Final Crisis #3: I’m refraining from doing a full write-up on Final Crisis until I’ve got a more full picture of the story. This strikes me as one of those Morrison epics that reads better when you have the whole thing in front of you. A lot of people have compared it to Morrisons Rock of Ages arc from his long-ago JLA run. There are certainly some similarities between the two stories. I remember being very frustrated with Rock of Ages when I first read it. Then I went back and read it start to finish and I was blown away. With Final Crisis, I am enjoying the big, crazy ideas. I suspect we’re seeing a masterpiece unfold. But it’s still too early to say whether the pay-off will deliver.
Final Crisis: Reign in Hell #1: Giffen has compared this mini-series to his work on Annhilation for Marvel. Both mini-series are clearly attempts at “world-building”. I never could bring myself to read Annhilation in spite of all the accolades, because Marvel’s space heroes bore me to tears. But I have just enough interest in DC’s underworld to give Reign in Hell a fair shake. And I’m glad I did. Giffen’s first issue isn’t earth-shatteringly good. But I did find his take on the underworld to be surprisingly contemporary. He steers away from the traditional Dante’s Inferno imagery in favor of a more modern and politically inspired version of Hell.
Final Crisis: Revelations #1: So far, I’ve enjoyed all of the first issues for the FC tie-in mini-series and this was no exception. I’ll rank it a close second to Rogue’s Revenge. The art by Philip Tan is appropriately dark and moody. And Rucka proves suprisingly deft handling the cosmic stuff. The Spectre is a character that DC generally has a hard time handling. But Rucka’s take on the new Spectre as a conflicted weapon of the all-mighty is interesting. A lot of plot threads are set in motion in the first issue and it promises to be a good read. My one complaint is that I would have liked to have seen more of how Renee Montoya went from leading the Order of Stone to betraying them.
Green Arrow & Black Canary #11: Last issue, I did a full write-up complaining that the story had stalled out. It felt like Winnick was padding out his run so it could end at issue 12. This issue crams in a bunch of exposition in some really clumsy ways. Mostly, it’s just talking heads explaining how and why the lame League of Shadows was formed. It’s hard to pick the true low point. At first, I thought it was when Batman called up Ra’s al Ghul so his hologram could tell the League of Shadows what a bunch of losers they were. But I think I have to give the nod to the non-explanation for Plastic Man’s involvement in the story. Judd Winnik might as well just have stepped on panel, said “I like Plastic Man” and waved to the reader. The final page reveal is kind of cool, but it comes at least 2 issues too late. I’ve liked a lot of Winnick’s run on Green Arrow, but I’ll be glad to see him go. Bring on the new writer!
Uncanny X-Men #500: I’m not an X-Men fan. I am a Brubaker fan and I picked up the first year of his Uncanny run for X-Men in space. It really tested my loyalty to Bru. His next story arc involving the Morlocks finally drove me away for good. But I decided to give him a second chance and check out the new direction. I could not believe my eyes. This is a train-wreck of Titans proportions. I would actually go so far as to say I preferred The Titans because it knew it was cheesy garbage. Uncanny X-Men thinks it’s treading new ground a la Morrison’s run. But instead, it’s just preachy and stupid. The Greg Land art is ridiculous. All the women have facial expressions that were clearly traced over from a catalogue model. I’ll take a cartoonish, naked Starfire lounging by the pool over a full issue of photo-realistic Victoria’s Secret models posing as the X-babes. The storyline with Magneto and decomissioned *yawn* Sentinels was. . . zzzzzz . . . Oh sorry. Fell asleep there. This issue was insultingly bad. I won’t be giving it a second chance.
Secret Invasion #5: I’m not really a Marvel fan. I’ve never really been a big fan of Bendis. And I hate the Skrulls. By all rights, I shouldn’t be enjoying Secret Invasion. I’m just reading the main book and skipping the tie-ins. And it is a surprisingly good read. At it’s core, it’s just another Skrull story told on a bigger canvas. The pace has been padded out beyond belief. But Bendis’ dialogue and characterizations are strong enough and Yu’s art is brilliant enough to carry me along for the ride. I can’t wait to see things kick into high gear as the tide seems to be turning in the heroes’ favor. Go get some Skrulls, Clint!
Superman #678: While I’ve been blown away by Geoff Johns’ Brainiac story, Robinson has been building the foundation of his run in Superman. On the whole, I am enjoying it. If nothing else, I have to give him credit for creating an interesting new villain for Superman in the form of Atlas. This issue focuses on Atlas’ back story and it’s a great read. I look forward to seeing what Robinson can do when the focus returns to the Man of Steel. The Superman books haven’t been this good in ages.
Supergirl #32: Yeah, I picked this one up by mistake. And what a mistake! I thought this might be the issue that started the new direction on Supergirl. Nope. Same stupid direction. It’s a shame Drew Johnson’s fine artwork was wasted on this lousy comic book.
Tags: DC Comics, Final Crisis, Final Crisis: Revelations, Green Arrow and Black Canary, Marvel Comics, Reign in Hell, Secret Invasion, Supergirl, Superman, Uncanny X-Men
August 17, 2008 at 8:15 am |
Reign in Hell’s a Crisis tie in? Didn’t know that.
I’ll probably get the trade for that one, Giffen fan that I am.