Comic book reviews for the week of January 12th in six sentences (or less)

SUPERMAN #707
Writer: Chris Roberson (by way of J. Michael Straczynski)
Penciller: Allan Goldman

The problem with Superman is that he’s just too powerful. This is hardly a shocking revelation. Superman has two basic methods for getting out of a scrape. Punching something really hard, or using another of his many powers in a unique and inventive way, usually to help him circumvent some elaborate deathtrap. In far too many aspects the Superman of today is the Superman of 10, 20 or 30 years ago. His supporting characters are mostly the same, his powerset is the same. His origin? The same. I think out of all the big name comic book characters being published today his is a story whose basic elements have hardly changed at all. Which means, after nearly 80 years, his adventures carry a certain repetitiveness and staleness to them.

Compare Superman to someone like Batman who has seen so many incarnations he never seems to grow old. Over the years we’ve seen Batman portrayed as a light hearted crimefighter, a dark and brooding vigilante, a crack detective, a billionaire playboy and a focused martial artist. And nearly every re-interpretation of the Batman mythology manages to work for its time.

And that’s the key phrase there, ‘for its time.’ In comic books it seems that a constant cycle of renewal and rebirth is necessary in order to reframe characters within the context of the present day. How else could you explain the resurgence of Hal Jordan and Barry Allen within the DCU? (Ok the short answer is there Geoff Johns, but a longer explanation would show that these characters have newfound relevance because, although their core traits remain the same, the world they function in has been reshaped to provide the perfect dramatic counterpoint to their personalities and abilities.)Their characters and lives are no longer frozen in amber, in a era that most contemporary comic book readers never even lived through.

Superman gets no such character revamp. Oh, occasionally he’ll turn blue, grow his hair long or even work at a television station. But even his death in the 90s didn’t significantly alter the world he was living in. After he was done fighting crime for the day he still went home to Kansas to stop in on Ma before meeting up with Lois and filing tomorrow’s headline for Perry. No major overhaul of Superman’s existence has ever stuck. Which is why we constantly feel like we’ve seen it all before.

It’s a shame that DC is so frightened of destroying the bankability of their most recognizable character that they will allow him to atrophy and wither away into irrelevance, rather than take a chance at re-examining his makeup.

Now you could make the argument that a great storyteller will always find new and interesting stories. But the problem is, after 80 years, new and interesting stories are a lot harder to come by. And in the meantime, hundreds of other writers, some of lesser ability, have played in the Superman sandbox and had their own uninspired crack at new and interesting.

In fact, Superman’s world actively resists reinvention. Readers have become so ingrained to seeing Superman look and behave a certain way that we get uncomfortable seeing him step outside of his little prefabricated box. We’re like the old time convicts in THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, too acclimatized to the way of doing things to ever really feel comfortable out in the real world. Oh sure, we can read and love our ALL-STAR SUPERMAN and our Elseworlds stories, but those are temporary and impermanent, a refreshing look at what could be and never a serious threat to the Super status quo.

Which is why the ‘Grounded’ storyline currently running in the Superman titles is so grating. Instead of seeing Superman going around being, well super, we’re treated to the incredibly ho-hum sight of seeing him try to reconnect with humanity. And that’s not his job. That’s Clark Kent’s job. The whole reason Superman persists in keeping up a secret identity is so that he can walk amongst the rest of us without being recognized for who he really is.

Its completely disingenuous for Superman to be hanging around in his cape and tights pretending to be one of the guys. Its a bit like going drinking with your boss. He might be funny and great to hang around with, but you never really forget he’s your boss. So you drink and laugh at his jokes and you have a good time, but you secretly wish he’d move along so you can just relax and be yourself. Having Superman just walking around as Superman is exactly like that. It’s almost as if he wants to be recognized for his ‘sacrifice’ of being regular. But no one’s buying it. We all know what regular people look like, because that’s who we are. We look to Superman for greatness, to be more than regular - because that’s who we want to be.

‘Grounded’ can’t end too soon.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #19
Writer: Paul Cornell
Penciller: Scott McDaniel

The first of two offerings from Paul Cornell this week. Batman and Robin conclude their struggle against the new Bat-villian, The Absence. It’s always a treat to see Scott McDaniel working on a Batman related title. And although sometimes his pencils can seem a bit rushed I find that most times their energy and dynamism really adds another level to whatever project he’s working on.

And another solid effort from Paul Cornell as well, who’s been playing a bit of a shell game with both Batman and Robin as well as the reader, seemingly telling the story of the Absence’s obsession with getting revenge on Bruce Wayne. In reality, the Absence has much more easily obtained goals in mind and delaying Batman and Robin will only help to further her cause.

Can I just say how nice it is to see an honest to goodness olde tyme death trap in comic books again? Without making it seem hackneyed or clichéd Cornell creates a tight scene between our heroes and the villainess, which reveals a heck of a lot of characterization by all the players involved while still moving the plot forward. Loved it. What a great way to play with the tropes of the genre without falling victim to their weaknesses.

GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD WARRIORS #6
Writer: Peter J. Tomasi
Penciller: Fernando Pasarin

Have you heard the news that DC is developing an ongoing RED LANTERN series? Apparently three ongoing GL titles aren’t enough to satiate the hunger of the hundreds of slavering Green Lantern fans. Out of all the possible series to emerge from the newly minted post-Blackest Night Rainbow Warriors a Red Lantern series comes at the absolutely end of my list. A corps built around rage, violence and a tendency to vomit up blood? It sounds like a rejected high concept 90s Image title. I’d much rather see a Larfleeze or even a Sinestro ongoing before I skim over the adventures of Mr. Ouchies and the gang.

Abandoned by Kilowog and Arisia for keeping them in the dark about the true nature of his mission in the Unknown Sector Guy Gardner is forced to take Bleez with him to confront the unknown force that is slowly draining the power from the Green Lantern rings. If you’ve read the first five titles of this series you know exactly what you’re getting into here. Dynamic penciling, snappy writing and a ripping good tale. Of all the GL stories currently being told, Warrior easily stands out from the rest of the pack.

KNIGHT AND SQUIRE #4
Writer: Paul Cornell

Ever heard an embittered comic book blogger to tell you to vote with your dollars? Or that bad comic books continue to be made because fans who don’t any better continue to throw good money after bad when it comes to questionable titles? Well, with KNIGHT AND SQUIRE I’m happy to be proven wrong. Initially I found the title uninteresting and its very Britishness detrimental to my enjoyment of the read. However, after time, its grown on me like a fungus and all the things that used to detract from its readability have now become its greatest strengths. I’m so glad that I stuck with this title as Paul Cornell has really managed to define the essence of this British Batman and Robin and define them in their own right, rather than portray them as cheap knockoffs of DCs biggest money maker.

In this issue Knight’s mechanized costume becomes possessed by a corrupt memory engram of Knight, causing the suit to believe that he is the real deal. Only the memory engram seems to be masochistically focused on reliving Knight’s greatest failures and mistakes. Cornell does a great job presenting us with a different take on what makes a superhero. So many heroes seem to be defined by the need to fight crime because of some injustice in their past. While the Knight is a legacy character who manages to overcome his own doubt and failures and be a hero in spite of his fears. Rather than giving into an emo, woe is me take on the character Cornell presents him almost as a recovering alcoholic (which in a way he is), cheerfully optimistic and determined to take each challenge one day at a time. A great read.

Comic book reviews for the week of December 15th in six sentences (or less)

Best of the Week

Green Lantern #60

In contrast to last issue’s talky-talky vibe writer Geoff Johns has come back with a heavy fighty-fighty one. The mysterious bandaged figure, who’s been kidnapping the various colour spectrum entities, turns out to be Krona. And, as near as I can remember, the last time we saw Krona was in the pages of TRINITY where he was forced back into the Cosmic Egg from JLA\Avengers. There’s no explanation offered for his return, or why he‘s interested in the spectrum entities. So expect a Johns-style continuity patch in the next issue or so.

GREEN LANTERN often straddles the line between ludicrous and awesomeness, but the more I read it the more I’m convinced I’m privy to an institutionally sanctioned fan-fic adventure. It always seems like Johns is trying to create fantasy versions of established characters. “What if Batman was in the Sinestro Corp?” or “What if the Flash was taken over by Parallax?” If I’m being pessimistic I’d say its a cheap way to create new action figures based on a couple panels of story.

With Johns and artist Doug Mahnke continuing to rock out this title every month, GREEN LANTERN is easily one of the most consistent titles put out by DC. With a GL movie hitting the screens in 2011, anyone with a casual interest in the franchise should be looking to pick up this title to get a feel for the character and his extended universe.

Batman and Robin #18

Featuring the origins of Batman’s (and Bruce Wayne’s) newest enemy, The Absence. This issue is mostly explanatory back story. The Absence is born when rich socialite Una Nemo is shot in the head and dumped into the Gotham River. Through a combination of river pollution (really, are we still using pollution as a viable method of creating villains?) and Dandy Walker Syndrome, which are fluid filled spaces in the human brain, Nemo survives her experience to become The Absence. Scarred and traumatized as a result of her near death experience Nemo develops an obsession with capturing the attention of Bruce Wayne with whom she had a brief romantic fling before she was shot.

Paul Cornell serves up a perfectly serviceable, if a bit slow, origin story. And if wasn’t for the fact that DC put two artists on this thing in order to push this issue out in time I think we’d be looking at a better than average Bat-issue. But, in reality, the whole thing feels a bit rushed and I’ve come to expect something more than ‘perfectly serviceable’ from the writer of ACTION COMICS and KNIGHT AND SQUIRE. Better luck next time.

Brightest Day #16

Hey, it’s the untold origin of Aqualad y’all. Turns out he’s the son of Black Manta and an Atlantean prisoner from the inaccessible undersea prison colony of Xebel. (Don’t you just love comics?) Ivan Reis draws pretty pictures and writers Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi do a good job in creating an intriguing backstory for Aqualad. Interspersed throughout are brief snippets of the Firestorm plot, which is a shame because the Firestorm story is the weakest ongoing in BRIGHTEST DAY. Barring that unfortunate misstep this series is a great example of what bi-weekly storytelling can do when you put top drawer talent behind the wheel.

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #5

Guy Gardner and co. continue their exploration of the unknown sector when they’re waylaid by a squadron of rogue green lanterns who seem to think our heroes are Sinestro Corps soldiers. Of course that means we’re about to be treated to some lantern on lantern violence and writer Peter J. Tomasi succeeds in delivering the goods. Artist Fernando Pasarin continues to rock this title as well displaying an incredible range of action. From shoot em up battle segments to lower key emotional interactions Pasarin manages to capture the nuances of each scene perfectly.

A couple points to quibble with. Looks like there’s some broken telephone at play amongst the GL titles. First of all, over in GREEN LANTERN #60, we’re told that its been six weeks since the events of BLACKEST NIGHT, but EMERALD WARRIORS states that the events within its pages are taking place almost twice that amount of time later. Furthermore, in GL #60, Sinestro goes running when he’s told that his daughter’s life is in danger. This is a direct contradiction to what’s happening in GREEN LANTERN CORPS where Kyle Rayner pleaded unsuccessfully with Sinestro for help using the exact same argument.

When you try to run three separate titles in the same shared story space these kinds of things are going to happen. It’s minor irritant but it says something to the level of quality of the story telling when I’m reduced to complaining about these kind of minutiae.

Superman #706

So, with the departure of uber-writer it JMS it turns out that last month’s fill-in issue wasn’t really a fill in after all, but a declaration of the new status quo. Picking up the reins of the title are writer G.Willow Wilson and artist Amilcar Pinna. Sadly, the results are fairly uninspiring. This issue takes us away from the Grounded storyline to check in with Perry White and the staff of the Daily Planet. Apparently without Superman stories to print the planet has fallen on hard times and has come under attack from a local journo-blog. This issue grates on my nerves. A financially strapped Daily Planet is clichéd Superman plot line #42. I can’t begin to count the number of times this hackneyed story has been trotted out.

I’m convinced that Willow hasn’t actually checked in with a major print publication in the last ten years. He tries to portray the Planet like an out of touch dinosaur, unable to keep up with the changes in technology. Perry White doesn’t know what a blog is, he doesn’t know how it works and he sure as hell doesn’t want one near his newspaper. In reality, newspapers today have been forced to embrace new media a long time ago, employing bloggers and a vibrant web presence in order to retain readers. When a writer clearly doesn’t understand what it is he’s talking about it destroys any interest I have in the story, especially when he uses it as central plank of the whole story.

Oh, and one more thing. Perry White doesn’t smoke. He developed cancer a few years ago, almost died and he f@cking gave up cigars as a result. Do me a favour and stop trying to put a cigar back in his mouth, because when you do that what you’re telling me is that cancer scare was pointless.

Comic book reviews for the week of December 8th in six sentences (or less)

Best of the Week

John Constantine: Hellblazer - City of Demons#5
You need five things to have a great Hellblazer story, booze, cigarettes, a cranky English bastard, black magic and a horrific personal tragedy. City of Demons has all of the above, in spades. In this final issue of the mini series Constantine comes up against the architects behind the demon blood infections and has a nasty surprise from them. And of course, this being a Hellblazer story, there's always a nasty surprise waiting for him as well.

There have been a lot of Hellblazer stories over the years, sadly of varying quality, but this particular one manages to condense what it is that makes John Constantine such a captivating character. It distills the essence of the pissy SOB and makes him as compelling and interesting as he ever was. Hats off to Si Spencer for writing one of the best 'blazer tales since Garth Ennis helmed the book. And Sean Murphy continues to blow my mind with his art. His work on JOE THE BARBARIAN and this title have rocketed him up list of personal favourites. I can't say enough good things about him.

27 #1
So, according to this, 27 is supposed to be the next big thing to hit your LCS. Apparently its getting a lot of positive buzz and the first print run of the title even sold out. In fact Bleeding Cool even goes as far as to suggest picking up an issue and flipping it for a quick buck, its just that hot. Usually I’m immune to buying the next big thing, but because it was a light week for me I bought my store’s second to last copy to see if the end product lived up to all the hype.

Sadly, it doesn’t.

The titular 27 refers to the age where several famous musicians died, including Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain. Will Garland is simply the latest guitarist to face personal tragedy when hitting that tricky age, contracting a debilitating disease known as sympathetic dystrophy that leaves him unable to play the guitar. Unable to find a conventional cure he starts exploring alternative methods, including contacting crackpot-scientist types, in the hopes they can treat his illness. However, he doesn’t bargain on the strange mechanical device that ends up in his chest, one that actually seems to let him play the guitar again.

It’s a setup issue so there isn’t anything really very attention grabbing here. Writer Charles Soule seems concerned with getting all his pieces in place more than anything else. The lead in issue was interesting but didn’t reach out and really grab me, which is what I want for something as hyped as this title was. I was hoping to hit the ground running with elaborate theories and pseudo-scientific conspiracies and what I got was a slow burn instead. Now that’s patently unfair to the writer who doesn’t need me projecting my expectations on the work sight unseen. But the story hook, the untold tale of 27 and musicians, was such an interesting plot that I started to craft my own plot before I even cracked the cover on the real thing. The art, by Renzo Podesta, is good, but a little too stripped down and cartoony to really be my bag. On the whole 27 was interesting but I don't think I'll have any problems leaving the second issue on the shelf.



The Flash #7
It's another famous Geoff Johns Flash break issue, where we take a pause for the cause from the regular plot line to do a little indepth examination of one Flasher's Rogues Gallery. This time out we're looking into the origins of the Flash's second most deadly White Lantern resurrection, Captain Boomerang. This issue covers Boomerang's start as a poor Australian boy, his time as one of Flash's Rogues and his career on the Secret Six. (Of course it wouldn't be a Johns secret origin tale if he didn't graft a bloody tragedy onto the Rogue's past, in this case having Captain Boomerang murder his own father at his mother's funeral.) There's also a small plot here with Boomerang having a discussion with fellow resurrectee, the Reverse Flash, about what the future holds for him. It's a typical solid effort from Johns and Manapul and as long as they both keep on keeping on I'll be happy to read what they're putting out.

Knight and Squire #3
Look, I love all things British but for whatever reason KNIGHT AND SQUIRE never really caught on with me. I don't know if it was because I found the humour wasn't universal enough or some of the British motifs were too obscure for me, whatever the reason reading KNIGHT AND SQUIRE was more obligation than enjoyment. Until this week. Reading about British Batman's Twitter battle - sorry, Twunter battle - with a clone Richard the Third, who can seemingly only speak in Shakespearian asides finally snuck its way past my defenses. The whole thing felt like a goofy Silver Age story told through a uniquely British lens and I absolutely loved it. Kudos to Paul Cornell for turning out a great story and now I'm looking forward to reading what else he's got on tap for K&S

Comic book reviews for the week of December 1st in six sentences (or less)

A very light week here at Six Sentences or Less HQ. Even more so when you consider my LCS didn’t have SUPERGOD #5. So, with a mere two comics to review this week I promise you that the whole process will be relatively painless (and brief).

Best of the Week

Action Comics Annual #13 (aka the continuing Adventures of Lex Luthor when he was a young man)

Building on Paul Cornell’s fantastic run on the life and times of Lex Luthor, this issue deals with some of Lex’s earlier run-ins with some of the DCU’s shadier muckity mucks. (Psst, you can tell Lex is young because he’s got hair!) Divided into two separate stories, each tale is designed to inform and explore the circumstances that helped make Lex the kind of person that he is today. The front half of the book deals with Lex’s first run in with Darkseid, who tricks Lex into coming to Apokolips in order to create new weapons for him. The second half of the book shows Lex under the tutelage of Ra’s Al Ghul and how Lex threw away an opportunity to become his successor because he was unable to control his own curiosity. Together these two stories remind me a lot of the Batman mythos. Substituting Lex as a stand-in for Bruce, he travels the world learning his craft and developing the skills and mentality necessary to rise to the top of his chosen ‘profession’.

Frankly, I have to ask, what’s the point of even reviewing this title anymore? It’s become some bizarre version of mad libs where every week I look for a new way to say awesome. (Fun fact: if you’re looking for a better adjective than ‘awesome’, I suggest you give up now.) What I love about this comic is how it allows Lex Luthor to grow into a person in how own right, without continually trying to define him only by his opposition to Superman. He’s still ruthless and amoral but now readers get a deeper understanding about why that is instead of just chalking the whole thing up to ‘he’s evil ‘cause he’s got no hair’. Finally we get to see a little of the nurture argument instead of putting all the responsibility in the hands of nature.

Brightest Day #15

In this issue of BD J’onn J’onzz breaks free of the mental manipulation of his fellow Green Martian, D’kay D’razz. The story is nothing new, it’s a variation on the classic Alan Moore story, ‘For the Man Who has Everything.’ J’onzz mistakenly believes that his family and the Martian people have been brought back to life by the mysterious White Lantern energy. However, his subconscious starts to bleed through the fantasy revealing the painful and disturbing truth that lies beneath.

This title started off as an anthology of sorts, devoting a couple pages per issue to following half a dozen storylines involving characters brought back to life in the pages of BLACKEST NIGHT. Inspired by the success of some of DC’s weekly format series, like 52, the end results were a mixed bag of different artists backed by the same writing team. Thankfully the series seems to have found its own voice, focusing only on one character’s storyline per issue, drastically improving the flow and structure of the title and allowing great artists, like, oh say, Patrick Gleason to really shine. It’s a great opportunity to shine the spotlight on some of the DCU’s B-Listers, giving the characters a chance to succeed on their own merits, while tying the disparate storylines together under the BRIGHTEST DAY banner. This title has gone from a middle of the road read to one of the strongest, most consistent serial superhero ballads out there.

Comic book reviews for the week of November 24th in six sentences (or less)

Best of the Week

Walking Dead #79
Maybe this is the Best of the Week because I’m still riding the high I get from watching this series come to life on my television. Whatever the reason, it was the first thing I popped open when I got back from Ye Olde LCS and I don’t regret it for a second. In this issue the community is still putting trying to put their lives back together after a pathetically failed invasion attempt by another group of survivors. The gunplay from the run-in has attracted a herd of zombies who, unbeknownst to the group, are slowly converging on the neighbourhood. Robert Kirkman mixes up the normally mono-track story telling with a little split screen parallel plotting. It’s a nice change of pace and not normally something we see in this book. Charlie Adlard continues to kill when it comes to pencils. And that’s all she wrote.

Action Comics #895
The first of two entries for writer Paul Cornell this week. Vandal Savage has built an entire city overtop of two Black Lantern energy remnants from THE BLACKEST NIGHT in order to protect them from Lex Luthor. Of course, being Vandal Savage, he has the opportunity to do this hundreds of years before Lex is born and before he knows who he even is. This title continues to be an interesting character examination of one of DC’s premiere super-villains. The character is Lex hardly two dimensional, but after decades of stories on the man I thought there were very few takes on him that hadn’t been previously explored. I’m really enjoying Cornell’s exploration of Lex. He’s muted some of Lex’s cartoony, traditional Super-foil aspects and instead given depth and nuance to a character who is usually immune to both.

Batman and Robin #17
Say what you will about Scott McDaniel, but the guy manages to draw a dynamic, energetic story on a deadline and he makes it look good. I’m convinced that McDaniel doesn’t get the respect he deserves and too often he seems to be the go-to fill artist whenever DC needs to turn something around quickly. Paul Cornell takes the opportunity to do a little world building in the lives of Dick-bats and Robin, putting them on their first proper case unrelated to the events of RIP, FINAL CRISIS and THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE. In this story Dick and Damien are tasked with solving the murder of a casual ex-girlfriend of Bruce. While tracking the killer, why seems to suffer from a very Batman villain like compulsion to leave revealing clues, they stumble across a wedding gone horribly awry. It’s a fun, light read and a good counterpoint to the perpetual Bats-event comic we’ve all been reading for the past 5 years.

Batman: Odyssey #5
Another inscrutable Neal Adams Batman story. At the behest of Deadman Batman begins to investigate sinister goings on at Arkham Asylum. And that’s the best that I can do at crafting a one sentence summary for this title.

I’m still not convinced that there weren’t pages missing from this comic. Seriously, a reader shouldn’t have to work this hard to follow the basic narrative of this story. I had to reread several section of this issue and I’m not 100% sure I know what going on. The storytelling is sloppy and unfocused. And the art, while pretty, sometimes fails to illustrate crucial aspects of what’s happening in a scene. There was one section involving a conversation between Batman and a Deadman-possessed Joker that still has me scratching my head. When your artist and your writer are the same person there’s no excuse for crafting a tale this impenetrable.

Green Arrow #6
There’s something happening in this title that I can’t recall ever happening in a modern Green Arrow story, world building. I’m not just talking about creating new characters and fleshing out someone’s stable of villains. I’m talking about simple things, like creating easily defined visual geographic landmarks, like the unoriginally named Sherwood Forest or the iconic Queen Industries office tower (which is treated by the inhabitants of Star City like its been around YEARS, but I’ve sure as shit never seen it before). Even something simple like giving a GA a typical superhero symbol, a stylized ‘G’ belt buckle in the shape of an arrowhead. It’s all superhero world building 101 and some of DC’s most prominent characters have used it to great effect, sporting landscapes that are nearly as recognizable as they are. More importantly, GA has never, if ever, had these tools in his arsenal. Green is not a trademark, it’s a colour scheme and while it may help to inform his identity visually it lacks the simplistic touchstones we as audience need when identifying the good guys.

They only problem is that seminal characters like Superman and Batman have had years to build up these trademarks. Green Arrow titles seem to get re-booted on a semi-annual basis and each new direction is perpendicular to the one that preceded it.

Ultimate Spider-man #150
With this issue Spider-man goes back to his new/old title and numbering. It’s a fairly standard anniversary style issue, complete with the requisite new direction for the character that is often touted during these kinds of milestones. Various characters ruminate on their first meeting with Spider-man and reflect on his nature and character. Peter reflects on the true nature of what it means to be a hero. It’s all pretty standard stuff, but it’s well done so I’m not going to complain. It was nice to see a couple pages from Mark Bagley in this issue, especially considering I thought he was still exclusive to DC. For the longest time Bags take on Ultimate Spidey was so synonymous with the character it was hard to imagine anyone else drawing him and I thought it was really classy of DC to let him do these pages. (If in fact he’s still exclusive)

I’m also not going to get into the changes the Ultimate Universe has been through lately. I’ve seen that analysed in greater depth and with more intelligence then I can offer. Bottom line, in recent years the bloom has definitely come off the rose. The Ultimate line used to be synonymous with fresh takes on classic Marvel characters, unencumbered by the stifling shackles of continuity. Only after ten years it’s inevitable that the Ultimate Universe’s own continuity and publishing mis-steps have robbed the imprint of a lot of its vitality. Only Spider-man seems to have bucked this trend. Given the drop off in numbers for the Ultimate titles I have to wonder how long Marvel will choose to keep this imprint going. I think, if anything, the Ultimate Universe was a victim of its own success, with its greatest ideas and triumphs co-opted by the regular Marvel 616. Either way, whatever its fate, it was an interesting undertaking and one that I think helped revitalize the Marvel U.

Comic book reviews for the week of October 13th in six sentences (or less)

Hey everyone, these are 24 hours late because we suffered a power failure last night (which feels like the modern equivalent to 'the dog ate my homework').

Best of the Week

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #5

The current chapter of Grant Morrison’s Batman epic is drawing to a close. And even the most casual fan of either the writer, or the character he’s playing with, has to respect the lengths to which Morrison has gone to mine the lesser known aspects of the franchise and reconcile some of its more fantastic elements. Suddenly, everything is on the table, because it all happened. Every cockamamie Silver Age story that was wiped away by CRISIS OF INFINITE EARTHS with an embarrassing shrug actually took place. It’s like the Batman franchise has been rebooted on the sly and decades worth of stories are now relevant again, or at least deserve a chance to be re-examined in the wake of Morrison's stint.

Hellblazer: City of Demons #1

I’m not sure why the Hellblazer franchise decided to spin this story out into a miniseries, because right now there’s nothing taking place in these pages that can’t be handled in the main title. Is Vertigo sitting on a backlog of ‘blazer stories and wanting to see some return on their investment? Anyway, I would have passed on this if it wasn’t being pencilled by the fantastic Sean Murphy. You might remember him from his work on JOE THE BARBARIAN and Learning with Wolverine. There’s nothing here that you don’t see in a straight of ‘blazer story. John Constantine drinks, smokes, acts like a dick and is apparently still British. All good in my books, but I’m still curious to see what makes this story so special.

Knight and Squire #1

Combining Paul Cornell, the current writer of ACTION COMICS, with Knight and Squire, one of Grant Morrison’s great reinventions seems like a recipe for printing money. In reality it’s neither good nor bad, but just kind of...there. The writing is solid, the art passable but not spectacular and its full of British-y goodness. Surprisingly, it does nothing for me. The story deals with heroes and villains that gather to socialize once a month at a local pub, prevented from fighting each due to the influence of ‘truce magic.’ As you might expect, the truce is broken and chaos ensues. I’m willing to stick with the story for another issue, but this title will really have to up its game if it expects to keep me as a reader.

Green Lantern #58

One of things that impresses me about Geoff Johns is the man’s ability to stick with a title. In today’s comic book market, some writers can’t stay with a book longer than an arc or too. Yet Johns frequently manages to write on a title for years, a rarity in any age and practically unheard of today. With Doug Mahnke rocking the pencils and Johns continuing to pen the story he’s been working on for the last five years this title is consistently at the top of my pull list. This month we’re treated to the continuing adventures of the Rainbow Raiders. Johns is doing an admirable job portraying the disparate personalities that banded together after the events of THE BLACKEST NIGHT in a realistic and believe manner. (Well, as realistic as a group of aliens with multicoloured magic wishing rings can ever hope to be)

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors

Peter J. Tomasi might not be gracing the pages of the GREEN LANTERN CORPS anymore, but he’s not too far from the GL franchise thanks to his work on EMERALD WARRIORS. I get the impression that Johns uses the main GL title to tie the franchise into the DCU and move events forward. This leaves GLC and now EW to pick up some of the dangling plot threads and flesh out the larger world of the Corps. Its a system that works really well for all the titles involved. And Fernando Pasarin is just killing it on pencils. I’m not used to seeing art this great on a book that I consider to be part of the expanded DCU and not a core title.

Superman #703

I’m conflicted. On the one hand I respect what J. Michael Straczynski is attempting to do with the Superman franchise. He’s trying to approach the character in a fashion that he believes has never been done before. And I respect that. On the other hand, I’m not sure he’s been entirely successful in his aims. Let’s face it, when you have a publishing history as long as Superman does there aren’t very many unexplored angles. While readers may never have seen it in such an elongated form, the concept of a reflective Superman has been done before, many times over. Done properly in the course of a single issue it can be a powerful tool. Spread it across an entire story arc and it can border on tedious. This month, Superman continues in his mission to walk across America. He gets in a fight, wins it and everything looks pretty much the same as it has in his world for the last 70 years. I’m not willing to write JMS off yet. But at this point I’m look forward to his SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE book more so than I am his work on the main title.

Superior #1

Say what you will about Mark Millar, and the man certainly has his fair share of detractors, but the man knows how to make the most of what he has. If he’s not promoting himself, or his work, he’s name dropping his Hollywood connections or stepping outside his traditional box to try new things, like directing a film for pete’s sake. The man is a shameless huckster and the comic world is better for it. Whether you like or dislike his writing most people seem to have an opinion about it. Which means you’re probably reading what he puts out and that’s the point of the whole thing. Anyway, SUPERMA…I mean SUPREM…er…SUPERIOR #1 is a straight up origin tale with Superman like overtones. Most origin tales are limited by what they can do as they’re too busy checking off the obligatory narrative plot points. With any luck the second issue will allow Millar to start monkeying around with conventions of the genre.

Comic book reviews for the week of September 29th

A light week this time out, as I make good on my promise to keep my comic purchasing habits under control. So without further ado…

Best of the week

Action Comics #893

Like your Superman based comics to actually have Superman in them? Well then you’re in the minority chumly, because for the past two years the Man of Steel has been MIA in his own flagship title. These days ACTION COMICS is the stomping grounds for Lex Luthor and his quest to locate the power source of the Black Lantern Rings, after his own ring based adventures in Blackest Night. This month, Paul Cornell and Sean Chen continue Luthor’s adventures amongst the Who’s Who of the DCU’s A-List baddies by engineering a confrontation with Gorilla Grodd (kneel before Grodd!!!). And don’t forget the backup starring perennial afterthought Jimmy Olsen and newly discovered afterthought Chloe Sullivan.

Green Arrow #4
I think that the character of Green Arrow has all the strengths of Batman, with none of the weaknesses that come from being that same wildly popular character, with multiple ongoing titles and a 70 year publishing history. In the larger DCU pantheon of heroes Green Arrow is a relatively untapped resource that is all too often overlooked. Unfortunately, in DC’s attempt to give him relevance and meaning they had to set fire to his marriage, morals, back story and supporting cast. All so they could pigeonhole him into mirroring a modern day Robin Hood mythos. The whole concept is uninspired and a little too ‘on the nose’ for my taste, even if the story is adequately handled.

Wonder Woman #603

My plan was to pick up this title only for its first arc under J. Michael Straczynski. The writing is perfectly serviceable and the story line is interesting, but I’ve never been interested enough in the character to follow her adventures on an ongoing basis. Unfortunately, while turning out an enjoyable script, JMS hasn’t done anything this month to make me change my mind about that. Interesting and enjoyable just aren’t enough to counter the paralyzing lack of interest I’ve built up around this character. I appreciate what JMS is trying to do, by playing around with one of DC’s golden calfs and seeing if he can’t alter her frozen status quo, just a bit. Anyway, this month WW continues to learn about her new role as protector of the Amazonian remnants in man’s world.