Action Comics #891 – Review

by Paul Cornell (writer), Pete Woods (pencils & inks), CAFU (pencils), BIT (inks), Brad Anderson (colors), and Rob Leigh (letters)

The Story: Lex Luthor fights Mister Mind for control of his own fantasies.

What’s Good: It’s always a pleasure to read a comic that feels wickedly smart and it’s even more special when this comic turns out to be a mainstream superhero book.

Cornell delivers a wonderful probing of Lex Luthor’s psychology through several dreams/fantasies that Mister Mind subjects Lex to.  Every single one of these scenes is ingenious and perfectly representative of Lex’s character.  At one point, he’s Prometheus, bringing the fire of the gods to humanity and at another, he’s Dr. Frankenstein.  It’s creative, lively stuff that you can tell Cornell is having a ball with.

Yet, what really makes this issue even more special, and surprising really, is just how funny it is.  When you’re getting a book that is more or less a meditation on Lex Luthor, I think it’s natural to expect something dark and brooding and while this issue definitely has those moments, it has a hefty amount of absurd humour.  Mister Mind is a frequent source of physical comedy, for example, and when he speaks to his mysterious master, it’s done in a fourth-wall breaking style that made me smile. Cornell also makes the most of the sheer absurdity of the character and his appearance; there’s a scene with the little caterpillar in a Wild West saloon that needs to be seen to be believed.

While Lex’s dreams all provide strong insight into his character, Cornell skillfully plays with the idea that these dreams are more what we (and hence Mister Mind) think Lex’s psychology is like.  The result is an interesting mix of truth and expectation and when Lex rebels against the veracity of these fantasies, it’s very interesting.  It also needs being said that there is one dream in particular, where Lex essentially plays Superman, which is completely hilarious.

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!

Justice League: Cry for Justice #6 – Review

By: James Robinson (writer), Scott Clark (artist), Siya Oum (colors)

The Story: Supergirl has discovered out that Freddy is really Prometheus in disguise. An all-out battle follows.

What’s Good: Mauro Cascioli’s artwork was what held me to this book when everything else crumbled. You can imagine my disappointment when I discovered that Scott Clark had been subbed in on the art. However, Clark (who also helped out last issue) did a pretty good job of keeping alive the stylistic feel that Cascioli had established. Check out the gritty texture and the fine detail of Freddy changing into Prometheus. Or, look at how Clark did a brilliant job on the double splash page of stacked panels to show the JLA attacking Prometheus. Clear, dynamic and moment-to-moment. Scott Clark is welcome to pencil any series I’m reading!

Titans #21 – Review

By: J.T. Krul (writer), Angel Unzueta & Chris Batista (pencils), Wayne Faucher (inker)

The Story: Fractured, Part One: The Titans are mopping up a second string crew of thieves. Donna is pretty upset about what Prometheus has done to Roy in Cry for Justice #5. Flash is going through a crisis of his own due to the return of Barry Allen. Kory has been offered a berth on the Justice League, but doesn’t know what to do. And Cyborg is stuck thinking about what to do with this evaporating team.

What’s Good: As you can tell from the summary, Krul has set up a character-heavy story. I first noticed his work on those 1-issue solo Titans stories that came after that god-awful Deathtrap arc. He shows here that he’s just as able to simultaneously make life painful for five characters as he is for just one. There’s so much good stuff in here that I’ll just stick to some of my favorite moments: Donna Troy, going to town on Vault with a ton of anger; Wally West, running backwards, faster than Carom, and trash-talking; Wally’s take on the return of Barry Allen and what it means to him; and Kory’s visit to Batman, particularly her insight into him. I also loved how she explained away Donna’s criticism of the visit and repositioned what she was doing in terms of her culture and who she is. What was a bonus for this book was seeing Dick Grayson as Batman, and how he is adapting to a role, rather than changing his personality. No one but Kory could have seen that subtle distinction, because no one else has watched him so long with so much interest. Krul is doing some really subtle nuance work with these characters. On the art, we got some dynamic action sequences and some good layout work.

Justice League: Cry For Justice #5 – Review

By James Robinson (writer), Mauro Casciolo & Scott Clark (artists), Adam Schlagman (assistant editor), Eddie Berganza (editor)

The Story: The whole issue is one meeting after another, wherein heroes tell each other what has happened so far and start arguments they don’t finish. The only exceptions to the absence of action are the shocking last three pages of story.

What’s Good: Cascioli’s art continues to blow me away. It is so powerful, that for the first half of the issue, I didn’t realize nothing was happening or that the characters were incomprehensible. The muscle work, texture, shading, skin tones, postures and facial expressions are blowing every other artist in comics out of the water. Incidentally, Donna Troy never looked better. Check out panel 4 of page 1. Now, there’s no dramatic reason for her to be in a bathing suit, but the view is great and the gratuitous T&A distracts from the story problems.

What’s Not So Good: For the most part, I’ve enjoyed Robinson’s work on Superman: World of New Krypton, which was what had me so surprised that Cry for Justice seems to be falling apart before my eyes. I used suspension of disbelief to buy into the idea that some major and central characters in the DCU took up vengeance as a deeply-held value to be pursued to the point that they would break ranks with friends and loved ones. Yet, by issues 4 and 5 of Cry for Justice, Mik and Congo Bill have changed their minds, and Green Arrow is back at the Justice League HQ as if nothing has happened.

Black Canary said it best when she said that these guys only came back because Prometheus is too big to chew on. Now, if you accept the idea that Prometheus, although smart, could really hold out for more than a couple of seconds against Green Lantern, Supergirl or Shazam, then the conviction and depth of our heroes’ beliefs is pretty shallow. If, on the other hand, Prometheus is as weak as he appears to me, then the writer is moving all these characters around for his own ends, and not the story’s.

Either option is bad, but given the other motivational problems and choices in the book, I’d opt for the second. Robinson wants to build his new JLA and he’s doing it here, even if what the characters are doing makes no sense. Let me give you a few incomprehensible character moments: Supergirl, Congorilla, Green Arrow and Black Canary are around a gravely, gravely injured teammate. What do they do? Supergirl cauterizes a dismembered limb and rushes off with Congo Bill to “Get the bastard who did this!” Green Arrow, overcome with grief, wants to stay to help (for god’s sake, someone give him first aid!), but Black Canary, the one he’d been fighting with GA about the whole vengeance thing before, suddenly says “Keep focused. You need to find who did this!” Where did this come from in her? What’s Green Arrow’s response? “Let’s get the son of a bitch” (and leave dear friend dying of shock). There are more. Watch for them.

The issue also feels episodic, with one conversation bleeding into another, with a huge cast, very little momentum and no action until the last pages. Arguments and anger flare and don’t go anywhere. New heroes join the effort with little enthusiasm or explanation required. And worst of all, most of the issue is filled with characters standing around doing nothing.

Conclusion: Art wise, I don’t think there’s another artist in comics I’d rather see right now than Casciolo, but he couldn’t save this issue, and probably not this series. Save your money. Wait until Robinson starts on the main JLA title in 2010. It isn’t really important why some people are on the JLA and others aren’t, is it? Even if you read Cry for Justice, I’m not sure it becomes any clearer.

Grade: D

-DS Arsenault

 

Justice League: Cry For Justice #4 – Review

By James Robinson (writer), Mauro Cascioli (artist), Eddie Berganza (editor)

The Story: Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Freddie Freeman, the Atom and Supergirl pull themselves out of the wreckage of last issue’s cliff-hanger explosion and decide to follow Prometheus’ trail through the torture of the other villains they’ve captured. Jay Garrick is running around the country, checking up on all sorts of people, while Congo Bill and Starman fight for their lives.

What’s Good: Mauro Cascioli continues to knock this book out of the park. In evaluating comic art, I always do a gut-test first: How long do I want to linger, looking at the pictures? Cascioli’s art really keeps the pages from turning because there’s so much in each panel. Every expression is brilliant. The clothes wrinkle, the lights shine, and the shadows are moody and real. And as I said in my review of issue #1, Casciolo’s rendition of Congo Bill is stunning.

Robinson kept me guessing throughout the story. Freddie’s analysis of Prometheus (using the patented wisdom of Solomon) was fun to watch in a Bourne Identity sort of way. And Jay Garrick’s mysterious investigation is drawing in some pretty interesting people, like Mon-El, the Shade, and a bunch of second string heroes. I’ve been following some of DC’s podcasts and in a couple, Robinson talks about how Cry for Justice is going to tee up his run as the writer for the JLA, a team he intends to refashion. I don’t know what he’s doing with these second-stringers now, but I would be interested in seeing him try to make some of them first-stringers. That, however, is just a bit of idle speculation on my part. Robinson is nonetheless using the large cast of the DCU to good effect.

What’s Not So Good: Cry for Justice is losing its way. It started with an effective bang in issue #1. Since then, it has started repeating itself. This is now the fourth issue where the Green Lantern orders the Atom to torture some (or many) hapless villain. The Atom, same as before, jumps out of some guy’s nostril, as if he’s put in a tiresome day’s work. Hal Jordan doesn’t flinch. And Freddie and Kara continue to be non-entities in the central debate of this series. There is some character growth in Green Arrow (“Torture is wrong”), but it comes off as contrived because it just begets more violence. I know Robinson is going for a ‘Now do you see what you’ve been doing?’ moment, but we’re talking about some of the most powerful and perceptive personalities in the DCU – they’ve taken bigger punishments than this without surrendering their values.

Conclusion: The story is suffering from a few missteps, but a powerhouse set of characters, a promised change in the status quo of the DCU and the art make this book worth the buy.

Grade: B-

DS Arsenault

Justice League: Cry for Justice #3 – Review

By James Robinson (writers), Mauro Casciolo (art)

The Story: The different heroes wanting vengeance are starting to clot together. Congo Bill and Mikaal are attacked, while Green Lantern, Green Arrow, the Atom, Supergirl and Shazam lay the gloves on Prometheus.

What’s Good: Mauro Casciolo’s art blew me away again. His art invites you to pause and admire, while creating that sense of excitement and anticipaion between turning the pages. The texture of skin and cloth are so obvious. The lighting, the explosions, the drops of splashing water– it’s all there as a feast for the reader.

What’s Not So Good: Unfortunately, while this series launched so strongly in issue #1, I really feel that the momentum has dropped by issue #3. There’s an awful lot of dialogue in this issue, a lot of it to dump information on the reader, but it really didn’t feel like it was going anywhere. This sucked much of the enjoyment from the story for me.

Secondly, I bought into the anger of the heroes for the first two issues, but it’s starting to wear a bit thin. The fact that Green Lantern and Green Arrow supervise an Atom-mediated torture session doesn’t sit well with me. There are heroes, anti-heroes, and post-modern heroes, but torture is just plain illegal and I’m having a hard time reconciling a Green Lantern doing the superhero equivalent of water-boarding to a captured villain. Didn’t Hal Jordan used to lead the charge against Green Lanterns gone bad?

Lastly, Prometheus is a bit loopy. I don’t mean that in a Joker or Professor Pyg sort of way. I mean he’s loopy in a Ming the Merciless sort of way. From his early motivation to his fiendish plots now brewing, I didn’t buy any of it and most of the time, he sounded like a Republican serial villain. While he was telling someone about the intricacies of his fiendish plots for two pages, I was waiting for Casciolo to have him gleefully kicking puppies. Ineffective villainy.

Conclusion: Treasured heroes commiting venal acts on flimsy pretexts to counter a villain who isn’t that intimidating, powerful or multidimensional… Twenty-two pages of lost opportunity for DC.

Grade: C-

-DS Arsenault

Faces of Evil: Prometheus One Shot – Review

By Sterling Gates (writer), Federico Dallocchio (art and color)

The Story: Prometheus fans rejoice!  Following Martian Manhunter’s death at the hands of Libra, the mental blocks trapping Prometheus within his mind are shattered, and he awakens to find himself imprisoned in Blackgate Penitentiary.  If Prometheus has been catatonic for the last two years though, then who’s been running around committing petty crimes in his name?  Prometheus wants answers, and he doesn’t care who he has to kill to get them.

The Good: This is a perfect example of a great “Faces of Evil” issue.  This is a story about the villain, told from the villain’s point of view, and it isn’t afraid to pull any punches.  I was an immediate fan of this character ever since Grant Morrison introduced him in JLA, and I am so happy to see DC bring him back into the spotlight.  Gates does an outstanding job recapping the history and motivation of Prometheus while at the same time advancing the plot; and if DC were to ever consider an ongoing Prometheus series, I hope they tap him to do the job.

The Not So Good: While I admire him for handling the art and colors on this issue, I wasn’t quite impressed with Dallocchio’s art here.  It’s not crap by any means, mind you.  I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I was looking at the art of a poor man’s Jae Lee.

Conclusion: With Final Crisis coming to its cataclysmic conclusion and “Faces of Evil” in full swing, this was absolutely the right time for Prometheus to make his return to the DCU, and I for one couldn’t be happier.  Welcome back, you sick bastard.

Grade: B+

-Tony Rakittke