Secret Origins #1 – Review

By: Greg Pak, Kyle Higgins, and Tony Bedard (writers); Lee Weeks, Doug Mahnke, and Paulo Siqueira (pencils), Sandra Hope, Lee Weeks, Keith Champagne, Christian Alamy, and Hi-Fi (inks), Dave McCaig, John Kalisz, and Hi-Fi (colors)

The Review: When the New 52 launched two and a half years ago two of the biggest complaints I remember hearing were the disinterest in seeing the heroes’ origins replayed once again and the surprise and outrage when the comics did not provide origin stories. People were expecting new The Man of Steel’s and Batman: Year Ones. The fans wanted to see how their icons had changed, what justified this new continuity, while others worried that new readers would struggle without the origin stories.

Well, it certainly took them long enough, but the release of Secret Origins #1 this week finally answers those concerns.

For an impressive $5.00 price tag, readers get three twelve-page stories from the writers currently handling the characters. I’m not sure that such a hefty price will endear this series to new or lapsed comic readers, but I suppose what really matters is how well it justifies that price point.

The first story, quite appropriately, is Superman’s, penned by Action Comics and Batman/Superman scribe Greg Pak. While there isn’t that much changed from the traditional tale of Krypton’s demise, and certainly nothing secret, Pak’s tale sets itself apart through its perspective. Written from the point of view of Superman’s two moms – wouldn’t that have been an interesting twist? – Pak creates a believable, non-sappy story that pins down the essential value of our ‘Man of Tomorrow’ as love.

Given that Pak is handling the part of the story that Clark can’t tell himself, I think it was a very wise choice to focus on Martha Kent and Lara Van-El. Particularly with Man of Steel still fresh in our minds, and the original Superman (1978) before it, it’s not hard to make the argument that Jor-El has often eclipsed his fellow Kryptonians, and occasionally even his son. Likewise, I think that many stories spend a lot of time focused on Jonathan Kent in Clark’s boyhood. By focusing on the women in Clark’s life, Pak presents a new look at this classic tale.

Aquaman #20 – Review

By: John Ostrander (story), Manuel Garcia (pencils), Sandra Hope, Rob Hunter, Ray McCarthy, Wayne Faucher (inks), Pete Pantazis (colors)

The Story: Oddly, a girl who sees dead people is not the strangest member of the Others.

The Review: One of the best concepts Geoff Johns introduced on his run here has been Aquaman’s first team effort, the Others.  Johns not only managed to give each member a well-defined personality and design, he also gave them a strong team dynamic, as if they really had worked together for years.  Their intimacy was so convincing that it was kind of bittersweet to see them part ways when it was so tempting to give them a title of their own.

In this issue, Ostrander sort of tests the viability of the Others as characters in their own right, without Aquaman as their center.  Indeed, here Arthur seems more like a featured player in his own title.  Despite being their de facto leader (though the Operative may disagree with that assertion), he comes to them as someone asking his friends to do him a big favor, one he’s not yet comfortable presenting to his current team.  He stands equal to the Others, which in turn boosts their own standing.

Batman #18 – Review

Chapter One by: Scott Snyder (writer), Andy Kubert (pencils), Sandra Hope (inks), Brad Anderson (colorist), Nick J. Napolitano (letters)

Chapter Two by: Snyder & James Tynion IV (writers), Alex Maleev (art), Nathan Fairbairn (colors), Carlos M. Mangual (letters)

The Story: An angry and grieving Batman gets a reality check from a teenage girl.

A few things (with very minor SPOILERS): 

1). The regular artists are missed. – The best way to find out how much people appreciate you is to go away and see if they miss you.  Well….this comic really missed the talents of regular art team Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion and FCO Plascencia.  We readers have been truly spoiled by their excellence and consistency over the last 1.5 years.  Suddenly, it is harder to pay attention to Scott Snyder’s nifty script because one is distracted by how poorly Andy Kubert draws teenage girls or how “massively detailed art” and “striking panels” are not necessarily “good sequential art” or how any editor thought that Andy Kubert and Alex Maleev were a great combo on a single issue.  I guess I can understand how someone would think that Andy Kubert would be a good stand-in for Capullo because they do have basically similar drawing styles, but this issue showed that if you’re following Capullo you should just draw things differently and avoid the direct comparison because you’re going to look bad.  Plus, Alex Maleev should be chained to a desk drawing Scarlet all the time with no Bat-distractions.

Justice League #12 – Review

By: Too many to list—or even talk about.  Check out the review.

The Story: Cue the violins—love is in the air for the League!

The Review: Warning—mild rant ahead.  A lot of people like to blame the media for our social problems today, but it’d be more accurate to say it’s not so much the media but the media hype.  Chalk it up to the relentless 24-hour news cycle or our human need to make every story a little more colorful.  If we as a society are strident, misinformed, distracted, or ignorant, blame it on the media’s tendency to make a big deal over non-issues, to incite excitement over nothing.

This brings us to the obvious question.  Did we really need to have so much controversy and brouhaha over Wonder Woman and Superman’s romantic entanglement?  Was the tabloid-style plastering of their illicit embrace and kiss all over the internet valuable in any way?  The answer, of course, is no.  I’ll refer you to a very perceptive article on the subject, and add on my two cents by saying: frankly, it’d surprise me if the two most powerful and attractive people in the world didn’t even consider a fling at some point.

Justice League #6 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (writer), Jim Lee (penciller), Scott Williams, Sandra Hope, Batt, Mark Irwin (inkers), Alex Sinclair, Tony Avina, Hi-Fi (colorists)

The Story: Darkseid, wouldn’t printing ads on the back of milk cartons work better than all this?

The Review: Justice League Dark demonstrated, by negative inference, how important it is to give each member of the team an active role in a conflict.  But more than divvying up the work for tactical purposes, it’s even more important, for long-term storytelling purposes, to give each character a distinct spiritual role within the team.

Unfortunately, Johns hasn’t succeeded in making his League anything more than a gathering of powerful super-beings—which is surprising, since Johns usually can’t resist making a symbol out of everything he writes.  The problem is the characters come across so flat just in their personality that it’s hard to draw out any deeper substance from them.

Johns simply hasn’t used the team he’s brought together well.  Take Aquaman.  I don’t think he says much more than four lines the entire issue, and aside from putting his trident into Darkseid’s eye (which, really, is only copycatting Wonder Woman’s sword-trick two panels earlier), he serves no crucial purpose at all.  Neither does Flash, for that matter, unless you count coming up with the one of the lamest team names ever in a craven ploy for heartwarming laughter.  And after all that drama between Cyborg and his dad, Johns allows only a single throwaway panel and line to resolve it.

At least Johns takes some pains to finally give the only lady at this sausage fest something important to do.  That said, when you think about her biggest accomplishment in the fight against Darkseid, all anyone really needed from her was her lasso.  As charming as her naïve wisdom is (“The world belongs to no one.  And everyone.”), she only seems to have value in the absence of others.  Without Superman, she fills in as the team’s heavy hitter; without Batman’s leadership, she leads by example of her fearlessness.  Once the boys come home, she’s back to fodder again.

Flashpoint #5 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (writer), Andy Kubert (penciller), Sandra Hope & Jesse Delperdang (inkers), Alex Sinclair (colorist)

The Story: The Flash realizes sometimes it’s better to just start from square one.

The Review: And so we come to the end.  But what exactly is ending?  A misdirected war between races?  The atrocious perversion of an entire universe?  The tenuous existence of those brought forth in that universe?  A whole era of comics history?  The answer, of course, is all of those at the same time.  For those reasons, this final issue should be a testament to the last few decades of DC storytelling, and those same reasons assure that this final issue is anything but.

The war between Atlantis and the Amazons, by itself, deserved much greater focus from this series than it got.  As the major motivation for Barry to make things right, and as the most pressing conflict for pretty much every character besides Barry, it should’ve had more time to expand to critical proportions, to convince us of how dire the situation truly is.  Johns betted the tie-ins would somehow supply this missing tension, and that wager gets defeated big time.

Many of us probably assumed, with the appearance of Zoom at the end of last issue, that we knew who brought this mess into being.  But as Zoom himself crows, the real person responsible is actually a little closer to home.  Most of these revelations get told through rambling dialogue in the middle of a heated battle (and you all know how fun those can be), and in the midst of all that chaos, it seems a weak attempt to add one more “twist” to the story.

Flashpoint #3 – Review

 

By: Geoff Johns (writer), Andy Kubert (penciller), Sandra Hope (inker), Alex Sinclair (colorist)

The Story: Huh…  So this is Superman.  He’s shorter than I imagined.

The Review: There are essentially two important conflicts driving the events in Flashpoint: you have Reverse Flash’s alterations to reality, the consequences of which remain unclear; and you also have the oncoming final blowout between Aquaman and Wonder Woman, which threatens the altered Earth.  Johns has tried to give equal weight to both plotlines, but with mixed results.

It’s pretty clear Johns has relegated the Amazon-Atlantean brouhaha to second banana in the grand scheme of this series.  Maybe he assumes we’re reading more of the clarifying tie-ins than I suspect most of us actually are, because he only drops in developments on the war front through brief, interstitial asides.  Instead of letting us see things reach a fever pitch, he has Lois Lane cipher facts to us, and even then we cut away from her before it gets really interesting.

So despite Cyborg’s insistence that this war will be the end of the world, you really can’t take it all his forebodings all that seriously.  Besides the rare glimpses of devastated Europe, the war seems only to exist on the fringes of your awareness, especially since the rest of America seems (as it often does in real life) only dimly concerned about the doomsday about to visit them.

The rest of the issue once again centers on Barry striving to put right what once went wrong, in possibly the most ludicrous manner possible.  Only in comics could you possibly be expected to even consider suspending your belief enough to accept that after frying himself in his first attempt to regain his powers, Barry wants to have another go.  And here’s the even crazier part: spoiler alert—it works!  Why the second time around proves the charm, we don’t know.  It just has to for the story to get a move on, I guess.

Flashpoint #2 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (writer), Andy Kubert (penciller), Sandra Hope (inker), Alex Sinclair (colorist)

The Story: Barry, I need you to know, if you don’t make it through this…this is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.

The Review: Unlike many comic book Events, Flashpoint intends to move fast (ba-dum­-tch!), as its story has been written to fit five issues instead of the traditional seven, and we’re already on the second.  Some see this truncation as a welcome relief from having to deal with Event-mania for a few extra months.  But it’s worth pointing out it also cuts down the time for proper world-building and pacing, which can be hazardous to such an important, large-scale story.

Here we do get some up-close, personal moments with the new, hardened Aquaman and Wonder Woman, being among the most integral obstacles/players in this story.  The encounter between Diana and the resisting Steve Trevor feels more profound and useful, since it reveals some developments to the Atlantean-Themysciran war, but Aquaman’s confrontation with pirate-Deathstroke is just an opportunity to show off his current inclination for violence.

Johns would’ve been better off had he cut down the amount of time we spend with the Flash and not-really-Batman; their scenes take up most the issue, and do little to advance the plot.  Basically, they spend half the time fighting (though you can’t really call it a fight, since it’s mostly the depowered Barry getting his butt handed to him) while dealing with all the “I don’t believe you, you’re crazy!” issues that come hand-in-hand with these altered-universe stories.

That’s all fine and necessary; the several pages Barry spends describing his past and the real world to Thomas Wayne are not.  It basically re-describes everything we already know, instead of moving on to some new points.  It also makes little sense how all this suddenly gets Thomas to place his faith in Barry; it’s hard to understand how someone that cynical can so quickly flip-flop from calling Barry a “delusional son-of-a-bitch” to believing that SOB can get his son back.

The problem is selling these moments with more credibility requires more time, which Johns can’t afford.  He even sets up a ticking clock of sorts as Barry’s memories start to adapt to the new reality, just to motivate the characters to act as hastily as possible.  And yet for all this haste, you don’t feel like you’ve moved very far forward on this story.  It seems like Johns wants you to assume there’s some high-stakes tension here, rather than showing it to you.

Flashpoint #1 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (writer), Andy Kubert (penciller), Sandra Hope (inker), Alex Sinclair (colorist)

The Story: Nothing is as it seems!  Everything isn’t as it should be!  Alright, some things are kind of the same!

The Review: I’m a huge fan of parallel-universe nonsense; there are few things quite as fun as taking the familiar and spinning it in a different direction, either by a bit or a big leap.  When DC revealed the premise of Flashpoint, I immediately flashbacked to Marvel’s House of M, which I followed and enjoyed, and reading this first issue, I can’t help making some connections and comparisons between the two storylines.

Flashpoint drops us right into the thick of this new world without actually seeing it come into being with a physical event, unlike Scarlet Witch’s infamous “red wave” of magic.  This has the effect of immediately upping the tension, making us as disoriented and anxious as Barry as he finds everything he knew or had has been twisted away.  Before he can go into full-panic mode, he discovers not all the twists are bad—but some are even worse.

Johns very successfully carries that sense of tension throughout the issue as every panel offers a discovery that’s either majorly altered from what we recognize, or entirely brand-new.  HoM had a focal point from which all the changes of its world took place, but Flashpoint has none.  That means the sky’s the limit for Johns and the other writers to wreak havoc on the DCU.

You can really see the imaginative leaps in store for this series when Cyborg tracks down Batman with his team in tow (though you can’t call them a team when most seem to downright loathe each other).  Johns goes all-out creating new characters with already intriguing histories, like the disfigured Outsider’s interest in using the teenaged Blackout as a power source for India.  Otherwise, Johns boldly messes with the status quo: my favorite has to be scar-faced, vengeful Captain Thunder (formerly known as Captain Marvel) and his giant, armored saber-toothed tiger.  Kudos—if you’re going for this kind of story, go big, and Johns is aiming for that.

Superman: Earth One (Hardcover review)

by J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI • Art by SHANE DAVIS and SANDRA HOPE

I really don’t like Superman. I give him opportunities to impress me every so often; and I am a fan of Superman: Red Son, but for the most part, he just doesn’t interest me. At all. His back story is completely uninteresting: a dude with the unlimited power who happens to fall into a field and found by the two most wonderful parents in comic book history, raised to be a decently happy guy. Oh, his planet was destroyed. Actually, I always like the part of the origin when pops has to send his son to a distant planet while his own is destroyed around him. But the Clark Kent stuff…I just never feel any emotional resonance to this guy.

Earth One is no different. I did like seeing a young Clark Kent completely abuse his powers to get whatever job he wanted. It also made the scene of his completely failing at the Daily Bugle that much better. This is not a humble Superman at all…until he has to be.  JMS’s story is interesting for the most part, but the pacing was a little awkward. It felt like a three act play missing the third act. Too much time was given to Clark wandering around Metropolis brooding about the fact that he has too much power, and not enough time to develop the struggle between him and Tyrell, the villain. Speaking of, the villain is the best character of the story. Followed maybe by Olsen, whom I’ve never liked more as a character than when reading him in this. Mainly because Olsen is the true definition of what a “super man” is. A guy who, when faced with death, will stand tall and take its photo. Meanwhile, Kent is cowering from responsibility. In fact, it’s seeing Olsen that prompts Kent to do something. But come on, if you were Kent—a guy with almost unlimited power, and you saw this meek little photographer showing more balls than you have in your entire life, wouldn’t you have to man up too?  Scratch that statement earlier. Olsen is the best character of Earth One. But it’s still a really damn good, and underused, villain.

Batgirl #5 – Review

By Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett (penciller), Sandra Hope & Oliver Nome (guest inkers), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Core Requirements, Part One of Three: Batgirl is in a burning building, taking on some meta called Diesel. She’s not making huge headway, when Oracle (her handler) tells her she’s got company: Batman and Robin. They all take on Diesel. Neither Batman nor Robin is impressed with Batgirl. This leads later to a massive fight between Dick and Barbara, and a smaller parallel one between Damian and Stephanie. Stephanie agrees to take it easy, but by the end of the book, she’s back in the sorts of unpremeditated adventures she falls into.

What’s Good: The whole freaking book, from beginning to end! Great writing, great conflict, great art.

The writing pulled together some quality character and conflict in this book. Stephanie, Damian, Dick, and Barbara were all clear and distinct in dialogue and in the text boxes and there were lots of zingers. Miller captured both Dick and Damian perfectly. Damian gets a line like “You certainly aren’t very skilled in…anything.” The irrepressible Stephanie owns most of the book (Barbara is still a big tenant), but the conflict between her and Damian allows her to get the essence of her Bat-book in two lines: “Everything doesn’t have to be about fear. There’s room in our line of work for hope, too.” Very insightful and even a bit metafictional. Batgirl is Gotham-lite. And while Damian and Stephanie have a baggage-free fight, Dick versus Barbara is an emotional slap down born of some real disagreements, but also leftovers from romantic might-have-beens. They trade some verbal blows that were painful to watch and will leave marks on both of them. Finally, Miller lightened the mood by giving Damian and Stephanie some parallel stalker moments that were just plain fun to read.

The art seemed different to me this issue, with Hope and Nome filling in for Scott. The inks were lighter than with Scott alone or with his occasional co-inkers. It was an interesting departure. Check out the splash page of Batman and Robin crashing in on the Diesel-Batgirl fight. The fine lines of Batgirl’s cowl are nothing like we’d have seen in any of the last 4 issues, but they work. The action sequences were great and everything was clear, if occasionally stylized (check out Damian under the tree with crows).

Batgirl #3 – Review

By Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett & Trevor Scott with Sandra Hope (art), Guy Major (colors), Michael Siglain (Editor)

The Story: Stephanie Brown, the new Batgirl, has tracked Scarecrow to his lair and is about to go in, helped along by remote control by Barbara Gordon. Scarecrow is big and dangerous. Stephanie is small and no one, not even Barbara, has taken her seriously as Batgirl.

What’s Good: Except for a small glitch on one page, the writing was tight, pulling together everything that was said over the last three issues and giving it cohesive meaning. As the book went on, I realized that there were few throwaway lines, few things that didn’t move the action forward or show us more of who Stephanie is, or illuminate her hero’s journey. This is a pretty astonishing feat. I don’t use the term “hero’s journey” lightly, because Miller took the idea seriously. It was a classic story that loses nothing of its drama for being classic. Even the villain and the weapons he used were wisely chosen to fit with the hero’s journey, because Stephanie has to face fear itself and her incurable need to be where the action is. Her journey is how to reconcile that with the more pedestrian influences in her life and choose what she wants and who she is.

This month’s art was moody, stylized, and in places even surreal to match the hero’s descent as she seeks to prove herself. The large art team showed us a fearless hero in mortal danger against a backdrop of red skies, gothic architecture, and abandoned buildings. The stylistic effects of the cape and the exaggeration of sizes in some panels were useful effects, especially considering the psychotropic effects of Thrill and the fact that Stephanie’s injection didn’t do much to blunt its effects.

What’s Not So Good: For some reason, most or all of the Scarecrow’s dialogue came out wrong. In his first appearance, his mouth is filled with needless exposition, pointless revelation of his methods and cheesy B–movie treatment of cardboard lackeys. He is the perfect villain for this character and this particular arch. He just would have been more effective if he’d not spoken a word – the art certainly would have carried the story. The climax also left me a little cold, too. It was serviceable, but it was a little too pat and predictable, which ultimately made this “believe-in-yourself” story a little less satisfying.

Conclusion: This was a really fun book on the surface, with some deeper levels of meaning lurking just underneath. Well worth picking up if you’re a bat-follower, or even if you’re not.

Grade: C+

-DS Arsenault

Batgirl #2 – Review

By Brian Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett & Trevor Scott with Sandra Hope (artists), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Young Stephanie Nolan is breaking promises again, putting herself in over her head as she follows the trail of drug dealers in Devil’s Square and at Gotham U. Barbara Gordon has forced herself into Stephanie’s life at home and in costume, but doesn’t have much more luck than Stephanie’s mother at talking some sense into the girl.

What’s Good: Barbara Gordon is a strong adult figure who still kicks butt through her intelligence network into the underworld, her access to big-time resources like the Bat Cave, or by throwing the occasional battarang. Barbara is the perfect hero to tell Stephanie that this isn’t a game and point out that people will be out to kill her just for bragging rights. The art team does a great job at the mood of Gotham, the action scenes and the expressions; everything you need to tell a great Bat family story.

What’s Not So Good: This is less a flaw than perhaps a deliberate choice on the part of the writer, but the story is a bit jumpy. I found myself working to follow the plot threads as we went from one scene to the next.

In terms of character work, Stephanie’s trouble fitting in and her naiveté felt a bit tinny at times, and even hard to believe. For example, why would any teenage freshman be surprised to find a farm-themed party at a University, or that someone would spike the punch? It’s hard to reconcile that contrived innocence with the fact that as Batgirl, before that as Spoiler, and also just as somebody who grew up in Gotham, Stephanie has already seen the seediness that seems to be surprising her now.

Some of the surrounding characters also came off feeling a bit unoriginal too, especially Jordanna, who seems to be just another bully without motivation. Maybe Stephanie really is a socially awkward dork (it’s hard to tell from just two issues), but you can’t treat the nerd Stephanie Nolan in the same way as you would treat the nerd Peter Parker. There is a double standard in life. The reality is that most guys would be falling all over themselves to be with someone who looks like Stephanie, no matter her oddball worldview or her quirky, awkward conversation. So the whole bully set up falls a bit flat.

Conculsion: Despite some growing pains in finding the character, the addition of Barbara Gordon makes for a strong story with powerful resonances.

Grade: B-

-DS Arsenault

Batman: Cacophony #2 (of 3) – Review

By Kevin Smith (Writer), Walter Flanagan (Pencils), Sandra Hope (Inks), and Guy Major (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: I am definitely what you would call a Kevin Smith fan. In fact, just last night I spent a healthy chunk of the evening re-watching the hilarious Evening with Kevin Smith DVD (if you haven’t seen it, you must). I’m fully aware of how entertaining the man can be. That said, the first chapter of his Batman story left me a bit disappointed. It was entertaining enough and Onomatopoeia’s appearance was downright awesome, but for whatever reason, I expected something more… satisfying, I guess. Maybe things will pick up in the second chapter.

The Story: The war between Joker and Maxie Zeus heats up (literally) when Joker sets Zeus’ club ablaze in retaliation for the manufacturing and distribution of the drug known as “chuckles.” Batman shows up among all the chaos to rescue whoever he can and bring down the Joker, but an appearance by Onomatopoeia throws a wrench into the hero’s plans. The aftermath of all the action leaves Batman contemplating the connection between Joker and the mysterious Onomatopoeia, as well as how he can deal with the delusional Maxie Zeus and his popular drug.

What’s Good: While some of the problems I had with the first issue remain, the second chapter of Cacophony is a definite improvement. Most importantly, the story develops at a much more solid pace. And while it isn’t the deepest tale ever told, it scores points for successfully toeing the line between aspects that are dark and weighty and those that are more lighthearted and fun. Also, there is more Onomatopoeia, which is always a good thing.

As for the art, I have to mention how Walter Flanagan and his team put together a few  impressive looking scenes. In particular, there is one shot of Onomatopoeia that I consider to be poster worthy. It’s that cool looking.

What’s Not So Good: Like I said, some of the problems I had with the first issue remain in Cacophony #2. While Joker is a bit more enjoyable this time around, there are still aspects of his portrayal that don’t quite sit right with me. Sometimes it’s the visual style and sometimes it’s the dialogue, though oddly enough, rarely both at once.

Conclusion: While it has a few kinks, Batman: Cacophony is definitely proving to be a fun series to follow, especially for a casual fan like me.  If the final issue shows as much improvement as the second one did, Cacophony might even wind up being somewhat memorable.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny

Batman: Cacophony #1 (of 3) – Review

By Kevin Smith (Writer), Walter Flanagan (Pencils), Sandra Hope (Inker), and Guy Major (Colorist)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: I am not much of a DC reader, but as long as it’s not heavily steeped in continuity, I will pick up the occasional Batman story from time to time. I decided to get the first issue of this particular story after reading a recent interview Kevin Smith did in Wizard. The story he has planned sounds quite interesting and Smith swears that Cacophony will get completed on a decent schedule (unlike some of his past work).

The Story: Deadshot breaks into Arkham Asylum in order to assassinate the Joker. But he soon finds that another, Onomatopoeia, is after the same target for a different reason. A fight ensues and soon Joker is free from Arkham, looking for revenge on the person responsible for using his Joker venom for profit. Meanwhile, Batman has his hands full dealing with the lunatic, Zsasz.

What’s Good: The story is off to a nice, intriguing start and I’m definitely glad I decided to give Cacophony a shot. The artwork by Walter Flanagan is lively and the writing by Kevin Smith is (mostly) humorous and entertaining. Also, I have to mention how awesome I think Onomatopoeia is. He’s a character that really puts the medium to great use.

What’s Not So Good: My biggest complaint is that I am really not a fan of the way Joker is portrayed in this story. He comes across as (and looks) a bit too wacky for my tastes. While the dark edge necessary to make Joker work is there, something just feels a bit off. And considering he takes up a decent portion of the book’s pages, it lessened my overall enjoyment of the story a bit.

Conclusion: More Onomatopoeia and less Joker would have earned this book a higher score. That said, I liked what I read (and saw) and am interested in seeing where the story goes from here. Also, I’m pretty sure that this story will be best suited for casual readers as opposed to hardcore fans… but I could be wrong.

Grade: C+

-Kyle Posluszny

Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns – Review

By Geoff Johns (Writer), Shane Davis (Art), Sandra Hope (Inks), Nei Ruffino (Colors)

The Story: The prelude to the highly-anticipated DC event, “The Blackest Night” starts here with the scheduled execution of the greatest Green Lantern. However, a few entities still crave revenge against Sinestro and they won’t stop at nothing until their anger and hatred brings them their vengeance. With blood and rage, the red ring is born and judgment for the massacre of sector 666 is due. Enter the Red Lanterns.

What’s Good: Disregard the “Final Crisis” label, and read this as if it’s the beginning of the story following the Green Lantern Secret Origin arc (GL #29-35). Rage of the Red Lanterns begins in a familiar formula, in the way we read the Sinestro Corps Special; where we have the villain giving us a haunting monologue as a new-colored ring is born. Green Lantern fans won’t be disappointed as Johns is effective in teasing readers of the events to come following this prologue. Right away he introduces two storylines that will have us salivating for the upcoming issues: the blockbuster battle between the Lanterns, and the next conflict between Hal Jordan and Sinestro.

What’s Not So Good: Although Geoff Johns gives us an exciting prelude, there are a few details that are a bit bothersome. First, there are a few things that just seem a bit too unnecessary. Words such as “rage” and “anger” and “hatred” seem to appear on every page where there’s a Red Lantern. I understand that the Red Lantern’s ring is fueled by such things, but those words either need to go, or need to stop being sprinkled so liberally. And second, the use of blood or red energy is just too much. It’s so much redness, it’s ridiculous seeing so many beings puke blood red– there’s even a splash page dedicated to it where you’ll see a bunch of blood pouring out of so many creatures’ mouths. My biggest WTF moment has to go to the Red Lantern kitty, who’s also full of rage and puking blood.

Conclusion: Rage of the Red Lanterns is a must-buy since it is the beginning of DC’s most promising event. Even if you haven’t exactly kept up with the Green Lantern series, this is a good place to start and get caught up on an epic DC story. Ditch Final Crisis, and get on this title.

Grade: B

-Ray Hilario

A Second Opinion

The Good? The banter between Sinestro and Hal is classic. Even near his death Sinestro acts justified and lays it on thick to Hal. The Red Lanterns are vicious and make the relentlessness of the Sinestro Corps almost wimpy by comparison.

After seven months of Secret Origins it’s great to see the next big step of the Green Lantern saga take place. It’s jolting and does a fantastic job of pumping up the reader for what’s to come. I’m not saying Secret Origins was a bad thing – I loved it – but I’m glad the series is finally moving forward rather than looking back.

The Silly? That Red Lantern cat! Gratuitous and very unnecessary.

What’s Not So Good? $3.99 – but we do get more pages of story.

Conclusion: Tired of Secret Invasion and Final Crisis? Rage of the Red Lantern may be just what you need!

Grade: A-

– J. Montes