Arrow S02E23 – Review

By: Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg (story)

The Story: Mercenaries versus assassins versus special ops versus superheroes. Go!

The Review: So I just took my last law school final ever yesterday! Aren’t you all proud of me? No? Get on with the review, already? Okay. The last season has seen Arrow fully embracing its comic book origins with pride, drawing in established characters from the DC canon from all levels, the great and the obscure alike, all in an impressively organic way. The finale is thus a culmination of the work and spirit of the season as a whole, which is what a season finale should be.

Not only does every cast member get a big part in the proceedings (except, perhaps, for Dinah), nearly every major character introduced in the last two seasons shows up, with appearances from Malcolm Merlyn, Deadshot, Amanda Waller, Nyssa Al Ghul, and even Lyla, flying in on a helicopter and firing a rocket launcher to ward off some of Slade’s army. The conflicts range from the epic (a city-wide war between an army of superhuman convicts against Team Arrow and a battalion of assassins, all with the threat of an A.R.G.U.S. drone strike looming overhead) to the personal (Ollie’s fight to the death with Slade, twice over). That’s what I call a season finale worthy of superheroes.

Arrow S02E18 – Review

By: Marc Guggenheim & Drew Z. Greenberg (story)

The Story: Have you seen this girl? If so, call the Arrow on his encrypted phone line.

The Review: When Slade swore revenge against Ollie, you assumed he was seeking retribution equal to the suffering he believed Ollie caused him—an eye for an eye, appropriately enough. By that calculation, and factoring in Shado’s death, you expected this meant the death of all of Ollie’s loved ones. But we’ve seen since that Slade’s vengeance is nothing so simple. He’s had ample opportunity to kill everyone in Ollie’s orbit since he came to Starling City, yet he’s held back every time.

Of course, Slade has changed objectives since the island. In “Three Ghosts”, he promised anew, “I am going to tear everything [Ollie] cares about away from him. Destroy those who choose to follow him. Corrupt those he loves.” Ollie dies only after “he has lost everyone and everything he values[.]” It’s a psychological breakdown Slade wants for Ollie, not unlike the one he’s experienced since the dual trauma of being injected with the Mirakuru and losing Shado.*

Arrow S02E12 – Review

By: Marc Guggenheim & Drew Z. Greenberg (story)

The Story: Starling City takes the integrity of the political process to a whole new low.

The Review: Have you ever noticed that even though ninety-five percent* of all hiring decisions are based on how closely the candidates followed rules and conventions, the people who rise to the top are usually the ones who break them?  Fiction tends to follow suit.  Characters who stick to the program more often than not become the dutiful, straight-man sidekicks to the rebellious heroes, with the possible exception of Star Trek’s Spock.

So the chances of Roy actually following through with Ollie’s training regimen were pretty much nil.  Part of the issue is that instead of explaining how each exercise is supposed to help Roy, Ollie just repeats the same stale line about “control” a dozen times.  On the other hand, just taking Roy out in the field proves to be counterproductive as well.  What Ollie fails to recognize is that as serious as his new protégé’s physical symptoms are, Roy’s problem is essentially an emotional one.

Arrow S02E07 – Review

By: Marc Guggenheim & Drew Z. Greenberg (story)

The Story: Vertigo’s out of order, Moira’s out of order, this whole city’s out of order!

The Review: Moira Queen is an interesting figure within the Arrow universe.  Central as she is to some of the show’s most important storylines, she’s never been much of an active player in any of them.  This is partially the fault of her character makeup; as an upper-class socialite with few discernible skills, she has little choice but to fall back on classic feminine wiles to exert her power.  She deceives, schemes, bargains, but rarely do you see her actually do anything.

Yet even in this limited capacity, Moira does far more than other characters in her position, which is mother to our hero.  Usually, these women are relegated to little more than sounding boards for their children’s exploits and had Moira been trapped in this role, she’d have a much smaller presence in the show.  As she is now, her sole purpose seems to be generating drama for the other principals to grapple with, a function which she serves very well.

The Trial of the Punisher #2 – Review

by Marc Guggenheim (Writer), Mico Suayan (Artist), Sunny Gho (Colorist)

The Story: The trial of Frank Castle goes on as the mystery behind why he got himself captured in the first place is solved.

The Review: This mini-series is a rather strange little thing. With only two issues to tell its story and to give readers a conclusion and a certain message, it is perhaps a bit too optimistic of me to hope for a good resolution to a story that did start up rather nicely. With most of the setup already in place and the mystery about Frank Castle and his current predicament being firmly established, can this second and last issue provide a neat bow as it connects everything together in a good way?

The short answer is not really. While it do try in bringing a certain resolution to the mystery of why Frank got himself caught to begin with and does use the courtroom setting to provide some interesting points, not everything connect seamlessly. This is the kind of comics that could have indeed been a bit better if it had a bit more space in order to tell its story with more details.

The main reason why the issue is perhaps not as good as it could have been lies very much in how it conclude and the explanation that follows everything Frank did, so here’s what it means.

Arrow S02E03 – Review

By: Marc Guggenheim & Keto Shimizu (story)

The Story: Yet another reason to be suspicious of men who collect dolls.

The Review: I never thought I’d see the day when a TV series from DC featuring Green Arrow—and on the CW, for crying out loud—would inspire greater enthusiasm than a Marvel series.  But when I found myself suddenly very much looking forward to the next showing of Arrow as a palette cleanser from the disappointment that was Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s fifth episode, it made me realize how much confidence Arrow has earned since its debut.*

Obviously, it’s unfair to compare a show that has already won a second season to one that hasn’t even reached the halfway point of its first just yet.  Arrow comes now with the benefit of nearly a year’s worth of character work and interrelationships, so your emotional investment will naturally be greater.  This episode in particularly puts all that development on full display, and you may be surprised by how potent some of the character combinations turn out to be.

Arrow S02E01 – Review

By: Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Marc Guggenheim (story)

The Story: Nothing like a good island getaway to relieve the stress of a devastated hometown.

The Review: Even though the first season of Arrow came with all the growing pains every new show experiences as it settles on its voice, it built a lot of confidence with viewers like me because it not only knew exactly what kind of story and tone it wanted, but it also had the humility to make changes as needed.  That makes Arrow’s second season job much easier, when the goal is to capitalize on early strengths while rejiggering the things that didn’t quite work.

The cold open does both tasks at once and thus sets a good for the rest of the episode.  No matter how poignant Ollie’s interactions with his family or intriguing his romance with Dinah, the relationship that truly drives the show is the dynamic between Ollie, Diggle, and Felicity.  Kicking off the season with Diggle and Felicity (now promoted to series regular), skydiving towards Lian Yu and barely escaping death by land mine thanks to a grappling-line rescue by Ollie, makes for a very good start indeed.

The Trial of the Punisher #1 – Review

 

by Marc Guggenheim (Writer), Leinil Francis Yu (Artist), Sunny Gho (Colorist)

The Story: Frank Castle goes and gets himself captured, on his own initiative, by the police as they put him on trial.

The Review: In the wake of Marvel Now!, it was not the best of times to be a fan of Frank Castle. With the excellent run by Greg Rucka being cancelled and the character being put on a team with no solo book of his own, the Punisher seemed to have been delegated to a lower situation than what the title was used to. While Thunderbolts is decent enough with Charles Soule at the helm, it may not be exactly enough for those who rather enjoy the violent adventure of this gunning vigilante. Thankfully, it seemed that Marvel was aware of this as a new mini-series is now in store, featuring Frank Castle as the solo star and focus of the whole plot. Is it any good, though?

Surprisingly, there’s a lot to like here, as Guggenheim makes some smart choices in his depiction of both the Punisher as a force in itself and as a man with mysterious motivations. Guggenheim isn’t a writer that had impressed or even particularly pleased readership in any lasting way, but his handle on the violence and the presence of the Punisher shows an understanding of the character that is not only spot-on, but thoroughly entertaining throughout the issue. His Frank Castle is a calm and calculating man, one that knows very well how intimidating he is and what he can do in any circumstances, showing a side that is not always the most popular with writers.

Arrow S01E23 – Review

By: Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg (story)

The Story: Sometimes it feels like your whole world is tumbling down around you.

The Review: Phew.  Let me tell you: covering a TV series from start to finish requires quite a bit of commitment, and the task is made even more difficult by a show like Arrow, which is still, even here in its first season finale, trying to find itself.  It’s a show that’s got so many genres and elements mixed together that finding the right balance among them all could take another season or so yet.  But here, it proves itself worthy of investing in its evolution, however long it takes.

This episode works because while it has the same over-the-top energy that defeated the show’s credibility in other instances, it channels that energy in all the right places.  Malcolm’s speech to a trussed up Ollie starts as a drag of a villain’s monologue, crowing and condescending at the same time: “You can’t beat me, Oliver.  Yes, you’re younger, and you’re faster, and yet you always seem to come up short against me.”  But after all that’s out of the way, he reveals his choicest lines: “You want to know why?  Because you don’t know in your heart what you’re fighting for—what you’re willing to sacrifice.  And I do.”

Arrow S01E14 – Review

By: Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Marc Guggenheim (story)

The Story: Past-Ollie steps on a mine; Present-Ollie gets shot by his mom.  Rough day.

The Review: I’ve been pretty tough on the most recent episodes of Arrow, occasionally to the consternation of the WCBR readers, but believe me when I say I’m not tearing down the show out of pure malice.  Mostly, my frustration has been with the show’s refusal to capitalize on its own potential.  It really can be so many things, yet it shirks on nearly all fronts, and nearly every time it tries a game-changer move, it winds up sticking with the same game in the end.

Nowhere does that appear more obvious than in Ollie’s fretful position on how to deal with his mom.  His adamant refusal to even consider Moira a threat last episode already reflected poorly on his integrity.  He had a huge opportunity to redeem himself here when he crashes through her office and convincingly scares the bejeezus out of her.  And then, in a moment that begs you to throw your popcorn at the television, he lets her go.

Arrow S01E09 – Review

By: Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg

The Story: The Arrow that saved Christmas.

The Review: You should know that I’m a total sap for Christmas, which makes me and people like me something of an oddity in a world where people mostly see the cynical, materialistic, socially conditioned side of the holiday—but I don’t care.  Even if you don’t celebrate it, you have to appreciate that Christmas, in its purest form, is about finding ways to give and care for the ones you love, and that’s always a good thing in my book.

In the gritty confines of Arrow, it seems unusual, then, for the spirit of Christmas to rear its head, particularly from no other than the driven and hardened Oliver Queen.  Who’d expect him to get so sappy about his dad’s old Christmas parties when he’s so focused on crushing corporate moguls?  At any rate, Ollie’s eagerness to revive his family’s holiday tradition brings out a sweet, lovable side to him that’s in short supply these days, although when things don’t go the way he plans, his eagerness quickly turns into resentment.

Arrow S01E07 – Review

By: Andrew Kreisberg, Geoff Johns, Marc Guggenheim (story)

The Story: Shouldn’t the fact that you and your date end up sparring after dinner be a red flag?

The Review: I have a friend who has an obsession for instant noodles—you know, the bags, cups, and bowls of slippery Asian-styled soup.  Actually, that statement is somewhat misleading because in reality, my friend doesn’t care for the actual noodles so much.  I’ve seen her cook up a whole pot of the stuff, only to dump everything but the broth and drink the whole thing down, every last, savory, MSG-enriched bit of it.  It’s the culinary version of missing the point.

I can somewhat relate because as the show goes on, I find myself in the awkward predicament of liking nearly everything about it except for its lead character.  In fact, the closer characters get to Ollie, the less I like them.  I’ve noticed that lately, Ollie only interacts with the rest of the cast so as to get nagged by them.  He looks pretty tired of it, but he should keep things in perspective.  It can’t be half as tiresome as for us to needlessly watch him get nagged.

Arrow S01E06 – Review

By: Moira Kirland & Marc Guggenheim (story)

The Story: Thanks to the recession, even bank robbers are down on their luck these days.

The Review: A few weeks ago, I was on a late plane going to D.C., bored with nothing to do except stare out into the inky darkness and ponder my meaningless life in the endless void, so I pulled out my laptop to watch an episode of Arrow.  A friend of mine who was also on that flight suddenly piped up excitedly, “Is that Arrow?”  I told her it was.  “I love Arrow,” she told me, in much the same way someone might have said, “I love Mad Men” a year ago.

I should say my friend is a sweet, feminist law student whom I would never imagine watching a weekly action-drama featuring a comic book character who fought crime with preposterously antiquated weaponry.  But after that revelation, I started paying closer attention to the show and began to recognize its crossover appeal.  This is ostensibly a show about Green Arrow, but in execution, he’s merely a platform to deliver all the things people want out of TV—action, crime, justice, relationships, and family—but with more breathing space for the fantastic.

Arrow S01E03 – Review

By: Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg (story)

The Story: If arrows work so well against bullets, how do you explain the Spanish empire?

The Review: As a show grows, it usually does one of two things: keep on doing what it does best or constantly trying new things in an attempt to reinvent itself—or perish.  Following my usual pattern of analogizing things to NBC sitcoms, I give you two examples: 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation.  At some point, 30 Rock embraced its weirdness and never looked back, perhaps to its detriment.  Parks and Rec, meanwhile, continues to evolve week by week.

In the end, Parks and Rec remains nearly as solid as it began, while 30 Rock has waxed and waned as it struggles to find new variables to fit into its comedic formula.  Arrow will do well to emulate the P&R strategy.  It simply cannot sustain itself with a weekly pattern of Ollie taking down yet another scummy CEO in an urbanized “Monster of the Week” format.  Thankfully, we see the show continuing to take steps to break up the rut before it digs itself too deep.

Arrow S01E02 – Review

By: Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg (story)

The Story: In which you get one more reason why Legal Aid is the most thankless job ever.

The Review: The most important lesson I took from the massively disappointing Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is nothing is less funny than someone that tries to be funny—and actually succeeds in convincing himself he’s funny.  The second most important lesson I learned from the show is a strong pilot can easily give way to a mediocre or downright terrible show.  From then on, I’ve always kept my expectations in control until after the mid-season.

This strategy seems especially appropriate when dealing with a CW adaptation of a comic book character.  Despite a pretty solid debut last week, it wouldn’t be difficult for me to imagine a scenario where the quality of Arrow episodes just plummets afterward.  That doesn’t quite happen here, but you do feel that whatever momentum the pilot generated, it gets a little lost in the follow-up.

Arrow S01E01 – Review

By: Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg (story

The Story: Sure bullets pack more punch, but when was the last time you zip-lined with one?

The Review: Much as anyone loves the idea of getting to watch their favorite superheroes on live-action TV every week, some pretty big obstacles get in the way of that particular dream.  As a modern audience, we expect greater realism (read: money) from the stories and special effects than the people who watched Lynda Carter spin into costume on Wonder Woman.  And the more extensive a superhero’s powers, the more opportunity there is for a show to disappoint.

If you take all that into consideration, Smallville was a pretty impressive series, balancing both the fulfillment of comic book dreams and budgetary restraints for ten seasons—kind of the Holy Grail of television longevity.  I imagine, however, that the folks at the CW weren’t keen on going through that that kind of expense again.  While the aborted Aquaman project presented all kinds of watery CGI that made producers’ heads spin, Arrow seems more manageable.

Rocketeer Adventures II #1 – Quick Review

By: Marc Guggenheim, Peter David & Stan Sakai (story), Sandy Plunkett, Bill Sienkiewicz, Sakai & Arthur Adams (art), Jeromy Cox, Dave Stewart & John Rauch (colors) and Scott Dunbier (editor)

The Story: Another anthology of Rocketeer stories from top-shelf creative talent.

Review: If you enjoyed Rockteer Adventures last time around, IDW is back with another helping of Dave Stevens-inspired goodness.  For those who don’t know, Dave Stevens created the Rocketeer character back in the 1980’s and even got a movie made of the character in the early 1990’s (which isn’t a half-bad movie, btw).  Stevens tragically died of cancer in 2008 at the age of 53.  Truly he was taken too soon, but one wrinkle when comic creators die is: What happens to their creator-owned material?  We all know what happens to Marvel/DC characters when Jack Kirby or Joe Simon die, but it is different with creator-owned characters.  Does anyone even have the right to legally publish the character?  Will creators see it as (a) continuing the passion of a dearly departed colleague or (b) treading on the grave?

Justice Society of America #50 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: Look out Haggar of Metro City—the Flash is giving you a run for the money in the superhero mayor department.

The Review: This has been a good week for oversized, anniversary issues.  Like Action Comics #900, you get a good chunk of the title’s running events and then a healthy serving of short features a là the “annual” format.  In this case, regular writer Marc Guggenheim takes care of scripting duties for every piece, with a variety of artists to back him up.

“Cornerstone” feels more like a continuation of the DC Universe Legacies series, with its talk of the generational aspect between the Justice Society and Justice League of America.  It’s an old idea, one other writers have played with before, and with much greater deft than Guggenheim, who doesn’t really succeed in giving a new spin to the whole thing.  At least the script gets art treatment from George Pérez (with help from Scott Khoblish), whose style looks dated on most comics now, but really works with retro-stories like this one.

In “Infinitum”, which ties in with the main events on Justice Society, Guggenheim uses a dramatic style of narration to amp up the epic tone of his story, but it just comes off heavy-handed and not a little bit dumb: “The battle rages.  As it always does.  A never-ending battle.  Or so they say.”  Besides, the feature doesn’t tell you much about bald-and-bearded Degaton’s ultimate objectives with merging himself with his parallel Degatons (exactly as weird as it sounds), so it seems like a throwaway tale.  Freddie Williams II’s cartoony style doesn’t exactly help sell the drama Guggenheim’s going for, either.

Quick Hit Reviews – Week of March 30, 2011

What a strong week for comics!  Almost everything last week was at least “pretty good” and that makes us happy at WCBR.  Even though we’ll do out duty and tell you when a comic SUCKS, we don’t take any pleasure in doing so and it’s a LOT more fun to talk about what was good.  However, even though we review a TON of books in-full, there are always a few stragglers that get lost in the shuffle.  Thus, the Quick Hit Reviews….

Scarlet #5 – I can see people having two very different sets of thoughts on this title.  If you’re a police officer or otherwise a general believer of the benevolence of the government, you’re going to really hate this comic.  On the other hand, if you’re a more of a free will, distrust of the “man” type of person I can’t see how this doesn’t scratch a Libertarian itch.  I’m in the latter camp and just love Scarlet.  This issue represents the ending of the first story arc that has seen the titular Scarlet go from meting out some justice against dirty cops, to being the sudden leader of a political movements.  All of a sudden she’s Che Guevara, but she isn’t sure that’s what she wants to be OR if she even can be the leader her “people” want.  Meanwhile we are also introduced to some possibly sympathetic heroes within the power structure and that’s good too.  I know some people decry Alex Maleev’s art as “tracing”, but I don’t care.  Even if he is tracing (and he swears he isn’t in interviews), I like the way he’s using it.  He’s just creating art differently than more traditional artists and it is hard to argue with the stylish results.  Grade: A-   — Dean Stell

Captain America #616 – Well, here’s a comic that’ll earn your $4.99, with a main feature and no less than five back-ups.  Better still, for the most part, it’s all pretty good stuff and there are absolutely no reprints or picture galleries to bulk out the package.  This meaty package is all story content and that immediately earns it some points.  The main feature, written by Brubaker and featuring Bucky in a nasty Russian prison, is really dark stuff and a surprising component to an anniversary issue.  That said, if anything, it functions as an effective teaser for what’s to come.  Dark and nasty as it is, it lets Brubaker shine, somehow melding gritty prison drama with giant killer bear deathmatches.  It’s desperate, dire stuff but also a lot of fun and it brings the hard-hitting drama and excitement back to Bucky after a couple of fairly ho-hum arcs.  I hope the actual Gulag story arc keeps this up.  With five back-up features, you know you’re going to get a mixed bag, but Cap #616 actually delivers the goods for the most part.  While the stories by Kyle Higgins/Alec Siegel and Mike Benson/Paul Grist are fairly forgettable, they have the decency to at least look good.  Meanwhile, the Howard Chaykin and Frank Tieri/Paul Azeceta stories are rock solid, really effectively ruminating upon, and making use of, the sense of “history” that is such a big part of who and what Captain America is.  The real barn-burner, however, is the masterpiece delivered by Cullen Bunn and Jason LaTour.  Tremendous artwork and writing deliver a story that not only focuses upon the importance of Captain America, but does so in a manner that relates it to contemporary times and issues in a manner that doesn’t feel preachy or forced.  Bunn and LaTour paint a picture of a troubled modern America that needs a Captain America more than ever.  And it still finds room for AIM spider robots.  It’s the kind of story that has me very intrigued regarding Bunn’s future Marvel work.  Grade: B+   — Alex Evans

Justice Society of America #49 – Review

By: Marc Guggenheim (writer), Scott Kolins (artist), Mike Atiyeh (colorist)

The Story: What’s better than the JSA?  Double the JSA.

The Review: As the short-lived Heroes demonstrated, a massive cast can be a great thing for a series to have: the mix of personalities and storylines do a lot to grab and sustain your interest.  But cross a certain threshold, and an inflated cast quickly becomes a burden: the difficulty of giving each character enough attention or a sizable role to play easily dilutes the pace and substance of the overall plot, leaving little for you to be invested in.

The return of the JSA All-Stars to the fold will likely do precisely the latter.  You can see the warning signs in this issue’s action sequences alone.  Rather than creating order to how the teamwork use their various abilities in tandem, Guggenheim tosses them almost randomly in Dr. Chaos’ and Scythe’s paths.  With the JSA lacking serious firepower, it feels like the All-Stars had to be brought in to get the job done—it’s not as if they contribute to the story any other way.

With all the action being so aimless, it serves only to distract from the core element of the story arc, which is Guggenheim’s concept of an actual city-society dedicated to justice.  It’s a potentially interesting idea that he’s not even begun to describe or execute in any way, but is still trying to convince you it’s this great idea.  He has characters like Red Beetle saying things like, “What you guys’re doing here, fixing things…that’s holy work,” as if by having it said, it’ll convince you it’s so.

But then there’s a lot of empty talk to this series.  Most of the conversations between the characters are very roundabout, where they’re just hammering the same talking points (Lightning’s comatose state, Green Lantern’s trauma, Mr. Terrific’s degrading intelligence, etc.) to death.  It takes up more than half the issue, and none of it shows character or develops relationships.  Despite their interaction, they all remain a little flat and one-track-minded.

Justice Society of America #48 – Review

By: Marc Guggenheim (writer), Scott Kolins (artist), Mike Atiyeh (colorist)

The Story: Dr. Chaos shows exactly how he got his credentials in all-out crazy-making.

The Review: Every now and then you’ll hear DC getting some flak for not providing a handy recap page the way Marvel does for all its titles.  You can’t really deny the usefulness of such a feature, as it allows new readers to jump onboard even in the middle of a story arc.  DC’s usual response is something along the lines of a recap page taking a page away from the story, and if a writer’s strong enough, a recap’s not necessary.  True enough.

In this case, Guggenheim devotes the issue’s opening to recapping an event two issues before.  There are several major problems with this move, the most obvious being he ripped the scene and dialogue straight from Justice Society of America #46.  Second problem: it was weak when it first appeared, so reading it again just seems painful.  Third: instead of using one page to sum up the event, he has now used three—and with the dropped page count, that’s three too many.

And if you notice these flaws right off, that puts you in a discouraged frame of mind from the very start—truly unfortunate, as the rest of the issue requires a lot of forgiveness.  The pace of this story has become unearthly, stretching the limits of decompression technique.  Thanks to the time captions Guggenheim inserts to mark scene-jumps, you can easily deduce that over three issues, only forty-five minutes have passed.

Of course, as 24 demonstrates, decompression isn’t so bad as long as you fill the time with enough interest to keep the tension high.  But considering most of the story has been Dr. Chaos further reducing an already ruined city to rubble and a rematch between the team and Scythe—a villain they literally just defeated in the last story arc—you can’t really call such stuff interesting.

Guggenheim does offer a few good lines (Wildcat: “Sonofa—”  Dr. Chaos: “Yes.  How’d you know?”) and moments, but for every one of those, there’s a cringe-worthy scene like Mr. Terrific’s dumbing down.  Now, I’m sure it’s not intended this way, but the idea of making Michael illiterate—it’s just slightly racist, or at least an unfortunate coincidental reflection of a pervasive, negative, racial stereotype.  Is that politically correct enough?

Justice Society of America #47 – Review

By: Marc Guggenheim (writer), Scott Kolins (artist), Mike Ativeh (colorist)

The Story: Green Lantern in space!  Dr. Fate wrestles for Lightning’s soul!  Mr. Terrific experiences Flowers for Algernon firsthand!

The Review: When DC announced that it’d be holding the price line at $2.99 at the cost of cutting some pages from its titles, there was certainly a mix of emotions.  The jubilance over the savings was marred by the concern that each issue would have less substance to be engaging.  So far, most titles have taken the impact pretty easily, some even improving from the compression.  Others, however, have suffered from being forced to squeeze their stories into the more limited space.

Among the suffering seems to be Marc Guggenheim’s Justice Society of America.  This issue sees the team split up across literally cosmic distances, each with their own particular conflict to handle.  On the one hand, this sets things up so there’s no short supply of storylines filling up the pages.  On the other hand, with less page-time devoted to each, you’re left unsatisfied by all of them.  There’s just a strong sense that crucial parts of each plotline have been sacrificed at some point to fit them all in.

So instead of showing what’s going on, Guggenheim has to tell it to you instead.  Take Dr. Fate and Lightning in the spirit realm.  You don’t get to see how they get there; Jay Garrick catches Dr. Midnight up to speed and then Fate himself gives a thoroughly unsatisfying explanation of his work (“I took a few shortcuts, acted on instinct mostly.  I sort of…pushed things along…”).  And once all that talk is done, you get cut away to the next storyline, leaving you to wonder what the point of it all is.

Then you have Mr. Terrific’s supposedly degrading intelligence.  Instead of seeing symptoms of his dire situation, you get treated to two solid pages of Dr. Chaos’ obnoxious, know-it-all gloating.  Without actually seeing real signs of Mr. Terrific losing his smarts, the emotional impact of it is lost, making you feel as if he’s in no real danger.  But the worst handling has to be Alan Scott’s sudden jump into space.  Not only does it come out of nowhere, but it gets exactly one page to vaguely hint at the reason why it happens (the Starheart is in trouble—or something).

Quick-hit Reviews – Week of Jan. 12, 2011

Our pull lists are all a little too long to give a full review to every comic we read in a given week.  So, here are a few quick thoughts on a few issues that were slipping through the cracks…

Captain America: Man Out of Time #3  – I’ve like this series from the start, but this issue–a single scene from this issue, actually–catapulted it from “great” to “truly excellent.” I speak of course of the scene where Tony Stark leads the newly unfrozen Steve Rogers through the Smithsonian, and catches him up on sixty years worth of American history. Not only was it a treat–and some wonderful chary racterization–to watch Steve’s reactions, it really is neat to hear such a quick and well-written rundown of our accomplishments and advancements. Sure, you could interpret it as a little corny, and you might even question Tony’s wisdom in hitting Steve with all of that information at once, but in this case, cool trumps logic. If I was more paranoid–and if I didn’t love Tony Stark as much as I do–I MIGHT even go so far as to suggest the trip was specifically engineered by Tony and the President to make “sure” that Steve “knew too much” to safely send back to his own time. Whatever the truth though, between the museum scene, Steve’s interview with the President, and his heartbreaking and admirable dedication to Bucky, this story is a winner from beginning to end. Best origin story update in a long time.  Grade: A — SoldierHawk

Deadpool #31 – Way continues to deliver with this surprisingly short, and surprisingly entertaining, storyline. Deadpool plays off the vampires (both good and bad) extremely well; their grave and super-serious nature make them natural and very effective straight men for Deadpool’s antics. This issue, as well as the one before it, really show off some of the best that the character has to offer: great one liners, plenty of exciting (and creative) action, and just enough fourth-wall breaking and goofy humor to let you know that everything should be taken with a grain of salt. This makes the ending of this issue either very effective or very jarring depending on how you feel about a sudden and rather unexpected injection of pathos into your ‘Pool book. Personally I found the mood whiplash to be a little much, and felt that it took away from an otherwise successful outing for Way. (If you want to see endbook ‘Pool-pathos done right, may I suggest seeking out Deadpool Team-Up #886, one of the best Deadpool yarns I’ve read in some time.)  Grade: B (Although that absolutely beautiful Twilight parody very nearly pushes it into B+ territory).  — SoldierHawk

Heroes for Hire #2 – Although I was a little foggy on the exact connection between the bad-guys in this issue and those in issue #1 (even though the story indicates they are clearly related), I really enjoyed this issue.  The current comics sales market isn’t supporting any B-list character(s) in a stand-alone, ongoing series.  Marvel seems to finally be getting that, but it looks like Heroes for Hire could be a great place to get the B-listers in an ensemble fashion.  After seeing Falcon, Moon Knight, Black Widow & Elektra last month, this time we get Silver Sable and Ghost Rider.  I’ll be happy to keep this on my pull list just to get to see these B-listers in bite-sized quantities.  The story is fun too, but that’s no surprise coming from Abnett and Lanning.  Walker is an underrated artist (I think) too.  Grade: B — Dean Stell

Halcyon #3 – We finally start to learn why the world has no more crime and villainy in this third issue.  The exact mechanism is a little surprising (and gory), but I don’t think it was unexpected to see that something abnormal was afoot.  I think this issue benefited from reducing the cast of characters to the Batman-analog and his Wonder Woman-esq girlfriend.  It just made the story flow better.  The only thing that holds this issue back (for me) is the art.  It is probably just a personal preference because I’ve heard a lot of people who I respect GUSH about the art, but it just doesn’t work for me.  Grade: B- — Dean Stell

John Byrne’s Next Men #2 – Major improvement from the last issue.  I found the #1 issue to be very cluttered from a story-telling standpoint and wasn’t that enthused by the art either.  I still don’t know or have any attachment to the characters, but the premise that they are scattered in the time stream is fun enough.  Well….”fun” might not be the right word given the nasty situations that present themselves, but I’m interested in the story now.  Having settings like the Civil War and WWII allow Byrne to stretch his legs a little bit.  I actually enjoyed this art way more than the most superhero stuff in issue #1.  I don’t think this is staying on my pull list, but if I hear good things I may pick up the first trade.  Grade: B- (with a bullet) — Dean Stell

 

Justice Society of America #46 – Review

By: Marc Guggenheim (writer), Mike Norton (artist), Mike Atiyeh (colorist)

The Story: The disorder in Monument Point spirals further out of control as the Justice Society tries to contain the aftermath of Scythe’s attack.  With the mayor’s life at stake, the team’s great social experiment seems already on the verge of collapse.

The Review: One of the trademarks that most endears the Justice Society of America to readers is the sense of family among all the legacy heroes.  This team takes pride in its history and ideals.  Their battles do less to show off their formidability as fighters and more to display their teamwork and heroic values.  For those reasons, even with the Justice League as the premier team in the DCU, the Justice Society gets treated with the most reverence.

The current fragmented state of the team comes across as very uncomfortable and a little artificial.  There was some practical value to splitting up the ever-inflating cast into two titles, but ultimately the move damaged both.  With most of the older heroes staying on in Justice Society, and the younger, newer ones moving on to JSA All-Stars, the sense of legacy degraded.  What you ended up with was a team of antiquated old-fogeys and another of next-gen wannabes.

That’s also why the current storyline, of the Justice Society’s attempt to rebuild a ruined city into an actual society based on patriotism, just doesn’t sell.  It’s essentially a team led by old white men (with the exception of token black guy Mr. Terrific) trying to return some good ol’ American values to urban sprawl.  By itself, this story has a lot of doubtful ambitions.

Had Marc Guggenheim generated some debate or at least information on how this “society” is going to work, the issue would have been used well.  He instead glosses over these logistics in favor of re-emphasizing the strife currently plaguing even the longtime friends and partners on the team.  This gives them the most unflattering characterizations, from Alan Scott’s bitter ramblings on his paralysis, to Jay Garrick’s prickly, even crusty attitude (“This is France after WWII,” he says in reference to the disorder around the devastated city).  And now there are no younger heroes to offer some freshness to these grim outlooks—certainly not after the end of the issue.

Reading through the issue feels like a visit to an elderly, cantankerous great-uncle.  You sort of just sit patiently through his repetitive tirades on how the world is going to ruin and how things were like back in his day, then you say goodbye with pointed politeness.  With the exception of some melodramatic twists at the end, nothing in the story really moves forward, and even the twists leave you feeling unaffected and dispassionate.  Mostly it’s just characters saying the same things about what’s already happened over and over.  Taken individually, each scene plays credibly, but there’s no unifying thread throughout, nor any sense that the story is heading someplace bigger.

Halcyon #2 – Review

By: Marc Guggenheim & Tara Butters (writers), Ryan Bodenheim (art), Mark Englert (colors), Dave Sharpe (letters) & Aubrey Sitterson (editor)

The Story: The heroes of Earth continue to adjust to a world without crime.

What’s Good: The premise is interesting: What happens if there is no more crime?  What do the heroes do?  In this well written comic we start to see that the heroes are going to varied responses.  For example, the superfast dude is stressed to within an inch of his life because he (and he alone) is fast enough to get to the scene of natural disasters as they happen whereas the woman who is the Superman-analog knows she isn’t fast enough to do that stuff…and is really kinda enjoying relaxing.  They’re all different, and some will be not so noble.

The writing craft of this comic is really top notch.  It is well paced and the story is told in a way that makes it clear that the creators know what the story is going to be .  We’ve all read comics where you get a sense that the creators have a general sense of what will happen, but not a firm outline.  Not the case here and that is something I generally find to be true of writing teams since the mere act of collaboration requires more detailed planning.

We also don’t often get to say something nice about lettering, but Dave Sharpe is showing why lettering can matter as he does some neat things in this issue.  There is one character who is named Null and he doesn’t speak with typical word balloons, he speaks with black background/white text dialog boxes.  It may not seem like much, but it adds to this Null’s character without the writers having to write anything about him.

Finally, let’s cheer for the second issue coming out promptly.  I think a lot of “indy” comics lose momentum with bad release schedules.  My biggest complaint with issue #1 was that it didn’t give much intro, but that is kinda washed away now because issue #2 came out quickly.