Review/RANT: SeventhSoldier’s ‘Reign in Hell’ Experience Thus Far

Recently, lebeau looked over Reign in Hell #4, and while I agree with his comments in general, I felt like I had a decent not-quite-rant here on the subject, so while he contained himself quite sensibly to a single paragraph, I shall blather on indefinitely.  Still, he said it first, and better, so go pat him on the back.

Some time ago, I reviewed the first issue of Keith Giffen’s Reign in Hell, a project that was pitched as “Annihilation for the magicians of DC.”  And, for what it’s worth, DC seemed willing to play along, even printing a Reign in Hell Special that was just a reprint of three issues that tentatively led up to the series (which Reign in Hell didn’t really need and Batman R.I.P. absolutely did).  And with that, the game was afoot…but I, like many others who read the book, failed to be wowed by the first real issue of the mini. 

Now, some brief background.  I count myself to have, if not a PhD, then at least a Master’s in comic book magic.  This is one of the reasons why I’m so frustrated by Bendis every time I see him even approach Scarlet Witch or Doctor Strange, two characters he seems incapable of writing on a fundamental level.  It also might be one of the reasons why I didn’t kiss a girl ‘til I was 19, but…uhhh…right, Reign in Hell.

I give you this humiliating background so that you will know the sense of bafflement I felt upon reading the first issue of the series, all aglow with excitement that my beloved comic book magicians were going to be more than bad deus ex machina or underpowered fodder, and had absolutely no idea who anyone was.

Part of this, is, of course, the art – the clear, crisp style that dominated much of Annihilation was here replaced by the stylish-but-scratchy pencils of Tom Derenick.  Derenick is definitely a competent artist, but I got the feeling that he was being asked to do just way too much.  A huge cast of characters that much of the world is unfamiliar with lends itself better towards a more mainstream talent…but still, as I read the series and grew accustomed to his art, it grew on me.  I still wouldn’t have picked him as my first choice on the book, but he appears to be growing accustomed to the enormous amount of characters he has to introduce.

No, the main problem lies, of course, with others.  In Annihilation, we were given the opportunity to get to know each of these characters before the main mini began.  If you weren’t familiar with Drax by the beginning of Drax the Destroyer #1, you definitely were by the end, and the same went for all the other characters.  By the time you got to the main mini, the extremely talented writing team there had already instilled in you an interest in the well-being of these characters.

With Reign in Hell, while we are helpfully provided with information about what province of Hell is currently being looked at, we are often not given the much more important knowledge of who, exactly, is speaking, nor are we given a terrific amount of backstory on any of these characters.  Where Annihilation had a series of prologues that had us aching for the conclusion, Reign in Hell throws us right into the middle of the fight and leaves us to puzzle out why, instead of demons, there are robots everywhere, or why the few demons there are all seem to be chowing down on a cigar at all times.

Of course, the obvious solution would’ve been to make it the event that Annihilation was, but I don’t honestly even know if that would’ve worked.  The youth of today are decidedly jaded when it comes to magic, an embarrassingly stupid fact when you realize that they’re totally cool with a guy with a half-ton of metal welded to his spine and super-healing…as long as it’s sciencey metal, and this book features a rather enormous cast of magicians in a Hell, a very sciencey Hell, that I don’t recall seeing anywhere else, ever…including in DC.

There’s a problem I had with Reign in Hell, though, beyond the quibbles about the art and the lack of character labels, and that’s the fact that we’ve seen it all before, but better.  Mike Carey’s Lucifer has been over for precisely how long at this point?  I know it didn’t take place in DC, but let’s face it, it pretty much took place in DC, the same way Sandman pretty much took place in DC.  It ignored all the cruddy bits, told its own story, but it was published by DC and it featured, I’m sorry to say, a set of vastly more-interesting pro- and antagonists since it was cut blessedly free of restraints on continuity and offered a morally twisty tale that mainstream comics tend to abhor…or, as is the case in Reign in Hell, tend to ignore.

Now, for all my rants, I can’t deny that there has been a single glimmer of sheer awesome in the series, and that’s the shockingly strong back-ups.  I know, I know – how often is the back-up of a comic anything other than a gimmick to raise the price of the issue so they can give you a three-page origin story and then laugh at you as you realize that you don’t actually have a choice, you have to pay for those extra three pages.

But, no, here Giffen does what I suspect Giffen does best – makes me care about a character I know virtually nothing about.  The adventures of Doctor Occult and Peri through Hell are charming and exciting, a great introduction to the characters and exploration of the setting, EXACTLY what I was looking for.  In fact, I think on some alternate world, they’re getting a vastly superior Reign in Hell as a series of story’s like Occult’s – not gigantic war epics, but the personal stories of characters we could love…or love to hate.

And, of course, in rant mode, I’m being unfair.  Giffen and co. have done a decent job with Reign in Hell and, looking over the single issues of #1-4, they read notably better together than they did alone, making them a worthy purchase for anyone interested in the mystics of the DCU.  Knowing the harsh Vertigo curtain, I’m certain that Giffen was hampered by not being allowed to use the excellent introduction of Hell we saw in Sandman or any elements whatsoever of the gorgeous fleshing out of Hell in Lucifer.

But, when it comes right down to it, whatever the reasons, Reign in Hell has thus far seemed to be largely a wasted opportunity.  Maybe he just set expectations up a little too high with comparisons to the much more fleshed-out Annhiliation, or maybe the cards just weren’t right this time, but in the end, Reign in Hell is a competent book that lacks the sense of wonder, exploration, and depth that it needed to give the book a fighting chance.  It’s still a decent read, but, ultimately, there’s just so much that isn’t there that I mourn for.

Mini-Reviews: Catching Up With Comics

This is becoming all too common these days.  And unfortunately, it shows no signs of letting up.  Been busy.  So has everyone else, I know.  So, rather than post 1 or 2 full reviews, I’m going to play a little catch-up with some mini-reviews.  I’m going to try to focus on books others haven’t covered.  Or at least books that haven’t been reviewed three and four times.

Daredevil #112 – Last issue, I gave this book a try after a long absence.  I enjoyed the set-up of the Lady Bullseye character.  This issue, we get some interesting glimpses into her plan which seems to involve testing possible recruits to her cause.  But the overall focus of the story seems to be showing what a monumental jerk Matt Murdock is.  I mean, this guy cheated on his wife.  Then he got angry with his mistress when she revealed their indiscretion to the police to clear him of murder charges.  Is he in some kind of a dick-off with Tony Stark?  It was still a good read, but I’m not inclined to keep reading about such an unsypathetic character.

DCU: Decisions #4 – Just the premise of this story should have been enough to tell me it was going to be bad.  Then there’s the fact that it’s co-written by Judd Winick.  I’ve defended Winick in the past, but I’m done with that now.  More and more, he seems determined to live up to his reputation as a hack.  This issue is made up of essentially two parts.  The first part is a non-ending which leads into the next story arc of the horrible Titans book Winick writes.  A four-issue mini should offer some kind of closure, but this one is all set-up for another book.  A really bad book.  The last several pages is nothing more than a public service announcement about the importance of voting.  I had low expectations of this book, but Winick and company managed not to meet them.

Justice League of America #26 – I want to love this book because I love th Justice League.  But McDuffie’s cast is too big.  And his stories, while they may have seemed fresh in the animated series, rehash the most over-used comic book cliches.  Occassionnaly, you’ll get some good character moments.  But all too often, everything is on the surface.  This issue is particularily bad.  After months of build-up, Vixen’s story ends with a return to her status quo.  But not before a trip to a parellel universe!  The pat ending comes out of nowhere like the story just ran out of gas.

Making matters worse is Ed Benes’ ridiculous amount of T&A.  Usually, I don’t mind Benes as a penciller.  But when the story is as thin as this, you can’t help noticing that Vixen’s butt takes up half the panel and her porn star chest takes up the other half.  This is to be expected from Benes.  He has made a name for himself selling cheesecake.  But it feels so out of place in DC’s flagship title.

Justice Society of America #20 – Now this is how you handle a big cast and parellel universes!  There were so many character running around, it was sometimes hard to keep track of who was who.  And there were a whole lot of Earth-2 character I just don’t care about very much.  But Johns, Ross and Eaglesham do a masterful job of shining a spotlight on the emotional impact of the story.  Primarily, we’re dealing with Power Girl here.  We finally get some answers as to how there are two Power Girl’s running around and we feel the loss both characters are feeling.  In the background, we also get important character moments for Alan Scott and Mr. Terrific.  Even with the confusion of having multiple Justice Society’s battling it out, this is just a good, fun comic book.  It puts Justice League to shame!

Reign In Hell #4 – There is a big story being told in this mini-series.  And there are a lot of players.  Most of them don’t even qualify as C-listers.  So, it can be a bit hard to keep track of who is doing what.  I like the stylized art by Tom Derenick and Bill Sienkiewicz, but sometimes it adds to the confusion.  With so much going on, I almost wonder if this mini-series wouldn’t have been better served by a different structure.  Maybe one more like the similar Annihilation story also written by Keith Giffen.  I think I would enjoy each of these stories more if they had been compartimentalized in overlapping mini-series instead of one big story that can’t focus on any one thing for too long.

Secret Six #3 – This book continues to be the most fun read of the month.  It’s twisted, sure.  But it’s hysterical.  And the artwork is amazing.  If you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s time to start.

Superman #681 – First of all, let me say that I am loving the New Krypton story line so far.  The premise is big and ripe with possibilities.  And the New Krypton Special was just that, special.  The scenes drawn by Gary Frank depicting Superman’s reaction to Pa Kent’s death were brilliant!  As the second chapter in the story, this issue does a good job of moving the plot along as well as undercoring what a big deal it is that one hundred thousand Kryptonians have arrived on Earth.  My one complaint is that the cliff-hanger ending literally just drops from the sky.  (My minor quibble is the entire page that was devoted to Krypto asking to be let into the Kent farm – what is it with Robinson and Krypto?!?)

Teen Titans #64 – I really should drop this book.  I’m still reading it out of habit, which is a bad thing.  I understand what Sean McKeever’s been trying to do with this book.  First, he broke down the cast to the point where the team currently has only four members.  Now, he’s slowly rebuilding it by adding members one at a time.  The problem is, neither the departures nor the additions feel organic.  Most of the characters who left the book did so because the plot demanded it.  And in this issue, the team takes in Bombshell for pretty much no reason whatsoever.  Even Bombshell seems amazed by their stupidity.  I should really drop this book…

Terror Titans #2 – Man, this is just pointless!  McKeever introduces characters in a single panel only to kill or maim them in the same panel.  Who the hell cares?  And the over-the-top gore is not cool.  It’s certainly out of place in a mainstream super-hero book.  Especially part of the Titans franchise.  But that franchise is in sorry shape these days.  Sadly, this is just one indicator of how bad things have gotten.

Mini-Reviews: Lebeau Catches Up

Hello all,

I just recently got back from an Orlando vacation and I have a stack of comics to read and review/rant about.  On a side note, I finally got to visit Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park.  If you’re a Marvel fan and you’ve never been down to IoA, you owe it to yourself to plan a trip.  The Marvel Superheroes island is a lot of fun and the Spider-Man ride is one of the coolest attractions anywhere.  Anyway, on to the comics:

Action Comics #869 – The cover to this issue is misleading.  These events do not take place in the comic, nor does anything remotely resembling these events take place.  Instead, we get a whole lot of awesomeness.  Seriously, the Brainiac arc is one for the ages.  Do not miss it!

Batman and the Outsiders #11 - No one knows where Batman is.  I just saved you $2.99.  Not much else happens in this fill-in issue.  The team wonders if they should carry one without Batman which is ridiculous given that this is only issue 11 in a series that follows a very long run of the Outsiders without Batman.  If the team made it for years without him, why on earth would they consider disbanding when Batman goes missing?  This is just padding while Batman RIP plays out.

Birds of Prey #122 - I keep reading this book hoping for a return to glory.  If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result, I must be crazy.  This book is going to remain a mediocre, run-of-the-mill super hero cliche-fest as long as Bedard is writing it.  And the art is equally dull (I did like the cover though).

Captain America #42 -  Hey look!  A Marvel book!  The epic Death of Captain America story wraps up here.  The payoffs we’ve been waiting for come fast and furious.  And of course there are multiple epilogues setting the stage for the next chapter in Brubaker’s run.  An issue like this could have easily disappointed.  But Bru and Steve Epting deliver a satisfying conclusion.

Daredevil #111 – Another Marvel book?  What the heck?  I haven’t checked in on Daredevil in a while.  This issue seemed as good a time as any as it kicks off the Lady Bullseye story.  So, I came back and I’m glad I did.  In the past, I’ve enjoyed Brubaker’s run on Daredevil but sometimes got frustrated with the pace.  Not so on this issue.  I’ll definitely stay on board to see where this story goes.

Deadpool #2 – For a DC guy, I’m turning into a regular Marvel zombie here…  I hadn’t planned on picking up this issue.  I thought the first issue was a mixed bag.  And I’m pretty sick of Skrulls these days.  But on a lark, I gave issue 2 a try and I’m glad I did.  It was a very entertaining read.  I laughed out loud a few times.  (“The more pouches the better, right Rob?”

DCU: Decisions #1 – I was definitely skeptical about the concept of this mini-series.  I’m still skeptical.  But, the first issue wasn’t the train wreck I was expecting.  Still, is anyone really interested in the political leanings of the JLA?  If you are, you’ll probably enjoy a lot of this.  If not, the entire mini-series is skippable.  For now, I’ll call it surprisingly not horrible.

Flash #244 – Alan Burnett starts what could be the last Wally West story in his own title.  The name of the story arc is certainly ominous.  “This Was Your Life Wally West” has a certain ring of finality to it.  I actually enjoyed the family dynamics in this book for the first time since they were introduced by Mark Waid.  There’s an interesting story involving the fluctuation of Wally’s powers.  Unfortunately, it’s all brought down a little by the villain, a generic bee-guy.  Still, this book hasn’t been readable in a long while.  So, I’ll take what I can get!

Reign in Hell #3 – The cover says it all.  It’s the fight you’ve been waiting for, Etrigan vs. Blue Devil.  What?  You haven’t been waiting for Etrigan to throw down with Blue Devil?  Okay, we’re not dealing with DC’s A-list here.  But I have been enjoying Giffen’s interesting twist on Hell.  He steers clear of the usual Dante’s Inferno imagery and presents a more traditional war story told in an unusual setting.

Robin #178 – Now this is how you do a Batman RIP tie-in!  The issue offers an interesting look at what Robin’s world would be like if Batman really did go missing (unlike the predictable and repetitive Batman and the Outsiders).  The plot threads Nicieza has been building finally start to come together.  Good reading!

Superman #680 – Wow.  James Robinson really loves Krypto!  Still, I have to admit it was pretty cool.  My dog would have been asking Atlas to rub her belly.

Teen Titans #63 – I was one of the many people who thought last issue’s violent and senseless death was a travesty of bad story telling.  (For the curious, Marvin died but Wendy survived and is currently in a soap opera-style coma.)  This issue had no where to go but up.  Still, more than half of the issue was dedicated to rehabilitating Bombshell.  Talk about a wasted effort!  This issue is better than last issue.  But it’s still bad.

Titans #5 – The first four issues of Titans were a train wreck.  And sometimes, you just can’t look away from a train wreck.  Well, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this issue was actually a vast improvement over the previous four.  (I credit fill-in artist Julian Lopez with the majority of the improvement.  His artwork is still full of needless T&A.  It’s still overly cartoony and not especially good.  But it does not hurt the eyes the way the previous artist did).  Yes, Judd Winick still tries to hard to sound cool.  But there are actually a few good character moments here.  And the plot actually goes somewhere.  So, I damning with faint praise.  Titans got better.  But it still has a long way to go.

Reviews: Comic Book Quick Hits!

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.

Triple Review: True Believers, NU: 1959 and Reign In Hell

True Believers #1

I wasn’t familiar with the writer/artist team-up – Cary Bates and Paul Gulacy – but the book was conceptually interesting, so I picked it up. 

“In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”  That’s the tagline of the book.  Now, whether or not it truly is a time of universal deceit in the Marvel Universe is a matter of debate, but between the genetics-based Civil War and the secretive Skrull Invasion, there’s no question that there’s a whole lot of lying going on in the Marvel Universe right now.  The True Believers know that, and they want to get the truth out there, whatever the cost.

The first issue deals with an underground chick-fighting/rape/drug ring.  A young metahuman code-named Payback has gone undercover to find out who’s in charge and break the story, regardless of the cost.  With her is her ‘news team’, a group of potent metahumans with technology so far from the future it can baffle even SHIELD’s investigative prowess, she finds out who’s behind the ring, breaks it up, and then reports on it.

That part in the middle there was my main gripe with the book.  There had better be a damn good explanation forthcoming for how a group of underground journalists have the tech – and the powers – the escape SHIELD, but haven’t been noticed by anything yet, never stepped up during a war based on genetic persecution, never targeted Stark’s war-profiteering, the Illuminati, anything. 

Still, ignoring that (and a fairly ridiculous last page), the book was quite good.  The characters’ goals and operations are interesting, and underground journalism – digging into the seediest side of the Marvel Universe – makes for an interesting change of pace from the standard superhero fare.

Grade: B+

NewUniversal: 1959

I’ve never heard of Kieron Gillen, the writer.  Literally, never heard of him.  And yet, somehow, his single issue of NewUniversal, the Warren Ellis-masterminded relaunch of the failed 80’s New Universe project for Marvel Comics, has blown any single issue Ellis gave the series thus far completely out of the water.

This issue deals with America’s first recorded meeting with super-humanity.  It evokes all the paranoia towards mutants that mainstream Marvel wants to evoke – the difference, of course, is that in NewUniversal: Everything Went White and NewUniversal: 1959, it works. 

In 1959, the sky world-around was lit by something eventually titled ‘The Fireworks’.  The next day, things changed.  Drifter Lester Robbins gained the ability to instantly teleport.  Veronica Kelly, Kansas City widow, seemed to be able to read minds, and could create and control deadly blue blades.  Alcoholic slacker Tony Stark could create and understand technology decades ahead of what he should have been able to.  None of them had had these abilities before The Fireworks.

The book does not follow those metahumans, however, but instead follows rookie government agent Philip Voight, familiar to those who have read Everything Went White, but this is as good an introduction to the character as anything.  The decision to stay with him, rather than the heroes, definitely adds to the sense that super-humanity truly is a different species than traditional humanity – especially as the agents observe the relationship between Lester and Veronica, a bizarre cat-and-mouse game that appears wholly alien to the human agents.

I cannot recommend the NewUniversal line highly enough, and 1959 is an excellent place to start if you just want to try out a single issue.

Grade: A

Reign in Hell #1

 

Giffen has been billing this as a supernatural Annihilation.  Both series’ were written by him, after all.  And both deal with a previously largely-ignored but enormously important segment of each Universe’s mythology.  Rather than a series of warm-up minis leading up to a main mini, here Giffen went for a single miniseries with a selection of back-ups to set the stage.  Otherwise, it’s largely similar.

And like Annihilation, it doesn’t read well in single-issue form.  The story begins with an all-out battle in hell for a structure called The Odium, and it fills you in as you go.  Lord Satanus and Lady Blaze, currently in charge of Purgatory, are tired of a system of eternal damnation, a system with no mediums and no forgiveness – or that’s what they’re telling people – and so they’ve led all the souls of Purgatory into Hell in an attempt to retake and reshape Hell.  Opposing them is Neron, current leader of Hell.

But that is, of course, not the whole of the conflict.  What happens here will reshape how magic works all over the DC Universe, and so many of the mystic and divine heroes and villains of the DC Universe have a stake in this as well.  In this issue, we see the Shadowpact, the return of Linda Danvers (albeit a fairly out-of-character Linda Danvers), Jason Blood, The Creeper, Zauriel, and Zatanna’s dead father, Giovanni Zatara.

The back-up – easily the most entertaining part of the book – features Ralph and Sue Dibny, Ghost Detectives, in a meeting to convince Dr. Occult just how important this is.  The back-up is slow, but well-written, and is great set-up for what is to come, as well as back-story on the little-used Dr. Occult.

The issue is largely set-up, and reads like the more boring parts of Annihilation, but like Annihilation, the struggle promises to be epic.  Let’s hope Giffen can deliver, but a slow opening issue, combined with fairly average art from Tom Derenick and Bill Sienkiewicz, don’t make the best start you could hope for.

Grade: B-