Action Comics #5 – Review

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

The Story: Invasion of the Space Babies!  They’ll overwhelm you with their cuteness!

The Review: The coming of Superman to Earth as a babe rocketed from the doomed planet of Krypton is probably the origin story of origin stories, one which still retains a lot of its purity and sense of wonder to this day.  There’s just something inescapably poignant about the idea of a mother and father doing all they can to save their child, putting their trust in an unknown world to foster him, and him becoming its savior in return.

It’s a great story, but one that’s been told and retold so often, and with so little variation in the telling, that it’s become a bit tiresome to hear.  Weariness is the predominant feeling you get when reading through the first half of this issue.  For anyone who knows anything about the Superman mythos, nothing Grant Morrison writes will surprise you.  The classic details are all here, untwisted, and while that’s a relief on a lot of levels, it’s also rather dull to read.

The changes Morrison introduces to the story are few and subtle in nature.  Lara has a more critical role in Kal-El’s sojourn to Earth; she helped Jor-El build the saving rocket, and she’s the one who arrives at their last, desperate option to save their son when Jor-El freezes.  You discover that before they put Kal into the rocket, they attempted to save themselves by escaping into the Phantom Zone, only to find it already occupied by the worst of Krypton’s sadists.

While a lot of the issue is at least readable, if not refreshing, Morrison dives into some very exotic turns of phrase when writing the voice of the rocket’s Brainiac A.I.  I’ve never liked it much when Morrison puts on his beat poet hat; it just seems distracting and sometimes confusing: “Then blinding gulfs of superspace.  Of un-time.  Exquisite calculations.  The last son of Krypton dreams.  And searching.  And now!”

And that’s before you get to the completely baffling sequence involving a time-traveling chase of the Anti-Superman Army by Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and grown-up, body-suited Superman (as opposed to folksy Superman).  This scene not only breaks into the middle of the “Collector of Worlds” arc (which doesn’t continue this issue), it delivers puzzling language of its own: “This, all the K in the universe—the colored isotopes synthi-K and Kryptonium…”

Flashpoint #5 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (writer), Andy Kubert (penciller), Sandra Hope & Jesse Delperdang (inkers), Alex Sinclair (colorist)

The Story: The Flash realizes sometimes it’s better to just start from square one.

The Review: And so we come to the end.  But what exactly is ending?  A misdirected war between races?  The atrocious perversion of an entire universe?  The tenuous existence of those brought forth in that universe?  A whole era of comics history?  The answer, of course, is all of those at the same time.  For those reasons, this final issue should be a testament to the last few decades of DC storytelling, and those same reasons assure that this final issue is anything but.

The war between Atlantis and the Amazons, by itself, deserved much greater focus from this series than it got.  As the major motivation for Barry to make things right, and as the most pressing conflict for pretty much every character besides Barry, it should’ve had more time to expand to critical proportions, to convince us of how dire the situation truly is.  Johns betted the tie-ins would somehow supply this missing tension, and that wager gets defeated big time.

Many of us probably assumed, with the appearance of Zoom at the end of last issue, that we knew who brought this mess into being.  But as Zoom himself crows, the real person responsible is actually a little closer to home.  Most of these revelations get told through rambling dialogue in the middle of a heated battle (and you all know how fun those can be), and in the midst of all that chaos, it seems a weak attempt to add one more “twist” to the story.

Flashpoint #4 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (writer), Andy Kubert (penciller), Jesse Delperdang (inker), Alex Sinclair (colorist)

The Story: Remember kids: never accept juice boxes from strangers.

The Review: It’s pretty clear that whatever point Johns originally conceived Flashpoint with, the series serves little more purpose now than as a convenient vehicle to carry the upcoming DCU into fruition.  After three issues of steadily declining interest, it seems almost all the engaging material has dried up, leaving the storyline struggling to fill itself between plot beats.

This issue repeats a pattern Johns has put to use for a while now: not-Batman systematically disparaging everyone and everything, Barry clutching his head against further memory revisions and moaning about how he has to act before it’s too late, the two of them squabbling over priorities, and everyone else standing around awkwardly, waiting for orders.  It’s such a familiar formula you can easily skip the pages altogether and miss nothing, as I’ve personally discovered.

You’d expect a five-issue mini, especially with an Event of this scope, would be overflowing with story, yet it feels as airy and insubstantial as Wonder Bread.  Maybe Johns subsidized too much of his plot to the dozen or so tie-ins out there, but if you restricted your Flashpoint dosage strictly to this series, it’s almost a crime how Johns has neglected this elaborate altered reality he’s pushed onto us.  Certainly we don’t experience enough of it to grow too invested in its fate.

Justice Society of America #38 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (writer), Jesus Merino (artist), Jesse Delperdang (inker), Allen Passalaqua (colorist)

The Story: The Fatherland, Part 3: Willingham peels back more of how the American Reich happened via the Darkness Engine that has depowered America’s heroes and villains. In the meantime, Willingham is pursuing his caper plot, with the surviving, depowered heroes getting ready to make their move. Their plan is going to cost a lot of lives, though.

What’s Good: I love stories of heroes having to fix a world gone crazy. A classic of this genre is The Days of Future Past. This story feels a lot like that (concentration camps, high-tech weaponry, persecution, etc). The heaviest hitters in the DCU can’t hit anymore or are dead. It is cool to watch others up step to the plate. Mr. Terrific’s central role in this thread is an awesome example of stepping up. Willingham also has a narrative style that is very forgiving to the new reader, so even though this is part 3 of the arc, the story is very accessible. And he keeps the tension up, with things getting worse and worse for the heroes. And because this is a caper plot, you know that, no matter what, this plan isn’t going to survive contact with the enemy.

Dark X-Men: The Beginning #1 (Utopia) – Review

Some Thoughts Before The Review: I’m always a bit hesitant to pick up story collections like Dark X-Men: The Beginning because they tend to be rather hit-or-miss. That said, I couldn’t possibly pass up a Namor story by the Captain Britain team.

“Namor/Norman”

By Paul Cornell (Writer), Leonard Kirk (Pencils), Jay Leisten (Inks), and Brian Reber (Colors)

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: Little more than a tense standoff/exchange of words between Norman Osborn and Namor about Namor’s recent actions, “Namor/Norman” still manages to make an impact thanks to Paul Cornell’s strong knack for personality-driven dialogue and Leonard Kirk’s always reliable pencil work. What’s disappointing about “Namor/Norman” is that it really doesn’t amount to a whole lot beyond being an interesting character study. Now I’m all about character studies, but Cornell’s story left me wanting more…anything really. Thankfully, the “To be continued” lets me know that “more” is on the way.

“Mimic”

By James Asmus (Writer), Jesse Delperdang (Pencils & Inks), Andy Lanning (Inks), and Rain Beredo (Colors)

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: James Asmus’ compelling Mimic story is basically the comic equivalent to a movie montage. That’s both a good thing and a bad thing. The montage style is a good thing because it means that “Mimic” is a great introduction to a troubled character that has been thrust back into the spotlight. It’s also a bad thing because it means that “Mimic” is a fast read that ends just as it begins to gain some real momentum. Now, with the good and bad out of the way, I can say that “Mimic” ultimately manages to avoid feeling like a wasted effort thanks to the art team’s impressive handling of Asmus’ (rather weighty) dialogue.

“Dark Beast”

By Shane McCarthy (Writer), Ibraim Roberson (Artist), and Matt Milla (Colors)

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: I’ve always found the alternate Beast to be a cool character. He’s generic, sure, but he’s also quite interesting and a great addition to the Dark X-Men lineup. Shane McCarthy’s “Dark Beast” is a prime example of why I found the other Beast to be worth reading about. It works as both a nice introduction to the character and as a way to move some of the Dark X-Men story forward in regards to the secret project Fraction has been writing about. The only downside to “Dark Beast” is that it’s artwork looks a bit odd. Matt Milla’s color work sets a strong tone, but Ibraim Roberson’s Norman Osborn looks quite fat and his Beast goes from looking downright awesome to silly depending on the panel. It leaves “Dark Beast” looking visually inconsistent.

Conclusion: Dark X-Men: The Beginning #1 is worth picking up if you’re a fan of what Emma’s team of X-Men has to offer. All three stories read well, two out of three look quite good, and one, Paul Cornell’s, brings Namor’s special kind of awesome in a big way.  The problem though is that nothing of consequence happens.  If you can handle that and character studies, you’ll probably find a lot to like in this book.

Grade (As a whole): C+

-Kyle Posluszny

Captain Britain And MI:13 #4 – Review

By Paul Cornell (Writer), Leonard Kirk (Penciller), Jesse Delperdang (Inker), and Brian Reber (Colorist)

Swords are for killing people. They can be ornamental, they can be used ceremonially, occasionally they carve mutton, and once in a great while they are used to cleave the Gordian knot, thus uniting all of Asia. But for the most part their purpose is to separate significant portions of a person’s anatomy in the hope that that person will then stop moving, preferably permanently.

Of course, for a long time killing was verboten in comics. That’s why Colleen Wing was always whacking people with the flat of her sword, which even as a kid I thought was pretty silly. But the old Comics Code rules no longer apply. Now Wolverine can actually gut an enemy, where once he only talked about it. And Ed Brubaker, God bless him, has acknowledged that Cap and Bucky may have actually shot one or two Nazis, instead of just punching them.

So why, why, in the latest issue of CB&MI:13, does Captain Britain set Excalibur aside, saying it belongs to someone who would never use it to kill? What kind of weak-kneed, namby-pamby, in-America-the-neocons-would-eat-you-alive nonsense is that? Especially since Peter Pan (sorry, Peter Wisdom, cough*lame*cough) has just unchained Satannish, Umar, and every other form of unspeakable ancient evil, and they are at this very moment descending upon fair Albion’s shores to turn his countrymen into slaves, corpses, and/or dinner?

Words fail me. I admire high moral standards, and Lord knows the world needs more of them, but this is just about the silliest thing I’ve ever read.

Which is too bad, because otherwise this is a good book. The art is nice. Faiza, the Arab doctor, continues to be an interesting character. The John Lennon Skrull gets one last, very satisfying laugh at the other Skrulls’ expense. And the fight between Captain Britain and Super-Magic-Skrull is pretty cool. Overall, I like the way Cornell has handled the book, giving it its own, distinctly British flavor, while keeping it firmly within the confines of current Marvel continuity.

But that bit with the sword still bothers me. (Grade: B-)

– Andrew C. Murphy

Captain America By Ed Brubaker Omnibus Vol.1 – Review

By Ed Brubaker (Writer), Steve Epting, Mike Perkins, Michael Lark, John Paul Leon, Tom Palmer, Javier Pulido, Marcos Martin, Lee Weeks, Stefano Gaudiano, Rick Holberg, and Jesse Delperdang (Artists), and Frank D’Armata, Javier Rodriguez, and Matt Milla (Colors)

This is an absolute necessary collection for anyone who is currently reading Captain America. I’ll admit, I fall into the category of readers who jumped on the series around Civil War. Having only read those issues, I knew where this big tome of story would end up: Captain America dead, and Bucky back from the dead. Despite knowing exactly how it would end, the story found in this omnibus not only kept me enthralled, but several times it kept me on the edge of my seat. Ed Brubaker is a master storyteller, and I can see why his run is already being heralded one the best in Cap’s history.

The story contained within is very personal. We get to look into the life and mind of Steve Rogers, as well of several of the supporting cast members. Knowing that the Winter Soldier would end up being Bucky, it was painful and poignant to see Steve Rogers discover this for himself. Through Brubaker’s clever use of flashbacks, we also get to see the great dynamic that developed between these two partners as they fought together in World War II. Where Bucky’s return as a brainwashed Russian agent brings sadness into the life of Steve Rogers, we get to witness the development of his rekindled relationship with Sharon Carter. This relationship brings Cap rare moments of fulfillment.

Of course, the brilliant characterization is not just limited to the good guys. On the villainous side of things, we get several displays of genius, treachery, and just pure evil on the parts of both Aleksander Lukin and the Red Skull (along with their minions.) Fans of bad guy romance even get appeased as the relationship between Crossbones and Sin develops.

The characterization is only half of what makes the story so good. The other half is tons of action. In fact, this story has some of the best action I’ve seen in comics. Whether it is Steve Epting, Mike Perkins, or any of the other artists who contributed to this book, the action they bring to these issues is dynamic, cinematic, and just plain stunning to look at. Stuff likes this leaves me hoping that the Captain America movie will be popular enough just so this storyline can be adapted to the bring screen.

I realize this is a pretty expensive book to buy ($74.99 for 25 issues of story), but any current fan of Captain America who hasn’t read these stories needs to pick this up just to appreciate who the old Captain America was, who the new Captain America is, and just how genius the Red Skull has been in the implementation of his diabolical plan. If you want a money saving tip, save up, and buy it used on eBay (that is what I had to do), or buy it from a store like DCBS. It’s definitely worth your money. (Grade: A+)

-M. Staples

Captain Britain and MI-13 #1 (Secret Invasion) – Review

Paul Cornell (writer), Leonard Kirk (penciler), Jesse Delperdang (inker), and Brian Reber (colorist)

I’ve never liked Captain Britain.

Captain America, I get. Everything that’s important about America revolves around a handful of ideals that can be, more or less, successfully embodied in one man. But Britain is such an older and more complex country. Which one person could truly represent it? King Arthur? James Bond? Sid Vicious? Jeeves? Whoever it might be, it’s sure not bland, boring Brian Braddock.

So it was with some trepidation that I picked up CB&MI13, especially when I heard that one of the key characters was a Skrull disguised as John Lennon. (Beatlemania was thirty years ago, guys. Get over it.) But the book leaves behind the goofiness of old Captain Britain tales, instead tying into the ongoing Secret Invasion story line, and is much better for it.

The story begins in the midst of a Skrull attack on London. There’s a Skrull with all the powers of the Champions, another that combines the Squadron Sinister, and (my favorite) a mash-up of Morbius, Frankenstein, and the Werewolf by Night. The Skrulls have taken a special interest in England because of its history of ancient, powerful magics. Standing in their way are Captain Britain, the Black Knight, MI-13, and Spitfire (She’s a vampire now. When did that happen?). They’ve all had to make sacrifices in defense of the realm, but Captain Britain may end up making the greatest sacrifice of all.

Of course, with the relaxed pace of comics these days, all we really get in this one issue is a prelude of things to come, but the writing is good and the art is beautiful. And the wanna-Beatle? He’s actually my favorite character. He never pretends to be the real John Lennon — who could be a selfish prick at times — but instead tries to represent all the good things John stood for, in sharp contrast to the “fundamentalist” Skrull invaders.

Good show, chaps. Carry on. (Grade: A)

– Andrew C. Murphy

A Second Opinion

I am going to have to respectfully disagree with Andrew on this one, as I found this comic hard to decipher. I’m not a huge Captain Britain fan, either. The extent of my knowledge is derived from the early ’90’s Excalibur series. With that said, I wasn’t expecting Captain Britain to be idolizing Captain America so much throughout the book. Braddock talks for maybe half a page, and it seems like the typical rhetoric of a hero trying to do more. I mean, he flat out says he wants to be the Captain America of the U.K. It’s a great concept to push Braddock back into the spotlight, yet it feels forced in this book.

The writing itself is confusing mess. With a giant “1st Issue” slapped on the cover, I was expecting some sort of premise and a who’s who. But, none of this happens as the reader is thrown in the middle of a Skrull invasion in Britain. The best character that is written isn’t even Captain Britain, it’s Black Knight. The Knight is paired up with a female field medic during a Skrull attack and Paul Cornell gives him some much needed depth. A lot of his persona and motives are displayed here and it’s quite involving. Every other character feels slapped ionto the pages for no real reason other than to give this book “numbers” to repel the attack.

Overall, a very confusing read. Yet, I’m intersted to see a more modern perspective on the superheroes of the U.K., so I’ll give this book another shot. (Grade: C-)

– Robert Hyland