Secret Six #29 – Review

By Gail Simone (writer), Marcos Marz (pencils), Luciana Delnegro (inks), Jason Wright (colors), Travis Lanham (letters)

The Story: The Six finish their dealings with the ever-tricky Lex Luthor, and Vandal and Scandal bring their part of the story to a resolution as well. Threats, deals, betrayals and ticking time bombs abound, and everyone goes out with a bang.

What’s Good: So, I love Secret Six. I also love what’s been going on in Action Comics, and especially love the characterization of Luthor and company. You’d think that this crossover, then, would be tailor-made for me, and it is, to some extent. Although it does have some problems (which we’ll get to below), it’s pretty successful overall, and does a good job of bringing some of the DCU’s best villains together under the same storyline. Cornell is a great writer, and my love for Simone is already well documented, so watching them make use of each others’ signature characters is great fun, on a pure coolness level. It’s great to see the characters playing off of each other, and the storyline itself is well conceptualized and executed on both ends. It’s certainly a fun and entertaining crossover, if nothing else.

Green Lantern #49 – Review

By Geoff Johns (writer), Ed Benes & Marcos Marz (artists), Ed Benes & Luciana Del Negro (inkers

The Story: John Stewart guest stars in Hal’s book this month to single handedly take on the Black Lantern planet Xanshi.

The Good: Wow. I love, love, love it when a comic can get me to re-examine characters I thought I knew. It’s not that I never liked John Stewart, but I will admit it was always hard to view him as being anything other than Hal’s wingman. With this issue, my respect for Stewart and his abilities has gone through the roof, and if DC ever wises up and gives Stewart his own monthly series, I’ll be the first in line to pick it up, this issue was that damn good. Under Johns’ guidance, Stewart is the eternal soldier: stoic, taciturn, and utterly dedicated to achieving the mission at hand. When that mission turns out to be taking on an entire Black Lantern planet, conventional wisdom would tell most people to wait for some back up. But not John Stewart, oh no. In the greatest and best-drawn moment of the comic, Stewart…well, let’s just say he calls on a different Corps to help him kick ass and take names. I was initially disappointed when I saw that Doug Mahnke wouldn’t be drawing this issue, but after reading it I have to say Benes was the perfect choice to bring Stewart’s tale to life.

Blackest Night: JSA #1 – Review

By: James Robinson (writer), Eddy Barrows & Marcos Marz (art), Julio Ferreira, Luciana Del Negro & Ruy Jose (inks), Rod Reis (colors)

The Story: The original (and dead) Sandman, Dr. Midnight and Mr. Terrific get their memories uploaded into Black Lanterns. In the meantime, the JSA are fighting a tide of black lanterns in New York. The struggle is not only physical, but emotional. At S.T.A.R. labs, today’s Mr. Terrific is trying to figure out what makes the black lanterns tick by studying the now-inactive Kal-L and Psycho-Pirate black lanterns from the Blackest Night: Superman mini. Mr. Terrific summons a few of his light-producing teammates, but it looks like the black lanterns aren’t going to give Terrific the time he needs to figure it out.

What’s Good: Two things hit me right away when I opened this book. First, the art by Barrows and Marz, and second Robinson’s writing. It’s not normal that I would be stopped at the door like that, but both elements were really impressive.
After some of Robinson’s misses (check out WCBR’s reviews on JLA #40 and JLA: Cry for Justice #5), I was expecting less, but right away, he dove into four parallel story threads on the first page. Robinson controls the mood well in all three threads, by saying less, rather than more. The confusion the dead heroes would feel at being uploaded is clear, but he rightly leaves the subtle storytelling for his art team. The fourth thread runs along the bottom of each page, with different JSA members, but from the perspectives of the black lanterns they are fighting. Once we get to the big donnybrook, Robinson switches to Jesse Quick’s voice, which feels different – she’s at the edge of panic and there’s no mistaking it, even if there were no pictures. In my books, Robinson is out of the dog house.

I’ve seen Barrows’ art in Blackest Night Superman and Green Lantern, but I’ve never seen him with the level of subtlety he brought to this issue. The difference could be that he’s got Marz with him, or it could also be the influence of Del Negro. Barrows and Marz have a great command of the basic communication of storytelling, whether we’re looking at flashbacks, or monster splash-page fights. But where this art team really impressed me was on the close-ups. Check out the texture of the fist on the bottom of page 1 and of Sandman black lantern’s skin on the splash page. Or see the tendrils of reforming zombie on page 10. But the best piece of detail work is on Wildcat’s face when he apologizes to Power Girl. Barrows and Marz perfectly nailed the expression of pure regret. Reis delivers his typical quality work on colors, especially with the emotional spectrum of the black lanterns.