I, Vampire #8 – Review

By: Joshua Hale Fialkov (story), Andrea Sorrentino (art), Marcelo Maiolo (colors)

The Story: Andrew and Mary take another step in their Ross-and-Rachel relationship.

The Review: Between you and me, I hate crossover events.  I’m not talking about Marvel and DC’s Big Events, the ones with their own maxi-series and scads of tie-ins, most of which are frivolous and immaterial.  With these you can choose which to buy, and which to rightfully ignore.  It’s a bit different when one title’s story spills into another, then spills back in again later, practically force you into picking up issues you never intended to get in the first place.

So it annoyed me to find “Rise of the Vampires” crossed over into Justice League Dark, a title I unceremoniously dropped just a few months before.  While this issue doesn’t start off in a drastically different place than where we left off last month, it’s nonetheless clear that a fairly important chunk of the story happened elsewhere, as we see Andrew Bennett returned from the “dead” and better than ever since Xanadu apparently “shunted” Cain’s power to him.

I, Vampire #7 – Review

By: Joshua Hale Fialkov (writer), Andrea Sorrentino (artist), Marcelo Maiolo (colorist)

The Story: Apparently, magic is the high-potency acid of the vampire world.

The Review: In some ways, I don’t find this series groundbreaking as I find that it breaks away from the preconceived notions it invites you to make about it.  Think of the first time you heard the premise: a slender vampire with heartthrob looks pitting himself against his own lover, whom he turned himself.  Who knew you’d get a story about two individuals with incompatible views on life, yet who are attracted to each other all the more even as they vie for each other’s deaths?

Even more appreciably, the series has avoided all the usual nail-biting brooding you usually expect from these semi-romantic vampire tales nowadays, focusing more on the more violent, morally questionable qualities of the creatures.  In this issue, Fialkov truly dabbles in angst for the first time as Andrew uses the luxury of non-existence to reflect on his actions: “I’ve done more harm than good.”  But even here, Andy doesn’t ruminate for long, rejecting the notion that he’s destined for greater things with a dismissive, “Destiny is for teenage girls.  I spew death.”

You might wonder whom he’s scoffing at so boldly, but not even death-spewing Andrew can get that answer.  We can deduce a few things by simple observation.  This off-page voice must have some prime role in the balance of the universe, since he recounts the primordial origins of Cain (“Before there was light or dark or heaven or earth, there was blackness.”) with authority.  And since he can keep the slain Andrew from whisking off to the afterlife, and hints that he can restore Andrew to the world of the living, he must be pretty powerful as well.

Yet for all that, we still don’t know how Cain and Andrew’s lives are tied together, considering the former predates the latter by eons.  We only get a hint that an “army of great mystical warriors,” most likely the Demon Knights, had something to do with using Andrew as the “seal” on Cain’s imprisonment.

Justice League Dark #5 – Review

By: Peter Milligan (writer), Mikel Janin (artist), Ulises Arreola (colorist)

The Story: Obviously, no one told Enchantress the importance of flossing.

The Review: If you’re going to gather a team of heroes, it seems fairly sensible to give them all something to do in whatever grand conflict you’ve concocted.  I mean, if all it takes is a couple people to solve the problem, why bother with a team at all?  This applies even more when writers use the fictional device of “fate” to bring the group together; if destiny has a part in leading each character to the table, doesn’t it follow that they must have some important role in the matter?

You may find yourself asking these questions a lot as you read through this issue.  I know I did.  Out of the six characters who show up to snap Enchantress out of her funk, only about two of them actually do anything particularly useful—and one of them is Mindwarp, who until this point you had no idea was even part of the team.  It’s baffling why Milligan spent so little time developing Jay Young, yet gives him an active part in the mission while the others dawdle.

What’s the rest of the team doing?  Shade, Zatanna, and Xanadu are too busy working through their personal visions, induced by Enchantress’ uncontrolled magic.  In the end, they never even get close to the witch, so their presence proves absolutely useless.  Deadman is hardly better.  His entire contribution is a failed attempt to possess John Constantine, actually hindering the only person doing anything productive to save the day.

Ultimately, Constantine solves the whole problem pretty much by himself, with zero help from the rest of the “league” (unless you charitably interpret their service as distractions).  This might have worked out fine, but we really don’t get much sense out of how Constantine figures out what’s wrong with June and Enchantress, nor how he sets them to rights again.  Milligan simply lets magic be the answer, which is always arbitrary and never satisfying.

Justice League Dark #4 – Review

By: Peter Milligan (writer), Mikel Janin (artist), Ulises Arreola (colorist)

The Story: Now, now, June, there’s nothing to lose your head about.

The Review: As a reviewer, I try to keep my biases under control when I do these things, or at least make them obvious when I can’t keep them inside anymore.  So I’ll admit it: I really looked forward to this series back when all the new 52 were announced.  It featured a bunch of my favorite characters within one of my favorite genres, and it had a fairly qualified writer and artist on deck to boot.  But now I must confess this series has been a disappointment on a lot of levels.

For while Milligan has been a competent storyteller for this series, dedicated to selling the “dark” part of the title, he has made the plot and tone dull through repetition.  He needs to understand that we get it—Enchantress has gone loco and so is her counterpart, June Moone, and so is just about everyone gathering to confront her.  In fact, I’d give good money simply to never hear the words “crazy,” “insane,” “mad,” or any synonym thereof ever again.  Milligan sprinkles them throughout every issue, and they’ve lost meaning as a result: “Enchantress has gone crazy.”  “A magic that’s stronger and crazier than [Zatanna’s].”  “Oh God, I’ve landed in a madhouse.”

Milligan just needs to learn the wisdom behind “Less is more,” or at least the value of timing.  He’s so eager to convince you of how twisted this story is, he doesn’t seem to realize that subjecting you to so much grimness can only build your resistance to it.  We’ve already seen decayed golem girlfriends come back to life, women getting themselves killed en masse in the street, and a guy who needs a seizure to activate his powers.  Homicidal children feel pretty commonplace after all that.

Justice League Dark #3 – Review

By: Peter Milligan (writer), Mikel Janin (artist), Ulises Arreola (colorist)

The Story: Tantric magic in a cheap hotel?  Have you no self respect?

The Review: It’s disappointing to find Milligan falling into the same problem that hampers a lot of writers in the supernatural genre: failing to establish the mechanics of his world.  Even though magic by its very nature has no limitation, that same quality can make it deadly to fiction.  If a writer doesn’t take care to create some ground rules or explain the whys and wherefores of magical workings, they’ll just seem like they work in any way convenient to the story.

Here’s an example: Zatanna’s backwards magic, which has never been clearly or consistently explained.  You’d think it takes more to work the magic than just picking up a few words by listening to her sleep-talking, but Constantine does just that here.  Not only does this simplify Zee’s powers radically and make it feel less specialized, it also makes little sense.  Why would he need to use her magic to wake her up when he clearly has power of his own?

Milligan misses a few other opportunities to give some much needed explanation.  After two issues of seeing June Moone’s traumatized behavior, you already know very well her bonding to Enchantress was not a mutually beneficial experience.  So it seems a waste of time to have scene after scene of June in hysterics over the idea of going back.  It would’ve been more profitable to give some background on how she got tied up with Enchantress in the first place.

At least then we could avoid the awkward romance springing up between June and Deadman.  Considering the guy basically bozoed his way out of his relationship with Dove, his hitting it off with June in what is apparently Dove’s apartment, moments after she left (and is still M.I.A. since last issue, by the way), seems pretty contemptible.  While he comes across slimy (to June’s kiss, he remarks, “I can feel it.  And it’s beautiful.”), his new flame is just macabre; in the event Enchantress might recapture her, she wants him to kill her so “We’d both be dead…together.”

Justice League Dark #1 – Review

By: Peter Milligan (writer), Mikel Janin (artist), Ulises Arreola (colorist)

The Story: Madame Xanadu, you are being a major downer right now.

The Review: Some words come with major connotative baggage attached, which people don’t always realize when they use them.  I’d say “dark” falls in this category.  Lately, you hear writers drop this word a lot in plugging their projects, as if by doing so their work will instantly take on a layer of “seriousness.”  Instead, they usually only succeed in sapping “dark” of all its meaning.  Nowadays, the mere mention of it elicits only a shrug and eye-roll.

DC went full-on trigger-happy with the word, creating a whole line of books under the “dark” umbrella.  Luckily, they have skilled writers onboard to give credit to the description, and Milligan is no exception.  You don’t get much darker than a two-page splash of a bunch of identical women on a highway, each in various stages of getting maimed by speeding vehicles.

This can all be gratuitous if it has no reason for being other than to shock you.  Milligan keeps his grimly imaginative ideas grounded in a steady plot and character-developing moments, unless he’s using them to set tone.  Like John Rozum on Xombi, he has a knack for laying out a series of visuals for gut-hitting impression: “…cows give birth to mechanical meat slicers…the power station threatens to explode when it is imbued with consciousness…and gets bored.”

At the heart of all this strangeness, inside a glowing-green envelope where “time itself slows down,” and “Neutrons crush inside atoms,” lies Enchantress.  For a while, over in the now defunct Shadowpact, she demonstrated remarkable self-control, but now she seems totally unhinged at last, going the way of Scarlet Witch and magically lashing out against all who approach her maddened state.  Included among her victims are several members of the Justice League, with Superman realizing he’s no match against the cuts of “Filthy flying teeth!”

Flashpoint: Secret Seven #3 – Review

By: Peter Milligan (writer), Fernando Blanco (penciller), Scott Koblish (inker), Brian Buccellato (colorist)

The Story: This wouldn’t be an inappropriate time to bust into Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy,” right?

The Review: The key to a really great ensemble cast is a broad diversity of characters.  The more far apart in personality and background they are, the richer their interaction becomes.  In superhero comics, you also have to consider their power sets.  Too many redundant abilities, and the range of obstacles they can face drastically narrow.  Most of all, you need a writer who can give each member life and motivations of their own, so they don’t just disappear into the group.

Secret Seven has a great ensemble.  Whereas previous issues dragged from Shade’s ceaseless moans over his questionable sanity, the back-and-forth among the team once Zatanna, Raven, and Mindwarp show up has great pop and crackle.  Interestingly, despite their animosity and suspicion towards Shade (even after he admits he may be responsible for some of their deaths) they demonstrate a kind of sympathy, even loyalty, to him, trying to gauge how far he’s gone.

But once the kid gloves come off, none have any qualms about getting their hands dirty, a sequence made all the more entertaining by their specific range of powers, a mixture of the occult and psyche very much in tune with the spirit of this title.  Zee’s incantations, though put to some dark uses here (“Raet reh trapa!”), seem restrained in contrast to Enchantress’ wild magic, while Raven, Mindwarp, and Shade’s psychic manipulations prove capable of some grim effects.

It’s particularly good to see Shade in action, as we finally get a sense of just what his vest can do: “The M-Vest has used the psychic energy of their anger…to turn their souls into amorphous solids.”  We also see how unsettling his abilities can truly be; his attempt to reanimate the broken Amethyst’s corpse strikes a perfect chord of creepiness (“Hello, Shade.  Hello, June.  I’m twelve years…  I’m twelve years…”), showing why Shade’s grip on reality may have so degraded.

Flashpoint: Secret Seven #2 – Review

By: Peter Milligan (writer), Fernando Blanco (penciller), Scott Koblish (inker), Brian Buccellato (colorist)

The Story: Don’t mess with this guy—he’s cuh-raaazy!

The Review: In fiction, as in real life, you really have to get to know someone before you start caring about them, one way or another.  Either their personality has to be distinctive enough to really stick to you, or you have to learn enough about their lives to appreciate what happens to them.  Anything less, and no matter how interesting their story turns out to be, you lose the emotional weight that really gives it impact.

That’s sort of the problem we run into with Shade and his Secret Seven.  Honestly, there’s a bunch of interesting bits going on here, particularly in watching the rest of the Seven (grown-up Amethyst, thieving Mindwarp, stage magician Abra Kadabra, punk Zatanna, and demonic Raven) get seriously cranked out on Shade’s influence.  Unsurprisingly, none of them are too happy Seven membership includes temporary bursts of psychotic behavior, leading to some fairly serious reorganization choices in the issue.

Plain and simple, we just don’t know enough about what’s going on to be sympathetic to much of it.  Shade’s growing suspicions of his own breakdown should be more affecting, but from the beginning we’re led to believe he’s always been a bit screwy.  Mostly we’re left wondering why no one did anything about it before, especially since the last set of Seven all (minus Shade) killed themselves in the most questionable circumstances.

It’d be helpful if we had a better understanding of how the M-Vest works, exactly.  All this dancing around whether the “M” stands for “meta” or “madness” serves only to irritate, as neither definition does much to inform you on the vest’s powers.  We know from the previous issue that Shade’s vest has evolved beyond its original capacities (whatever they are), but whether that has anything to do with its increasingly disorienting effects remains up in the air.

Flashpoint: Secret Seven #1 – Review

By: Peter Milligan (writer), George Pérez & Fernando Blanco (pencillers), Scott Koblish (inkers), Tom Smith (colorist)

The Story: Crazy people hunting down other crazies…that’s a reality show pitch, right there.

The Review: There are basically two traditions you can take in writing an Elseworlds (for lack of a more apt term) story: make pointed comparisons between the world you’re writing and the world it’s based on; or just tackle the Elseworld on its own merits, as if it’s the only world people would know.  Though each strategy has its pros and cons, generally it’s better not to waste too much time calling attention to the specific alterations.

Secret Seven essentially takes the second route, and of all the Flashpoint tie-ins, it feels most genuinely like an entity unto itself.  If not for the Flashpoint logo emblazoned across the cover, the events of this story could easily take place in the normal DCU.  This is good since the story and characters largely stand on their own; you’re not distracted pointing out what’s familiar.  It’s also bad because it doesn’t use the creative potential of the altered Earth to full advantage.

This issue focuses on two of the current Seven: Rac Shade, the Changing Man, and June Moone, the Enchantress, both relatively obscure characters.  Enchantress’ involvement with DC’s premiere team of mystics, Shadowpact, makes her more familiar to you, but that’s also because Milligan’s version of her sticks very close to the original.  Shade, largely absent from the stands since the mid-nineties, might as well be making his debut in this title, since you’re probably like me and have never even heard of him before.

Perhaps Milligan wants us to read this series less as a Flashpoint tie-in and more as a special mini featuring the DC character he’s best known for writing.  You’d have to be a Shade fan to fully enjoy this issue, as most of it assumes you have some knowledge of his mythos; concepts like the Meta Hightable, the M-Vest, and even the basis of his powers are thrown at you without much explanation, leaving you frequently puzzled as to what characters are talking about.