Smallville #7 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (story), Chris Cross (pencils), Marc Deering (inks), Carrie Strachan (colors)

The Story: I hate to say it, Batman, but people have a habit of getting shot around you.

The Review: With all the news coming out of DC about upcoming new series, it’s made me start thinking about my reviewing future.  I have a pretty sizable stack of series I cover, somewhere upwards of thirty a month, and anyone who’s followed my work since I joined this site knows I have never once skipped a review unless I’ve Dropped it first—which means I’ve never actually skipped a review.  So adding titles to my list is always a fraught, juggling act.

So let’s say I want to cover Vibe, Katana, and Justice League of America next year (and there are even more I’m looking at).  Do I really want to do 33+ reviews a month (including weekly coverage of Arrow and Young Justice—if and when it ever comes back)?  I do have a life, difficult as that is to believe.  I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m giving a good hard look at the things I’m reading and it looks like Smallville may be one of the expendable items.

Smallville #6 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (story), Jamal Igle (pencils), Marc Deering (inks), Carrie Strachan (colors)

The Story: Batman discovers it’s a little harder to flip-drop Superman than other folks.

The Review: Last month, I went through a strange, almost revelatory moment with the title, where I realized that no matter how much I or Miller or anybody else wanted it to replace the show we watched semi-diligently, it never would.  Comics, particularly ones involving superheroes, are all about indulgences, taking fictional liberties and playing up the action.  For a drama and talk-centered series like Smallville, comics don’t always translate its appeal.

Remember how often and how much of the show used to involve two-character scenes, with long, windy streams of dialogue (and lots of talking while turning away from the other person).  Fighting sequences were limited by budget constraints, but that made the personal storylines more integral to the show.  Miller has almost reversed the action-drama ratios here, and that produces an “episode” that doesn’t much resemble those of its televised predecessor.

Batman: The Dark Knight #0 – Review

By: Gregg Hurwitz (story), Mico Suayan & Juan Jose Ryp (pencils), Vicente Cifuentes (inks), Sonia Oback (colors)

The Story: Kids, if you’re going to investigate your own parents’ murders, wait till you’re 18.

The Review: Reading my last couple reviews on this series, I realize I’ve been rather hard on Hurwitz since he took over the title.  But weird and creepy as it sounds for me to say this, I do it only because I care.  During my teaching days, I tended to be most critical on my smartest, most ambitious students.  I figured if you were smart and talented enough to know better, why should I have to tolerate sloppy, uneven work?

Clearly, Hurwitz doesn’t want to tell your run-of-the-mill Batman story, where a villain does something horrible and Batman cleans it up with prejudice.  You can always tell from the script that Hurwitz wants to find the bigger meaning out of the plot, to establish some kind of theme he can work around.  Therein lies a part of the problem.  As anyone who’s done some writing can tell you, theme can’t be generated; it can only be developed, often without intention.