Flashpoint: Deadman and the Flying Graysons #3 – Review

By: J.T. Krul (writer), Fabrizio Fiorentino (artist), Kyle Ritter & Ander Zarate (colorists)

The Story: Wow Boston—we’re so close now, it’s like you’re in me.

The Review: Here’s a pretty good indicator of worthwhile series: when each episode, chapter, or issue has its own agenda yet plays together with the others to form a cohesive story.  In other words, if you can predict how things will turn out the next time around by what you get at the moment, then you lose nearly the whole point of a continued plotline.  When the element of surprise disappears, so does your reason for investment.

Krul has set up a pattern of movement which every issue of this title has followed, even to the very end.  We again start with a foreboding monologue: “But instead of bringing a spectacle of thrills, we brought the dogs of war.  We brought the Amazons.  We brought death.”  Gag-worthy melodramatics aside, let’s commend Krul for that “dogs of war” bit; way to skirt the line on calling those women something offensive, sir.

We also have the obligatory scenes of Boston trying to weasel the easy way out of the life-and-death situation our circus crew find themselves in, and of Dick acting impulsively self-righteous.  It’s a noble attitude, no doubt, but grating just the same, especially when coupled with claims like, “We became soldiers the day the war started.  We just didn’t know it until now.”  Their squabbling over survival vs. justice is part of a tiresome formula we’ve grown all too used to.

Flashpoint: Emperor Aquaman #3 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Vicente Cifuentes (artist), Diana Egea (inker), Kyle Ritter (colorist)

The Story: I know I killed your wife, but do you have to act like such a jerk?

The Review: We’ve known for a while now that Prince Orm of Atlantis and Penthesilea of the Amazons have worked together since day one (see Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies #1) to raise Cain between their peoples.  Even though it’s never been explicitly stated, you can pretty much deduce, especially given Orm’s character history, that power-lust motivates their partnership to some degree, but how they came to work together still remains a mystery.

Well, hold on to your britches, because here comes a spoiler that will blow your mind.  As Diana reveals to Arthur, “…[Orm’s] not dead!  It’s worse…I walked in on your brother and my aunt Penthesilea kissing!”  Bedard’s love for melodrama defeats whatever impact this “revelation” can have (which is slim to begin with), but worse, it just makes the characters look silly.  Their overblown disbelief (Arthur: “That’s…no…that’s just not—”) makes them sound like kids who can’t believe their parents made out because it’s just plain icky.

Once you get over your violent spasm of eye-rolling, you’ll also have to take issue with the execution of this scene.  It feels very soapy with its fraught fact drop and lack of substantiation.  Surely this merits a flashback of some kind, especially since it changes the entire flow of the story now that the real villains stand revealed.  Possibly we’ll get to see Orm and Penthesilea’s lip-locking in the next issue of F:WWATF, but that just seems like poor editorial planning.

Flashpoint: Deadman and the Flying Graysons #2 – Review

By: J.T. Krul (writer), Fabrizio Fiorentino & Alejandro Giraldo (artists), Kyle Ritter (colorist)

The Story: Dang it, I thought you said you would never let go!

The Review: You probably have noticed in my reviews that I tend to spend a great deal of time talking up the written features of a comic, with only a perfunctory paragraph on art.  This is in no way meant to demean the artist’s contributions to a comic, but as a writer, I view the script as king.  If you have a weak script, it won’t matter what kind of visuals you put in.  It can be the most beautiful-looking thing in the world, but it won’t have much meaning beyond prettiness.

Krul has had a fairly diverse set of artists who’ve worked on his scripts, some of whom I’ve panned (Claude St. Aubin), and others upon whom I can’t lavish enough praise and respect (Nicola Scott).  But none of them, even the often faultless Scott, have managed to overcome what I view as Krul’s weaknesses as a writer.  You can paint a leaky roof like the Sistine Chapel, but it’ll still leak—and the damp will damage the painting anyway.

It’s become almost a mean habit of mine to call out Krul’s choice of dialogue, but as it stands, he still can’t produce an issue that isn’t riddled with pointlessly melodramatic lines, like Wonder Woman musing, “Are we defending ourselves from the Atlanteans?  Fighting for our survival?  Or are both sides racing together, side-by-side, toward the abyss?  Blinded by rage?  Doomed.”  As a rule, monologues have a place in fiction, but overblown, unsubtle, cheesy ramblings have the effect of making me ever so slightly nauseated.

Flashpoint: Emperor Aquaman #2 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Vicente Cifuentes (artist), Diana Egea (inker), Kyle Ritter (colorist)

The Story: Think Little Mermaid, but with a lot more drama and stabbing.

The Review: In almost every kind of traditional storytelling, a strong narrator is essential to detailing a scene and giving us insight into the characters’ minds.  In a visual medium like comics, since the art pretty much takes over most of the expository duties, narration can actually become cumbersome and redundant, especially with a strong artist on hand.  In this case, the narrative must frame the scene, highlighting details the art and dialogue wouldn’t by themselves.

In this issue, Bedard demonstrates the merit in the old adage, “Less is more,” only he does so by showing what a drag excessive narration can be.  Almost at no point does his voice help the scene; oftentimes, it just tinges everything with melodrama (“History is littered with the corpses of the complacent.”), and it almost always reiterates the facts that are in plain sight to you.  Not to take it personally, but I find that kind of storytelling almost patronizing.

Perhaps Bedard felt pressed for time so he found it easier to just gloss over certain details rather than take the time to show them, but by doing so, he actually undermines the impact of his own story.  If he really wanted to convince us that “Arthur Curry returned to the deep too young to understand the virtues his father had tried to teach: patience, kindness, humility,” then Bedard should’ve given us more scenes of Tom trying to teach his son exactly those things.

Flashpoint: Emperor Aquaman #1 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Ardian Syaf (penciller), Vicente Cifuentes (inker), Kyle Ritter (colorist)

The Story: If this deal doesn’t go through, we’re sunk.

The Review: In my mind, there are actually few truly bad writers in the comics biz—just writers who do certain things well and other things not so well.  Certainly you have your top all-rounders who can pretty much write the phonebook and make it a page-turner, and you have your hacks that can’t produce anything readable no matter the genre.  But don’t overlook the writers who, when they can play to their strengths, offer some pretty worthwhile goods.

I’ve often criticized Bedard for his clear limitations as a writer, which we’ve seen in his runs on R.E.B.E.L.S. and Green Lantern Corps: he can’t seem to manage an ensemble cast very well, nor can he give credit to a plot with much complexity.  But we shouldn’t ignore the points where he excels: straightforward, uncomplicated storylines with take-charge, bold personalities.  This makes Flashpoint: Emperor Aquaman the ideal grounds for him to work with.

The principal cast consists entirely of characters of noble origins: Emperor Aquaman, Queen Mera, Prince Orm (who you may know as the Ocean Master), and King Brion of Markovia (Geo-Force).  If they come across a little too narrow-minded, pretentious, and unrelatable, well, they are, after all, royalty.  They can pull off the tinge of melodrama Bedard lends to all his dialogue: “You must take a few risks, after all, when you extend the hand of peace.”

For the most part, Bedard engagingly delivers the grim hows and whys of Western Europe becoming a casualty of war between Atlantis and New Themyscira.  But you still get overwritten moments, like the heavy-handed narration in the intro distracting from the already powerful imagery.  And important as it is to get the necessary exposition across, it’s always painful to have it done through characters explaining things to other characters who should already know that information: Orm recalling to Arthur the details and consequences of a plot Arthur himself masterminded is a perfect example.