Mr. Terrific #1 – Review

By: Eric Wallace (writer), Gianluca Gugliotta (penciller), Wayne Faucher (inker), Mike Atiyeh (colorist)

The Story: If you’re such a hot-shot, how come you don’t have your own reality show?

The Review: By a show of hands, who else has ever wondered at the premise behind the modern Mr. Terrific?  You can instantly grasp the appeal of being the smartest man in the world.  But to be third smartest—one step below second banana—well, it’s just an odd premise.

This issue incontrovertibly shows that even a rank three genius is capable of some heady accomplishments: dimensional portals, something called infinite fractal mechanics (allowing him to bridge folds in space), an impressive machine that uses electromagnetism to deflect the effects of earthquakes.  Yet fancy as these all sound, they all ultimately boil down to your usual pseudo-science, conceived as easily as the writer’s imagination can idly wander.

When you really examine Mr. T’s (yup—I went for it) “genius,” there’s actually little in the way of advanced intelligence.  In his opening battle with a Brit in a battle suit, he dismisses his foe using one of the oldest gags in the book: essentially, a giant magnet.  Compare that to the clever applications of physics Static (about twenty years Mr. T’s junior) uses in his opener, and you can see Wallace doesn’t really go as far as he must to convince us of the first-rate mind at work here, though he puts in a good try.

In fact, Wallace tries a little too hard to highlight Michael’s most appealing features: an Olympic athlete with money out the wazoo and brains to die for—and he’s black!  Wallace spends far too much time mentioning them than putting them in action: “You’re not the only one who took a first in physics.”  “I had…more degrees than half the faculties of Harvard and Yale combined…”  “These are differential equations.  The kind that would give Stephen Hawking a headache.”

Green Lantern Corps #63 – Review

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

The Story: A Lantern’s life for me—as long as it involves burgers and fries in some capacity.

The Review: Let me assure you, I don’t like handing out bad grades.  To be specific, I don’t like being put in the position of having to hand out bad grades.  Even though the excruciating quality of the two comics Scott Kolins wrote obligated me to give them among the worst marks (one of them in fact receiving the very worst mark) I ever have, I still felt like a jerk doing it, so much so that I never wanted to see that kind of mess from Kolins again, just to avoid another ugly review.

Issues like this one prove that wishes do come true—in a tepid, don’t-get-too-happy-about-it sort of way.  This should in no way imply that Kolins’ writing has improved significantly, or that the ideas at work are much more inspired than before, but at least they attempt to create some unexpected angles to the characters, and that’s above and beyond what he ever gave us before.

Sadly, even when he takes a step forward, he ultimately trips himself up, in this case with a format perhaps a bit too ambitious for his current skill level.  We get a series of vignettes, each featuring a different set of characters, each opening some interesting questions, but none really get invested exploration, nor do they end with what can be considered a satisfying resolution.

Boodikka as a warrior willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of victory may be a shallow rendering of her character, but a compelling view just the same.  But that’s all it is: a view, with no exposition to support it, and no plot to test it, and plagued by Kolins’ tortured narrative: “And now with her emotions restored and her aggressive personality that only accepted victory returned—how can she deal with so many defeats?  How can she go on as an Alpha Lantern?”  Despite the soapy monologues, Joe Prado delivers fantastic detail and dynamism to the wing-helmed lady, enhanced by Hi-Fi’s usually radioactive colors, making it even more regrettable that we don’t get to see her in action.

Deadlands: Death Was Silent – One-Shot – Advanced Review

Death Was Silent By: Ron Marz (writer and editor), Bart Sears (artist), Michael Atiyeh (colors)

Backup Dime Novel “Prey” By: C. Edward Sellner (writer and colorist), Alejandro Aragon (artist)

The Story: Lead (Death Was Silent): A bounty hunter with an odd way of talking drifts into town on a rainy night and he isn’t here for the company.

Backup (Prey): Billy the Kid’s latest installment in the weird western world of the Deadlands.

What’s Good: Ron Marz delivers a high concept weird western. Why high concept? Four words: weird western black ops. Marz makes good use of the conventions of the weird western genre, which are themselves built of the classic tropes of the western and dark fantasy genres. The western excels at the outsider bringing law to a town on the frontier, where he is friendless, outgunned, disrespected and despised. The tone was set perfectly in the opening sequence as our hero rides into town under sheets of rain, when a kid comes up to him and says, “Hey mister, you kill that guy?” This nods to the western genre and misdirects at the same time. Beautiful. And the dialogue throughout is terse and tight with tension.

Bart Sears and Michael Atiyeh on art were excellent. I’d last seen Sears’ work on Justice League International and some Crossgen titles. Here, it is totally different, more subdued and gritty, less self-aware. It reminds me a bit of the European styles used in their western comics. It does not try to be beautiful, because its subjects certainly are not. This fits the gross, dirty and corrupt town of this story. Sears’ action sequences are cool and I was sold on the art right in the opening sequence and the ride into town under the rain.

Shinku #1 – Review

By Ron Marz (story), Lee Moder (art), Matthew Waite (inks), Michael Atiyeh (colors), Troy Peteri (letters)

The Story: A badass female samurai? In modern Tokyo? Who hunts vampires for a living? By doing a drive-by katana beheading? Yes, please!

What’s Good: If you’ll indulge me with a personal reaction right off the bat: this was the most fun I’ve had reading a comic in quite some time. I’m a sucker for origin stories, especially the origin story of a new and interesting character, and this issue felt in the exact center of that sweet spot. Ron Marz–best known for his Witchblade and other Top Cow Universe work–has created a new character that I’m really looking forward to following. While none of the elements of the story are especially new and original, Marz is able to re-purpose many of these familiar tropes and blend them in a way that ends up feeling like more than the sum of its parts.

Lee Moder handles art duty, and does a fine job. The visuals taking place in the modern day are extremely serviceable, and I quite enjoyed the anime-like touches he included (especially in the look and feel of Shinku herself.) Where both Moder and colorist Michael Atiyeh really shine, however, is in the flashbacks to feudal Japan. The level of detail in those scenes is extremely impressive, and the slightly hazy, water-color effect of the coloring gives the whole sequence a fantastic dream-like quality in addition to making the pages just plain beautiful to look at. Put this art team on a book set during this time period and let them lose like this, and I will HAPPILY pay Image a full $3.99 cover price.

The Flash #12 – Review

By: Geoff Johns & Scott Kolins (storytellers), Francis Manapul (artist), Michael Atieyh and Brian Buccellato (colorists)

The Story: What will Iris do when she walks in on the Flash—with another woman?

The Review: There was some risk that this “last” issue of The Flash would come off feeling rushed and inconclusive, what with Flashpoint coming right on its heels.  Johns spent a pretty good chunk of the last couple issues playing up the emotional dramatics among the Flash family, all of which would’ve been a waste if he resolved them too quickly just to get a move on with his sprawling, crossover storyline.

So it’s a relief to see Johns taking some care to tie up the series’ loose ends before putting his focus on bigger things.  Barry’s encounter with Zoom not only forces him to confront the grisly truth about his mother’s death, but since Bart comes along for the ride, the bad air between them gets cleared up as well.  With his internal conflict out in the open, that frees him up to have that much needed heart-to-heart with Iris, and all is well once more.

On the other hand, the ease with which all these tensions have been loosened up kind of show how needless all these melodramatics really were.  It feels Johns created that whole plot wrinkle just to sell this new, sudden revelation that Barry’s a closet ice-man, emotionally.  In fact, both Iris and Patty Spivot spend a good chunk of this issue harping on that point, even though Johns hasn’t shown it all that well.

You have to take into context that Barry was trying to deal with the knowledge that his mother died at the hands of—spoiler alert—Zoom, a man who became a villain “because” of him.  It seems very natural he’d need some private time to process this, a fact he tried to communicate to his family multiple times (see Flash #9 and #10).  But his family still overreacted to what they perceived as distancing himself from them, which was topped by last issue’s ridiculous intervention.

The Flash #11 – Review

By: Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins (storytellers), Michael Atiyeh (colorist)

The Story: Barry, can’t you see we’re trying to stop you because you can’t stop yourself?!

The Review: Juggling two A-stories in a comic can be tricky, especially when one is the ongoing tale and the other is an invasive crossover plot.  But really, Johns should actually have an easier time of it, considering he’s the mastermind of the crossover in question.  And indeed, Flashpoint seems to be integrating pretty well into Barry’s investigation of an age-changing murderer, what with all the time-space wonkiness going on in both stories.

In contrast to Action Comics #900, where Reign of Doomsday clearly distracts from the main events of that title, it’s clear Johns is turning this series into a vehicle for introducing Flashpoint.  This has the strange effect of making the non-crossover related material out of place in its own title, although the still fairly recent drop in page count affected the long-term execution of plotlines that probably would’ve had more opportunity to float with some extra space.

The Flash’s “intervention” definitely feels like it needed more time to build itself to this drastic scene, because it comes across incredibly staged—and futile, since none of Barry’s loved ones make it clear exactly what the problem is.  Jay Garrick and Wally West spend the majority of the time waxing poetic on how much Barry means to them—more of an exercise in nostalgia than doing anything useful to address whatever Barry’s issues are.

The whole thing looks like it gets set up just because “Bart said you didn’t come to the picnic because of him.”  Besides being an utterly laughable overreaction to what should be normal for Barry, given his history of flakiness, it also makes Bart seem angsty, temperamental and high-strung.  This would work if Johns was writing just another fictional teenager, but none of those qualities fit in Bart’s current personality—which Johns kind of established.

So maybe it’s a good thing Bart’s getting the timeout from Barry’s life for a while, although it happens in an underwhelming way.  Hot Pursuit doesn’t exactly do himself a lot of credit by glomming onto Kid Flash as the crux of the timeline problem, without even considering other possible suspects.  As a cop with access to information across parallel universes, you’d think he’d be more thorough in his investigation.

Witchblade Annual #2 – Review

“Stalingrad” by Ron Marz (writer), Tony Shasteen (pencils and inks), Jo Mettler (colors) and Troy Petreri (letters). “Interlude” by Ron Marz (writer), Matt Haley (pencils), Jason Gorder (inks) Michael Atiyeh (colors) and Troy Peteri (letters). “The Devil’s Due” by Matthew Dow Smith (writer and illustrater)

The Story: Like most annuals, this one contains multiple stories. Unlike other annuals, this one actually has a through-line running through (the comic portion) of the stories that ties them together with a broad, overarching theme (in this case, past bearer’s of the Witchblade.) We get a tale of a Bearer who uses the Witchblade to excellent effect during World War II (the Battle of Stalingrad, natch), a story about Joan of Arc, and a non-historical Bearer related prose tale that can’t quite make up its mind what it’s trying to be.

What’s Good: I really enjoyed this issue! I’m always a sucker for putting things (especially ancient, mystical artifacts like the Witchblade) in some sort of historical context, so I love hearing tales of the past Bearers, and the ways they chose to use its exceptional power. Marz does an excellent job bringing his two stories to life (although the Joan of Arc interlude was criminally short…more on that later) and Smith’s prose story was well written and entertaining.

“Stalingrad” is clearly the centerpiece of the book, and it serves that purpose very well. The visuals are appropriately dark, with the occasional otherworldly flare that fantastical stories set in the real world need to be effective and believable. The present-day scenes that bookend the piece are strange (in a good way) and throw the reader just off balance enough to sympathize with Sara without losing the overall thread of the story.

Wonder Woman #600 – Review

By Gail Simone (writer), George Perez (pencils), Scott Koblish (inks), Amanda Conner (writer and artist), Paul Mounts (colors), Louise Simonson (writer), Eduardo Pansica (pencils), Bob Wiacek (ink), Geoff Johns (writer), Scott Kolins (art), Michael Atiyeh (colors), and J. Michael Straczynski (writer), Don Kramer (pencils), Michael Babinski (inks)

The Stories: Gail Simone (yay!) gives us a nice story about a team up between Diana and most of the other female DC heroes (including Kate Kane’s Batwoman—double yay!), Amanda Conner gives us a fluffy but fun vignette that has Diana helping Power Girl to solve a…relationship problem, Louise Simonson tells us about a disasters nearly averted as Wonder Woman teams up with Superman to take down Aegeus, Geoff Johns (yay again!) gives us a very nice, very classic-feeling Wonder Woman tale that ends up being a prologue to…

…the Big One. Straczynski and company attempt to reinvent everything, from Wonder Woman’s costume to her attitude to her origin, to he very timeline itself. How do they fare? Read on.

The Review: We’ll get to the elephant in the room in a moment, but let’s focus on the non-JMS stories first. They’re all good, mostly because of the caliber of creators (especially writers) they pulled in for this issue. Johns’ story was easily my favorite (full disclosure: I’m a completely unapologetic Johns fangirl, so your mileage could vary), both because of the excellent writing and the story itself (short though it was.) I just love the added meaning he endows the “wonder” of Wonder Woman with. It’s not the first time it has been done of course, but Johns works it in very quietly and elegantly, without overemphasizing it or beating us over the head. I appreciate that. All of the vignettes were worth the time I invested in reading them, honestly; even “Fuzzy Logic,” my least favorite of the group, was harmless enough. It was a bit too cute for my taste, but it really does emphasize that there’s a Wonder Woman story in this issue to suit every kind of fan.

Now, on to ”Couture Shock.” I hate to start off with a complaint when there are a lot of good things to say about this story…but ugh. Worst. Pun. Ever. Yes I know it’s a reference to the new costume, but still. No thank you. It’s just BAD. With such major changes being made to such an iconic character, I really would have appreciated a title that was a little less flippant. Maybe I’m being oversensitive, but it really feels rather disrespectful, especially given how…we’ll say “passionately,” fans tend to react to changes of this magnitude. (Just titling it plain ‘ol “Culture Shock,” while generic, would have been plenty serviceable, and preferable in my opinion.)

Green Arrow #31 – Review

By J.T. Krul (writer), Federico Dallocchio (artist), Michael Atiyeh (colorist)

The Story: Green Arrow finished business with Prometheus in the conclusion of Justice League: Cry for Justice, but now he’s on the trail of Electrocutioner, Prometheus’ accomplice. Problem is, Green Arrow’s Justice League colleagues are on his trail.

What’s Good: I had trashed Green Arrow and Black Canary last year for what I’d considered shoddy writing and scratchy art. The cover art on this book and J.T. Krul’s name enticed me back. An added incentive for me was Dan Didio’s cryptic announcement in Toronto in 2009 that his choice of character to watch for the year 2010 was Green Arrow. If you’ve been following Cry For Justice, you can see that Didio was as good as his word (no further comment on how well Cry For Justice itself worked as a story). Am I glad DC pulled me back? Qualified yes.

The cover art alone was worth the DC price of admission ($2.99), but the real draw here is Krul’s character work (demonstrated so ably in a string of great Titans character pieces). Krul takes us through Oliver Queen’s gritty monologue and shows why he is the Green Arrow and why he is Star City’s protector. When he faces off against Green Lantern (his best friend), Black Canary (his wife) and the Flash (someone who doesn’t like him very much), the character and the conflict come out. Different sides of an argument, hardened against each other, brother against brother. Tough stuff. I thought for a second that Krul was going to let me down and have Green Arrow beat two of the three toughest superheroes in the DCU in some dumb way reminiscent of Cry for Justice. Instead, the way Oliver took down Green Lantern and the Flash was actually pretty smart. Good work, Krul!

Blackest Night: Flash #2 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (writer), Scott Kolins (artist), Michael Atiyeh (colorist)

The Story: The Flash’s rogue gallery is breaking into prison and face off against an array of those dead members of the gallery who preceded them. On another front, Barry Allen, now a Blue Lantern, is fighting the dearly departed of his past.

What’s Good: Johns did two things in this issue that I really liked. First, the decision in Blackest Night #6 to deputize more lanterns of all colors really bears fruit here, because now, DC can take a well-loved, well-known hero and look at what it is like to be a blue lantern. I can’t see any other way they could have explored all the other lanterns (they’re looking at star sapphires in Blackest Night: Wonder Woman and red lanterns in Green Lantern Corps) because to show a really different worldview, you usually need an intermediary for the reader (think hobbits in LOTRs). And it is fun. I don’t know how many of you have read the silver age of DC, but for about 6 years, DC ruled the sense of wonder category of the comic industry. Johns is tapping into that and I feel young when I catch myself saying “Wow, the Flash is a blue lantern!” Well done, Geoff Johns.

Secondly, we got to see the current rogue’s gallery under some pretty painful stressors: loved ones coming back, twisting the truth, manipulating and digging at old pains. Watching how they reacted revealed their characters way better than reading about a hundred of their little schemes. Good writing reveals character. Johns revealed character.

Blackest Night: The Flash #1 – Review

By Geoff Johns (writer), Scott Kolins (artist), Michael Atiyeh (colors)

The Story: This story begins between Blackest Night #3 and #4, when Barry Allen, the Flash, starts assembling the force of superheroes that will converge on Coast City to fight the Black Lanterns collected around their battery. It covers history of the Flash, as well as the history of the Reverse-Flash, who is resurrected by the Blackest Night. In the meantime, the living rogue’s gallery (the collection of villains who fight the Flash) are arming themselves for the expected attack from the black lantern rogues. Barry also seeks help from the Gorilla City.

What’s Good: I am not a Flash virgin, but I haven’t really followed Barry since his death in Crisis on Infinite Earths. This issue is perfect for me to get back on board. Johns’ writing is clear and the exposition is very natural. He’s chosen to go text-box heavy, which may slow down some experienced Flash fans, but given that the texts are all in either Flash’s or Reverse-Flash’s voice, they’re a fun read on their own. I also like Johns’ pacing. In a first issue like this, he has to make it accessible, but he’s found a way to keep the tension up, while setting up all the pieces that have to go boom in the next two issues.

I also really like Barry’s torments. I know it isn’t new to this issue, but the whole angst that Barry suffers, first not feeling, then feeling, then facing a black lantern apocalypse that feeds on emotion, makes for a difficult run for Barry. This gives him some great lines like “Keep your heart standing still, and run as fast as you can,” and “Stop. Don’t hope. He’s dead….You mourn later.” There’s a lot of character in Johns’ writing.

Other interesting touches that have me guessing now (and hopefully for the next two issues, possibly for Johns’ run on the Flash in 2010) are: (a) the diagram of the speed force that Barry finds in Gorilla city, (b) the entangled origins of Flash and Reverse-Flash and (c) the weird time paradoxes that Johns is sure to exploit.

What’s Not So Good: The motivation for the villains in this situation wasn’t clear to me, nor did I understand why the black lantern rogues would be out to get the living ones. It could be a meta-human thing in general, but that isn’t something that the main Blackest Night title has made clear yet.

More importantly, I find Kolins’ art rough and unattractive, without having any stylistic benefits to justify the lack of draftsmanship. In other reviews, I’ve pointed out my preference for more realistic art, but I still respond to grittier, scratchier styles, like those used effectively in Detective Comics by Williams or in Amazing Spider-Man by Azaceta. The faces produced by Kolins communicate, but they just seem grossly proportioned and dominated by thick, unappealing lines. Reverse-Flash’s teeth look a lot more like Solomon Grundy’s (from the recent mini that Kolins penciled) than the teeth of any regular human or any other black lantern drawn by any other artist. Kolins’ work on background and the villain Tar Pit were clearer and more attractive.

Conclusion: The story makes this issue worth picking up, especially at $2.99. The art held the book back, though.

Grade: B

-DS Arsenault

Indiana Jones And The Tomb Of The Gods #2 (of 4) – Review

By Rob Willaims (writer), Steve Scott (pencils), Nathan Massengill (inks), Michael Atiyeh (colors), Michael Heisler (letters), Tony Harris (cover)

Like many Indy fans, Crystal Skull was a bust for me. That’s not to say it didn’t have good parts, it just had a little too much prequel George Lucas flavor. I spent a lot of time growing up watching the Indy trilogy. It’s a story, and a world that can translate very well to comics. Sadly, just because something can make the move to comics doesn’t mean it will.

Rob Williams’ has been passable so far. There are moments of dialogue, moments of action where it feels just like the movies, and then there’s the rest of it. For the good, the plot points hit the mark. They definitely have the “from bad to worse” feel that’s a trademark of the films. Unfortunately, much of the dialogue is hit or miss. The same deadpan humor, and hatred of having his hat knocked off remains. The problem is several unfortunate word choices. I don’t know how many times Indy needs to say “crap” in a bad situation, but it almost seems gratuitous and, enough, make a drinking game out of it.

As for the art, Steve Scott’s pencils aren’t anything special, the images are clean and clear, which is nice, but I’m still waiting for our favorite archeologist to get a little dirty and gritty. Even when Indy escapes the freshly blown cave, he looks like he just stepped out of the shower. There simply aren’t enough action scenes to get Indy to look Indy.

As for the little action in this issue, it is pulled straight from the films. Indy running to Jock’s plane, is an example of this. While it’s nice to see Jock again, the scene is just too familiar. A more positive side to that coin is the use of the red-line on a map for the travel scenes. It’s a nice touch.

Adapting a license like Indiana Jones to me, should simply be a “go big or go home” mentality. The story’s pacing is slow and it’s plot feels unpolished. We don’t know anything about this key, or it’s origin, or what it protects. Not enough questions are introduced to get you interested. As a result, it leaves the title to be too bland, or generic for such an action-packed franchise. Things might pick up, and the book might have a great climax in the end, but I wouldn’t hold my breath after two clunky issues. I’d say, wait for the trade. (Grade: D)

-Ben Berger