WCBR’s Top Picks

Kyle’s Top Picks

Best of the Past Week: Secret Warriors #8 – The “God of Fear, God of War” arc continues to impress the hell out of me thanks to the strong character work that’s been done for both Phobos and his father, Ares.

Most Anticipated: Dark Reign: The List – Secret Warriors #1 – Predictable choice, I know, but more Secret Warriors is always a good thing.

Other Top Picks: Batman and Robin #5, Sweet Tooth #2, Astonishing X-Men #31, The List: Secret Warriors, Deadpool #16, Strange Tales #2, Vengence of the Moon Knight #2, X-Men Vs. Agents of Atlas #1, Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #3, Haunt #1, Incarnate #2, Witchblade #131, and War Heroes #3.

Rob G.’s Top Picks

Best of the Past Week: Thor #603- This just book just edges out Green Lantern #46 because of it’s sheer literary mastery (although GL was a ton of fun). Thor is one for the ages and will be remembered as a classic, maybe the best run of this past decade.

Most Anticipated: Astonishing X-Men #31 – The return of the Brood in Ellis’s hands. Let me wipe the drool away. Plus, Jemeriz has taken over art duties so I’m looking forward to more consistent and pleasing visuals than the last arc. Honestly, I can’t see what can be bad here.

Other Top Picks: Amazing Spider-Man #608, Batman and Robin #5, Batman: The Unseen #1, Captain America: Theater of War – Ghosts of my Country, Daredevil #501, Dark Reign: The List – Secret Warriors, Irredeemable #7, Spider-Man 1602 #1, Sweet Tooth #2, Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #3, Vengeance of the Moon Knight #2.

DS’s Top Picks

Best of the Past Week: Wonder Woman #36 – Gail Simone and Aaron Lopresti are succeeding in restoring WW to her deserved status as one of the pillars of the DCU. Simone’s fantastic story-telling is setting the stage for another great story arc.

Most Anticipated: Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural #1 – it’s been a long time since we’ve had a regular dose of a Sorcerer Supreme and I’ve liked Jericho Drumm since first reading him in Strange Tales. I love Dr. Strange, but I’m hoping a new doctor in the house will bring back the freshness that made the sorcerer supreme so great under Lee and Ditko in the 1960’s.

Other Picks: Ghost Rider: Heavens on Fire #3, Batman and Robin #5, Justice League: Cry for Justice #4, Magog #2, Superman: World of New Krypton #8.

Alex’s Top Picks

Best of the Past Week: Secret Warriors #8 -The more this book focuses on the kids, the more I like it. This month’s issue was entirely centred around them, and so it takes home my pick of the week.

Most Anticipated: Haunt #1 – I was underwhelmed with Kirkman’s last ongoing, Astounding Wolf-Man, I haven’t cared about Todd McFarlane in ten years (maybe), the 10-page preview was disappointing, and the advance reviews have been absolutely blistering. What was once excitement for this series has quickly turned to morbid curiosity. That said, I’m taking a real “I’ll see it for myself” stand on this for now.

Other Picks: Batman & Robin #5, Sweet Tooth #2, Daredevil #501.

Tony’s Picks

Best of the Past Week: Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu Black & White One Shot – Green Lantern was good, don’t get me wrong, but last week’s black and white Shang-Chi comic was unlike anything Marvel’s done in a long time, and I really respected that.

Most Anticipated: Planetary #27 – Wow, the comic three years in the making. I’m sitting here at work right now typing this out and actually still have a copy of Planetary #26 in my desk, noting with bewilderment that it came out November 2006. For better or worse, the comic that reignited my love of this artform ends here and now. I’ve waited three years for this moment so, yes, it is rather anticipated.

Other Top Picks: Batman and Robin #5, Criminal: Sinner #1, Daredevil #501, Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural #1, Vengeance of the Moon Knight #2

Justice Society of America #31 – Review

By Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges (writers), Jesus Merino (artist), Allen Passalaqua (colorist)

The Story: The gigantic JSA cast is in the brownstone where Wildcat and Magog have thrown down their gloves. No one manages to break it up until everyone is reminded that Mr. Terrific is dying on the operating table and needs blood. Jay Garrick obviously gives blood fastest, so he starts trying to rebuild the security system so that he can see what happened to Mr. Terrific. Everyone is shocked with what he finds. In the meantime, the villains who were out to get the JSA last issue are licking their wounds (some literally) and regrouping. Back in the brownstone, a philosophical thrown down occurs, no less heated than the opening of the book, accenting the fractures in the team. Something has to give; and what does will surprise you.

What’s Good: Merino and Passalaqua deliver some fine art in this issue. Merino seems equally comfortable drawing dynamic action scenes, wrinkled clothes, evocative expressions or trickier light effects. Each panel has something to keep the eye lingering and the choice of camera shots either propels the story (see the page 1 fight between Magog and Wildcat), cranks up a sense of momentum (see the blood donor scene) or evokes a mood (see the villain interrogation page or the page where Flash sits down with King Chimera).

Willingham and Sturges also delivered the goods. The story was told entirely through art, dialogue and monologue and the amount of different voices these two writers had to produce, so that most of the characters had their moments to shine, was astonishing. In almost every character, I think they got the voices, tones and cadences right. Willingham and Sturges revealed at San Diego Comic Con that they were laying the groundwork in the JSA book to break the team into two books. You can see some of their handiwork here and I can guess already where some of the divides are going to happen. DC has two great podcasts of the panel and interview where they talked about it (http://www.dccomics.com/media/podcasts/DCComics_2009-07-26_Spotlight_on_Bill_Willingham_at_SDCC_2009.mp3 and http://www.dccomics.com/media/podcasts/DCComics_2009-07-23_JSA_The_Great_Society_at_SDCC_2009.mp3). A final good thing is that it’s a bit of a relief to be able to read a DC book right now that isn’t staggering under twice its weight in super-powered zombies.

What’s Not So Good: I said that Willingham and Sturges got most of the voices right, especially the key players driving the plot. However, they hit some tiny notes in the dialogue, like in the operating room scene and in the interrogation of Mr. Terrific’s  attacker. However, these were minor moments that didn’t detract too much.

Conclusion: Willingham and Sturgess promised us lots of tension and lots of conflict and they are delivering with the help of Jesus Merino. I’ll be back for issue #32, when I expect that the fractures in this oversized team start to break open at the same time as the team of villainous bounty hunters hits them again.

Grade: B

-DS Arsenault

Magog #1 – Review

By Keith Giffen (writer), Howard Porter (artist), John Dell (inks)

The Story: A quick 1-page summary of Magog’s origin opens the book, but segues into a gruesome splash page that opens the book with a bang in Sudan. Magog is tracking illicit meta-tech that’s being used for nefarious ends. A mystery is in play. When he calls for Green Lantern (Alan Scott), he appears quick enough that Magog realizes he’s being kept on a pretty short leash by the JSA. Roots of a fracture begin appear…

What’s Good: Giffen, a long-time comic veteran, starts big with Magog in Sudan and keeps the tension rising. Some readers who don’t know much about Sudan might consider some of the gory images a bit over the top. The fact that some of this stuff is really happening in Sudan gave this opening sequence an added resonance.

Giffen also opened an interesting pandora’s box. Magog editorializes about how superheroes do not involve themselves in foreign situations. The logical inconsistency is as old as superheroes themselves. If you had the power of Superman, why not go stop the holocaust? Sudan is a very clear, modern example of a genocide no superhero is taking on, except Magog. Cool theme. I look forward to seeing where Giffen takes it, because he posed the question, but certainly didn’t answer it.

What’s Not So Good: Magog as a character is not very original or interesting. He’s just the Wolverine, Rambo, Punisher (take your pick) cliche, just in a different set of tights. He’s a lethal, sardonic, grim avenger we’ve all seen before. This isn’t Giffen’s fault, but he’s stuck with Magog now, so he’s going to have to figure out soon what makes him worth watching instead of any of the other clones out there. There are signs that Giffen is moving that way, but it will take time to see if the promise pays off.

In the exposition, we need to understand that Magog is brutal, but the level of violence he delivers in this issue is well into the gratuitous. Many stories have shown brutality without having to resort to slasher imagery. It unfortunately detracts from the quality of the book when something more subtle might have made a better point.

On the art, I’m not sold. It does an adequate job, but the faces and poses were a bit still and even generic (check out the panel with Green Lantern and Magog in the hotel room – they look like twins). Also, the skin tones in Africa bugged me. What on Earth was going on? The severed limbs clearly had caucasian skin, despite the fact that on the next page, the victims are clearly African. The skin tones of the brutal oppressors were also white, but with vaguely Asiatic features. That didn’t make a lot of sense, considering the Janjaweed of Sudan are also black. Given the courage Giffen had in locating the opening scene in the brutality of Sudan, I was disappointed that the art team held back on showing it more realistically.

Conclusion: I wasn’t wowed by this book and I can’t recommend it.

Grade: C-

-DS Arsenault

Justice Society of America #30 – Review

by Bill Willingham & Matthew Sturges (writers), Jesus Merino (art), Allen Passalaqua (colors), and Rob Leigh (letters)

The Story: The JSA fight back, getting a little extra help from a new member, before returning to the Brownstone to discover the wounded Mr. Terrific.  Meanwhile, cracks are beginning to develop in the team that may reach their boiling point sooner rather than later.

What’s Good: I certainly felt that this issue got better as it went along. The last scene, an argument possibly turning into a brawl between Magog and Wildcat, was miles above the rest of the book. The dialogue was solid and Willingham and Sturges had a good grip on the voices of both these characters. This scene is by far the best written in the entire book, as entertaining infighting over age and tactics reaches its boiling point.

Also, as you can probably tell by the issue’s cover, this month sees the entry of Dr. Fate into the JSA. The central issue here is that this is a new and significantly less powerful/experienced version of the hero, and it really is handled very, very well. At first I felt that Fate’s menacing dialogue felt a little stilted, but apparently this was cleverly intentional, as the new Dr. Fate was essentially putting on an act and bluffing to seem more powerful than he was. Already, this younger Fate is a worried but likable character, and it’s rather fun seeing a hero like Dr. Fate suddenly being taken under the wing of the JSA as a student of sorts.

The action scenes are also fun and explosive in the way you’d expect from a JSA comic. Plus there’s a lot of Stargirl love going on here.  The issue of the bad guys refusing to target her, even at their own expense, is certainly intriguing.

Jesus Merino meanwhile continues to do an admirable job.  Continuing to make order from chaos with an old school vibe, Merino also draws a nice Power Girl and Dr. Fate. There’s also one particularly outstanding splash of the Flash.

What’s Not So Good: Willingham and Sturges are still finding their feet and so some of the dialogue feels a little awkward.  Magog in particular is cringe-inducingly bad, with the forced pseudo-military language feeling ridiculous to the point of self-satire. Interestingly, Magog is written perfectly in the final scene with Wildcat, yet in everything prior, he’s terribly written. It’s as though the writing team was learning on the job.

Also, there are some rather sloppy bits of storytelling here. As an example, all of the downed JSA members, save two, suddenly and inexplicably recovering at the same time, with perfect timing, was just ludicrous. We literally go from the heroes lying on the ground, to an image of all them posing and looking perfectly healthy  in the space of one page.

Also, one can’t help but criticize the lack of imagination behind this whole “every member of the enemy team is designed to counter a specific JSA member” schtick.  It’s been done a million times, and sure enough, we get the no-brainer solution, which is for the heroes to switch enemies.  It’s just way too obvious as it’s been done many times enough for you to know.

Conclusion: Not a bad issue, but there’s still some growing pains and lazy storytelling.

Grade: C+

-Alex Evans

Justice Society of America #29 – Review

by Bill Willingham & Matthew Sturges (writers), Jesus Merino (art), Allen Passalaqua (colors), and Rob Leigh (letters)

The Story: The Flash finds a mysterious black egg and it’s up to Mr. Terrific to figure out what it is.  Meanwhile, two new members are introduced to the team, and  a massive battle erupts, and there’s a betrayal in the brownstone.

What’s Good: Willingham and Sturges obviously have something of a handle on the retro-quirkness of the JSA, and they seem to be having the time of their lives writing this book.  From Cyclone embarrassing herself, to mysterious mind control, to a super brawl involving thirty odd characters, this book is a blast.

That brawl is the centre of the book, and it seems that rather than being overwhelmed by the sheer number of characters in the JSA, Willingham and Sturges add even more characters, embracing the mayhem that results.  It’s total chaos, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t fun.

That said, the use of the Flash as as narrator speaking in the past tense is a smart move, as it does create some sense of order or control over the book, tying things together and providing something of a framing structure.  It also serves to further deepen the mystery.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the cliffhanger ending as well.  It’s a solid and effective twist due to Willingham and Sturges pulling the trigger on a betrayal far quicker than might be expected.  The “mind controlled” betrayer also gives off a really neat oldschool/pulp vibe in truly cheesy fashion.

Jesus Merino serves to be a great fit on art and turns in a workmanlike effort.  He furthers the retro feel of the JSA, but I pity him for the sheer number of characters he’s being forced to draw on every page.  Somehow, Merino’s drawings maintain the same high level of quality throughout the book, never cutting corners ( I especially like how he emphasized all the characters’ different body types).

What’s Not So Good: Willingham and Sturges realize that there are far too many characters in the JSA and rather than try to negotiate this, they gleefully divine in and make it even more chaotic.  As a result, if you’re looking for deep, individual character moments, you’re not going to get that.  Furthermore, there’s a good chance that your favourite character doesn’t get off more than a single line of dialogue.

I suppose that making “pure fun” the sole goal of a comic book is something of a double edged sword; while JSA #29 is certainly entertaining and action-packed, it’s also not even remotely close to being deep or complex stuff, content to please on a totally superficial level.  The plot is similarly simple stuff (all of the JSA’s villains team up in a well-planned ambush) that I can only hope will show more nuance than this issue suggests.  It’s just a bit hard to believe that the team can be in any true danger from what seems like a” by the numbers” badguy team-up.

The biggest difficulty though is that Willingham and Sturges aren’t yet fully comfortable with the characters.  Some of the voices sound a bit off and it’s strange that the leaders of the team don’t actually seem to be leading when the JSA heads into battle, with Power Girl and Magog being afterthoughts.

Conclusion: Despite it’s simplicity and some minor growing pains, it’s a fun book.  Geoff Johns fans need not panic.

Grade: B –

-Alex Evans

Justice Society of America #21 – Review

By Geoff Johns and Alex Ross (writers), Dale Eaglesham and Nathan Massengill (art).

The Story: The hammer that has been on its way down for the last few issues of JSA finally drops as Gog reveals himself to be the evil false deity that the elder members of the JSA suspected all along.  After Gog’s nefarious intentions are publicized, infighting amongst the JSA ensues while Gog tries to convince his devotees about his purity of purpose. However, when his followers eventually fall out of line Gog metes out vengeance in proportion to what he once gave.

What’s Good: It’s good to see the JSA wipe that creepy, crazed smile off of Gog’s face. There are some very sly homages to the Kingdom Come universe as a couple of JSA members take on the appearance of their Kingdom Come counterparts.  Additionally, Johns and Ross do a great job of producing and working with new religious themes, rather than just copying the same ones that drove the Kingdom Come story.

The art team does a fine job of dealing with a crowded environment, while retaining character integrity and group dynamics.  The action scenes are detailed and clear.

What’s Not So Good: This story suffers from the fact that the creators have made Gog so powerful that it seems ridiculous for the JSA to decide the way to deal with him is to “destroy his body.” Gog has turned people into trees, filled-in an earthquake he created, and sent people to other dimensions with a mere gesture, so it’s hard to believe that Star Girl and Hour Man punching him in his foot will have great effect.

Also, everything that happens in this issue has been predictable for the past several issues of this series. The fact that we arrive at this junction after the useless Power Girl detour and the decent, but mostly unnecessary, one-shots is a little frustrating.

Conclusion: This is a one of the better chapters in the “One World, Under Gog” arc. It resolves many plot lines while developing interesting new ones, especially regarding some of the newer members to the JSA. I look forward to the next issue and I’m very curious to know what impact, if any, this arc will have on the greater DCU.

Grade: B

-Rob G.

Justice Society of America – Kingdom Come Special: Magog #1 – Review

By Peter Tomasi and Geoff Johns (writers), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Scott Kolins (art), Mick Gray (inks), Hi-Fi (colors)

I’ve been reading the Justice Society of America hardcover trades as they’ve been released so I’m not really up to speed with what’s been going on. Those books are just beginning to scratch the surface of the whole Kingdom Come epic, so I had hopes that I wouldn’t be completely lost with Magog’s storyline here.

I was wrong.

Sure, Peter Tomasi’s a good writer, but unlike Geoff Johns he lacks that rare skill of being able to make a comic accessible for a new reader — regardless of where the story may stand. From page one, I was lost and I hoped with due time I’d get more backstory. Instead I was given a series of horrific events that form the beginnings of who Magog is. Yes, the story told is quite good, but being stamped with a “#1” is very misleading. I’m hoping Geoff Johns’ installment next week will clear up a lot of my confusion, because there’s a lot here that went unanswered. Speaking of Johns, he does a nice little Starman story, which, truth be told, is almost better than the main feature.

If you’re current with the JSA storyline, you’ll probably find little faults with this issue. But if you’re a casual reader or just picking up this book out of curiosity, I urge you to approach with caution.

Grade: B-

– J. Montes