Action Comics: Futures End #1 – Review

By: Sholly Fisch (story), Pascal Alixe & Vicente Cifuentes (art), Pete Pantazis (colors)

The Story: If Superman’s not going to use his powers, mind if I use it?

The Review: I wasn’t exactly thrilled to discover, shortly after giving up the glacial Futures End, that the entire DCU would be signing onto that nonsense in September. Not only does this expose all the titles to the same flash-forward confusion as its progenitor, it also doesn’t have the same value as previous September gimmicks like Villains Month or #0 issues. If anything, jumping these series five years into an uncertain future discourages new readers rather than attract them.

Imagine having only a minimal familiarity with the DCU, opening this issue, and seeing Superman out-of-costume, sporting a lumberjack’s beard, and planting crops in a barren piece of land in the African desert. There’s a possibility you’d intrigued enough to see what happens, but I suspect that most people would put the issue down, shaking their heads, and wondering what the hell is going on or when the next Marvel movie will come out.

Superman/Wonder Woman Annual #1 – Review

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

The Story: Superman returns.

The Review: About a month ago, I decided to stick to Doomed despite many misgivings about the storyline. It was a close call, however. Part of what kept me onboard was the resignation that the event was nearly over anyway. A few more issues, I could handle. Had I known the Doomed showrunners planned to add two annuals to the mix, I probably would have reconsidered my commitment. Annuals are costly things, and the thought of putting that much more money into Doomed was hard to take.

On the plus side, the annuals confirm that what we thought was a Doomsday story is actually a Brainiac one, which is an improvement, sort of. It seems somewhat repetitive to make the villain yet again the center of a major Superman story (the last time being one of Superman’s earliest big adventures); can’t they come up with someone else to challenge our hero? Must we always turn to the usual suspects? Shouldn’t there be at least a three year moratorium on a supervillain after he’s been featured in a major story arc?

Superman/Wonder Woman #10 – Review

By: Charles Soule (story), Pascal Alixe (art), Paulo Siqueira (pencils), Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: Lois always did want to conquer the world.

The Review: A shared universe can be a headache in more ways than one. Every single time a major crisis happens in a single title, there’s this mental effort you have to make to keep from wondering why no other hero in the universe notices. This is especially the case when the hero or heroes in question don’t seem to be handling the situation particularly well. What? Everyone else is so busy handling their own problems that they can’t be bothered?

That’s what’s so puzzling about this whole Doomed storyline. Superman’s been turned into a killing machine, an entire metropolis has fallen unconscious, so why is the League and every other A-list hero not on deck, especially since Superman isn’t there? Why does it suddenly seem like the world has no other resource except Wonder Woman, Steel, and Lana Lang? This is a difficult logistical problem to ignore, but Soule clearly would prefer that you don’t think about it at all.

Captain America #16 – Review

by Rick Remender (Writer), Pascal Alixe (Artist), Edgar Delgado, Antonio Fabela, Israel Silva (Colorists)

The Story: As it turns out, Jet Black really doesn’t like our world. Who knew?

The Review: Liking a character, a concept or an approach does not necessarily means an issue featuring them will immediately be good. While we may have a soft spot for some elements of a particular universe or title, it can somewhat blind us to other undesired elements, resulting in a less-than satisfying read.

I rather like Captain America and Rick Remender as a writer, yet there has been something missing ever since the book got away from Dimension Z. While there have been a good number of earnest attempts at playing with the mythology around the character while adding new layers and new elements around Steve Rogers, there is simply something that does not click as well as it should. Still, with the addition of a new villain and the beginning of a new arc, perhaps Remender can steer this title in an interesting direction?

Unfortunately, this issue isn’t the best of beginnings as far as introductions are concerned. Dealing with how Jet Black, a character Remender hasn’t done much with, deals with the way things are on Earth, her voice becomes clear and very well-defined. Pushing forth the difference in her philosophy, that of a warrior of science, against the outlook of life in New York, there is the beginning of a potentially great character arc on display here. Unfortunately, her demeanour and her vision becomes quickly repetitive, with Jet Black becoming cyclical in her reactions and actions, which hurts the general storytelling. Making her understandable, yet rather unlikable, the issue never lets her advance very far in her personal arc. While this sets her up for a more proactive role in this series in the future, this doesn’t work very well in making it so the readers might possibly want for her to be present.*

Eternals Annual #1 – Review

By Fred Van Lente (story), Pascal Alixe (art), Brad Anderson (colors)

I remember when Annual issues were massive beasts, 64 pages in length or more. Sometimes they were apocryphal, sometimes they were crossovers to bigger summer stories, but I always remembered them being, as Alan Moore phrased it “slabs of culture.” I could walk into the shop, lay down two dollars, and walk out with a completely satisfying adventure. But those halcyon days are long gone, and Marvel’s annuals are now reduced to dumping grounds of irrelevant stories and inferior art, padded with reprinted stories for the sake of charging you more money for less original content.

In this total waste of time, the Eternals travel to Madripoor to discover why every man, woman, and child there has been suddenly rendered brain dead. Once there, they are ambushed by the Young Gods, twelve individuals chosen to become deities because they represented the best examples of human achievement. First created to oppose the Celestials, and then later presented to them in order to save humanity, the Young Gods return to Earth believing that the best way to use their powers is by merging the consciousness of everyone on the planet to create a new Celestial.

The two teams battle so that the Young Gods can remind us, repeatedly, that the Eternals are little more than robots that can be downloaded into new bodies after they die, and that it is they who should be humanity’s rightful defenders. The Eternals win the fight and the annual ends abruptly with everyone standing around looking moody and bored. Van Lente had 32 pages to work with here, but somehow he managed to waste every one of them.  Furthermore it doesn’t help that Alixe’s art is so painfully unimpressive. Why did Marvel waste their time publishing this? Don’t bother buying, you deserve better.

Grade: D-

-Tony Rakittke