Unity #5 – Review

by Matt Kindt (Writer), Cafu (Artist), Brian Reber (Colorist)

The Story: Dr. Silk strikes in a bizarre way as the many players on this book learns the existence of a previous team much like their own.

The Review: The more I read some writers, the more I can begin to distinguish when they actually put in some effort and when they don’t seem to actually care all that much. While a lot of creators always do try to put in a semblance of effort, it can be easy to see when some, like Bendis, Hickman and others, have an actual passion for what they are writing.

Matt Kindt is not a writer that actually serve as an exception, with some titles like Mind MGMT being a much better showing of his talent than his tenure on Justice League of America and Suicide Squad. With a bit more creative freedom in his other work, he does tend to present a wilder and more imaginative side to his persona that does make for quality stories. However, with him being rather popular at Valiant right now, does his work on Unity stand out as a more passionate or as an after-thought?

Unity #4 – Review

by Matt Kindt (Writer), Doug Braithwaite (Artist), Brian Reber (Colorist)

The Story: The team of Ninjak, Livewire and Gilad Anni-Padda tries to retrieve the X-O Manowar armor from Harada’s grasp.

The Review: Taking risks as a necessary thing in comics. With many titles having very similar premises and using tropes that are unfortunately the norm these days, a book needs to have an identity of its own and most of the time, it passes through risks in terms of its concepts and execution.

For all its marketing and its qualities, Unity is still, at its core, a super-hero team book. With so many on the market right now, the quirks and original ideas need to be emphasized further to make itself stand out in a wave of other such titles. Thankfully, Matt Kindt seemed to have a pretty good idea for the title, which has been executed in a manner that made the title rather interesting. With Unity not being a team per se, with each members having their own agenda and their own affiliation, this was more something akin to Defenders than Justice League or Avengers. The story, acting upon that fact and the manner in which the Valiant universe treat super powers made for an interesting story, which reached a point that was decidedly captivating by the end of the latest issue. However, with this one being the concluding issue of the first arc, does the ending satisfy and provide a good launch pad for the rest the series?

Unity #3 – Review

by Matt Kindt (Writer), Doug Braithwaite (Artist), Brian Reber (Colorist)

The Story: As the Unity Squad continues their mission against Aric, Livewire gains control of the X-O armor and gets a view of the big picture.

The Review: As readers, it is normal to hope for good books on the market. It may sound like the most obvious of lines, yet not all series released can actually attain that general positive comment from everybody. With personal tastes and all accounting to this, the search for such books is something that is always the key for most comic enthusiast. It is, however, usually attached with the possibility of great books, those that aren’t just competent, but excellent in the ways that really count. Most readers would certainly enjoy to have only great books in their pull list, but to really have so is something rather hard to achieve.

In such situations, what’s usually pretty rare is to see a good book actually reach a new level, going from very competent to thoroughly enjoyable, as if the creative team had upped their game in order to really raise the stakes. Understanding that the best way to impress readers is to really go all the way, books like these are always a very pleasant surprise for fans.

It is what Matt Kindt has achieved with Unity, a book that had begun strongly and then went on to struggle a bit, only to get much better with this third issue, giving surprises, actions and plenty of goodness for fans of Valiant, a universe that is constantly growing.

Unity #2 – Review

by Matt Kindt (Writer), Doug Braithwaite (Artist), Brian Reber (Colorist)

The Story: With the defeat of the Unity squad, Toyo Harada decides to lead an attack on Aric himself, helped by others along the way.

The Review: The opening issue of this title did a lot of things right. It presented every characters, its conflict, its setting in a concise and smart way without relenting in its actions and pacing. There were a few minor tweaks here and there, but for the most part is was quite enjoyable. However, debut issues aren’t everything, as while something may start quite well, it needs to sustain a certain level of quality in order to actually warrant an investment in its story and themes. Does Matt Kindt continue the quality writing that he had established prior?

In some way, he does as Kindt continues with plenty of actions as he raise the stakes of the conflict with Aric of Darcia. Opening with a catastrophe scenario, the issue continues then smartly with the problems made clear and concise as Kindt uses his characters well in most action scenes. Introducing Livewire to new readers as both a continuation of the ongoing narrative of Harbinger and the general Valiant universe, Kindt intelligently puts forth her ability in this issue, resulting in a rather nice sequence in the mainframe of Aric’s spaceship. In terms of tension and rising up the conflict, Kindt does very well here.

Superman #711 – Review

By: J. Michael Straczynski & Chris Roberson (writers), Eddy Barrows (penciller), J.P. Mayer (inker), Rod Reis (colorist)

The Story: No, Superman–not the electric-blue costume!  The situation’s not that desperate!

The Review: It’s pretty obvious the original premise of Straczynski’s storyline—Superman walking across the country, discovering the real America, or something—has largely faded from view.  This may be a wise choice, since there’s only so much angst to be mined out of it, especially for a dozen-plus issues.  Whatever hang-ups prompted the Big Blue to embark on this bizarre journey in the first place long ago exhausted all dramatic possibilities.

Since his takeover of the series, Roberson has pretty much been giving you the usual Superman activities, and only the non-Metropolis settings tip off the fact you’re still reading “Grounded.”  Except for Supes’ singing of praises for America at the end (those of you concerned after reading the over-sensationalized story in Action Comics #900 can rest easy—he still loves us), Superman steers clear from the dislikable preachiness of this storyline’s early issues.

Instead, he spends most of his time doing what he does best: in the air, helping people with his usual sincerity and sympathy, even someone as troubled as Livewire.  Her outrageous behavior and senseless rants (“Every time I try to have a little fun, you have to come along and spoil everything.”  ) come off a bit contrived, but shutting her down puts Superman’s old electric costume to good use, and at least she gets a more formidable power set out of it.

And at least her antics allow for some fun guest spots.  It’s great seeing Jimmy Olsen using his quick-thinking (and high school physics on top of that) to offer his pal ground support.  Nick Spencer showed us Jimmy really takes off as a character when he has a more active role in facing trouble, instead of acting the mansel-in-distress for Superman to swoop in and save.

We also get cameos from some relatively obscure characters, like Dr. Roquette, young genius of Cadmus (Superboy’s old haunt) fame, now of S.T.A.R. Labs.  Honestly, it’d be great to see her more regularly, with all her retro gear (spangled jacket-vest—really?) and colloquialisms (“Oh, poop.”) intact, as she can serve a very useful, if semi-deus ex machina role to the title.  You can’t say the same for Iron Munro, who has little sway over the plot, and gets hardly any face-time with Superman before taking off to replace Livewire-thrashed dinner jacket.

This issue also introduces a mystery lady with an attitude problem, who has in her possession a crystal a là Kryptonian tech, with Superman’s most painful memories held within.  No doubt she’s a sign this storyline’s finally getting some much needed direction, but she vanishes before you learn anything about her, so her appearance seems rather superfluous to the plot.