Review: Blackest Night #4

We’ve finally hit the halfway point of Blackest Night, and as some of our readers have noted, we here at Read/RANT haven’t been particularly kind to the deeply flawed semi-horror event.  This issue illustrates a marked improvement over the past issues, and it somehow comes as no surprise that the title’s strongest issue is its least Hal-centric.  Yes, the Halwankery still comes on thick and strong in a few portions of the book, particularly when Johns’ other comicrush, the omnipresent Barry Allen, is speaking.  However, the issue also provides a couple of the book’s strongest moments, most notably a Geoff Johns Shock Ending (TM) that actually mostly works within the narrative.

This issue was extremely action heavy.  In fact, this issue was, with the exception of a couple pages of Ray Palmer, Mera and Barry Allen talking, just about every page had some violence on it.  It is perhaps this apocalyptic focus that helps the issue escape the worst of Johns’  tendencies.  Only one major legacy characters get blandly murdered and no women, and for all that Barry can’t seem to help but suggest that the only way to fight this is to ‘be like Hal’, the rest of the characters seem to be taking the apocalypse with the appropriate amount of fear and courage.  He even manages to slip in a few clever character beats largely absent from previous issues, like the Scarecrow wandering around a monochromatic Gotham City, immune to the Black Lanterns because his emotions are so deadened he hardly registers.

Reis continues to turn in strong work.  While the sheer number of Black Lanterns has dampened any terror there might have been at their appearance, he seems to have enjoyed crafting their new look immensely.  The action sequences are large in scale and well-illustrated, though a tad too dark.  Meanwhile, colorist Alex Sinclair is used sparingly to illustrate the emotional spectrum, but when he does, he’s gotten on board with the Blackest Night: Superman idea of allowing the characters to feel more than one thing at any given time.

Blackest Night continues to be deeply flawed.  That said, as the series marches on, it seems to be getting stronger and finding its voice.  This issue dropped almost all of the book’s failed pretensions of horror in favor of a dark, gothic, very traditional superhero story, a tonal shift that can only work in the title’s favor.  With the already-spoiled Nekron reveal, Johns and Co. have moved on to the next stage of their story.  Let’s hope they continue to trend towards a decent story.

Grade: B-

- Cal Cleary

Read/RANT

Blackest Night #3

Top Ten Horror Movies of the 00′s

‘Tis the season! With the end of the decade and Halloween approaching, now’s the best time to torture your soul with the best horror this decade has to offer. Now, please, forgive me. The horror genre, like everything else, is getting blurrier. It’s hard to tell just what exactly is a horror film these days. I attempted to honor the genre, while keeping a clear opinion of what the best are. Enjoy!

10. 30 Days of Night

It was either this or Zombieland. A) You already know and love Zombieland. B) This is a comic site! I have to mention the adaptations when I can. 30 Days of Night could’ve easily been mediocre. An essential part of the book’s success was Templesmith’s art. Having said that, this movie looks pretty damn good. Snow always feels epic. 30 Days of Night is well-acted and well-made. It manages to naturally stretch Niles’ novel, making it, in some ways, better. To those of you who vomit at the sight of sparkly, beautiful teenage vampires, watch 30 Days of Night. These are just about the ugliest vampires ever filmed, and that’s a good thing.

9. Land of the Dead

I would’ve loved to re-watch this one, but I figure I have to get this out before Halloween. Romero’s return wasn’t as earth-shattering as we may have liked, but there’s plenty of merit here. For one thing, Land of the Dead looks great and features actors who can actually act. For another, Romero still manages to scare us with creatures who aren’t all that scary, providing uniquely gory deaths for his decent actors. And what would a Romero Dead flick be without some social commentary? With “Fiddler’s Green,” he managed to capture both the atmosphere of rich nations, who live in luxury while many still live in hell-holes, and of a post-post 9/11 world. While we sit comfortably, discussing American Idol, the evil is still lurking, and, perhaps, evolving.

8. The Mist

Ok, it’s kind of a zombie movie with bugs, but that’s different, right? In fact, thanks to the titular mist, the creatures can be grand and epic, without looking too cheesy. We’ve got some great actors here: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Toby Jones. They help elevate the material. Frank Darabont, the director of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, completes his King trilogy, and it’s a lot of gruesome fun. This being a comic site, I have to mention Darabont’s Walking Dead TV involvement. If you want to see if he’s right for that adaptation, this movie will give you a clue.

7. 28 Days Later

Again, I would’ve loved to re-watch this. I even rented it, and I will watch it, but I’m a slave to this post. Danny Boyle was a good director before Slumdog Millionaire. I swear he was, and this film is part of the proof. I mentioned in my introduction how the horror genre has gotten blurry. Indeed, this film helped start that, with many rabid fans crying, “These aren’t zombies!” Well, whatever they are, they’re scary as hell. 28 Days Later has many impressive, grim shots of a destroyed London. It has great performances from the then-newcomer Cillian Murphy and the always-fantastic Brendan Gleeson. This may have helped splinter the zombie genre, but at least it’s pretty damn good.

6. Shaun of the Dead

This movie hammered home what George Romero has known since the 70′s: zombies are hilarious! They’re such boring monsters. In this film, we can barely tell them apart from the boring humans, maybe that’s just because they’re British. Shaun of the Dead is hilarious, but it also manages to touch upon the important elements of zombie movies, such as banding together, social commentary, and that wonderful gore.

5. Drag Me to Hell

I don’t want to oversell this, but Drag Me to Hell is arguably Raimi’s best film. We’re back to Evil Dead 2, with the perfect mixture of terror and comedy. Christine isn’t as lovable as Ash. She’s not really meant to be. However, Alison Lohman is a perfect horror heroine. She has the innocent looks and a wonderful scream. Amongst the laughs and gasps, this movie teaches us some very valuable lessons. Never deny an old gypsy! And never dig up a body in the worst storm of the decade!

4. Grindhouse

Yeah, it’s one film, damn it. Funny thing about this being on a “best” list, it’s trying so hard to be bad. That said, this is probably the most enjoyable pick on my list. Ok, so Deathproof isn’t much of a horror film, even though hot girls are getting hunted and slaughtered by a badass Kurt Russell, but Planet Terror is horror all the way, in the vein of a Carpenter flick. You’ve got the babes. You’ve got the gore. You’ve even got the great actors, like Bruce Willis! And if you’re not at least a little scared of testicle harvesting, I don’t know what to tell ya.

3. American Psycho

Finally, a slasher movie where the murders don’t matter, even within the context of the film! Bateman’s murders are an expression of his boredom and vanity. Mary Harron took this material and made it an exploration of male insanity, rather than just Bateman’s. You’ve all seen these guys. They’re on Wall Street. They’re trying to sell you something. They might even be firing you. American Psycho documents masculine squabbles in deliciously, horrific detail. Perhaps, most chilling of all, the film asks, “What if these assholes really are killing, and, with wealth & power, their mess is wiped clean?”

2. Antichrist

I was mugged by God. That was my initial reaction to this film. True of almost every great film, on the first viewing, we’re not really sure what we’ve seen. This movie’s depth is so endless, it threatens to swallow you whole, taunting you to disregard it as Eurotrash. What I am sure of is the bravery of Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsburg, who follow Trier’s insanity to the end. Trier is a madman, as most great directors are, and his images, no matter how shattering to our senses, are fully realized here.

1. Sweeney Todd

The bloodiest musical, Burton’s possible best, and indeed, the greatest horror film of the decade. Burton stays faithful to the original tale, as well as Sondheim’s music. Depp and Carter are dressed like 30′s horror stars, paying homage to both the genre and the original film. I never felt Sondheim’s music should be gloriously sung, no matter how talented Angela Lansbury is. These songs are sad and personal, and though Burton’s cast aren’t singers, they are actors, and they deliver their tunes in the best possible way. You won’t find any prancing or choreography here. Sweeney Todd is a dark, terrifying tragedy that will slash its way into your nightmares as efficiently as Mr. Todd’s razors.

-Bruce Castle

Review: World’s Finest #1

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Sterling Gates in the last year or two, largely to do with his revitalization of Supergirl.  With that in mind, and knowing that he’d be writing next year’s Kid Flash title, I figured I’d give his newest mini, World’s Finest, a shot.  I’m still not sure how well Gates will handle the notoriously difficult Bart Allen, but World’s Finest #1 offered a quick, entertaining adventure.

For those unfamiliar with the premise, World’s Finest is a team-up book in which each issue features a different pairing between the Gotham Knights and Team Superman, all tying into a larger story.  Gates does a satisfactory job of that here, introducing all his players with a relative minimum of exposition – though he goes a bit overboard with the new Nightwing, especially given that the title page already talks about his origins – and giving us a done-in-one story connected by the presence of a malevolent figure revealed in the book’s final pages.  His dialogue is simple and to-the-point, and he manages to slip in a fairly clever action beat that lets them wrap up the issue’s big fight quickly.

Artist Julian Lopez does some fairly solid work here as well.  See how thrilled Tim looks when he thinks the tactile telekinetic help he gets mid-fight is Conner, or the otherworldly nature of the Nightwing costume the first time we see it, or, perhaps most impressively, how he manages to make Tim look his age again in a single, relaxed panel as he contemplates something he loved and lost.  Lopez’s action sequences look a little stiff, but, for the most part, he provides clean, simple art that works well with Gates’ script.

World’s Finest isn’t particularly revolutionary, but it is fun. A reasonably solid action comic with a brief, reluctant touch of drama, it’s opening issue provided a nice bit of superheroic escapism.  The good guys prevail, an even bigger bad is revealed, and in the end, everything stays the same.  Slight, but engaging.

Grade: B

- Cal Cleary

Read/RANT

Review: Justice League of America #38

I think that, when it comes to Read/RANT, I’m the resident James Robinson fan.  It isn’t easy these days.  Go back a few years, and there were few who would dispute Robinson as a top-notch creator.  Admittedly, many hadn’t heard of him, nor had they read the title that earned him such accolades… but that just meant they couldn’t really dispute the claim.  Now, however, Robinson has failed to produce a truly successful follow up to Starman, instead giving readers a string of mediocre-to-bad comics, from his uneven Superman to his downright laughable Justice League: Cry for Justice.  And yet, with many of Starman‘s fans, good will remains.  His newest, and arguably his highest profile book to date, hit yesterday as he takes over writing duties on Justice League of America with issue #38.

Unfortunately, there’s little of value in Justice League of America #38.  Robinson opens the issue with the death of Blue Jay, insults Young Justice on the following page, and then introduces Gypsy by having her brought in unconscious and thrown around by Despero.  It’s hard to describe that sequence of events without at least imagining that Robinson is slyly satirizing the recent trend to piss off fans of the critically-praised, beloved JLI and Young Justice, but he plays it so straight and with so little heart that it almost seems incidental to everything else.

Led by Vixen, a group of heroes battered by Prometheus in Justice League: Cry for Justice has gathered in the headquarters of the original Justice League to discuss the future of the group.  Vixen, Dr. Light, Plastic Man and Red Tornado can think of few reasons why the team should exist, let alone any world in which they could be the glue that holds it together, but a surprise attack by Despero unites the four injured heroes with Gypsy and Zatanna.  Together, they manage to fend off the attacker, and that’s when we get the real news: this is a “Blackest Night” tie-in.  Taking place at the exact same time as the events of Blackest Night #3, the newly-formed Justice League decides to crash the Hall of Justice and confront the now-undead villains, seemingly led by the malevolent Dr. Light.

Mark Bagley, recent superstar of DC’s Trinity, does a fine job on the art.  His style is extremely traditional – impossibly thin, curvy women and enormous, muscle-bound men – but that hardly hurts the issue.  The action segments flow smoothly and he keeps the dialogue-driven scenes running well, too, most notably because of Plastic Man, who looks increasingly as though he’s about to fall apart as the issue progresses.

This is a book that I very much wanted to like.  A Justice League comprised of Vixen, Zatanna, Plastic Man, Red Tornado, Gypsy and Kimiyo Hoshi is… well, that’s a pretty damn interesting team, and there are a lot of stories to be told.  Unfortunately, Robinson takes the easy way out – a whole lot of exposition broken up by a brief brawl with a bland baddie. The issue does not suggest that we will see the clever, character-driven action and well-constructed drama for which Robinson justly became a star.  Justice League of America looks to remain, at least for now, a book desperately struggling to find a voice, tone or interesting creative direction.

Grade: C-

- Cal Cleary

Read/RANT

Review: Azrael #1

I didn’t read the two Annuals leading up to this launch, despite the last one featuring the Question and Huntress, two characters for whom I share more than a passing fondness.  The extremely heightened price tag and my so-so interest in Azrael, combined with the fact that I prefer a tongue-in-cheek Nicieza to a grim-n-gritty one, made them fairly skippable.  But Nicieza does still have some good will with me, and the Batman-family relaunches have been fairly interesting to follow, so it seemed worthwhile to give the main title a shot.

Nicieza’s writing here seems to be all over the place.  There are some aspects of it that are stellar, including a bizarre, memorable cliffhanger, and there are some that are downright ridiculous, like the fact that the cliffhanger happens ’6 months, 6 days, and 6 hours’ after… I’m assuming that ‘Now’ always refers to the start of the issue, but it is nonetheless a clumsy device used by a writer trying to be too cute by half.  The bulk of the issue falls somewhere in between those two extremes, with a quickly-solved mystery that largely functions as an examination of how Azrael will operate and a very brief introduction to Azrael’s seemingly bland supporting cast.

Ramon Bachs is almost certain to be the subject of a great deal of argument amongst the book’s readers.  His broad, cartoonish style hurts some of the books slower moments, and give some of the action sequences a fairly stiff, posed quality that takes away from the excitement.  However, alongside inker John Stanisci and colorist JD Smith, he also manages to create some genuinely memorable images, whether it’s the single, bright red band on Bullock’s hat in the otherwise sepia-colored flash forwards or the crackling afterglow of Azrael’s swords.

Overall, Azrael is a strange book.  An awkwardly-conceived religious warrior with a pair of magic swords, he doesn’t seem to fit Gotham’s image terribly well, and a lack of consistency may turn off potentially interested readers.  Nicieza appears to have some solid ideas as to where he wants to take the book, but he offers little evidence that he’ll be able to consistently keep the book interesting long enough to pull an audience with him.

Grade: C

- Cal Cleary

Review: Batgirl #3

Batgirl‘s opening arc, ending with this issue, was brief and uninspired.  That’s not to say it was bad; it was inoffensive enough, if nothing else.  In it, Stephanie proved herself worthy of becoming the next Batgirl in Barbara’s eyes, got a new costume, took one college course, and had it tie (thematically) directly into her case.  We know it tied in to her case thematically because Miller, over the course of this issue, tells us so.  More than once.

Garbett continues to turn in respectable work.  His style is a little too broad for some of the book’s more dramatic moments and the Scarecrow sequences were relatively bland, but he maintains a level of quality that the book needs.

Batgirl is a reasonably acceptable standard superhero book.  It has its share of narrative flaws, but when it comes right down to it, it isn’t trying to do anything terribly complex.  It’s straightforward plotting is hampered by inconsistent characterization; it’s action sequences by a lack of compelling build-up or follow-through.  Fans of Stephanie Brown may enjoy the hero’s rise to prominence and the journey to restore and bolster her confidence, but most readers can find the same content in a hundred other places.

Grade: C-

- Cal Cleary

Read/RANT

Batgirl #2

Review: Booster Gold #25

25 is sort of a signficant number for Booster Gold.  His original series ended with issue 25.  Do this issue officially ties Booster Gold’s personal best run for a solo series.  Pretty cool, huh?

The issue itself is also pretty cool.  It’s billed as the “aftermath” of the recently concluded “Day of Death” storyline.  “Aftermath” may be overselling things a little.  This is more of an epilogue.  Last issue, Booster fixed the timeline and saved the day.  But he still hadn’t accomplished the main goal he set for himself at the start of the “Day of Death” story.

During Geoff Johns’ run on Booster Gold, Booster went back in time to try to stop the Joker from crippling Barbara Gordon.  But try as he might (and he tried a lot) Booster failed.  And unfortunately for the fledgling time master, Batman had pictures documenting his failure.

Since no one is allowed to know about Booster’s time travelling mission, it is important that Batman’s pictures don’t fall into the wrong hands.  With Bruce Wayne gone, Booster decides to break into the Batcave to steal the pictures.  In the first issue of “Day of Death” Booster got busted by the new Batman.  This time, it’s the new Robin’s turn to bust Booster.

Once upon a time, Dan Jurgens was a super star in the comic book industry.  After the “Death of Superman”, the spotlight on Jurgens burned bright.  And then it cooled.  Eventually, it seemed like Jurgens was out of the spotlight enturely.  Now he’s the writer and artist on his own creation.  And the amazing thing is, his work is better than ever.

Jurgens has always been a great artist.  And his pencils are as strong as ever.  The style may be a little old-school, but it doesn’t feel dated at all.  Where Jurgens has improved is in his writing.  Back in the 90′s he had a way with plotting.  But I always found his pacing off.  And his dialogue could be really bad.  These days, his dialogue is actually quite strong.  He nails the characterizations of the new Dynamic Duo, for example.  His pacing can still be a little slow at times, but I guess that’s what the next 25 issues of Booster Gold are for.

I’ve been a supporter of Booster Gold (and the Blue Beetle back-up feature) since the beginning.  Both are fun comics that provide a pleasant change of pace from the grim comics that dominate the shelves these days.  Unfortunately, it’s easy to loose sight of Booster Gold.  The book doesn’t really interact with anything else and that leads to the book seeming less relevant.

Next issue, both Booster and Beetle will be delving into the Blackest Night crossover.  While I’m not the biggest fan of Blackest Night as a whole, I’m hopeful that the crossover will get some people to sample Booster Gold again.  I’m confident that once they see what they are missing, some readers will stick around.

Booster Gold #21

read/RANT

Review: Adventure Comics #3

The Superboy reunion tour continues with this issue.  After reuinting with his ex last issue, Conner finally spends some time with his best friend.  As much as I enjoyed the soapy Conner/Cassie issue, seeing these two best buds together again was even better.

It’s been tough times of late for Tim Drake.  In story terms, he’s lost just about everyone he’s ever been close to.  But more importantly, no one has done a very good job writing him in the last few years.  And the Red Robin gig ain’t helping things.

It was refreshing to see Geoff Johns’ take on Tim Drake.  For the first time in a long time, the character was familiar to me.  THIS is the guy I want to read about.  Not that borderline psycho he’s scowling in Red Robin these days.  Like Conner says in this issue, Tim has never been a “cowl guy” before.

Johns does a great job paralleling what’s going on with Conner and Tim.  Both of them are on somewhat desperate quests that other might consider ill-advised or even a little crazy.  And it’s great to see them put judgement aside and help each other in pursuit of their goals no matter how crazy they might be.  The Conner/Tim friendship realy rings true and the dialogue is less melodramatic than last issue.

As always, the book looks great.  Francis Manapul is the perfect guy to be drawing a book set in Smallville.  He infuses every panel with a wholesomeness that stands in stark contrast to just about every other book on the shelves.

The issue was a little bitter sweet in a way.  When I finished the main story and moved on the the Legion back-up, I couldn’t help but be reminded that soon the Legion will be taking over this book.  I know that Conner will be featured in the Titans and Superman books, but I’ve been enjoying his story in this book so much.  It’s a shame it will be so brief.

As for the Legion back-up, I remain mostly unimpressed.  It’s a personal thing.  I just don’t really care for the Legion.  And these back-up stories are too slight to really spark my interest.  I’m sure they are great for Legion fans who probably can’t wait for Superboy to get out of their book.

In the meanwhile, I’m just going to enjoy Conner’s run while it lasts. 

Adventure Comics #2

read/RANT

Review: Secret Six #14

Secret Six is the rare book that continually exceeds my expectations.  The Depths has been the best story arc yet.  And the final chapter delivers everything I was hoping for, but not the way I expected.

Of course the fragmented team comes together and find themselves fighting side by side instead of against one another.  Of course the vile slavers get what’s coming to them.  There are showdowns and cathartic breakthroughs.  Relationships are tested, torn apart and mended.  And the team itself is changed in a significant by very logical way.

You want to see Amazons rise up against their jailers?  It’s in there.  Ragman taking matters into his own hands with a monkey wrench?  You betcha.  Scandal Savage creating a Venom-fueled monster to fight Grendel?  Done.  Deadshot being just plain awesome?  Oh hell yeah!

Fans of Gail Simone have come to expect a frothy mix of high-octane action, deeply personal characterizations and laugh-out-loud funny dialogue.  Only a writer of Simone’s caliber could manage to deliver such a morally ambigous tale and make it so darn entertaining.  She takes a cast of characters who are mostly reprehensible and makes them relatable without fully redeeming them.

Few artists could be expected to capture both the action and the emotion of this series.  But Nicola Scott is up to the challenge.  Scott’s action jumps off the page.  But she really shines at character work.  Her faces are expressive.  Even the way Scott’s characters hold themselves tells you volumes about who they are and what they are thinking.

Secret Six is the book I always look forward to every month.  And it just keeps getting better.

Secret Six #13

read/RANT

Review: The Unwritten #6

After last month’s surprisingly informative one-shot, we’re back to following Tom Taylor, possibly the living incarnation of fames fictional boy-wizard Tommy Taylor, in the aftermath of the book’s opening arc.  Following the slaughter at the Villa Diodati, which nearly claimed Taylor himself, Tom is on his way to prison, to be tried for the murder of the group of writers who had met at the Villa for a horror convention.  With the world turned against him and his name ruined, Tommy is left defenseless in a famous French prison.

Carey and Gross give the story’s small details a loving attention.  As in early issues, we get snippets of the news, blogger reactions, forum posts and more in an effort to show the effect the plot is having around the world, the most fascinating of which comes in a late-issue scene between the children of Tom’s jailor and their father as he, nearly in tears, endeavors to hide from them the truth of what’s become of their hero.  Despite taking the time both to paint a picture of the state of the world underpinned with small, emotional moments, the issue also manages to move the plot along nicely thanks to Lizzie Hexam’s shocking new orders and an excellent cliffhanger.

Peter Gross continues to turn in fine work, alternating with ease between the dreamy fictional segments in which we visit “The Song of Roland” or Tommy Taylor’s clash with Count Ambrosio and the ‘real’ world.  The issue introduces a number of new characters, each of which manages to be distinct and recognizable without becoming cartoonishly exaggerated.  It was far from Gross’s strongest work, but he remains an excellent fit for the title.

The Unwritten is Vertigo’s first new must-read ongoing in years, a smart examination of the power of fiction that also serves as a fun, intriguing adventure.  The book manages to confound my expectations at just about every turn, but it isn’t frustrating.  Instead, there is a sense of something grand being laid out, one small piece at a time.  I can’t rightly say what The Unwritten is building towards, but if each issue is as enjoyable as this one, I can’t really say I’m worried.

Grade: A-

- Cal Cleary

Read/RANT

The Unwritten #5

The Unwritten #4

Review: Green Lantern Corps #41

Spoiler Warning: Nothing happens in this issue. 

Well, nothing important anyway.

Actually the same thing happens over and over again.  A dead Green Lantern taunts a living Green Lantern.  The living Green Lantern declares that he or she knows that the dead Green Lantern isn’t the real thing.  And then the living Green Lantern blows up the dead Green Lantern and they start to re-form.

This sequence of events repeats seveal times.  First it’s Guy and Ke’Haan.  Then it’s Kyle and Jade followed by Soranik and Jade.  Next comes Arisia and her family.  Finally, Kilowog takes on Ermey.

That’s it.  That’s the whole comic except for the last couple of pages.  That’s when the evil kids and Indigo Lanterns show up with no explanation.

Yep, this issue is Blackest Night filler.  Pure and simple.  I wouldn’t even mind it so much if Tomasi’s filler wasn’t so damned repetitive.  Switch it up a bit, Pete!

The saving grace for me is Patrick Gleason.  I know he’s something of an acquired taste, but I love his weird style on this book.  It’s especially appropriate for the horror/sci-fi mash-up of Blackest Night.

If you’re reading Blackest Night and you want to save $3, this one is skippable, gang.

read/RANT

Review: Criminal: The Sinners #1

After taking a number of months off to collaborate on their recent hit series Incognito, Brubaker and Phillips return to their critically acclaimed Criminal with “The Sinners”, their first arc to revisit a protagonist.  After the events of the stellar “Lawless” from a couple years back, Tracy Lawless finds himself in deep with the wrong kind of people.  Working as a hitman for a major criminal, Tracy quickly begins to outweigh his usefulness, insistent on investigating his targets to ensure that only the bad men die, so when his boss offers him an out – find out who’s been knocking off the town’s major players – he jumps at the chance.

And so begins the next chapter of the Brubaker/Phillips noir masterpiece.  Despite being a direct sequel to “Lawless”, the book stands easily on its own, what meager exposition is necessary quickly given in a few terse sentences.  Lawless remains a compelling character, and a good choice on which to hang a sequel, and it only takes a couple pages to get back into the rhythms of Brubaker’s brief, dark dialogue.

Phillips fares better here than he did on the nonetheless-excellent Incognito.  While he is talented enough to have adapted to the superheroic style there, his dark, static images function much better in the shadowy world of these particular lowlifes.

Criminal: The Sinners #1 doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it doesn’t need to.  Brubaker and Phillips made crime comics cool again, and the effortless ease with which the pair slides us into their world makes it easy to see how.  Fans of the series are sure to embrace this latest entry, while new readers don’t need to worry about alienation.

Grade: B+

- Cal Cleary

Read/RANT

Housecleaning

You may notice a lot of minor tweaks and changes around here (starting with our banner).  I’ve been trying to make the site a little easier to navigate.  So, feel free to post any suggestions as to how we can make things better.

Originally, I wanted to replace the Frank Cho banner.  A lot of readers didn’t seem to realize that they could click on the banner to return to the main page.  I started playing around with the banner and ended up making a very small tweak that entertained me enough to keep it.

Most of the tweaks happened in the side bar.  I expanded the number of top posts displayed.  The Categories drop-down and Site Search are now more clearly labeled.  And I’ve updated some of the links on the blogroll.  Hopefully, these tools will help readers find the articles they are interested in more readily.

If anyone has a site they would like to have included in our blogroll, just let us know.  We’ll gladly reciprocate any links to this site.

One final bit of business: if anyone would be interested in contributing to read/RANT, the door is open.  Just drop us a line at: readrant@live.com.  I’d love to add a few new voices to the mix. 

As always, thanks for reading!

read/RANT

The World’s Greatest Heroes?

Another issue of James Robinson’s Cry for Justice mini-series has hit the shelves.  And try as I might, I just can’t muster up the enthusiasm to write-up a review of issue 4.  Suffice to say, I’ve had my problems with Robinson’s writing on this series.  And while this issue is the least awful yet, it’s still pretty horrid.

Rather than write another rant about Cry for Justice like I did with Issue 2, I figured I’d take a more positive approach.  Rather than focusing my attention on what I hate about Cry for Justice, I’m going to write about what I love about the Jutice League.

The Jutice League are often referred to as the world’s greatest heroes.  That tagline is what differentaites the Justice League from all the other super hero teams out there.  To me, it’s what the Justice League is all about.  It’s what makes the League feel like the Justice League as opposed to the Teen Titans, the X-Men or the Outsiders.

A lot of people hear “world’s greatest heroes” and they focus on the line-up.  It’s understandable.  DC has the most iconic superheroes in comics.  Part of the appeal of the Justice League is seeing these iconic characters interact.  And just about any successful version of the JLA has included at least some element of that. 

I think people over-emphasize the importance of the team roster.  If you’re going to call the team the Justice League, you need to include some of the heavy hitters.  But that doesn’t mean the team should be restricted to just the icons or the Big 7.  The important thing about the Justice League is that it should have an interesting mix of characters that feel like the world’s greatest heroes whether they are a collection of icons or not.

There’s no formula for a good JLA line-up.  I don’t think there’s any one character that absolutely has to be included.  I like to see at least one member of DC’s trinity on the team.  But the “Year One” version of the team did just fine without them.

Robinson’s new line-up will include a new spin on the trinity.  Rather than including Bruce, Clark and Diana, this Justice League will feature legacy versions of the Big 3.  I wrote extensively about my thoughts on Robinson’s new line-up back when it was made public.  And while I have some reservations about the line-up as a whole, I am fine with the writer of the JLA taking chances with the roster.

New blood is good for the team.  When the roster is locked in to characters who are featured in their own books, the JLA can get pretty stale.  The writer’s hands are often tied when they can’t make important decisions about their cast of characters.  And what you wind up with is a book that feels almost out of step with the rest of the JLA.  Just read any of the fill-in arcs that became the norm after Joe Kelley’s under-rated run on the last volume of the JLA to see what I mean.

But it’s easy for a writer to go overboard on new characters.  As I mentioned in my previous article, Robinson’s JLA line-up just doesn’t feel like the Justice League to me.  People have taken to calling them the Justice Titans and I’m afraid that name will stick.  Robinson is going to have his work cut out for him convincing people that these guys are the real deal.

See, now I’m droning on and on about the line-up.  It’s an easy trap to fall into.  But the line-up is a relatively small part of what makes the team feel like the world’s greatest heroes.

My biggest complaint about Robinson’s Cry for Justice is that the characters don’t feel like heroes.  Well, once you get past the laugh-out-loud-bad dialogue and the slower-than-a-snail pacing, my biggest complaint would be that the character’s aren’t behaving like heroes.

We’ve seen “extreme” versions of the Justice League before.  And frankly, they never work.  In the 90s, Captain Atom formed a team that actually called themselves Extreme Justice.  But there was nothing extreme about them.  It was basically DC’s attempt to make a team that appealed to Rob Liefeld fans.  Later, Joe Kelley spun off his JLA run into Justice League Elite.  And while it was a heck of a lot more interesting than Extreme Justice, it just didn’t gel.

So far, Robinson’s version of an extreme Justice League has consisted of 4 issues of Hal Jordan and Ray Palmer torturing villains.  And all they have to show for their efforts is that Prometheus is up to something.  Something evil.  But Clayface told them that without any need for torture.  So all this torture has been for naught.

Not that the ends would have justified the means even if the torture had been more effective.  There are lines that the Justice League does not cross.  And torture is definitely one of those lines.  The Justice League does not torture.

I’m not saying that the members of the Justice League can’t have flaws.  That would make for a pretty boring book.  But they should be heroes and heroes don’t torture.  They can bluff and intimidate Batman-style.  If they are pushed hard enough, they can even bloody a few noses.  But the line gets drawn at systematic torture.

Thankfully someone finally stepped up to put a stop to the torture in Cry for Justice.  But it feels like too little, too late.  Frankly, the whole affair feels very out of character for everyone involved.

I get that Ray Palmer has been through a lot.  But the guy’s a man of science.  He’s been a sqaure-jawed hero since the Silver Age.  It doesn’t feel right seeing him torture villains in more or less the same way his ex-wife accidentally killed his best friend’s wife.

Hal Jordan used to be the poster boy for Silve Age squarness alongside Barry Allen.  Since “Rebirth” writers have been trying to dirty up Hal’s saintly image.  I can handle Hal sucker punching every one who looks at him funny.  I don’t like it, but I can deal.  But I can’t handle Hal endorsing bold faced torture like he’s Dick Cheney.

Meanwhile, you’ve got Supergirl and Captain Marvel, two characters who could rightly be called “goodie goodies” standing by silently while it all goes down.

And yes, Ollie eventually spoke up.  But Ollie Queen is DC’s bleeding heart liberal.  Yes, he can be a blow hard and a hypocrite.  But he doesn’t stand by and watch would-be heroes conduct systematic torture.  I don’t buy for a second that he sat on his hands while buddies worked over several bad guys before he finally felt the need to step in.  Ollie would have put a stop to it right away.  At the very least, he’d have quit.

Perhaps the most disturbing part of the whole thing is that after Ollie finally spoke up, everyone just kind of laughed the whole thing off.  Ray and Hal showed no remorse for their actions.  Hopefully this will be rectified in future issues.

For the Justice League to feel like the world’s greatest heroes, they need to be taking on the world’s greatest threats.  I think this is usually the hardest thing for any JLA writer.  Grant Morrison is the only writer I can think of who successfully made each threat feel more epic than the last.

Ironically, Morrison actually created Prometheus as one of those escalating threats.  Unfortunately, the character has fallen into a state of disrepair since Morrison used him.  (And let’s face facts, Prometheus wasn’t exactly Morrison’s shining moment on the JLA to begin with.)  It’s understandable that Robinson would want to dust Prometheus off and make him a viable threat to the Justice League again.

But the way Robinson has done it is by telling us over and over again how evil Prometheus is.  Prometheus brags about killing C-list characters no one cares about.  Issue three was mostly cliche mustache-twirling from Prometheus.  Even Dr. Evil didn’t try so hard to convince others of his evilness.

What Robinson should be doing is showing us Prometheus’ master plan as it unfolds.  And it should be something worth of the world’ greatest heroes.  Using the Global Guardians’ corpses in your decorating is just gross.  It doesn’t make you a world class villain.

I suspect that by the time Cry for Justice has run it’s course, the team will come to realize the error of their ways.  They will finally understand that justice and vengeance are not the same thing.  But the thing is, these guys already knew that.  They shouldn’t take 7 issues to relearn something that is painfully obvious to anyone who isn’t a sadist.

If I want to read about a team who believes that the end justifies the means, I’ll read Secret Six.  In fact, I do.  And I love that book.  But I don’t want the Justice League to feel like the Secret Six.  I want to read about the world’s greatest heroes.  I hope DC starts publishing that book sometime soon.

read/RANT

Top 5 Best Comics of September 2009

Boring introduction! I read 21 comics in September, and these were the best.

 

5. Green Lantern #46

Hey, Green Lantern is great again! We know Mahnke’s art is going to blow our minds, but Johns pulled his weight too, delivering the gore he’s so fond of. There was a lot of progression here, featuring a fight that’s been brewing for a long time. Sinestro and Mongul’s conclusion is not only drawn well, Johns gives each baddie a fun monologue, dripping with a bit of truth. Indeed, for a brief time, Johns made me believe that Mongul could actually win. Loud, bloody, and just the kind of cosmic fun that Johns wants you to have.

4. Wolverine: Old Man Logan Giant Size

It all ends. It was the worth the wait, but for Millar’s part of it, this issue played out exactly how you’d expect, which would’ve been a dull experience, except for the reason we’re all here: Steve McNiven. Just about every panel in here is iconic, ready to be framed on your wall. No matter what silly cliché Millar wrote, McNiven made it sing. However, the writing’s not all bad. This issue pays great tribute to Wolverine’s character as a whole, blending his Western and Eastern ways together. So, even on that corny, Lone Wolf & Cub-inspired last page, I smiled.

3. Detective Comics #857

Another conclusion, what can I say? Those are usually great issues. Alright, Rucka’s opening Batwoman arc hasn’t had as much substance as I’d like, but something we can all agree on is the talent of Williams. We haven’t seen Kate’s origin yet, but she’s already a fully-developed character, mostly due to Williams himself. That continues here, of course, as Williams gets to render some dazzling stunts, with Kate jumping from plane to plane, kicking her way to Alice. Speaking of Alice, this issue delivers a twist with her that I didn’t see coming at all, and it was telegraphed, even on the cover. The twist works, not only to shock us, but as a brilliant window into Kate’s past.

Seventh Soldier’s Review

2. Dark Reign: The List – X-Men

I read most of these specials, and this is probably the only one that’s actually a one-shot. Fraction doesn’t conform. This isn’t about political nonsense or the status quo. Fraction gives us the simple tale of revenge, and it works very well. A great deal of that credit goes to Alan Davis. He makes this absurd, spandex-clad medium lyrical. Consider the scene at the end, with Namor, Osborn, and the Sentry. In Davis’ hands, this simple scene becomes a grand confrontation between legends. Superman and Luthor could easily replace Namor and Osborn, and Sentry’s inclusion is the icing on the cake.

1. Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus

I, like many of you, wasn’t very impressed with this crossover. Fraction’s characterizations were still superb, but the plot seemed to contain nothing but buildup. Well, that all culminated with Exodus, and what a culmination. The epic battle between teams is there, with almost every character utilized. Deals with the devil, an old New Avengers callback, and a new status quo makes this the most explosive comic of the month, and the best too.

For more comic goodness, go here.

Review: Superman: World of New Krypton #8

For all my current qualms with the storytelling of Rucka and Robinson on the Earth-based books, especially post-”Codename: Patriot”, Superman: World of New Krypton, their collaborative project with artist Pete Woods, continues to be one of the consistently strongest books the Superman-family of books has produced.  Separated from his tiresome gallery of villains and massive support network, World of New Krypton continues to use the struggles of the new nation trying to form its identity to look at previously underused facets of his personality.

Rucka and Robinson occasionally pile it on a little thick, as illustrated in this issue in particular.  A relatively common criticism I heard of Aaron Sorkin’s famous show, The West Wing, was its often simplified view of politics that frequently boiled down to a single idea: “We could solve any problem if only everyone just sat down and listened.”  That could definitely be thrown against the current issue of World of New Krypton, which rushes through the Thanagarian conflict in a matter of pages before moving onto the much larger threat of the moon hurtling towards New Krypton.

Woods continues to display a strong sense of design, adding the Thanagarian battle fleet and Kryptonian tech designed to move a moon to his resume.  While his art isn’t as eye-catching as some of today’s superstars, he continues to display a workmanlike mastery of DC’s cosmic side and an ability to handle action and drama with an equal amount of skill and comfort.

Despite the rush-job – and the morally and narratively easy way out – with the Thanagarian conflict, the issue is still essentially enjoyable.  They continue to play to Wood’s strengths with a large variety of sci-fi inspired costumes and settings in which to work, and the book displays none of the jerky, cliche storytelling currently plaguing the two core titles.  It isn’t the book’s strongest issue to date, but continues to cement Superman: World of New Krypton as both a must-read book for Superman fans and general superhero sci-fi fans alike.

Grade: B+

- Cal Cleary

Read/RANT

Superman: World of New Krypton #7

Superman: World of New Krypton #6

Review: Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural #1

I’ve always believed that Doctor Strange was Marvel’s most tragically underutilized character.  Where most are tied down to the continuity of a single universe, here we have a massively powerful being whose mere will is the only thing holding our universe together.  There were millions of stories that could be told with him, ranging from the dramatic to the horrific to the bizarrely surreal, but instead Marvel opted to constantly ignore his power and knowledge so that he would better fit into whatever mold they wanted him to fit into.  By the point Strange lost his mantle to Brother Voodoo, it was mostly a mercy.

Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural takes some steps, at least, towards making the concept of Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme relevant again.  Writer Rick Remender delivers a relatively solid issue of set-up introducing Earth’s new Sorcerer Supreme.  Mixing voodoo terminology, monsters and culture together with the loosely-defined comic book mysticism of Doctor Strange is an interesting choice, but one that Remender makes work throughout the issue.  The book’s biggest problem comes with Remender’s decision to completely forego anything like an explanation – having not read much Marvel lately, I had no idea when Voodoo got his doctorate, in what, or why… nor why Strange lost his mantle.  And, more importantly to this issue, what’s the importance of the floating-ghost maybe-sorcerer?

Palo’s art is, for the most part, excellent.  He handles the books multiple tones well, jumping ably between a horrific, voodoo-inspired monster and epic, dimensions spanning conflicts within a single issue.  His designs are solid and imaginative, and he works well with colorist Beaulieu to create a few particularly striking images without resorting to over-posed figures that look clumsily traced.  Perhaps his biggest flaw comes in his facial expressions: everyone in the issue looks either sad, angry, or transitioning from one to the other.

Overall, Doctor Voodoo, Avenger of the Supernatural is a promising opening issue.  It glosses over it’s two main conflicts far more quickly than they deserve, and it does a terrible job of informing the new reader – which is doubly surprising given that it’s the first issue of a new series – but it is for the most part a solid, enjoyable issue of comics.  The fact that Remender seems genuinely interested in mixing the epic mysticism of comic book magic with the earthy horror of voodoo bodes well for the book in terms of offering up fresh, inventive takes on characters and situations we’ve all seen before.  A promising, if slightly flawed, start.

Grade: B+

- Cal Cleary

Review: Batman and Robin #5

Morrison has generally been quite clear, over the years, about his opinion on the grim ‘n gritty anti-hero that has so pervaded comics in recent years.  It isn’t a trend towards which he’s shown very much respect, largely because, ultimately, there’s no way to maintain it.  Escalation leads to escalation, but in a medium that cannot abide true and lasting change, the escalation rings hollow – supporting characters are created solely to die, but we all know the A/B-listers are safe and always will be.  ”Revenge of the Red Hood” displays this premise in short order as, only a single issue after Red Hood burst onto Gotham’s crimefighting scene with catchy ‘cool’ slogans and a sidekick with a tragic past, the escalation begins to go past what even Gotham is comfortable with.

Tan remains a surprisingly good fit for the book.  While his design leaves something to be desired after seeing some of Quitely’s more inspired work in the first three issues, the grim, oppressive atmosphere so natural to Tan’s art fits Morrison’s story perfectly.  There are a few points during which I felt Tan failed, most notably with the (SPOILER) reveal that Red Hood was Jason Todd, since he looked about 10-20 years older than Jason Todd, and with all of Jason Blood’s features (END).  Despite the occasional slip-up, however, Tan’s clear, dark art makes for an excellent contrast from the circus of villains the first arc provided.

Batman and Robin remains a remarkably strong title.  This issue sees Morrison keep his promise to use the title to create a new host of chilling Bat-villains and reinvigorate one of comics most well-known (and increasingly overused) rogues’ galleries with the late-game introduction of Eduardo Flamingo, the King of Killers.  Morrison largely eschews the slow-boil continuity-rich mystery that so pervaded his Batman run in favor of a wonderfully straightforward, undeniably clever action comic.

Grade: A-

- Cal Cleary

Read/RANT

Batman and Robin #4

Batman and Robin #3

Review: Astro City: Astra Special #1

Kurt Busiek’s Astro City has been going on for a good long time now.  Busiek and series-regular artist Brent Anderson have used the titular city to examine every conceivable era and archetype of comic book characters.  From the heart-breaking look at the effects of a Crisis on the ordinary man in “The Nearness of You” to the means and motivations of an aging supervillain in “I’ll Show You All”; from using the superhero myth to examine reform for criminals in “The Tarnished Angel” to using it to display the beating America’s national identity took in the 70′s in “The Dark Ages”, Astro City has used its world to stay relevant in all the ways mainstream comics desperately wish they could.

Astra Furst is the daughter of Astro City‘s Fantastic Four analogues, the First Family.  Born of a union between her mother and the monstrous (reformed) son of one of the world’s greatest villains, Astra has grown up in the spotlight.  Last featured as a little girl sneaking away from the ultra-high tech compound on which she grew up so that she could attend a normal school, Astro City: Astra Special #1 now finds her graduating from college and facing all the challenges that come with it… and then some.

Brent Anderson’s pencils remain a little stiff and cartoonish, quite different from what has become the norm for mainstream comics, but his artistic sense and design is so pervasive to the setting that it’s hard to imagine it any other way.  Anderson’s weakest point here is in the facial expressions, but that hurts the book less than you’d think, and his strongest suit – creating a memorable sci-fi setting, costumes and imagery – is so vital to the book that the rest is easily forgivable.

Astra’s story is simple, but, as always, there’s more going on than meets the eye.  As a recent graduate without direction, I found Astra’s story especially relevant.  Does she join an up-and-coming superhero team?  She has invitations from think tanks, grad schools and massive corporations, but Astra thinks they’re more interested in her family name (and money) than in her brain.  She has an unlimited number of options, but no direction.

It’s a fun issue, and it does a fair job at appropriating the superhero myth to a couple different purposes – child celebrities growing up, and graduation, specifically.  Even without those themes hovering in the background, however, Astra Special #1 (of 2) offers the beginning of a quick, enjoyable adventure.  It isn’t perfect, but it lives up to Astro City‘s reputation of smart, engaging superhero stories.

Grade: B+

- Cal Cleary

Read/RANT

Long Beach Comic Con 2009!

Yes, I was there at the first Long Beach con. I thought I’d share my adventures with all of you, and by adventures, I mean pretty sketches.

Amanda Conner’s Supergirl!

I’m going to get a detailed one someday, but these quickies are great too.

Darick Robertson’s Frenchie and Female!

It’s hard to tell in the photo, but this piece is huge.

David Finch’s Catwoman! 

David modeled this after Jim Lee’s art. So, to have Scott Williams ink it is perfect.

Doug Mahnke’s Frankenstein!

Doug. Mahnke. Frankenstein. ‘Nuff said!

Geoff Johns’ Hal Jordan!

I should’ve had him write in the word balloon: “I am so kewl!”

J. Scott Campbell’s Mary Jane!

Finally, after years of waiting.

Micah Gunnell’s Black Cat!

Always a pleasure to talk to this guy, and the sketch aint bad either!

Philip Tan’s Scarlet!

Man, that’s ugly. In a good way.

Simone Bianchi’s Shining Knight!

Two soldiers down, five to go.

Notable signed items?

Ennis’ second out-of-print Punisher hardcover!

Skull, courtesy of Darick Robertson. Mini-Frank, rendered by Jimmy Palmiotti. And that third signature belongs to big Frank himself, Thomas Jane.

The Pro, in oversized out-of-print hardcover style!

Signed by the entire art team: Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Paul Mounts. This just demanded a Pro sketch, and Amanda was kind enough to deliver.

That’s all, folks. I had a blast, and I hope it’s even better next year.

For more comic goodness, go here.