Forever Evil #7 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), David Finch (pencils), Richard Friend (inks), Sonia Oback (colors)

The Story: Nothing lasts forever, and that includes evil.

The Review: I’ve heard people complain about the delays on this series, but relatively speaking, seven issues over ten months aren’t so bad, compared to the ridiculous dry periods between issues of Jupiter’s Legacy or The Sandman: Overture. But maybe it’s easy for me to be blasé about Forever Evil‘s delays since I don’t actively care about all that much. Why complain about not getting something you’re not really looking forward to anyway? I might as well rant about not getting my tuition bill right away.

Part of my general dissatisfaction with Forever Evil is it hasn’t really fulfilled its goals of exploring the nature of villainy, much less the even more abstract idea of evil. If anything, the conflict between evil and really evil reveals just that: some people are evil, and some people are really evil. As for how evil arises, Johns provides no answers through the Syndicate, who mostly seem to be born that way, nor through the various DCU proper villains: Sinestro, Manta, Cold, Deathstroke, etc.

Arrow S02E19 – Review

By: Greg Berlanti, Geoff Johns, Andrew Kreisberg, Keto Shimizu (story)

The Story: Isabel may have had a point when she said Ollie would drag his company into ruin.

The Review: Not unlike the most recent episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Arrow had some fairly momentous developments last time around, but left almost no time for anyone to really process them. That task is left up to this episode, the entirety of which is less about taking action and more about responding to actions already taken. It’s a quieter episode than we’re used to, but perhaps a necessary one to allow the characters to inspect the damage that’s been dealt to each of them.

For Thea, this means a thorough examination of herself, to see how much of her identity has been eroded by the dual whammies of Roy leaving and discovering her true parentage. When you consider that around this time last year, Thea had nothing going for her character other than a cliché of a teen romance with Roy, it’s quite remarkable to see her running one of the strongest character arcs of the season. Her entire outburst to Ollie as to how devastating Slade’s revelation has been to her is genuine and effective throughout, starting from her correction that he isn’t her brother, but her half-brother.

Vibe #6 – Review

By: Sterling Gates (story), Pete Woods (pencils), Sean Parsons (inks), Brad Anderson (colors)

The Story: What are bros for if not to break each other out of interdimensional prison?

The Review: I don’t like to attribute a title’s problems to editorial interference or creative shake-ups; it sounds too much like an easy excuse for poor writing to me.  Occasionally, though, the evidence of defects coming from higher up than the writer or artist is too strong to ignore.  To be frank, though, I don’t see this as a complete justification for a weak story.  With serial fiction especially, writing is as much craft as art, and part of the craft is flexibility.

Gates definitely had obstacles going against him from the moment he started on Vibe.  First of all, it’s a major red flag that both the title’s original writers checked out within two—seriously, two?—issues.  Second of all, and meaning no disrespect to the Vibe fans out there (both of you), but it’s Vibe.  So Gates not only had to suddenly and unexpectedly step up to the plate with a half-formed story barely started, he had to work with a low-rent character no one cared much to see anyway and try to complete his transformation into a top-notch property.  Blergh.

Vibe #5 – Review

By: Sterling Gates (story), Pete Woods (pencils), Sean Parsons (inks), Brad Anderson (colors)

The Story: Generally, it’s not a good idea to run away with a girl while you’re on the job.

The Review: You know, we frequently give publishers a lot of crap for putting out inferior titles, but I think we don’t appreciate how deceptive a good pitch can be.  Think of the one for Vibe: Geoff Johns writing the adventures of an underdog, city kid from Detroit who becomes an dimensional border cop.  Sounds pretty good to me!  Who could have predicted that five months later, it’d be Sterling Gates writing a hopelessly insecure kid on the run from his own employers?

While I did think it was a good idea to have Cisco’s fallout from A.R.G.U.S. happen sooner rather than later, now I’m thinking it could have stood to happen perhaps a little later.  Neither Johns nor Gates (nor Andrew Kreisberg, I suppose) ever fully mined the potential of Vibe’s association with A.R.G.U.S. before throwing it on the rocks, which seems a sadly missed opportunity to me.  What about Agent Gunn playing Murtaugh to Vibe’s non-suicidal Riggs?  Think how much fun that would have been!

Vibe #4 – Review

By: Sterling Gates (story), Manuel Garcia (pencils), Fabiano Neves (art), Sandra Hope Archer (inks), Brad Anderson (colors)

The Story: It’s not every day you meet a cute girl while chasing after extraterrestrial travelers.

The Review: From the moment Vibe agreed to work with A.R.G.U.S., we always knew shis collaboration would end in bitterness and disappointment at some point.  No relationship can function without trust, and A.R.G.U.S. has never been upfront with Cisco about much of anything.  But once the truth comes out, as it inevitably must, what can he, the least experienced and most naïve member of the Justice League of America, do about it?

The title has done Cisco a favor by speeding up that inevitable conflict.  Given how obvious both Gunn and Waller have been in their deceptions, our hero would look pretty dumb if it took a couple arcs for him to catch on—especially with his brother, Kid Flash, and now a mysterious dimensional breacher (named Breacher, confusingly enough) all telling him A.R.G.U.S. isn’t to be trusted.

Vibe #3 – Review

By: Sterling Gates (story), Fabian Neves (art), Pete Woods (pencils), Sean Parsons (inks), Brad Anderson (colors)

The Story: Vibe discovers that Kid Flash can be a little touchy about being touched.

The Review: I have a soft spot for all the second bananas of the world; those are my peeps, right there.  When it comes to comics, much as I admire and respect the big names, the major architects of their respective universes, I also really like to root for the lesser-known but no less reliable writers.  Their individual styles might not stand out like their more famous peers, but they are solid craftsman who can deliver as needed.

I count Gates as one of these much overlooked writers.  I very much liked his work on the previous volume of Supergirl, and even when he’s been given some real dogs of titles to work on, you can see the talent underneath it all.  Putting him on Vibe is a great choice.  If you can’t have Geoff Johns putting his star power to work on the title, then you need someone who can bring a similar sensibility and level of attention to a fairly vulnerable character and story.

Vibe #2 – Review

By: Geoff Johns & Andrew Kreisberg (story), Pete Woods (art), Andres Guinaldo (pencils), Sean Parsons & Bit (inks), Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: Vibe fails to stop Agent Gunn from killing the messenger.

The Review: More than ever, I realize that Johns has a special gift of endearing characters to readers.  He does his best work with characters who seem a little overwhelmed, hapless, or out of their element, and trying to navigate the obstacles and responsibilities placed on them in the best way they can.  No wonder that Johns resonates most with the superheroes who are new to the game and have something to prove.  He likes getting you to root for the underdog.

Vibe certainly qualifies in that respect, not just from his publication history.  Of all the various characters Johns has taken in hand, Vibe has the deepest self-doubt problem.  This is something that won’t go away in just one or two issues, and probably not even after a whole arc.  But wishy-washiness isn’t exactly a trait one admires in a hero.  If Johns-Kreisberg expect us to stick by Cisco in the long run, we need to see qualities that surpass his crisis of confidence.

Justice League of America #2 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), David Finch (art), Sonia Oback (colors)

The Story: The team goes on their first mission without so much as a proper, rah-rah send-off.

The Review: One thing that really hampered Justice League when it first hit the stands was how much time it spent simply getting itself together.  It wasn’t until I think the fourth of fifth issue that you finally had the entire group in the same place, which is a pretty long time for a team book to gather its wits about it.  On the plus side, with the invasion from Apokolips as the trigger for their formation, they never wanted for action from the first issue.

Justice League of America seems to have the opposite problem.  Although you get pretty much the whole crew (minus Simon Baz, who’s still occupied over in Green Lantern) in one room within the issue’s first few pages, by the end of the issue, you still haven’t really seen them go to work.  In fact, aside from Green Arrow’s brief flashback to his infiltration of the Secret Society, there’s no League action at all.

Vibe #1 – Review

By: Geoff Johns & Andrew Kreisberg (story), Pete Woods (pencils), Sean Parsons (inks), Brad Anderson (colors)

The Story: One day you’re trying to sell point-and-shoots, the next you’re battling Parademons.

The Review: In my review of the other JLA spin-off title,* I talked about the different reasons people pick up certain books and how for me and Katana, it was a matter of supporting any series that attempts to promote some diversity in the mostly homogenous world of comics.  While I don’t disapprove of putting new faces in familiar brands, I do respect original creations more, and while Vibe may be lacking in some areas, he at least has more originality than most.

Once again, I thank my lucky stars that I’m not so immersed in continuity that I bring old prejudices to this series.  While I’ve heard the jokes and stories about Vibe, I can’t say I’ve ever read a single thing with him actually in it.  So what do I think of my very first exposure to the much maligned superhero?  I have no idea how much he resembles his previous incarnation, but Cisco Ramon as he stands now is a very endearing sort of character.

Justice League of America #1 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), David Finch (art), Sonia Oback (colors)

The Story: Proof positive that America only thinks it can do it best.

The Review: This was pretty much my feeling about Justice League International, but when I heard the announcement for Justice League of America, I had to wonder: did we really need another one?  Then someone pointed out to me that in a world where we’ve got the New Avengers, Secret Avengers, Dark Avengers, Uncanny Avengers, and, simply, Avengers, maybe I needed to have a little perspective on the one Justice League spin-off.  True indeed.

So what does JLA offer that Justice League does not?  I think it’s a sense of possibility, one that’s been missing from the League for a long time.  Despite boasting the biggest icons of the DCU, the current League feels a little mundane.  In fact, I’d say they’re downright coasting on their own fame rather than going out of their way to earn the title of premier superhero team on the planet.  Not so with the JLA; every single one of these characters has something to prove.

Justice League of America #40 – Review

By James Robinson (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Rob Hunter, Scott Hanna, & Marlo Alquiza (inks), Pete Pantazis (colors), and John J. Hill (letters)

The Story: Dr. Light, Vixen, and Gypsy battle the Black Lantern versions of the former Dr. Light, Vibe, and Steel.

What’s Good: Mark Bagley continues to satisfy me with his output on Justice League.  All told, his characters have a cartoony, accessible, Saturday morning feel that’s very comfortable with the series, and unlike last month, there aren’t any botched facial expressions.

I also did rather enjoy Vibe and Steel’s continual calling out of Vixen and Gypsy, essentially calling them underpowered C-listers that no one cares about.  It only hurts, because, well, it’s kind of true.  It’s also in many ways an apt criticism of the JLA comic and a great segue into next month’s major roster shuffle.