Loki: Agent of Asgard #5 – Review

By: Al Ewing (story), Lee Garbett (art), Nolan Woodard (colors)

The Story: Loki finds himself and realizes he was better off lost.

The Review: For the purposes of discussion, let’s all agree that right now, Loki has one big secret: the murder of his younger self, the “crime that will not be forgiven.” True, he’s confessed it to his Young Avenger pals, but it’s a bit like dealing with your newfound atheism or homosexuality. You can proudly flaunt it to everyone else in the world, but as long as you keep it from your Bible-worshipping, you’ll always feel a little bit trapped.

Loki will be feeling especially so after this issue, now that he’s discovered the goblin-ish Loki scheming from the wings is not a manifestation of his past self, but his future. We’ve all known the real conflict in the series would come to this: the Loki trying to change versus the Loki who loves who he is. It bodes ill for the ultimate outcome of the battle that older Loki completely outmaneuvers younger Loki here. Able to freely traverse the past and see into the future, older Loki can shut down the younger’s plan of attack before he even conceives of it. It’s a foregone conclusion.

Loki: Agent of Asgard #4 – Review

By: Al Ewing (story), Lee Garbett (art), Nolan Woodard (colors)

The Story: Who cons the con man?

The Review: Anybody here watch the Golden Globes? Remember last year’s ceremony, when Kristin Wiig and Will Ferrell did a bit where they pretended to have no idea who any of the nominees or their respective movies were? I laughed at the sheer silliness of it all until my eyes watered, and so was rather surprised to find people who not only didn’t laugh at the bit, but who didn’t think it was funny at all. Certainly Tommy Lee Jones didn’t.

The point of this story is that comedy strikes different people in vastly different ways, which makes it one of the tougher things to fairly evaluate. Who am I to say something is positively funny or unfunny? What strikes me as barely amusing can be a total crack-up to someone else. This is all to warn you to take my review here with as much salt as you can handle, because much of it has to do with Elwing’s particular comedic sensibilities.

Vertigo Quarterly: Cyan #1 – Review

By: Too many to list—or even to review. Just check out the issue.

The Story: It’s impossible not to feel blue after reading this.

The Review: Of all the showcase titles out in recent years, the ones from Vertigo have been the best by far, with a good mix of known and unknown writers confidently spinning self-contained yarns from the chosen motif. Until now, I haven’t had a proper appreciation for the choice of motif, which provides some degree of unity to what would otherwise be jumbles of disparate, unconnected stories. But revolving stories around a color doesn’t quite do the same trick.

The big difference is that a color is an abstract concept in comparison to, say, witches or ghosts, which are somewhat more defined, even if a writer takes the notion in some radical direction. In theory, you can write any story and shoehorn a bit of cyan in there, which is what a lot of the features in this issue do, whether it’s Shaun Simon’s unconvincing “Serial Artist” or a metaphysical numbers extravaganza in Mony Nero’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” It’s easy enough for the colorists to dab a bit of sharp light blue in any given feature, but difficult to grasp the color’s effect on the story.

Loki: Agent of Asgard #3 – Review

By: Al Ewing (story), Lee Garbett (art), Nolan Woodard (colors)

The Story: What if the Norse gods had the power of automatic weapons fire?

The Review: Anytime you have a story that features a villain, former or otherwise, you’ll notice a lot of time is spent exploring his villainy, certainly more time than a hero’s story is spent exploring his heroism. You don’t need a reason to admire someone who does good, but evil requires more justification for your interest, I think. Hence the endless slew of childhood traumas that plague nearly all of our Big Two supervillains. Loki may be unique in that the only reason for his evil is he’s written that way.

Loki’s mission to do good in exchange for having his past infamy wiped from humanity’s collective consciousness is merely the starting point of Agent of Asgard‘s metafiction. Elwing takes it a lot further in this issue by making Loki’s inner conflict manifest, creating a relatively unique situation in which Loki is his own antagonist—and the greatest. If there’s one clear difference between the new, hipster-ish Loki and the original, goblin-esque Loki, it’s that Old Loki* sees much more of the big picture than his younger counterpart.

Loki: Agent of Asgard #2 – Review

By: Al Ewing (story), Lee Garbett (art), Nolan Woodward (colors)

The Story: Loki was born for the modern dating scene.

The Review: I’ve heard people elsewhere criticize this series as an attempt to drive Loki towards his on-screen portrayal, and I wonder at that.  Certainly there’s a rakish, snarky element to him now that’s reminiscent to his appearances from The Avengers onward, although Elwing is really just following Kieron Gillen’s lead there.  Anyways, this is ostensibly a new Loki for a new age of Marvel comics—for Marvel NOW, so to speak—so why not rejigger him in the process?

What I personally find suspect is this issue’s focus on Lorelei in the very same week she made a guest appearance in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  Now, this may just be fortuitous coincidence, but I tend to think otherwise.  What are the chances that a high-profile comic book and TV show would simultaneously feature a minor Asgardian character who is really the poor man’s Amora?  Sounds a lot like business synergy to me, rather than original thinking.

Loki: Agent of Asgard #1 – Review

By: Al Ewing (story), Lee Garbett (art), Nolan Woodward (colors)

The Story: Loki proves that backstabbing may be the sincerest kind of love.

The Review: No matter how good a comic book is, no matter how well it renders a character, there is simply nothing that compares to the exposure a major film (or TV show, as the case may be) provides.  Surely it’s no coincidence that Journey Into Mystery began starring Loki in the same year Thor was released.  Call me a downer, but I doubt that without Tom Hiddleston’s popular film portrayal of Loki, Loki: Agent of Asgard would ever have been greenlighted.

Which is why it’s our good fortune that Loki has become the pop culture icon he is, because Agent of Asgard is a great premise, well-executed.  Every decent person loves a good redemption story, and boy, Loki can really use a lot of redeeming.  There’s no doubt that he’ll inevitably return to his dastardly deeds someday, but even with that foregone conclusion, you want to see him succeed at doing good for as long as he can.  Loki, a hero?  What’s that even like?

Justice League Dark #0 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Lee Garbett (pencils), Cam Smith, Jack Purcell, Scott Hanna, Walden Wong (inks), Pete Pantazis (colors)

The Story: A threesome is messy and complicated enough without magic thrown into it.

The Review: Everyone loves a man of mystery.  That’s about the only explanation I can come up with for why, no matter how unscrupulous and contemptible he gets, Constantine retains such magnetic appeal, for the characters around him and for us as well.  Since he’s the very epitome of the antihero, you need faith that his choices will lead to good in the end, rather than place any trust in the nobility of any given action.

Even though Constantine’s always had a personal gain element to his character, I don’t know if reducing his motives to pure ambition makes him all that interesting.  Lemire lays the bottom line for John’s entire future of dirty dealing and manipulation from the first page: “I wanted real magic.  I wanted to be the best.”  Granted, we’re talking about a younger (therefore gutsier—and dumber) mage here, one more geared toward punk wear than the private eye outfit of later years, but you’d think his goals would be more subtle than that.

Batman and Robin #9 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Lee Garbett (pencils), Andy Clarke (guest art), Ray McCarthy & Keith Champagne (inks), John Kalisz (colors)

The Story: Even soldiers should know better than to go into the woods at night.

The Review: To continue the main point I made in reviewing Batgirl #9, one-shot tie-ins almost invariably annoy any devoted fan of a series because they interrupt whatever groove the writer has established to spin in a completely different direction.  Sometimes, this means we enter an issue to find ourselves with a whole new plot we’re not prepared for.  At other times, this means we get a story which flies in the face of all the groundwork and tone we’ve had before.

So it feels like a bit of a gear shift for us to go from what has been an intensely driven drama and thriller to a quickie bloodbath, no drama or thrills about it.  Of course, there’s a lot to be said for pitting Damian, born assassin, against a professional assassin, but Tomasi doesn’t actually spend much time letting that play out.  Had Patrick Gleason’s amazing cover indicated the kind of stuff we’d get to see inside, then this issue would be practically a guaranteed win, no matter how thin the plot.  Instead, we get an underwhelming fight sequence on top of a plot that goes nowhere.

Venom #13.1 – Review

By: Rob Williams (script), Lee Garbett (art), Rob Schwager (colors)

The Story: After a binge in Vegas that’s gone to Hell, Venom, Red Hulk, Ghost Rider, and X-23 spend this issue delving into some self-reflection.

The Review: It’s a risky business switching up the creative team within a single story arc. That’s true enough when you’re just changing the artist; I’m sure you’ve all had the experience of being thrown when a title you’re enjoying suddenly brings on new talent to take over pencils and inks. However, with Venom #13.1, we’re not only seeing a change in artists but also in writers. This means on top of characters looking different, the interpretation of the essence of the characters may also be affected. Indeed, the entire plot could potentially veer into totally unintended directions. While the creative team for this issue manages to prevent a collapse in the narrative, it still feels shaky, and seems uncertain of where it came from.

This issue is just all right. It features the (new) New Fantastic Four facing off their antitheses, which Blackheart summoned at the end of the last issue. But rather than having the faceoff take place immediately after the event of #13, the first pages retells the moments where the four congregate, leading to some awkward dialogue. I might not have noticed this quite as much if this issue were coming out a full month after the last issue, but it’s only been a week since I read issue #13. Those events are still pretty fresh in my mind.

Still, this is just the lead-in to the big fight scene, right? I can forgive an awkward intro so long as we get to see our heroes beating the crap out of twisted versions of themselves. Sadly though, these are botched right out of the starting blocks. While we get to see Rulk fighting the giant brain Encephalon and X-23 fight the psychotic cheerleader X-666, for some reason Venom is fighting the Evangelist while Ghost Rider fights Ichor. Why? The Ghost Rider punishes sinners, wouldn’t the opposite of that be a guy who tries to save sinners? And while Ichor does kind of look like an Angel and therefore you can see him as Ghost Riders antithesis, it’s still clear he was designed to be an inversion of Venom. He wears all white, his name comes from a fluid that grants immortality, and across his chest is the symbol of medicine, for crying out loud.

Ghost Rider #5 – Review

By: Rob Williams (writer), Lee Garbett (artist), Rob Schwager (colorist), Sebastian Girner (editor)

The Story: Now free of the control of Adam, Alejandra has to figure out what to do with herself and her curse. Her wordless conversation and grudgingly-given trust to the demon Zarathos begins to define what she is now that she is a free agent.

The Review: This book was a smooth, supernatural ride. I loved the overt plotline of Alejandra seeking herself through the new mentor Zarathos, with whom she cannot speak. She can only follow his lead and trust that where he brings her, their interests overlap. Beneath this relationship is the metaphorical undercurrent of how we make decisions and how we define ourselves, especially at the beginning of adulthood. We all carry angels and demons in us, and we rarely understand exactly what they say or why they do, and we can only trust that when following those urges, that we may be arriving at a good place. Layered over all of this is Alejandra’s more conscious perception of who she is as a person defined by her adoption, and as a spirit of vengeance defined by her the mandate of her curse. It’s too early yet in this series to tell whether Alejandra is a reliable narrator or not. Narrators may lie to us and they may also be wrong about the world and themselves, so Alejandra’s engaging monologue carries that uncertainly. In the end, this stand-alone issue was not about Alejandra defeating some over powerful foe, but about finding her footing under the informal mentorship of Zarathos.

Wonder Woman #614 – Review

By J. Michael Straczynski & Phil Hester (writers), Don Kramer & Lee Garbett (pencils), Drew Geraci, Robin Riggs & Trevor Scott (inks), Pete Pantazis (colors), Travis Lanham (letters)

The Story: Diana finally learns the secret of Nemisis, and faces one final battle with the darkness inside herself.

The Review: It’s a shame that most of Odyssey has been such a gigantic cluster–this really is a very strong issue. Unfortunately, it is dragging the weight of 13 other issues full of retcons, confused storytelling and character shifts behind it. The weight is such that even Wonder Woman herself can’t shoulder the burden, and so the storyline crawls across the finish line gasping and wheezing. What could have been a triumphant exclamation point and capstone on Diana’s 600+ issue career instead just leaves me sighing in relief. Odyssey is finally–FINALLY–over, and I couldn’t be happier. Love the DCnU reboot or hate it, it’s hard to imagine it doing much more harm to poor Diana than these 14 issues already have.

Continuity and character nightmares (which I’ve already pounded into a fine powder at this point) aside though, this issue does contain a lot of what makes Diana one of my all-time favorite superhero. The end sequence in particular is absolutely triumphant, and left me grinning and satisfied in spite of the 300+ pages of confusion that preceded it. It was more of a meta-textual farewell to the DCU Diana than it was a logical storyline conclusion, but at this point I’ll take anything I can get. And it WAS lovely–I’ll be keeping Hippolyta’s words to Diana (as well as Dian’s final words to us, the reader) close to my heart as we take the plunge into the DCnU next month. As annoying as it can be to have characters speaking lines of dialog that are pretty clear author-insertion, I appreciated Phil Hester’s message a great deal.

Amazing Spider-Man #660 – Review

By: Fred Van Lente & Dan Slott (writers), Mike McKone & Stefano Caselli (art), Marte Gracia (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

Infestation back-up by: Slott (writer), Lee Garbett (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Edgar Delgado (colors) & Caramagna (letters)

Ghost Rider back-up by: Rob Williams (writer), Garbett (pencils), Alejandro Sicat (inks), Fabio D’Auria (colors), Caramagna (letters) & Pyle & Wacker (editors)

The Story: Spider-Man and the FF are forced to square off against the Sinister Six on a Caribbean island.

What’s Good: One of the minor problems I had with ASM #659 was that the Sinister Six just didn’t seem to be a big enough challenge for the Spidey + FF combo (especially once you toss in the FF kids).  I kinda looked at that cliffhanger last issue and thought, “Those bad guys are going to get a BAD beat down!”  Granted, the bad guys always get a beat-down, but the writers have to come up with ways to make the same old villains seem freshly threatening to the same old heroes who have kicked their asses hundreds of times over the decades and we’ve certainly seen Spidey clobber these guys before.  So, it was with some glee that I saw that the danger wasn’t quite as straightforward as it seemed last issue.  That shouldn’t be surprising since both Slott and Van Lente are really smart writers who simply don’t do pedestrian superhero comics, especially when one of the villains is Mysterio.

Basically any time Mysterio is in a comic, you know that whatever is being shown to you is NOT the true story and I should have known better.  But still, I didn’t anticipate the neat wrinkle that [SPOILER] Mysterio and Chameleon are the only SS members actually in the Caribbean while the rest of the villains are breaking into the Baxter Building and thereby setting up another cool cliffhanger.

It was also really nice to see that Carlie Cooper’s little tattoo adventure didn’t turn out the way it was broadcast in the last issue.  I didn’t see any way getting a Goblin tattoo would turn out well for her, so I’m glad she made a different (though still ironic) choice.  Knowing the dynamics of Peter’s love-life, you know that his time with Carlie is probably coming to an end and that’s a shame because I’m just starting to really like her.

Mike McKone guest stars on art and does a GREAT job.  His style shades much more toward the realism, but he has enough of a cartooning background to pull off some of these crazy scenes where the FF’s powers get all mixed up.

What’s Not So Good: I’m not a huge fan of misdirection in my comics.  I know it is a standard writing tool and I don’t mind when things are left unclear, but it does kinda bug me when you have a scene in #659 where Carlie is pretty clearly picking out the Goblin tattoo only to see that she finally got something else in this issue.  It just seems that talented writers like Slott and Van Lente shouldn’t have to resort to that blunt instrument of deliberately misleading the reader.  They’re too good for that and those two writers plus a nice artist like Caselli could have made a really neat scene that left Carlie’s tattoo choice ambiguous.

Amazing Spider-Man #659 – Review

By: Dan Slott (story), Fred Van Lente (script), Stefano Caselli (art), Marte Gracia (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

Bug Time Infestation intro by: Dan Slott (writer), Barry Kitson (art), Edgar Delgado (colors) & Caramagna (letters)

Ghost Rider team-up by: Rob Williams (writer), Lee Garbett (art), Alejandro Sicat (inks), Fabio D’Auria (colors), Caramagna (letters) & Pyle & Wacker (editors)

The Story: Spider-Man goes on a swashbuckling Caribbean adventure with the FF (the Future Foundation)…

What’s Good: I think we’ve found a couple of writers who would do a great job with the FF whenever Jonathan Hickman leaves the title.  Both Dan Slott’s story and Fred Van Lente’s script capture the fun, family dynamic that we’ve come to expect when Spidey interacts with the FF.  These are characters who are comfortable around each other because they’ve known each other for decades.  Heck, the FF all know Spidey’s true identity!  But, Spidey still interjects a slightly different and awkward feel into the group because he is new.  It’s kinda like the difference between knowing someone socially and staying at their home for a week and having them learn about your bathroom habits.

The story itself is fun as hell as the team finds themselves sucked into a Caribbean pirate adventure with the Thing playing dress up!  Basically they go down to the Caribbean to investigate some dimensional anomaly and end up running into zombie pirates guarding Blackbeard’s treasure.  And that is all fun, but this is very much a Van Lente script with his mix of pop culture references and high-level humor.  For example, we have Spider-Man and the Thing enjoying an ongoing Beastie Boys joke with the word “booty” (much to Sue Storm’s chagrin) and Reed Richards being called “Mr. Elongated Man” to which he tells the villager, “I hope you have good lawyers.”  It’s just a great little story that ends up with a bunch of Spidey villains and the FF kids getting into the fun.  Every page has something that makes you smile.

It looks like Van Lente learned how to toss softballs to Stefano Caselli during that Spider Slayer story arc a few months ago, because this art is a LOT tighter than that work was.  I really didn’t see a shaky panel anywhere and the highlight was when Caselli busted out some zombies that reminded me a lot of Rafael Albuquerque’s vampires in American Vampire.  In case you haven’t read my reviews of AV….that is high praise.  Nice coloring too!

Amazing Spider-Man #658 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Javier Pulido (art), Muntsa Vicente & Javier Rodriguez (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

Ghost Rider back-up by: Rob Williams (writer), Lee Garbett (pencils), Alejandro Sicat (inks), Fabio D’Auria (colors), Caramagna (letters), Pyle & Wacker (editors)

The Story: Now that Spidey has joined the FF, what will the first adventure hold? And will it cause any stress in his relationship with Carlie?

What’s Good: It really isn’t correct to say that a writer captures “the voice” of a fictional character.  After all, these are fictional characters and they have no voice other than what is given to them by the writer.  Sure, they can be more or less in sync with what other writers have done with a character in the past, but there really isn’t a correct interpretation of a character.  That being said, Dan Slott writes a great Peter Parker.  His Peter is smart, earnest, socially-awkward, optimistic and funny.  This is the way this reviewer likes to see the character portrayed because it’ll make for such a great contrast when Peter has to get all grim and gritty on a villain during a more serious story arc.

The basic plotline for this issue is: Spidey’s first FF mission.  Fun abounds as Spidey first tries out a costume that doesn’t go over too well with the Thing, but that is quickly forgotten as the gang starts taking on a trio of zany missions that involves them going to France (and having fun with a mime), the microverse and the FAR future.

This issue, we also welcome back Carlie Cooper after Peter’s love life had taken a several issue time-out.  I don’t know about you, but I just don’t feel like it’s a complete Spidey story without the love life angle.  Of course, Peter’s involvement with the FF is going to make it pretty difficult for him to maintain his secret identity and keep Carlie around.  It’ll be interesting to see whether Carlie uses her CSI-skills to figure out Peter’s secret life, and if she does, whether she’ll be understanding or not.

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #38 – Review

By: John Layman (writer), Lee Garbett (pencils), Mark Pennington (inks), Fabio D’Auria (colors), Clayton Cowles (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor), Alejandro Arbona (associate editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: It’s alternate universe time as Spidey (and Deadpool and Hulk) are sucked into an alternate universe.

What’s Good: This is just a fun alternate universe story with the basic premise being that our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man gets pulled into an alternate reality via an accident at his new job at Horizon Labs.  As with any alternate universe story, the fun lies in seeing what’s the same and what’s different as compared to our world.

We learn much of this through the eyes our Peter Parker as he is forced to fill in for his counterpart as The Spider.  The big difference we find is that The Spider is THE superhero of NYC and is beloved by everyone.  As good as Peter’s life is in our reality, he has in WAY better in this other world (including having the companionship of a people who are dead in our reality).  Hmm… Maybe he should just stay there???   Of course, there will end up being a few tiny little problems with this world and you’ll have to discover those yourself, but the plot twist at the end is pretty neat.

Not a whole lot of Deadpool and Hulk action in this issue.  Surely their stories will be front-and-center in their respective annuals.

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #6 – Review

By: Grant Morrison (writer), Lee Garbett, Pere Perez (artists), Alejandro Sicat and Walden Wong (inks)

The Story: Bruce Wayne arrives at the end of time, where those weird-eyed, fuzzy archivists help him along on the last leg of his journey through time and into the final steps of Darkseid’s plan to use him as a weapon. Superman, Rip Hunter and Green Lantern are stranded there, only moments away from catching up with Bruce. In the present….the JLA is waiting.

What’s Good: I know there are a few readers who argue that Batman needs the setting of Gotham to be an honest depiction (I’m usually one of those readers). Some have pilloried Morrison for sending essentially a regular guy in leather and spandex through time. However, Morrison did drop some thematic markers throughout the mini-series that he picked up here to good effect (in Tim Wayne’s mouth): It isn’t really fair that a regular guy has to fight gods. This is a deep statement that can be read in any number of ways. I really like that Morrison said it. The issue of scale in superhero comics is usually ignored (“Go get ’em Thor and…um…Hawkeye…” or “Superman, you check left! Wildcat, you cover right!”) which can really diminish a story in some ways. Morrison doesn’t solve the problem, but that nod to a basic flaw in comics made the end-of-time sequence really, really cool, as well as the psychedelic brushes with the New Gods mythos near the end. I also *loved* the nod to origin of Batman, with the hand on the bell, not knowing if he should ring or not for Alfred to come fix him up. This was very cool. It crystallized what Morrison had been doing with the bats throughout the series. There’s a lot more cool writing and story stuff, but we’re on word limits here, so I’ll stop for now.

Batgirl #15 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Dustin Nguyen (penciller), Derek Fridolfs (inks), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: We get a history of the Bat-world as a visually-cool expository lump at the beginning of the issue. Then, into Steph’s problems fitting into college life and then her action as Batgirl, chasing that nut-case grad student who made those sci-fi vampires last issue. Weird thing is, he’s being chased by some robed people and let’s just say that Steph gets a little too close.

What’s Not So Good: I thought I’d start on the negatives with this review, just because the visuals really make or break a story for me. It doesn’t matter how good the writing, plotting or characterization is; if the lines and colors on the page don’t work for me, the writer’s craftsmanship never even gets tested. I felt that was about this issue. We’ve been relatively spoiled on this series with some pretty consistent and competent artwork through the first year by Garbett and Scott. Nguyen and Fridolfs on the Batgirl art chores didn’t work for me. Stephanie became stylized, unattractive and older. In costume, her proportions seemed wrong (check out a couple panels of long, stick legs) and the faces and textures reminded me of Giffen’s work when he was inking his own pencils on the early Ambush Bug stuff– unattractive. I also found it a bit disappointing that there were a bunch of panels bereft of background. If I’m shelling out $2.99, please give me all the art I’m due, unless there’s a stylistic or storytelling reason not to do the backgrounds. I couldn’t think of any for this story, but I might not have all the answers.

What’s Good: Major’s color work was good, especially the red skies of Gotham and the lurid bat-signal. On writing, Miller has Stephanie Brown tone perfect and has reinforced the book by bringing Oracle back. These are, I think, the two important pieces to the vitality of this series: Steph’s self-deprecating thirst for acceptance and adulthood, and Oracle’s mentorship. I got pretty worried when Oracle took a powder. I’m ready to let Proxy go back to wherever she came from, although this issue she served as a handy excuse for Miller to make this issue accessible to new readers. Smart move, and it was fun enough that someone who’s been following Gotham’s news for a couple of years didn’t find it slow.

Conclusion: Miller has begun some clever story work. I’d say for now that it’s worth buying at this price, but if the current art team stays on, I may slide Batgirl off my pull list. Mike Marts: Please send back Garbett and Scott!

Grade: C+

-DS Arsenault

 

Batgirl #14 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett (artist), Trevor Scott (inker)

The Story: Stephanie is stuck at home on Friday night with her Mom. No bat signal. No training. Just scrabble. Luckily, Supergirl stops by and they go out to visit the campus of Gotham U. Unluckily, some bitter grad student makes 24 solid holograms of a whining, B-movie Dracula, who all go on a rampage.

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: I’m gonna mix these together because Garbett and Scott always deliver solid artwork, and you can see many of my other reviews to read what I think of the Garbett-Scott dynamic duo. On the writing, what works and doesn’t work depends on (a) what you think the writer is trying to do and (b) what you’re buying Batgirl for.

What was Miller doing mixing B-movie Draculas, girls night out, Stephanie’s self-deprecating monologue and Supergirl? Well, I think Miller was just writing an issue of fun silliness. After 13 issues of pretty intensive stuff going on in Steph’s life, including the loss of her partner and mentor, a breather was overdue. Since Batgirl is already a title that, within the suspension of disbelief, pokes fun at its hero, Miller has a fair bit of latitude on how funny he can go. And there is no way to take any of what goes on in this issue seriously. Nor is it possible to ask whether the writer is elevating the heroism of the characters. He’s not. That’s why the girls stop for ice cream and get their picture taken with one of the Draculas in the mall photo-booth in a Scooby-Doo-style montage. Does it work as funny? Yes. Does the nugget of truth in every joke reveal something about Batgirl and Supergirl? Yes. Is suspension of disbelief broken? Yup. Do I want to see this story become part of the canon? About as much as I want Obnoxio the Clown vs. the X-Men to be part of the X-canon.

Batgirl #12 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett and Pere Perez (artists), Walden Wong and Pere Perez (inkers), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Batgirl Rising: The Flood, Part Four of Four: Oracle is trapped in the mind of the Calculator. Stephanie is saving her, by plunging through a rainstorm from thirty-five thousand feet. Sounds like Stephanie….

What’s Good: First of all, what’s great is that this is the one-year anniversary of Stephanie Brown as Batgirl and it is worth celebrating that Michael Siglain and Harvey Richards have been able to hold together the core creative team (Miller, Garbett and Major – the inkers seem to be a revolving door on this book, though) for pretty much that whole run. This gives a definite feel to a Batgirl book. Miller stamps each issue with Stephanie’s personality and it starts from page one. Her running, self-deprecating monologues are always fun, but, in this last issue of this arc, we see more growth in her. Steph, a rebellious, clutsy, teenager-equivalent, has always had a pretty adversarial relationship with Oracle. This book turns a corner for Steph and for Oracle and it’s heart-warming. You see it in lines by Stephanie like: “This isn’t about trying to prove anything to anyone…this is about me saving the one person who’s ever given a real crap about me.” She doesn’t lose that Stephanie essence though, especially when talking on the radio to her backup: ZAP! “I’m good! I’m good!” The corner turns for others in the book as well. Everyone experiences growth, even the bad guy. Oracle’s turn is summed up nicely when she says (with relief): “I knew I could count on you not to listen to me, Batgirl.” On the art side, Garbett, Perez, Wong and Major deliver humorous action and adventure. The camera angles work and the layout does the job.

Batgirl #11 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett and Pere Perez (artists), Walden Wong and Pere Perez (inkers), Guy Major (colorist), Harvey Richards (assistant editor), Michael Siglain (editor)

The Story: Calculator has Oracle and is plugging directly into her mind. Oracle’s hidden lair has Wendy. Technozombies Catwoman, Manbat and Huntress (not to mention 40% of Gotham) have Batgirl. Then things get grim.

What’s Good: As always, Miller excels at the snappy banter and monologue that accident-prone Stephanie Brown excels at: Spiderman-esque in style, but a lot less self-confident. Only Steph is able to deliver lines like “Sorry I called your dad a jackass” and, in response to the growls of Technozombie Man-Bat, “You’re right, I can’t afford a DVR.” Stephanie is always manic fun. On Oracle’s side, I loved the mental world she was stuff in, facing off against Calculator, and his growing frustrations with her. Visually, the art was dynamic, the settings grim and rainy, and some of the layouts interesting. Artgerm’s cover art is absolutely fantastic (just like last issue). Stan Lau should be doing the insides too.

What’s Not So Good: The art, while doing the job, didn’t look very compelling this issue. Gotham looks grittiest and scariest (despite Stephanie being a light-hearted Gothamite, she is being chased by thousands of zombies) when the fine lines of detail leap out of the panels and drown the reader’s eyes in an overload of bricks and mortar, dirty, blowing garbage, hair-line cracks in windows and scuffed armor. Faces carry more emotion when the lips and eyes and hair move fluidly. The art here just lacked the kind of detail that would have held my attention. This was just standard.

Story-wise, there were a few flaws. I’m not trying to nerd out, but first, I was shocked that Wendy was able to turn on, much less use, Oracle’s computer. I’m not a longtime Barbara Gordon follower, but over this series, she’s been the super-careful, ultra-cautious mastermind with a plan. She has put telepathic blocks in her head! But she didn’t password protect her computer?

Batgirl #10 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett & Pere Perez (artists), Jonathan Glapion, Rodney Ramos & Pere Perez (inkers), Guy Major (colorist), Michael Siglain (editor)

The Story: Batgirl Rising, The Flood, Part Two of Four: Calculator is one creepy dude. He knows more about computers than Oracle, and he’s got a serious hate for Stephanie Brown. Maybe that’s why she’s unplugging all her systems. Oh, and he’s got a Justifier Helmet. As Babs and Steph would say: “Crap.”

What’s Good: Miller’s writing. Miller’s got the voices of his characters down cold. Calculator is creepy– seriously creepy. Babs is confident, brave, sarcastic and in over her head, and it shows in her dialogue. Gotham PD Detective Gage talks like a nervous guy seriously crushing on Assistant Professor Barbara Gordon. And Batgirl? She’s classic Stephanie, telling hookers to stay in school, having monologue issues (“OHGODOHGODISAIDTHATOUTLOUD!”), and delivering such internal monologue gems as, “Way to sell it, Dork Knight.”

The art was dynamic (layout, poses, panel composition) and it gave us views from all sorts of angles that breathed movement into the pictures, and the faces were expressive (ex.: page 2 shot of Calculator, page 6 shot of Babs, pages 12-13 shots of Detective Gage). The works of Garbett and Perez really enabled Miller’s writing, bringing various character moments to life, especially scenes with Stephanie’s crush on Gage (a nice love triangle that’s eventually going to bite someone). Major, as always, delivered fine color work. The glowing green of Oracle’s computer image and the activation of the pulse are great examples of where color takes a driver’s seat in the telling of the story.

Batgirl #9 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett (artist), Jonathan Glapion and Richard Friend (inkers), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: The Flood, Part One of Four: It’s a typical evening in Gotham for Batgirl, jumping onto a speeding train while making quirky, distracted comments about gym class. She bursts through the window, making short work of a guy who held the train hostage with more than sausages strapped to his chest. But as she rejoins Oracle, something more sinister looms on the horizon. Some sort of phone-transmitted nanovirus is forcing people to collect pieces of technology for ends unknown. Can Batgirl stop the rising tide?

What’s Good: Miller is pretty close to top form in this issue. Stephanie Brown is quirky, funny, self-deprecating, proud and uncertain all at once. She has throwaway lines that kept me enjoying the fun ride, even as they exposed her character. She’s always been a bit of a screw up (to the point where she has to point out the stuff she does on purpose to whoever’s listening), so her uncertainty of what to do with praise from Commissioner Gordon is a fun change to see. The romantic tension between her and the detective was also great. I mean, her ex Tim has like, what, four possible girlfriends, so maybe she’s moving on? Nope. She and the detective are certainly interested in each other, but Miller has Stephanie resolutely holding onto that torch she’s holding for Red Robin. Miller is also a great writer to watch if you’re trying to learn about pacing. He spools the mystery out at the beginning of this new arc, even as he mixes it with beautiful character moments and action-filled laughs.

Batgirl #6 – Review

By: Brian Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett (artist), Trevor Scott (inker)

The Story: Core Requirements, Part Two of Three: Stephanie wakes up in an ambulance. She gets herself out of there in full Stephanie Brown style and goes on to pursue the kidnapping of the boy she was interested in last issue. This involves spying on Batman and doing funny voiceovers. This means that Robin, who’s been itching to cut Batgirl down to size, gets the drop on her.

What’s good: I loved Bryan Q. Miller’s take on Batman. He’s all old school Batman in his dialogue and actions (ignoring the commissioner’s assistant), except for a playful exchange with Barbara. And Garbett’s take was equally strong. He shows up all in shadows, filling the panels in looming menace. And the Batgirl book gives DC a chance to see the new Batman through the eyes of the junior ranks of Gotham’s superheroes. Dick’s growth has continued and he is becoming the dark figure of authority. Damian, Steph and Barbara all took his orders, almost with grace. This is great to see happening. I also have to say that the scene in the ambulance was well-written and well drawn, down to the sound effects.

What’s Not So Good: My first complaint is a bit of a fanboy quibble. Stephanie starts the book with an untreated gunshot to the head, which has apparently given her a concussion. Three pages later she’s up and in costume after having ditched the ambulance. Violence having no consequences is a convention of the comics medium, but comics are just better when consequences occur. Think back, way back, to Frank Miller’s run on Daredevil, when horn-head had to take on the underworld with a cast and a crutch, or later, without his radar sense. Frank Miller got about 6 issues of great story out of DD’s injuries and showed a lot of Daredevil’s character in dealing with them. Here, we don’t see Stephanie dealing with the concussion or having to face her mother because of it (both hinted at in the story). Avoiding both these problems makes last issue’s ending (gunshot to the head) a false cliffhanger, since Steph didn’t have to do or pay anything to get out of it.

Batgirl #5 – Review

By Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett (penciller), Sandra Hope & Oliver Nome (guest inkers), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Core Requirements, Part One of Three: Batgirl is in a burning building, taking on some meta called Diesel. She’s not making huge headway, when Oracle (her handler) tells her she’s got company: Batman and Robin. They all take on Diesel. Neither Batman nor Robin is impressed with Batgirl. This leads later to a massive fight between Dick and Barbara, and a smaller parallel one between Damian and Stephanie. Stephanie agrees to take it easy, but by the end of the book, she’s back in the sorts of unpremeditated adventures she falls into.

What’s Good: The whole freaking book, from beginning to end! Great writing, great conflict, great art.

The writing pulled together some quality character and conflict in this book. Stephanie, Damian, Dick, and Barbara were all clear and distinct in dialogue and in the text boxes and there were lots of zingers. Miller captured both Dick and Damian perfectly. Damian gets a line like “You certainly aren’t very skilled in…anything.” The irrepressible Stephanie owns most of the book (Barbara is still a big tenant), but the conflict between her and Damian allows her to get the essence of her Bat-book in two lines: “Everything doesn’t have to be about fear. There’s room in our line of work for hope, too.” Very insightful and even a bit metafictional. Batgirl is Gotham-lite. And while Damian and Stephanie have a baggage-free fight, Dick versus Barbara is an emotional slap down born of some real disagreements, but also leftovers from romantic might-have-beens. They trade some verbal blows that were painful to watch and will leave marks on both of them. Finally, Miller lightened the mood by giving Damian and Stephanie some parallel stalker moments that were just plain fun to read.

The art seemed different to me this issue, with Hope and Nome filling in for Scott. The inks were lighter than with Scott alone or with his occasional co-inkers. It was an interesting departure. Check out the splash page of Batman and Robin crashing in on the Diesel-Batgirl fight. The fine lines of Batgirl’s cowl are nothing like we’d have seen in any of the last 4 issues, but they work. The action sequences were great and everything was clear, if occasionally stylized (check out Damian under the tree with crows).

Batgirl #4 – Review

By Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Tim Levins & Lee Garbett (pencillers), Dan Davis, Aaron Sowd & Trevor Scott (inkers), Harvey Richards (assistant editor), Michael Siglain (editor)

The Story: As always, Miller makes his themes (in this case, the title “Field Test”) do double duty. Stephanie Brown is field testing her new high-tech Batgirl costume. Barbara Gordon is helping monitor the suit while giving advice, but when she has to deal with something, Batgirl herself is field tested against someone well out of her league.

What’s Good: If there’s one issue that can vouch for Miller’s writing, it’s Batgirl #4. The plotting and thematic ideas are always tight, but my hat remains off on his character work. His characters are just fun to follow. The back and forth between Barbara and Stephanie is solid, as Miller packs his dialogue with personality. Stephanie’s running self-deprecation could get tiresome in another character, but when put together with her natural exuberance and fun, it works, with lines like “And this Batgirl doesn’t sing – not in front of people anyway” and “I’m almost fifty percent sure nothing could go wrong.” I’m also waiting to see where this romantic tension between Batgirl and the young detective is going to go.

Art team has changed a bit. Tim Levins has replaced Scott and Hope in the driver seat with Lee Garbett. The art is clear, the expressions tell the story and the poses are more natural. The layouts also seem to be evolving positively. The final battle page between Batgirl and the villain is a funny and well-told stack of panels.

What’s Not So Good: The superhero skeleton of the story is nothing original. Batgirl’s encounter with this super-villainess is pretty forgettable, but I’m wondering if the search for something truly field-expanding is what Batgirl readers are looking for when they buy this book. Would something truly original to the field (think the teen angst of Lee/Ditko Spiderman, the gritty noir of Miller’s Daredevil or the soap opera of Claremont’s X-Men) fit within a book whose focus is the fun of watching a flighty, occasionally quixotic teenager turn herself into a real superhero? But if ground-breaking work is not in Batgirl’s future, will the series survive? Sales estimates for issue #3 from Diamond are around 37,000, which is pretty respectable for a new book, so Michael Siglain has some flex before making any serious decisions, but Miller has got some work ahead of him to convince readers that Stephanie Brown matters, without losing the fun of what makes her great.

Conclusion: Batgirl is an entertaining book and very accessible to the new reader. This is what mainstream comics do well. But I hope that Batgirl does not get lost behind a lot of other books that are also delivering mainstream stories.

Grade: C+

-DS Arsenault