Aquaman Annual #2 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (story), Yvel Guichet & Alvaro Martinez (pencils), Jason Gorder, Wayne Faucher, Raul Fernandez (inks), Nathan Eyring (colors)

The Story: Aquaman and Wonder Woman’s not-so-excellent European road trip.

The Review: Since I didn’t finish taking the Bar until Thursday, I was a couple days late in picking up my weekly load of comics. I didn’t think it’d be a problem, though; my favorite shop usually carried more than enough copies of every issue. Certainly I didn’t think Aquaman Annual #2 was in danger of selling out. And yet would you believe that I had to call around to four different shops before I found a spare copy for myself? Everything else I got on Friday, but this one wasn’t in my hands until yesterday.

After reading the issue, I don’t even begin to understand what drove the droves to pick it up. I get the initial attraction: who doesn’t like the idea of an Aquaman-Wonder Woman team-up? They’re both major Leaguers; they both have royal bearing; and they both have roots in ancient mythology. Talk about a match made in heaven—you know, if Arthur hadn’t already hooked up with Mera first. But even if a romance was out of the question, the two still have plenty to bond over. Bizarrely, instead of talking over any of the things they have in common, they spend the time either politely or aggressively confronting each other’s priorities to their respective cultures.

Secret Origins #2 – Review

By: Ray Fawkes, Jeff Parker, & Scott Lobdell (writers); Dustin Nguyen, Alvaro Martinez, & Paulo Siqueira (pencilers); Derek Fridolfs, Raul Fernandez, & Paulo Siqueira (inkers); John Kalisz, Rain Beredo, Hi-Fi, & Pete Pantazis (colors)

The Story: “I watched my parents die in front of me. I’ll never let that happen to anyone again.” – Batman

“Man, I never got to take that fishing trip…” – Aquaman

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear your complaining over my years of slavery and abuse.” – Starfire

The Review: Throughout his seventy-five year history Batman has always been one of DC’s most marketable properties and, especially in recent years, he’s practically demolished his competition. When the New 52 started, the Batman family of titles boasted eleven ongoing books, or over a fifth of the company’s mainline publications, and that number has only just ducked below that with New 52 nine titles announced for August. So yeah, it’s not really a secret that Batman sells comics. Add in two characters who seem to enjoy appearing in various states of shirtlessness and undress and you’ve got a book that looks like gold on paper. So is it?

“We know this story,” a seemingly omniscient narrator tells us on the second page of Ray Fawkes’ Batman story, “Even if we’re new to it, we know it.” It’s a fitting way to start this tale, Batman’s beginning is well known to us, in fact there’s even a movie about it. Perhaps what’s most amazing about Fawkes’ story is that, even knowing that, he doesn’t really try to find a new angle on this classic tale, instead choosing to dive straight in and let the story stand on the strength of his narration. It’s certainly a bold move, and one that bares more fruit than you might expect, but I’m not sure that it’s quite what it takes to sell this comic.

“Man in the Shadow” is a solid retelling of the origin story that largely sticks to the classic framework laid down by “The Legend of the Batman – Who He Is and How He Came To Be” all the way back in 1939. You’ll see Bruce’s parents gunned down, a scene of him mourning them, a scene of him creating the first draft of the mission that will last the rest of his life, a montage of him acquiring the skills he’ll need, and finally the famous night in the study, in that order.

It’s tough to leave your stamp on something that’s been rewritten in that same format so many times, but, to his credit, Fawkes manages to do a decent job of it. The biggest addition is probably the explicit look at how Gotham was changed by the death of the Waynes and the appearance of Batman. The Christopher Nolan films dealt with this theme in their way, as have other stories, but I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it so succinctly put. The idea that Gotham, as a community, never fully healed from the loss of its first family is perhaps a bit of a stretch as presented here, but a brief but crucial mention of the unique values and positions that the Waynes held in the city does a bit to back this up. It brings a smile to my face to see Martha’s contribution to Bruce’s character remembered, especially as, going by the descriptions here, she easily could be seen as the greater loss to the city.

Fawkes’ real contribution here is to boil Batman down to what matters most and present it simply and clearly. There will always be arguments about what the true message of Batman is but Fawkes gives as strong an argument as anyone could in the span of a single page when he opts against the classic, but largely dated, concept of a candlelight oath.

Aquaman #31 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (story), Paul Pelletier & Alvaro Martinez (pencils), Sean Parsons & Raul Fernandez (inks), Rain Beredo (colors)

The Story: The king of the sea vs. the king of plants.

The Review: Aquaman and Swamp Thing. Couples don’t get much odder than that. It’s one of those unusual pairings that the now defunct Brave and the Bold might have played with once upon a time, in a one-shot that probably would’ve left little lasting value for either character. Teaming them up through their respective titles allows for a more permanent relationship, that is, if Arthur and Alec can work through their initial tensions.

But let’s be honest here: Arthur could never in a million years stand a chance against Alec, someone who can defy even Superman’s powers. Any fight between them can only end with Arthur’s humiliating defeat, which Alec postpones for as long as possible until he can’t stand the irritation of Arthur’s attacks anymore. Once he proves just how far he outclasses the sea king, at least Arthur is man enough to remark ironically, “Guess I showed him.”

Aquaman #30 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (story), Paul Pelletier & Alvaro Martinez (pencils), Sean Parsons & Raul Fernandez (inks), Rain Beredo (colors)

The Story: Aquaman is not going to be clapping and exclaiming “Hercules” after this.

The Review: If I can distill the difference between Parker’s Aquaman and Geoff John’s Aquaman to a few, pithy words, it’s the loss of the title’s epic quality. There’s no longer the sense that we’re reading a run for the ages, but rather a more typical superhero series. That’s not a bad change, exactly; instead of decompressed, measured storytelling, we have adventures that feel more spontaneous and bombastic. After enduring so many deep, wide-ranging conflicts, Aquaman deserves to maybe coast a little.

This brawn-on-brawn battle with Hercules certainly fits the bill. There’s a smidge of tragedy in how far the mythic hero has fallen, of course, and a touch of dramatic potential regarding his treacherous imprisonment by the Atlantean king, but that’s only an inch of depth we’re talking about. Aquaman versus Hercules is half-mindless entertainment, with the occasional call for reason (“Try to think! Remember who you were!“) thrown in.

Legion of Super-Heroes #14 – Review

By: Paul Levitz (writer), Fernando Dagnino & Raul Fernandez (artists), Hi-Fi (colorist)

The Story: If it is wisdom you seek, die first.  No, I’m not kidding.

The Review: When this title rebooted last year, it introduced the character of Harmonia Li to be of some significance and then pretty much shelved her.  Yet Levitz never really allowed the her to be forgotten; she continued to dog this series, reappearing in the most random moments of often unrelated story arcs to remind us of her vague existence, but never actually following up with any real interest.

This issue finally gets into her mysterious origins, and it’s underwhelming, to say the least: as it turns out, she is a denizen of Utopia, a world of wisdom, which just happens to be the last target on Saturn Queen’s demolition list.  Since Levitz spent so little time in previous arcs laying the groundwork for this revelation, it really comes out of nowhere, and feels more like a convenient too to allow the Legion to access an otherwise inaccessible world.

Still, Levitz deserves some credit for neatly tying all his disparate plotlines into one common thread: Dream Girl’s attempt to purge Star Boy of—something—in his costume; Dawnstar’s search for the being that attacked her and Wildfire; Mon-El’s quest across space with Dyogene; and of course, the Legion of Villains’ quest for the three worlds of balance.  The cost, of course, is none of these were explored in enough detail to be of any interest, resulting in a climax that lacks much in the way of excitement or novelty.

Certainly, Levitz’s dialogue does nothing to help matters, having finally descended from purely clichéd and pointless (the issue starts actually starts off with, “Nooo!”) to completely incomprehensible.  Both Dyogene and Master Kong of Utopia are given to speak gibberish as a pretense of wisdom: “…and if Dyogene’s master of the rings’ power is greater, know that this moment was foreseen long ago in shaping this one.”  “…but if man takes no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.”  Tortured grammar is the least of their problems.

Gotham City Sirens #13 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Peter Nguyen & Andres Guinaldo (pencils), Jack Purcell & Raul Fernandez (inkers), Tony Avina (colors) and Steve Wands (letters)

The Story: Catwoman and Harley Quinn finish their fight with Catwoman’s crazy sister who thinks that Catwoman has been possessed by a cat-demon.  Only by killing the cat-demon can Selina be set free….

What’s good: If you’re a big Catwoman fan, this issue will probably make you happy.  The whole issue revolves around Catwoman and her sister, Maggie.  Maggie is a crazy former nun who thinks she must exorcise this cat-demon that has possessed Selina Kyle/Catwoman.  Of course, since Maggie is crazy she is trying to perform the exorcism with a sword, which is not exactly the approved technique.

I also got a kick out of seeing Harley Quinn running around with her big hammer again.  For some reason, this element has been missing from a lot of issues of Gotham City Sirens as Harley has mostly just been doing cartwheels in the background.  The hammer is kind of her trademark, so I liked seeing her at least trying to blast Maggie with it…of course, since they’re fighting in a graveyard, she ends up pulverizing tombstones.

The final interesting thing this issue did was actually tossed in some doubt that perhaps Selina IS possessed.  There is one scene where Harley is compelled onto Maggie’s side of the fight and we see Catwoman with this freaky 6-eyed cat-thing emanating from her, which makes sense since cats are avatars of wickedness.  Since Tony Bedard is a guest writer for this issue, I’ll be curious to see if Paul Dini follows up on this.

Joker’s Asylum: The Riddler – Review

By Peter Calloway (writer), Andres Guinaldo (pencils), Raul Fernandez (inks) Tomeu Morey (colors) and Patrick Brosseau (letters)

The Story: From his cell in Arkham, the Joker tells us a story about Edward Nygma’s attempt to solve one of the greatest riddles of them all: what makes a person fall in love?

What’s Good: I’m of two minds about this book, but before we dive into the details, let me answer the most important question right up front by saying that this book is quite good, and it’s worth the $2.99 if you’re any sort of fan of the Riddler (or the Joker, for that matter.)

Now here’s the thing about this story: it’s tremendous fun (and quite moving to me, but then I’m a sentimental sap at heart), but calling it a Riddler story is something of a misnomer. Joker (in full forth-wall breaking mode) is the one telling this tale, after all, and so the book becomes less about the Riddler himself and more about the Joker and his unreliable narration. We are ultimately left having no real idea what parts of this story are truthful; in fact, we have no real assurance that the whole thing isn’t simply a tall tale spun entirely out of the Clown Prince’s own deranged imagination—an elaborate joke on the reader, if you will.

With that established, the key question now becomes how it affects the quality of the reading experience. I will say that if you’re coming to this hoping for a straightforward Riddler story, you may be disappointed in ambiguous nature of the story’s reality. If you are willing to roll with it, however, and look beyond the plot, I think any Riddler fan will find plenty of (surprisingly deep and astute) characterization that will stand and endure well past the narrative itself.

In addition to being very well written and lovely to look at, the detail-oriented reader will have a fantastic time picking up all of the little details and references in the panels. As one who has a thing for riddles and visual puzzles, that aspect of the book made it well worth the price of admission alone. If you have a similar proclivity, I recommend it even more highly. (And just how many card references ARE there in the Riddler panels? I’ve managed to count six so far, but I’m sure there are more than that.)

Gotham City Sirens #11 – Review

By: Paul Dini (writer), Andres Guinaldo (pencils), Raul Fernandez (inks), Ian Hannin (colors) & Steve Wands (letters)

The Story: Harley and Selina look for missing dogs and Ivy starts her new job in this slice-of-life (Gotham-style) story.

What’s good: This title is the popcorn of the Gotham comics.  Whereas other Bat-books are dealing with, “Who is the Black Mask? ” and “Will Damien kill Dick?” and “When will Bruce return?” this issue just consistently follows our three ladies as they get into minor troubles.  They are always fun stories and nicely drawn and they never taken themselves too seriously.  The fate of the planet will never be determined in these pages.  It’s kind of a palate cleanser.

One of the things that either works or not in this title, is Harley Quinn’s weirdness.  A lot of times, I don’t like her but the situation that occurs in this issue between her pet hyenas (yes…you read that right) and some stray dogs and the unintentional competition between the hyenas the local dog-fighting ring is kinda funny (in a very dark sort of way, but don’t worry…nothing is shown on page).

On a more serious note, Ivy starts her new job as botanical researcher at STAR Labs.  She’s trying to be somewhat legit, but you just know that it won’t turn out well and she has herself in a pretty pickle by the end of the issue.

Gotham City Sirens #10 – Review

By: Paul Dini (writer), Andres Guinaldo (pencils), Raul Fernandez (inks), Ian Hanin (colors) & Sal Cipriano (letters)

The Story: Doctor Aesop has resurfaced and is trying to frame the Sirens for murder.  Will the girls and Edward Nigma have any luck stopping him?

What’s Good: Well, for starters, Paul Dini wrote this issue.  Since Gotham City Sirens was launched last summer, Dini has missed a few issues on both this and Streets of Gotham.  New series need to establish their story pretty fast, especially when they are a secondary title like GCS.  So, it was nice to have Dini back at the keyboard telling his story.

One of the main story points I’ve enjoyed on GCS has been the tale of the Riddler.  He’s been “good” for awhile now and you just know that he is going to revert to form at some point.  It’s almost like waiting for a character to come back from the dead.  Eddie isn’t too pleased with how the Sirens treat him in this issue and you have to wonder if this is going to make him flip.

The art is a huge positive in this issue.  Guillem March has been the regular artist on this title, but I found I much prefer the less cartoony style of newcomer Guinaldo.  This seems to be his first work for DC and it looks like he went all out to impress the new bosses.