that, quite honestly, makes him feel more like DC’s Hawkeye than ever.  Setting that aside, you can’t deny his extreme competence in this new iteration.  I don’t know how he gets on in his solo title, but here he can dole out the special moves with the best of ‘em: slapping aside Cole’s gun from point blank and sticking an electric arrow in the muzzle in two panels.

Just like Kyle Rayner’s guest appearance in Voodoo, Green Arrow makes a sensible choice for Grifter’s first encounter with a blue-blooded DC hero.  As the owner of Q-Core, a company devoted to advanced technology geared toward military applications, Oliver is a sensible target for the infiltrating Daemonites.  Technically, you don’t know exactly what they’re infiltrating for, but a weapons research corporation can come in handy in all kinds of situations.

Mister Terrific #3 – Review

By: Eric Wallace (writer), Scott Clark (penciller), Dave Beaty (inker), Mike Atiyeh (colorist)

The Story: Downgrade this Braintsorm into a Braindrizzle—Mister Terrific’s here!

The Review: I’ve tried to avoid focusing on the subject of race in reviewing this title because it doesn’t seem like a very post-Norman Lear thing to do, and I don’t plan on going too deep into it now.  But I think it’s fair to say this title, because it had a minority character who isn’t an icon for its star, had a higher burden to prove itself.  Unlike other breakout titles, Mister Terrific couldn’t afford the luxury of a slow burn; it needed to hit the ground running with A-writing.

This it does not do.  Unfortunately, Wallace is just too given to some incredibly cloying bits of dialogue, which would have dragged down any character, not just Mr. Terrific.  Take this line, delivered by our hero without the slightest bit of camp or irony: “It’s Brainstorm that needs a lesson in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  Why he felt the need to insert this already oft-misused reference here, especially with so tenuous a context, we don’t know.

Even if the dialogue was working we’d still have problems with the lack of imagination in the plot—or plots, since there are several and none of them go against what’s already been done.  Brainstorm, of course, turns out just as vapid and flat as you suspected.  His only ambition is to achieve a vague desire to become “the All-Mind,” the benefits of which he never really explains.  His plan to “fertilize” random minds and then reap their genius when he’s ready also makes little sense.  Seems rather counterproductive, if you ask me.

Batman Incorporated #8 – Review

By: Grant Morrison (writer), Scott Clark & Dave Beaty (artists)

The Story: Look, just as long as you don’t let your kid starve to death, play online all you want.

The Review: The idea of taking our technological connections, the virtual threads that seem to wrap us tighter together by the day, and going one step further with it, where we can actually exist and interact as presently online as we do in real life—that idea isn’t new by any means.  In fact, once The Matrix brought it to big screen conception, almost every story with an immersive virtual reality scenario since seems like a blatant spin-off.

And so it goes with this issue of Batman Inc., featuring Bruce Wayne’s latest and greatest innovation: Internet 3.0.  We have scant specifics about how it works; at most, you presume people plug in through a headset of some kind and the advanced haptic technology actually lets them feel things that exist only in code.  As one of the investors brought onboard for a test-run remarks, “The prospects for the social side are sci-fi.”

Too often the plot forces us to take for granted the perils of plugging into Internet 3.0.  At one point, Oracle as Batgirl-avatar informs another investor that if their avatar gets hurt or killed, they’ll lose their entire fortune.  Why now?  And why does Bruce repeatedly warn his fellow billionaires to not leave the simulation?  These questions don’t ruin the story, but they distract you from immersing as much into the plot as the characters do into this new level of the internet.

Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies #1 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Scott Clark (penciller), Dave Beaty (inker), Nei Ruffino (colorist)

The Story: Now, you guys are absolutely positive this isn’t a shotgun wedding?

The Review: Of course, one of the most impacting changes in the Flashpoint world is Wonder Woman and Aquaman’s fierce enmity, which has led to countless deaths and the devastation of an entire continent.  Flashpoint: Emperor Aquaman #1 danced around the origins of this intense hatred, noting the near-marriage between the two young royals and the enraging deaths of Queens Hippolyta and Mera, but we’ve still yet to see the nitty-gritty of these past events.

In Flashpoint: Knight of Vengeance #1, I mentioned how the real point of change came more from a subtle alteration in Thomas Wayne’s behavior, which led to drastic changes to the night of his family’s mugging.  In the same way, Diana’s more pronounced impulsiveness leads to her setting sail from Themyscira (prior to the tourney that traditionally marks her departure for the outside world), thus setting the stage for her fateful encounter with Arthur.

DnA deliver the goods with fine form, making the plot so accessible this issue could effectively work as a new series debut.  You don’t actually need much familiarity with the characters or their original conceptions to get engaged with this story. It wastes no time taking us through the major scenes: the first meeting of the Amazonians and Atlanteans, the unexpected announcement to both peoples of their rulers’ coming union, and the eventful day of the union itself.